Goals of education

The Seattle Times editorial about raising the bar on teacher training was empty palaver [“Raising the ‘bar’ on teacher training,” Editorials, Dec. 7]. Raising what bar?

What testing teachers does is the same thing testing does to children in schools: it sets teachers up to compete with one another, not cooperate with one another. It arouses fear instead of pride. Who does testing benefit? It benefits those who publish tests and books, not students.

If teachers are in favor of being tested, it’s an act of self-injury. Show me someone who favors testing of teachers and I’ll show you a shill for corporate interests. I don’t want my grandchildren to be taught by uptight teachers who are trying to educate children the “right way.” The only right way is keen hearing and sight, creative thinking and loving intuition.

Of much more importance is the conversation that needs to take place to determine the right goals of education; goals that produce people who have been properly educated. I’ll belly up to that bar for a conversation in a skinny.

—Jay Shapiro, Seattle