"kool aid"

“And good teachers aren't just critical for the success of our students. They are the key to the success of our economy.”

“And we need to treat teachers like the professionals they are by providing good salaries and high-quality professional development opportunities.”

“And we need government to support significant efforts to recruit and retain teachers and to reward high-performing teachers.”

Compelling arguments, huh?

Who do you think is the source* of these quotes? Mission statement of the American Federation of Teachers (1,400,000 members)? The National Education Association (3,200,000 members)?

Is there validity to these quotations? Teachers must be critical to the success of students? Teachers should be treated as professionals? And, government needs to support efforts to recruit and train teachers? Well, the first two are pretty basic but the third makes it seem as if the others are just designed to reach the conclusion and the conclusion is “we need government.”

But let’s go back to the first quote. “They are the key to the success of our economy.” True or False? Answer here: _____

If you say True you will buy into the rest of the posits and accept the conclusion (kool-aid) and the rest falls into place.

If you say False the whole argument collapses.

So, true or false?

Unfortunately the answer is false. The argument is quite convincing because it sounds good (kool aid) and if you accept it you will miss the key element that is missing from the conclusion. Third quote says, “…reward high-performing teachers.” Nothing about penalty for “low-performing teachers.” Nothing about low-performing teachers at all. Why not?

The entire argument collapses because it is a political statement, not an argument basic on fact and logic. It collapses because it is designed to communicate a message and sell an emotional position. TheFundamentals calls this “drinking the kool aid." Without rewards and penalties the economy will not be competitive. Without a constant focus on competition and competitiveness there will be no economic success.

Where do people develop competition and competitiveness? Lots of places. In the home, on the sports field, in the ‘hood, in good schools and in the military. Yes. In government? Absolutely not.

Competitiveness is not only a fundamental; it’s a fundamental most are born with. It is the key to economic success. GM and Chrysler are not in the dumpster just due to their high legacy costs and ridiculous union rules. They lost their competitiveness. Government bailed them out because they were not competitive. Government supports high legacy costs and ridiculous union rules and benefits which are non competitive (see: TheFundamentals, October 15, 2009). So, does the source of the above quotes.

People who sell kool aid do so for their own benefit. People drink kool aid because their emotions dominate their fundamentals. Stick with TheFundamentals.  Don't drink the "kool aid."

*Michelle Obama: US News and World Report, October 15, 2009