LA Times Headline, "Obama: Shutter failing schools and bring down the teacher 'firewall.'"
Obama should have just said, "Bring down the teachers."
Let me point out that public school teachers must accept all students. The Charter schools, like the one where Obama attacked public schools, are run like private schools, only on the tax payer's money. Charter schools cherry pick only the best students, and dump any medical or behavioral problems right back to the public schools.
When a public schools teacher can just toss out any difficult student, when a parent that sends children to school hungry, or sick are fined, when schools can hire back laid-off nurses, librarians, and aids, then Obama will have some room to disparage teachers. When poor children are not living in poverty, sleeping in shifts in a house with 4 families living in it, without adequate food, without adequate medical care, then Obama can strut and spout about poor, incompetent teachers. When we stop wasting 20% of class time on standardized tests, like the ones Obama thinks measure student "performance," then we might see some real improvement. (Close your factory, or retail store one day out of five for "inventory" and report your loss in productivity). Stop wasting over 10 billion dollars a year on the standardized testing industry, and return some of that to education, and you will see an improvement.
Maybe Yale and Harvard didn't teach the Obama's about public schools.
The far-right launched their attack on public education following the 1960s school desegregation laws. They launched a campaign to close public schools and replace them with private schools and vouchers. Now they have a President that will help them finish the job. Perversely, they now have an ally ready to take the attack on public education further then George W. Bush.
And YES, I was a teacher, and my wife is still a teacher. We taught in many different settings. I taught from the 7th grade to graduate schools. My wife teaches elementary school. We for decades we spend thousands of dollars a year for basics, like food, pencils, paper, books, and even the occasional toothbrush for her (our) students. That will thankfully be finished soon, because there is no thanks for being a dedicated teacher.