I read with interest the comments to the latest "Teachers Take a Stand" article, where teachers became activists at Weimar Hills School. I was surprised at how many people are starting to see the light, but it is clear that the education business is still a mystery to most people.

As an insider, allow me to clear up some misconceptions, or "myths" about government schools (a more accurate term than "public schools"):

Myth #1: Teachers Need to be Certified.

In fact, research shows that so-called "teacher training" has little or no effect upon teacher performance. Remedial training has absolutely no effect (a bad teacher will always be a bad teacher). So-called "teacher training" is more about instilling a "politically correct" worldview and extracting large sums of cash than anything else.

Myth #2: Schools Want Good Teachers.

Let me explain - Yes, your local school does wants to hire good talent, as does your local school. Unfortunately, they cannot always do this, as the credentialing process weeds them out. I'll never forget watching a school being unable to assemble an aerospace class at Beale A.F.B. - not because we couldn’t find dozens of retired U2 spyplane pilots who saw the Cold War up-close-and-personal, or for a lack of interest - but because we couldn't supply a "credentialed" teacher (who would have known nothing about aerospace, of course). Credentialed teachers tend to be the stereotypical white-female-at-the-bottom-of-her-college-class, with almost no adult life experience - not the more mature, knowledgeable older person, who happens be at a time in life where they want to give back anyway (Hint: the former type of teacher is much more obedient and more easily indoctrinated, however).

Myth #3: "Standards" mean "High Standards".

Get that out of your head! It's a deceptive play on words. What we're really talking about is STANDARDIZATION - i.e., every child in the nation will learn the exact same thing, at the exact same time. That's because on a bureaucratic level, ranking, sorting and pigeonholing our children like the "human resources" they are thought to be is a primary function of government schooling. The numbers are only valid if everything is standardized. Oh, and giant corporate textbook companies like things standardized too - specifically to their products only. ;-)

Myth #4: Tests Measure Student Achievement.

Yes, they theoretically could - but that's not their purpose in government schooling. Higher-ups know that "Tests Drive the Curriculum". High-stakes testing and the so-called "accountability" movement is really about control of the curriculum. If it's "all about the test", and the test is written by the textbook company (who has seen that it is a FELONY to disclose test questions), whose textbooks MUST you buy?! (Hmm, who DOES determine the curriculum anyway? Certainly not the parents!)

Myth #5: Unions Help Teachers.

A reporter asked a union hack once: "Why do you guys spend so much time with politics? Why aren't you back at your schools helping your teachers?" The union person responded: "It's ALL politics!" He's right of course; though unions may occasionally help a teacher now and then (it's becoming rare), their primary function is to control "the blob" (as journalist Peter Brimelow describes the edbiz) and make sure that the money keeps flowing. The CTA is the 2nd largest union in California, controlling the education committee in Sacramento with an iron fist. The NEA is the largest union in the world. Let's not forget that the Communist Party in Russia was simply a union.

Myth #6: They Want Your Kids To Be Smart.

For the most part, your local teachers, administrators, Board members - they certainly do want your kids to succeed. But they're not running this system are they?! The teacher, the principal, the superintendent, the county board, even Arne Duncan at the State Department of Ed. - do ANY of these people have control over something so basic as our nationally-standardized curriculum? How much control? Who really does control the government schools? What are their interests (Hint: It's not that little Janie and Johnnie grow up to think for themselves)?

Myth #7: Teachers are Professionals.

Yes, we call them "professionals" so that we don't have to pay them overtime - yet in truth, teaching in government schools is simply a trade. A teacher has almost NO control over the essential tools of their trade, i.e. curriculum, environment, methods, etc. I remember a District I worked for recently being sold a curriculum touted as being positively "teacher proof" - in effect, a chimpanzee could deliver it. Today's government school teacher has to break the rules to do anything truly outstanding.

Myth #8: Kids Love School.

I didn't fool you here, did I? No, we all know that, in general, kids don't like school. Are kids just different today? God made a bunch of duds, right? Bull! Today's kids are a result of OUR failure to given them the attention that they need. Despite being warned that they'll have "no future" without a high-school diploma (another false assumption), kids still can't take the abuse, as drop-out rates reach 70 and 80 percent in some areas. With homeschooling moms doing better on their kitchen tables, why would we throw more money at a failed system?

Myth #9: School is Good for Kids:

Guess what the best grammar schools in Europe are? Finland. Guess when Finland first sends children to school? 9 years of age. Why? Finland understands that kids are too young to be institutionalized any earlier than this. Educational historian John Taylor Gatto calls today's schooling (a product of industrial-age utopianism) "a form of adoption", whereby parents give their children to the state to be raised. Again, homeschoolers prove daily that maybe parents should raise their own kids.

Myth #10: Government Schooling Can Be Reformed.

Really? Where would one possibly start? As with the U.S. Tax Code, for example, so-called "education" requirements are purposely complex (the author of Prop 98 recently admitted this as I recall). Like jargon, whose purpose is to stifle, not enhance, communication, the complexity factor purposely shuts out everyone but insiders, and makes reform effectively impossible. Oh, did I mention the vastly powerful special interest groups involved?

Each one of these myths deserves a paper of it's own, but I thought I'd just throw these out for discussion. Yes, I know that it's tempting to think that we could simply "fix our ailing schools" with just one more tax hike, but as the tea-party movement is demonstrating, people are wise to us now.