No teacher ever became great by being the best at following the textbook, being the best at reading from a script, or being the best at passing out multiple choice tests from the back of an assessment guide.
No school ever became great by having the best textbook programs from which their teachers read, the best benchmark tests, or the best canned lesson scripts for their teachers.
No country ever became great by having schools that were the best at selecting textbook programs for their teachers to use and the best test-prep programs.
A great national education system starts by having excellent public schools. Public schools are excellent when they have excellent teachers facilitating learning. Teachers can only be excellent when they have the autonomy to be.
If we want excellence, we need to start by thinking more simply. We need to start by allowing teachers to be great. Then encourage them to share what they are doing to inspire others.
Because the current direction of demoralizing them and having them compete against each other simply isn't going to get us there.
