Special people: Addressing problems teachers face will go long way in fixing schools

The man behind the song of the moment, "Happy," 41-year-old Pharrell Williams, was doing an interview the other day.

When asked about the success he has achieved, his response was a bit surprising.

"I am have lived an average life filled with special people," Williams said.

He wasn't referring to his record producer, his manager or even his first bandmate.

He was talking about his music teachers.

An average student, Williams said without music, his life would have been very different.

And without his band and music teachers, he said, he would be nowhere.

The comment says a lot about Williams, but it is a telling observation for the rest of us, too.

As North Carolina moves forward in its efforts to improve schools and the education children receive, we should remember just how important the men and women who stand in front of classrooms are to that success.

That doesn't necessarily mean that we should open our checkbooks indiscriminately, but keeping teachers who care about their students and giving them the tools they need to teach them should be one of our top priorities.

And if, at the same time, we could manage to get back to the basics -- and to get rid of the overhyped, overthought bureaucratic evaluations of what a child should learn and how he should learn it, that would be nice, too. Good teaching comes from interaction with students, not mountains of paperwork and arbitrary goals that seem to be based more on the theory of education rather than the simple act of educating children itself.

But that's a discussion for another day.

The recent teacher raise and increasing starting teacher pay are steps in the right direction. At a time when many, many businesses are simply unable to give their employees raises because of a challenging economy -- a condition that has spanned several years in many cases -- getting an increase of this size is a sign of a commitment to attracting, rewarding and keeping good teachers here in the state. The legislators have committed to continuing the trend with more rewards specifically targeted at experienced teachers as the budget allows.

And that is a key factor in determining how this goes in the future. This state has a budget -- a tight one. It is irresponsible to throw money at only one area of any spending plan, especially when there is so much to do as it relates to keeping the state moving forward.

But now that there has been a commitment made, and the Common Core mumbo jumbo has been moved out of the way, it is time for some introspection on the other side, too.

Teachers need to speak up, to contribute to the establishment of a new set of standards for measuring student success, and then contribute to the evaluation and commentary on how the state's schools and its classrooms are working.

Truth, courage and a continuing commitment to setting a high standard are what this state needs to move forward -- and teachers are a critical piece of that puzzle.

Bickering over tenure won't fix the problems in any school.

But talking about solutions and really addressing the problems and challenges teachers and students face, that is what will start the state's ranking on an upward climb.

And that is really what we all should want.

Published in Editorials on August 13, 2014 10:33 AM