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<p>Marite, I highlighted the section (“The one thing that they wanted more than anything else was more flexibility to dismiss teachers who weren’t effective,” Loeb said. “This came up so much that it was really difficult to ignore.”) because it represented an addendum to the lengthy discussion about the words of S. Jobs. </p>
<p>As far as blaming the teachers, I believe that I have posted my opinion many times on this issue: I consider BOTH the teachers AND the students to be hostages and victims of a feudalistic system that has been allowed to spin out of control in a downward pattern. </p>
<p>My reaction to the “let’s blame the parents for failing to take responsibilities” is probably similar to an over-generalized “let’s blame all the teachers”: it is simply unfair and rather unproductive. The reality is that there ARE parents who do fail their responsibilities, and so are teachers who fail to be effective. Why not at least try to correctly identify and measure the extent and depth of the problems, and then find solutions. It so happens that some are easier to identify! </p>
<p>As far as the schools, I should have been a bit more clear in that I was addressing the difference among schools operating in similar socio-economic conditions. Unfortunately, the successful examples rarely get a lot of press and are not emulated often enough.</p>