According to the Pew Research Center, four-fifths of teachers surveyed are fed up with bureaucratic regulations, one-size-fits-all union contracts, and classroom violence. That dissatisfaction in their career apparently has been noticed outside the classroom: according to an analysis by Brown University, since 2009 the number of parents who say they want their child to grow up to become a teacher has fallen by half.
Laurie Higgins is an education writer with the group Breakthrough Ideas. She argues that much of educators' frustrations can be laid at the feet of onerous policies implemented by left-leaning politicians.
"They control all the ancillary organizations related to public schools: the American Library Association, state boards of education, teachers' unions, etcetera," she tells AFN.
Higgins reports some innovative teachers are going into business on their own, competing with the inflexible public school system.
"Competition is what is needed. It needs to be thrown into this process in order to improve education for students, improve conditions for teachers," she contends. "Nine out of 10 teachers are stuck with only one option: working for a large bureaucracy, which is the public school system."
Higgins' suggestion is in line with Erika Donalds, a visiting fellow with The Heritage Foundation, who writes that "effective" teachers need to have the option to choose where they work.
"We must make it easier for teachers to go into business for themselves, creating their own schools or offering their own courses, tutoring or other educational services," says Donalds. "Every teacher should have the freedom to design their own education solutions and market them directly to families."
According to Higgins, allowing teachers to go into business for themselves is an effective way to break up the public school monopoly.
