Over the years, I have been writing about misconceptions regarding the schooling process. The purpose of these posts is to explain why I disagree with various comments that I have heard people make about schooling. These are meant as personal thoughts rather than conclusive proof, and I will admit that I'm not always the best at explaining my thoughts. Regardless, I have decided that I should be willing to share these posts when I encounter someone online who makes an argument that I have already discussed.
In recent years, I have seen several attempts to add subjective evaluations to such things as reassigning teachers to different schools. Each time, the teachers have fought hard to prevent those measures from taking effect. They insist that it's wrong to have an undesirable teaching assignment just because their principal doesn't like them.
To an extent, this makes sense. If you want to be more realistic, you have to take a look at the consequences of relying strictly on objective criteria. There is actually very little in this world that can be measured in a truly objective manner. When it comes to teaching, the push has been to evaluate teachers almost exclusively by seniority. This says very little about how well a teacher actually performs.
In addition to the limitations of objective measures, there can be serious consequences to the rejection of subjectivity. Imagine for a moment that a teacher rapes a student. What if the school did not specifically ban rape? They could include conditions of employment such as prohibiting harm to children or acting in the best interests of others, but there is technically a subjective component in establishing what would qualify. Allowing a degree of subjectivity is absolutely vital to ensuring that schools have a legitimate option to terminate teachers who cross any line that is not explicitly stated.
One approach that teachers have taken to avoid subjective measures is to ask a seemingly simple question. What if your job provided subjective evaluations? For example, how would you feel if you lost your job because your boss didn't like you? The truth is that subjective measures are actually quite common. Teachers are effectively insisting that it's unfair to teachers to introduce subjectivity while everybody else has to deal with subjectivity. What makes them so special that they should be immune to common practices?
To make matters worse, this argument is completely hypocritical. Thanks to the unfortunate reality of credentialism, student grades can have serious implications on a child's future. Many grades have distinctly subjective components. For example, how well an English teacher likes a student's writing can have an impact on that student's entire future. The views on writing can be influenced by that teacher's personal opinions of the student as a person.
If a teacher has no objections to their opinions having lasting implications on their students' futures, how can they complain that subjectivity could result in their reassignment? How is it perfectly acceptable for them to be on the giving side and unacceptable to be on the receiving side? Sorry, but joining the teaching profession should not be sufficient to elevate them above what everybody else has to deal with.
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