I feel sorry for the boys sitting in chairs for an hour at a time in Kindergarten.  School is essentially toxic to most boys.

Of the 20 architects in Camden, all of them would rank as above average to highly excellent. If you are lucky, half of the teachers in most schools may be really good teachers. Mediocrity is the rule in teaching ranks.

And, every teacher in the building knows who the great teachers are. Wouldn’t you think the mediocre teacher would want to observe this excellence.

Practice of the new buzzwords, ‘student-centered learning,’ is simply not exhibited in 99 percent of all classrooms in America.  It is still the same menu for all students, taught at the learning pace of the brightest student in class.

Despite 50 years of research that kids learn best while doing, almost all classroom instruction after second grade is delivered by some form of lecture.

Most teachers operate from a base of fear, unwilling to take risks in the classroom, and they have an incredible need to control.  The more a child exerts a desire to learn what they are interested in, the more you will see teachers thwart this desire.

In his book, Blink, Malcolm Gladwell cites research that shows that students can determine in a matter of seconds if a teacher is really good. Imagine that. Teacher’s unions would have a fit if we started using student-rating forms for teacher ranking; yet, if you really want to know who the good teachers are, ask a kid.

I have teachers who have been in the classroom for less than a year who are outstanding, but they make half of what a teacher with 30 years of experience is paid, teachers who come to school to hang on until retirement day. Seniority is killing American education. Can you imagine that the highest paid ball player on the Red Sox roster is the oldest player on the team, regardless of skill?

The residents in RSU 13 should seriously consider a recall of every school board member for putting their narcissistic interests before the needs of kids.  If no one has the courage to run for these seats, then the towns deserve what is happening.

I sometimes wonder if we would have been better off keeping shop and home economics classes in every high school. It is too bad that a student has to spend a hour a day on a  bus just to go to a vocational school. I would like to see every student have access to shop tools, a garage, and a kitchen as part of their school experience.

It is sad to see the teachers’ unions, superintendents, school boards, and the state school board association so vehemently oppose charter schools.  There needs to be other options for students, lots of them.

 Choice will be the key to increasing student achievement. Can you imagine if you could only go to McDonald’s to eat?

Spending more money on our schools is not a guarantee that they will improve.

Kids who are truant in first grade are on the well-paved road to being a drop out.

The entire state could save millions if the Maine Department of Education took the lead in curriculum leadership, bus purchasing, and bulk-buying for oil, paper and school supplies. But it doesn’t. And won’t.

The bureaucracy in Augusta would stagger the imagination of any sane person and its inertia, as well as lack of will and vision to change is even more stultifying.

A town that opts or is forced to close a school will soon be a retirement community.

If schools don’t change, you will see a mass migration to online learning in the next five years. Why wait for a bus, line up, obey a bunch of rules that don’t really make a lot of sense, and eat lousy lunches when you can sit on your couch and get a world class education just by clicking on the Internet?

After 15 years of sustained effort to bring one to one computing to all schools in Maine and to most schools in the nation, wouldn’t you have predicted an increase in SAT scores? Wouldn’t you think the instant access to learn anything would improve measured learning results?

Soda has no place in any school.  There is a quarter cup of sugar in every can of soda.  Is it any wonder that diabetes is prolific among our young children.

The problem with this opinion piece is that we all know a handful of truly excellent educators and such honesty unfairly scorches their great contributions.  I say to those truly great teachers — and you know who you are — take control, make a stink and change the system.

William Shuttleworth serves four communities as their superintendent and believes that we must be critical of our practices in order to stay sharp. He welcomes your thoughts and can be reached at wshuttleworth@hotmail.com