Disconnect

I feel like there is a huge disconnect between issues that teachers are focused on versus issues that the public focuses on. From my first quarter of classes, I think it's safe to say that most teachers aren't terribly concerned with standardized testing (only the ramifications of these tests). I think teachers are more concerned with how they can be engaging all students throughout the day. Main issues that are modern-day teacher concerns that we are studying so far seem to be: race, culture, gender, poverty, tracking, religion and socio-economic status and how these factors influence and effect student learning and teacher's instruction.


I don't understand why the public and politics are so concerned with test scores. It seems like if our country focused more on the other educational concerns that I've mentioned, the test scores might improve themselves with little direct focus. I also don't understand why people think that they can fix education from the outside. I guarantee that if anyone can "fix" education where it needs "fixing" that the answers will come from within the profession. I have never been trained in medicine, and therefore I'm not going to try and fix problems with in the medicine field. I don't know why other people don't have this common sense. There are highly educated, motivated and invested individuals in the education profession that probably have plenty of proven ideas  that could improve education for children. I feel like their voices should be the loudest in the political discussion about education, but for some reason I never hear them.