Race to the Top; Rocky Top, that is.

Tennessee received half a BILLION dollars last year in the government-sponsored Race to the Top last year. Alabama didn't qualify, in part because we are so in bed with the AEA and are either unwilling or unable to put milestones in place because of their resistance to it.

Now that Tennessee has (most likely) earmarked this money (over the next four years), there is some wailing and gnashing of teeth about meeting the requirements that won them this money.

According to the state's education commissioner, teachers are used to being evaluated twice (TWO TIMES) every 10 (TEN) years. These tenured teachers are not used to being evaluated, and certainly not according to new criteria, and they do not like it.

How can you fail students and not fail teachers? How can you test students and not test teachers? How can you have underachieving students and not hold the teachers, at least in part, accountable?

Teacher morale in Tennessee is in the can, but what do we care? School board members care, and remind us that "these are just big kids. They like to be patted on the back, too." No, I'm not kidding. That is a quote from a school board member. Some teachers are wondering what they have gotten themselves into.

Well, let me tell you. You signed up to be responsible for teaching up to 25 students per class, up to six classes a day, for 5 days a week, 9 months a year. Year after year after year. You have to teach the same material to students at different levels of intelligence and accommodate different learning styles. You have to be patient, compassionate, long suffering and a positive role model. You have to do paperwork, update classroom web sites and keep parents informed. You have to monitor and sometimes arbitrate mood swings, pettiness, issues at home and various other interpersonal relationship issues. You have to guess, forecast, trend and set realistic expectations.

If you thought you were signing up for paid summer vacations and occasional parent-teacher meetings, you are in the wrong line of work. If you thought you were going to punch in at 8 and get off at 5, you are going to be sorely disappointed. If you thought you were going to be playing with kids all day long, you need to be a full-time babysitter.

A Tennessee teacher was interviewed who said that this competition is bringing out the best in her, but she wonders how long she can keep up the pace. What she doesn't realize is that this is the pace she should have been maintaining from the beginning. It's should not start now that she is being critiqued. My take is, "Welcome to the Real World" where none of us have tenure, are reviewed at least once a year and are held accountable for our performance.

I have a distinct lack of sympathy for teachers who do not want to be held to strict criteria. Teaching is more of a calling, in my opinion, than a profession. A successful teacher must feel a burden for her kids.Receiving loads and loads of money for being successful should not be the motivator for that success, but a reward for a job well done.