Opinion
Federal Letter to the Editor

Reader Observes Ironies in Nancie Atwell’s Award

May 05, 2015 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

In her writing, Nancie Atwell begins from the belief that a classroom teacher is a professional, not a technician or an assembly-line worker. So her comments about the current state of teaching are no doubt sincere and not at all surprising (“Honored Educator Decries Current Climate for Teaching,” April 1, 2015).

She’s a truth teller.

It is certainly ironic to see her standing with her award, the Global Teacher Prize, next to former President Bill Clinton, who helped lead us down the slippery slope Ms. Atwell’s critique decries.

Of course, Mr. Clinton’s contribution to the reactionary standards-and-high-stakes-testing-and-punishment paradigm is minor compared to all the lies about the so-called “Texas Miracle” promulgated by former President George W. Bush, and accepted by Rep. George Miller and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in authoring the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. What a strange moment in educational history: A global award for teaching goes to a teacher who, I would argue, opposes pretty much everything Mr. Clinton, former Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, Mr. Bush, President Barak Obama, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Bill Gates have supported and enacted during the past 25 years—and Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gates are part of the award’s judging.

Did any of the judges actually read any of what Ms. Atwell has written? Perhaps the same group of folks will give the Ellwood Cubberley Award to Mr. Duncan when he’s done enforcing all the policies and programs that Ms. Atwell disdains.

David Marshak

Bellingham, Wash.

Related Tags:
Federal Policy Opinion

A version of this article appeared in the May 06, 2015 edition of Education Week as Reader Observes Ironies In Nancie Atwell’s Award

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Reflections on Evidence-Based Grading Practices: What We Learned for Next Year
Get real insights on evidence-based grading from K-12 leaders.
Content provided by Otus
Mathematics Webinar How to Build Students’ Confidence in Math
Learn practical tips to build confident mathematicians in our webinar.
Student Achievement K-12 Essentials Forum How to Build and Scale Effective K-12 State & District Tutoring Programs
Join this free virtual summit to learn from education leaders, policymakers, and industry experts on the topic of high-impact tutoring.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Inside Trump's Full-Force Approach to Ban Trans Athletes and DEI in Schools
Trump’s return to the White House has brought a new era of aggressive investigations of entities that flout the president's orders.
8 min read
Education Secretary Linda McMahon accompanied by Attorney General Pam Bondi, right, speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon, accompanied by Attorney General Pam Bondi, right, speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The pair were announcing a lawsuit against the state of Maine over state policies that allow transgender athletes to compete in girls' sports.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
Federal Letter to the Editor Public Education Benefits the American Worker and the American Economy
Our nation’s schools are central to our nation’s health and future, says this letter to the editor.
1 min read
Education Week opinion letters submissions
Gwen Keraval for Education Week
Federal Opinion Federal Education Research Has Been 'Shredded.' What's Driving This?
How to understand why the Trump administration's axe fell so heavily on the Institute of Education Sciences.
8 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
Federal Opinion Here’s What the K-12 Field Thinks of the Trump Ed. Department
Educators discuss what the current administration’s changes to the U.S. Department of Education will mean for schools.
9 min read
US flag. Vector illustration with glitch effect
iStock/Getty Images