Lessons not learned

Most people have the capacity to learn from their mistakes, but there are always some who will just never get it.

Consider, for example, Mayor Bloomberg’s remarks in a Nov. 29 speech at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he claimed the New York City school system would be better off if he could lay off half the teacher workforce, pay the remaining teachers more, and double class sizes.

Saying he would prefer to focus on attracting high-quality teachers regardless of class size, the mayor posed the following hypothetical situation:

“If I had the ability, which nobody does really, to just design a system and say, ‘ex cathedra, this is what we’re going to do,’ you would cut the number of teachers in half, but you would double the compensation of them and you would weed out all the bad ones and just have good teachers. And doubling the class size with a better teacher is a good deal for the students.”

He added that he attended classes with 40 students and look at how well he turned out.

Such statements show just how much the self-proclaimed “Education Mayor” has failed to learn during his stewardship of the city public school system. His lack of appreciation for the value of smaller classes — and his condemnation of half the teachers in the school system — makes clear that after nearly 10 years in office he still can’t connect the dots between all the factors and resources needed to craft a quality school system for a city as large, complex and diverse as New York.

Students, parents and educators should consider themselves fortunate that our contract restricts the mayor’s ability to indulge in such dangerous and ill-conceived flights of fancy. For without it, we clearly would be on a road to ruin with little hope for a brighter future for our children.

Also, the mayor’s comments should make UFT members thankful for our right to collective bargaining. Just imagine what working conditions for teachers and the state of public education might be like if New York ever went the way of Wisconsin.