By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

PEORIA, Ill. – A fear of change is killing the teaching profession.

That was the theme of “a back-to-school sermon” delivered from a Connecticut educator to about 1,200 other educators in the Illinois Peoria School District 150, reports PJStar.com.

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Principals fear parents, and teachers and administrators fear accountability and change, Steve Perry, founder and principal of Connecticut’s highly successful Capital Preparatory Magnet School, told the audience, according to PJStar.com.

“Perry said educators’ fear of accountability creates a situation where students, specifically poor black and Latino students and their parents, are blamed for teachers’ failures,” the news site reports.

“You mean to tell me you’ve got all of those degrees and certifications and you can’t teach him to read and it’s my fault,” Perry said, playing the role of a parent.

“Too many people want to use too many excuses because they’re not good at their job,” he added, according to the news site.

Perry’s anti-fear, pro-responsibility message didn’t play well with some union teachers in the audience.

“I thought he was a poor choice of speakers, I don’t think it was a productive way to start the school year,” Bob Darling, president of the Peoria Federation of Teachers, told PJStar.com. “Maybe I’m defensive as the union president, but he shouldn’t have spent the majority of his time talking about a small percentage of teachers.”

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Apparently, some union members would have rather heard happy talk, instead of hard truths.

But student test scores reveal that Peoria School District 150 is way beyond happy talk. In 2011, only 64.2 percent of fourth graders and 39.9 percent of high schoolers were considered proficient readers.

Seems that Perry’s tough-love talk was just what Peoria’s teachers needed to hear.

And given the condition of America’s public education system, it’s a message that needs to be heard all across the country.