S.O.S. : Mexico needs a federal education life raft

You've all heard the expression 'The blind leading the blind', right? Now try this one on for size and try to imagine 'The blind leading the blind with a rabid retarded guide dog as their lead.' Do you have the mental image in place? Good, you've just seen the Mexican Federal Teachers Association and their fearless leader Elba Esther Gordillo.

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Today, the same day 25 million children returned to school, it was announced 75% of the federal teachers who took the National Teachers Exam on August 16, failed.

Out of the 123,856 teachers who took the nationwide exam in search of a preschool, elementary, or secundary education permanent teaching contract within the federal system, 74.9% or 92,770 did not pass the exam. Even more frightening, almost 30,000 of those who failed the exam are currently teaching students.

Let me remind you, the exams are graded on a curve. Contracts will be considered and entered into a lottery only to those who correctly answer 70% of each states highest graded exam. In 2008, the highest grades nationwide were between 75 and 80% which meant to receive a contract, aspiring teachers needed a 52% final grade.

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This year, the national average was 54.71%, or 43 out of 80 correct answers. Teachers with less than 25 correct were considered as failed and will need to wait until next year to retake the exam, while exams with 25-42 are considered in need of 'academic leveling' and will be sent to refresher courses. By the way, 70.8% of the exams fell into this group.

An important note is the majority of these applicants are not yet practicing teachers; they will be sent back to school, under new guidelines, before being placed in permanent posistions. The real kicker are the almost 30,000 failed practicing 'teachers' that have made their way into the system.

For her part, Elba Esther, escuses the low scores and failed exams by stating it is not the teachers fault, but the educational institutions that taught them. Isn't that kind of like blaming oneself? Or if it isn't, shouldn't it be? Could it be that Gordillo's decades of selling teacher's contracts to the highest bidder has finally taken its toll?

'No se puede educar y formar para el desempleo. Hay que reconvertir las normales.'- Elba Esther Gordillo

You can't educate and train for unemploymemt. You have to convert the 'normal'.

While the Congressional Education Comission states the poor results are evidence of improvisation, lack of commitment and low academic criteria in the federal sector Gordillo stated the exam results are evidence absolutely nothing, stating the exams have nothing to do with scores, passing or failing. They are given only to allow the Federation to choose the best teachers for the magistry.

That, Ms. Gordillo, is the problem. You have converted failure into the norm, leaving the federation no other choice, but to choose low level mediocrity, at best, to respond to the needs of Mexico's future. Remember Maestra, the children are our future, so the next time you get another itch to start gifting your Union drones new model custom loaded Hummers, think again, and give them a new set of encyclopedias instead.