"Fear"

It's spreading:

In that session and the two others I attended (one on how teachers can find a voice in policymaking, highlighting the work of the Accomplished California Teachers network and one on the education blogosphere, which included a panel of premiere teacher bloggers, including some what have written for our blog in the past – Nancy Flanagan, Anthony Cody, David Cohen and Kathy Wiebke, with an appearance by Renee Moore), a theme that came up a number of times was fear.

Teachers (and principals) are afraid to talk to the press. They are afraid to talk to policymakers and to take a stand against policies that they think are unfair, because they are afraid of losing their jobs and of other backlash. They are afraid to blog, again fearing retribution from either their district or colleagues. These are some of America’s premiere teachers – and this is the climate they describe. It is not a climate that a professional should face.

Huh. I thought it was just me...