USA Today writer Craig Wilson's Feb. 9 commentary in the Times Union, "Find the words to tell teachers they mattered," succinctly captured the essence of education: the special relationship between teacher and student, and knowledge and learning.
Today, unfortunately, that priceless and sacred relationship is clouded over by an ever-increasing bureaucracy that has taken over our public schools. Granted, state and federal departments of education will always operate in their inherent bureaucratic fashion. But to see our public schools become similar bureaucracies, with constantly expanding levels of management, is disheartening and counterproductive to the mission of a school. Both the students and the school community lose whenever the delivery of educational services is more about administering and monitoring than what takes place in the classroom.