I am tired. I am as tired as anyone else who is sick of hearing about educational reform. I am tired of preaching to the choir. I am tired of trying to get new songsters to realize they are in danger. I am tired of trying to convince my well intentioned friends that the rich business people and the politicians do not know more than I do about the field of education. I am tired of hearing busy parents tell me how unfair they think the treatment of teachers is, but they don’t know what to do about it. I am tired of busy parents blaming teachers and agreeing with the politicians while ignoring the fact that their student has a role to play in his or her own education. I am tired of being tried in the media, being reviled by the media, being made to look downright stupid by the media and not once being given a platform by the media. I am tired. Here are some points to ponder as they relate to the widening topic of educational reform.  Teachers studied to be teachers and while they do benefit from mentoring and guidance they do not need expensive packaged programs that direct how they teach.  Teachers are people first, not insensitive automatons. They actually care about their students.  Teachers are not overpaid.  The Peter Principle is alive and well in education as it is in politics.  Parents do need to hold themselves accountable for their children’s education.  Students do need to do their homework.  Students do need to actually learn the lessons being taught and not just passively take in information. This requires independent study.  Teachers do need to realize that just presenting information is not teaching; truly a college educated person is not needed to tell students what it is they need to learn.  Teachers need to demand that students think, this is much more difficult than giving a lecture or assigning an assignment.  Parents need to allow teachers to demand that their students think.  Students need to demand that their teachers make them think.  Grades should not be that important as they reflect not what a student actually knows but only what the student has been able to demonstrate that he or she knows.  Test scores should be used to provide information on what was intended by the assessment, and not be the instrument that decides that anyone is a success or a failure. A test shows a moment in time, not a lifetime of learning or achievement.  A test score cannot define a student, a teacher, a school, a district, a community, a city or a state; none of these can be summed up by multiple choice questions.  A multiple choice question does not account for a difference of opinion nor provide the platform to engage in discourse to explain one’s rational for their opinion.  In the classroom, in education, being wrong should be okay. Learning only happens when mistakes are made. If I know it; I do it right. If I am learning it, I need to try. Trying means that mistakes will be made. With the way education is being approached, is it any wonder students just stop trying?  What happens when students stop trying? We all fail.  Let teachers teach.