Experienced Teachers

Yes, experienced teachers can know a lot.  Sometimes, what they know isn't right.  I know plenty of experienced teachers who went all in for Whole Language and fuzzy math in the 1990s and Common Core more recently.

Public school teachers aren't independent contractors; they're public employees, and need to follow the instructions and curriculum specified by the elected school board--even when they think those decisions are dead wrong.

Having said all that, I'm not quite sure how I feel about this article:

Veteran teachers get no respect from education reformers, writes Paul Karrer in the Californian. The reform movement has rejected teachers’ “vast wealth of experience” for “chants, mantras, beliefs and a bowing before the goddess of data and technology."

Veteran teachers can buy into fads just as easily as a newbie can.

What's the solution?  Heck if I know.  I do what I think is right within the confines of what my bosses tell me to.