Here's an interesting article.

 

http://www.newsweek.com/id/234590

 

Good article.

From the article:

 

At Central Falls High School in Rhode Island, half the students drop out of school, and proficiency in math measured by state exams stands at a pitiful 7 percent among 11th graders. Under state pressure, the local superintendent, Frances Gallo, tried to improve scores by requiring teachers to work 25 minutes longer each a day, eat lunch with students once a week, and agree to be evaluated by a third party. The teachers, who make about $75,000 a year, far more than average in this depressed town, balked. They wanted another $90 an hour.

 

 

Disappointing to say the least

I would have agreed with this 10 to 20 years ago but not today.

 

We need to teach students how to think and respond to change quickly. We don't need to train them on technology that will be gone in 10 years.

 

Construction, plumbing, electrical, auto repairmen and business jobs of various types will always be there. There may be new technology to go with each area, but that is what the vocational schools are for after high school. Not everyone needs to go to college.

This always comes across as a copout to me. Blame the parents and remove any burden from you the teacher. "Its not me. Its those dang parents."

 

Hearing it once is one thing but hearing it over and over again makes me think its being used as a crutch.

 

And I'm not going to get into the fact that its a waste of breath since its literally unenforceable.

 

Maybe you should try teaching students who are rude, do not want to work, have bad attitudes, who would rather talk about sex, drugs, beer and who do not mind telling you to go have sex with yourself. Now that is not all students, but there are too many of these kinds of students. So many that it disrupts what a teacher is trying to accomplish. AND WHERE DO YOU THINK THEY GET THESE POOR ATTITUDES? It is not from the teachers. They get get them from their parents.

 

Now is that the only problem with education? No it is not, but to ignore the bad attitude of a large number of students is hiding from the truth.

In the workplace you get to fire employees with bad attitudes and poor work habits. Yet the schools must try to convince these same people, who will later be fired, to realize that education is important and they need to work harder to prepare theirselves for the furture.

Our education system doesn't need to be "fixed". We are blessed with excellent teachers throughout the country who go well beyond what should be expected of them to educate our young people. It's the dysfunctional families, a scourge of society these days it seems, that need to be "fixed".

 

I respectfully disagree. Certainly families need to change their attitudes, but I am currently in about a 3 week war with the public schools that had to do with teachers and administrators that simply aren't going to do anything. The educational system is catered to the least common denominator and has no accountability.

Here's an interesting article.

 

http://www.newsweek.com/id/234590

 

Enjoyed this thank you.

This always comes across as a copout to me. Blame the parents and remove any burden from you the teacher. "Its not me. Its those dang parents."

 

Hearing it once is one thing but hearing it over and over again makes me think its being used as a crutch.

 

And I'm not going to get into the fact that its a waste of breath since its literally unenforceable.

 

:thumb:

I respectfully disagree. Certainly families need to change their attitudes, but I am currently in about a 3 week war with the public schools that had to do with teachers and administrators that simply aren't going to do anything. The educational system is catered to the least common denominator and has no accountability.

 

I believe there are those educators as you have described. But I believe the vast majority work very long hours for very little pay (and very little hope of more pay in our depressed area) and try to balance the education of the excellent students with the education of "problem students."

 

The problems are not all with parents but it's greater than some are willing to admit. When parents literally will deny their child's responsibility in discipline incidents (sometimes with video tape and adult witnesses to prove it) then how is that not a parental problem? If Ms. Lucy knows Mama will have her back on everything, even the smarteds Ms. Lucy will be a discipline problem.

 

As to the education aspect, I think the best teachers have to sell their souls to doing everything possible to educate their students and the system needs to spend dollars for after school help if necessary. But when the dollars are dried up, how can the struggling students get all they need?

 

Here in Henry Co. we have a very productive 'after school' tutorial program in place. It's yielded greater test results of the larger body. But with a 7 million dollar local shortfall in state monies just for our school system, it will have to be cut, class sizes will increase from letting some teachers and positions go, and many extra curriculars that helped kids with self esteem and self worth will be cut as well.

 

I wish my wife made the $70,000 in the other story. I'm not sure that she makes half of that to be honest. But for $35,000 you can have a 3rd Grade teacher who arrives at school at 7:20 am and leaves around 5 pm everyday. But then who would come here and teach these children?

 

Sorry for the rant but this is a many layered problem without a simple fix.

Hatz, the vast majority of lawyers are good, hard-working, competent professionals who care for their clients and do good in their behalf. However, the minority who take ridiculous cases and make ridiculous arguments to get themselves on TV ruin it for the rest of us, we have an establishment lobby at the national level with a liberal reputation, and we are the butt of many a cocktail party joke as a result.

 

In recent years, the legal establishment has taken steps to try and change that reputation. Cutting down the number of acceptances to law schools, tightening bar standards, we are really the only profession that very actively patrols ourself and we suspend or disbar literally hundreds of lawyers every year now for unethical behavior, in an effort to change that image.

 

Doctors don't do that and teachers don't do it, either. If they want to change the ridiculous image that the public school system has, I suggest that they stop talking about pay equal to private sector, stop talking about throwing more taxpayer dollars at the problem year after year after year with no results, stop talking about the home being the sole problem, and start looking in the mirror at the way business is conducted.

 

I am sympathetic to the many good teachers that exist and appreciate the effort, but their absolute refusal, as a group, to do anything about their profession, their insistence on continuing support the NEA, their suckle-at-the-teet dependence upon tenure and other forms of institutional lack of accountability, erases any and all credibility I think that they have. If you refuse to stand up to be part of the solution, then you are an enabler and part of the problem.

Hatz, the vast majority of lawyers are good, hard-working, competent professionals who care for their clients and do good in their behalf. However, the minority who take ridiculous cases and make ridiculous arguments to get themselves on TV ruin it for the rest of us, we have an establishment lobby at the national level with a liberal reputation, and we are the butt of many a cocktail party joke as a result.

 

In recent years, the legal establishment has taken steps to try and change that reputation. Cutting down the number of acceptances to law schools, tightening bar standards, we are really the only profession that very actively patrols ourself and we suspend or disbar literally hundreds of lawyers every year now for unethical behavior, in an effort to change that image.

 

Doctors don't do that and teachers don't do it, either. If they want to change the ridiculous image that the public school system has, I suggest that they stop talking about pay equal to private sector, stop talking about throwing more taxpayer dollars at the problem year after year after year with no results, stop talking about the home being the sole problem, and start looking in the mirror at the way business is conducted.

 

I am sympathetic to the many good teachers that exist and appreciate the effort, but their absolute refusal, as a group, to do anything about their profession, their insistence on continuing support the NEA, their suckle-at-the-teet dependence upon tenure and other forms of institutional lack of accountability, erases any and all credibility I think that they have. If you refuse to stand up to be part of the solution, then you are an enabler and part of the problem.

 

Quite a blanket statement there. "as a group." So everyone who is a teacher is an NEA supporter? Give me a break Hearsay. Just as I don't generalize about lawyers and judges, I sure wouldn't about teachers. Truth is, my wife doesn't even mention or talk about the politics of the NEA nor does she care. All she wants to do is educate children to the best of her ability. If she didn't, she wouldn't take the crap (literally this week which is another story ) she gets from some administrators, parents and children.

 

Nowhere did I say throwing money at a problem is the answer but I have news, the VAST VAST majority who are in the trenches do not care about the NEA or the lobby. They only care about education and the kids.

 

Now if I've misinterpreted your rant, please forgive mine.

I would have agreed with this 10 to 20 years ago but not today.

 

We need to teach students how to think and respond to change quickly. We don't need to train them on technology that will be gone in 10 years.

 

Okay, what about plumbing, electrical work, masonry, carpentry, greenhouse and agricultural, child development and family rearing, marketing, accounting, autobody, automechanics.

 

We devalue those great careers because they don't look so good on a test and we can't compare these kids that have left these programs and ready to be productive members of society against some standarized test from another country.

This always comes across as a copout to me. Blame the parents and remove any burden from you the teacher. "Its not me. Its those dang parents."

 

Hearing it once is one thing but hearing it over and over again makes me think its being used as a crutch.

 

And I'm not going to get into the fact that its a waste of breath since its literally unenforceable.

 

So, it is now my fault that parents don't read with their child or make their child do homework.

 

Received a note from a parent requesting we not send homework with their child because they couldn't get their child to do it at home.

I respectfully disagree. Certainly families need to change their attitudes, but I am currently in about a 3 week war with the public schools that had to do with teachers and administrators that simply aren't going to do anything. The educational system is catered to the least common denominator and has no accountability.

 

I respectfully disagree. In your one case that might be true.

 

But over 21 years I have found it not to be true.

Quite a blanket statement there. "as a group." So everyone who is a teacher is an NEA supporter? Give me a break Hearsay. Just as I don't generalize about lawyers and judges, I sure wouldn't about teachers. Truth is, my wife doesn't even mention or talk about the politics of the NEA nor does she care. All she wants to do is educate children to the best of her ability. If she didn't, she wouldn't take the crap (literally this week which is another story ) she gets from some administrators, parents and children.

 

Nowhere did I say throwing money at a problem is the answer but I have news, the VAST VAST majority who are in the trenches do not care about the NEA or the lobby. They only care about education and the kids.

 

Now if I've misinterpreted your rant, please forgive mine.

 

You probably have not misinterpreted, I'm angry. Perhaps it is just my personal experience, but I run into a lot of teachers, and hear excuse after excuse after excuse. Maybe it is just my area.

I took the ACT once... I was a senior... I got a 29. I guess I didn't wait too late. :lol:

 

I took eight years after I graduated high school and got a 25. Perhaps I would have gotten them all correct had I taken it junior year.