Kids
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CoolCucumber
The Non-Vegetarian Veggie
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What's sad is the "dumbing down" of teaching in our country. With so many school systems now enacting a standardized test to determine if a student can move on to the next level, schools are no longer teaching things to students to broaden their horizons, they are teaching to pass a basic test. How can you challenge a student's mind if all you are concerned with is having them pass ONE TEST? And how is it fair to a student who is passing within their classes, only due to a steep grading curve? This is not always the rule, but it's happening. Parents blame teachers, teachers blame parents, and the student is losing. But I'm not going to say that the students are perfect either. They're not. Students see this happening before them, and many choose to sit back, and do nothing with their opportunity to better themselves and gain an education. Why is this? Why don't students stand up and grasp the opportunity in front of them? Why don't more teachers refuse to give in and let students slide? Why do parents feel the need to blame everyone but themselves when things go wrong? Nobody's perfect, and everyone means well, but it seems as if everyone is settling for one goal, while totally missing the point.
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-CoolCucumber
TN_Vixen
Rear Window
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lavender
it doesn't start with the parents for God's sake... it starts with where our tax money is going to support inner-city schools. Thus far they've been given block grants to allocate needs as the local gov't sees fit. And does HE/SHE she fit to pour such revenue into inner city schooling? Nahhh... what's the point, eh? (sarcasm)
Your story isn't funny. It is sad.
it doesn't start with the parents for God's sake... it starts with where our tax money is going to support inner-city schools. Thus far they've been given block grants to allocate needs as the local gov't sees fit. And does HE/SHE she fit to pour such revenue into inner city schooling? Nahhh... what's the point, eh? (sarcasm)
Your story isn't funny. It is sad.
G
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You know what I find sad?
That this country cares more about funding than education. Its all about the money. Especially this consolodation bullshit. Lets take a couple of hundred to a few thousand students and cram them into a new building that we just built... that has NO WINDOWS. What is up with that? Did they pass some law stating that windows were highly uneconomical?
But seriously... I don't think that stashing as many kids as possible into one building is going to make our kids any smarter. Not to mention it cuts the needs for qualified teachers in half.
But.... this of course .....is our governments' school system at work.
That this country cares more about funding than education. Its all about the money. Especially this consolodation bullshit. Lets take a couple of hundred to a few thousand students and cram them into a new building that we just built... that has NO WINDOWS. What is up with that? Did they pass some law stating that windows were highly uneconomical?
But seriously... I don't think that stashing as many kids as possible into one building is going to make our kids any smarter. Not to mention it cuts the needs for qualified teachers in half.
But.... this of course .....is our governments' school system at work.
TN_Vixen
Rear Window
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I'm not wrong.. at least not from my research
about inner-city school funding. I have no doubt that rural schools are in need of attention just as inner-cities, but if you do the research.. like I did and like I will do now... again, if necessary, inner-city schools DO get the shit-end of funding where their local gov't is concerned.
To be fair.. and since I'm a LIBRA and tend to want to balance the scales and see both sides of the situation, my answer is "why wouldn't they?" I mean, most suburban public schools are in dire need of teacher salary raises, book and other scholasitic revenue.. and yet they are only given an insignificant percentage each year to cope with such demands. So, who suffers? Who is the most dispensible? Ahhhh, inner-city, of course! It isn't so surprising really, but it should be stopped. It should be mad much more aware in every community that these children are given the shaft, don't you think?
about inner-city school funding. I have no doubt that rural schools are in need of attention just as inner-cities, but if you do the research.. like I did and like I will do now... again, if necessary, inner-city schools DO get the shit-end of funding where their local gov't is concerned.
To be fair.. and since I'm a LIBRA and tend to want to balance the scales and see both sides of the situation, my answer is "why wouldn't they?" I mean, most suburban public schools are in dire need of teacher salary raises, book and other scholasitic revenue.. and yet they are only given an insignificant percentage each year to cope with such demands. So, who suffers? Who is the most dispensible? Ahhhh, inner-city, of course! It isn't so surprising really, but it should be stopped. It should be mad much more aware in every community that these children are given the shaft, don't you think?
CoolCucumber
The Non-Vegetarian Veggie
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This issue really hits home for me. I'm currently an education major. And for every "Wow, that's really great, we need more male teachers," I also get "Are you insane? You'll get paid better at McDonald's, and they'll give you more respect there too." As for the inner city schools, it's sad, but alot of the graduating students looking for teaching jobs won't even look for jobs in inner city areas. I would think that those would be the most exiting places to teach, you'd be able to make more of an impact, and see it much faster than outside of the city.
-CoolCucumber
-CoolCucumber
CoolCucumber
The Non-Vegetarian Veggie
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Well, right now, I'm concentrating my studies in History. It really interests me, and I think it's sad that there are kids who don't know when the war of 1812 took place, or that families were fighting brother against brother in the civil war. It's sad.
-CoolCucumber
-CoolCucumber
TN_Vixen
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Ahhh. but I'm not saying funding alone
WILL create substantial reform alone.
Doesn't this topic fit neatly into your topic about the ACLU?
Don't get me wrong, I'm a potential lawyer-wannabe. And I'll get there eventually, but I'm not a proponent of the upper-middle-class (let's do what we can to promote our kind without tarnishing our image) kind of a person........
Y'see... it took a long time for women to be a proponent, legally for those who have no alternative to voice thier opinion. It is happening now and it will continue to happen despite the "Good Ole Boy's" network. But, we have to attack at vulnerable points and have to be after the same results before action is seen.
Doubt those who look for greatness but trust those who seek truth. You will only be rewarded.
WILL create substantial reform alone.
Doesn't this topic fit neatly into your topic about the ACLU?
Don't get me wrong, I'm a potential lawyer-wannabe. And I'll get there eventually, but I'm not a proponent of the upper-middle-class (let's do what we can to promote our kind without tarnishing our image) kind of a person........
Y'see... it took a long time for women to be a proponent, legally for those who have no alternative to voice thier opinion. It is happening now and it will continue to happen despite the "Good Ole Boy's" network. But, we have to attack at vulnerable points and have to be after the same results before action is seen.
Doubt those who look for greatness but trust those who seek truth. You will only be rewarded.
Tabby432
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It's not the money folks. It's the expectations. Whatever expectations you have the result is this: some exceed them, a majority reach them, and some just won't meet them regardless of what you do.
The majority are going to achieve what's expected of them. If we don't expect much from our students that is exactly what you will get. Not much. Throwing money at the schools won't improve the situation.
The majority are going to achieve what's expected of them. If we don't expect much from our students that is exactly what you will get. Not much. Throwing money at the schools won't improve the situation.
cymbidia
unrepentant pervert
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Okay. Dammit. Discounting those relatively few teachers who are putting in their time until they can collect that huge pension and those that got into the teaching gig cuz they thought it was easy money, the rest of us are highly educated, incredibly skilled, extraordinarily caring and competent people.
We earn a pittance of what comparably educated people earn. We work WAY longer hours than the much-ballyhooed 9-3 workday. During those long summers "off" we're attending workshops and taking state-mandated classes in order to keep our credentials current, not to mention being physically at school after the students leave for the summer and before they come back in the fall. We organize our lesson plans in the summer, discarding that which didn't work and trying like hell to find new and interesting ways to present the material our school boards and principals just told us we'd have to teach in the fall.
During the school year, teachers like me, teachers at the middle school level, counsel girls who just got their period for the first time and talk to them about how to change napkins and what to do with them when they're ready to be discarded. We try to work the new kid who speaks no English into our mid-quarter science class, oh by the way, test next Tuesday and no, we don't have enough microscopes to go around, do we?, you'll have to share with Juan and Kimmy who don't want to share with the new kid. We deal with parents who want to know why Johnny got a "D" on his report card and don't i have to give them some warning before giving him a grade like that? (Why yes, that's why i send progress reports home weekly beginning the second week of classes, a thing you know cuz you've been signing them. Ohhhh, you never saw one let along signed it? Hmm, maybe we'd better get Johnny in here...) We deal with sniffles and kids that come to school hungry and kids who have burn scars from that bad uncle of theirs. We deal with mothers who drink too much and can't make it to school plays, so the kid does her best, shamefaced and sad.
We deal with endless requests to serve on this committee or that one. We have weekly and monthly Faculty meetings and club meetings at which we are the advisor. We sell magazines to all our relatives every year to try to send every 6th grader in the school to camp, cuz we know there's kids whose families don't have the money.
Then there's OUR families and the time, energy, love, respect, presence they need from us.
On top of all this, we are teaching our subject. Mine happens to be science, in a specific yearly rotation (astronomy, meteorology, geology, evolution, microbiology, animal biology, plant biology). I teach this stuff with wit and verve and high fucking expectations of every student. I thread science through the hormones popping off every which way in every one of my classes, periods off to see some assembly about the dangers of drugs, weeks off to DisneyWorld with parents, and the hours Ivy spends staring listlessly out the window wondering why Ryan doesn't like her anymore.
And i LOVE what i do. If they didn't pay me, that'd be okay; i'd still do it. I'm a damn good teacher and i *know*, right down to the tips of my toes, that there are a bunch of people out there in the world that see the place, their lives, and their opportunities, differently... with more hope and a broader palette of choices... because of me.
Not just anyone could do the job either. It takes a tough, smart, flexible, caring, organized, flame-retardant, no-bullshit kinda person to be a good, long-lasting classroom teacher at any level.
So you go ahead and knock the system all you want but stay the hell away from teachers. We're not in it for the money, none of us. We're not in it cuz we're gonna be famous. We're in it cuz it's a fucking calling and cuz we HAVE to teach. Most of us, anyway.
We earn a pittance of what comparably educated people earn. We work WAY longer hours than the much-ballyhooed 9-3 workday. During those long summers "off" we're attending workshops and taking state-mandated classes in order to keep our credentials current, not to mention being physically at school after the students leave for the summer and before they come back in the fall. We organize our lesson plans in the summer, discarding that which didn't work and trying like hell to find new and interesting ways to present the material our school boards and principals just told us we'd have to teach in the fall.
During the school year, teachers like me, teachers at the middle school level, counsel girls who just got their period for the first time and talk to them about how to change napkins and what to do with them when they're ready to be discarded. We try to work the new kid who speaks no English into our mid-quarter science class, oh by the way, test next Tuesday and no, we don't have enough microscopes to go around, do we?, you'll have to share with Juan and Kimmy who don't want to share with the new kid. We deal with parents who want to know why Johnny got a "D" on his report card and don't i have to give them some warning before giving him a grade like that? (Why yes, that's why i send progress reports home weekly beginning the second week of classes, a thing you know cuz you've been signing them. Ohhhh, you never saw one let along signed it? Hmm, maybe we'd better get Johnny in here...) We deal with sniffles and kids that come to school hungry and kids who have burn scars from that bad uncle of theirs. We deal with mothers who drink too much and can't make it to school plays, so the kid does her best, shamefaced and sad.
We deal with endless requests to serve on this committee or that one. We have weekly and monthly Faculty meetings and club meetings at which we are the advisor. We sell magazines to all our relatives every year to try to send every 6th grader in the school to camp, cuz we know there's kids whose families don't have the money.
Then there's OUR families and the time, energy, love, respect, presence they need from us.
On top of all this, we are teaching our subject. Mine happens to be science, in a specific yearly rotation (astronomy, meteorology, geology, evolution, microbiology, animal biology, plant biology). I teach this stuff with wit and verve and high fucking expectations of every student. I thread science through the hormones popping off every which way in every one of my classes, periods off to see some assembly about the dangers of drugs, weeks off to DisneyWorld with parents, and the hours Ivy spends staring listlessly out the window wondering why Ryan doesn't like her anymore.
And i LOVE what i do. If they didn't pay me, that'd be okay; i'd still do it. I'm a damn good teacher and i *know*, right down to the tips of my toes, that there are a bunch of people out there in the world that see the place, their lives, and their opportunities, differently... with more hope and a broader palette of choices... because of me.
Not just anyone could do the job either. It takes a tough, smart, flexible, caring, organized, flame-retardant, no-bullshit kinda person to be a good, long-lasting classroom teacher at any level.
So you go ahead and knock the system all you want but stay the hell away from teachers. We're not in it for the money, none of us. We're not in it cuz we're gonna be famous. We're in it cuz it's a fucking calling and cuz we HAVE to teach. Most of us, anyway.
lavender said:
You've hit the point right on Lav. The state and local level school boards are facing increasing pressure from the Bush brothers (I happen to be in FL, so we've had to deal with it for a few years already) to hold schools directly responsible for failing students through subjective 'standardized' testing. The schools response, understandably really, considering the heavy burden they already support, is to teach to the test and yup, you guessed it, geography isn't on the test.
Your example is only a microcosm of a larger, growing problem however.
[Edited by Cync on 05-10-2001 at 10:49 PM]
Mr.G
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We have the same probs in Canada. Whole languages, whole math took over about 15 years ago. wee hav kidz hoo kan onle right lik this ef thers none spel chik one there cumputr whot ur reeding looks lik these ore wurst.
We just "subjected" students to a huge literacy test in Ontario - grade 10!! 40% flunked outright and another 30% came so close that they could be deemed functionally illiterate. The teachers, unions and school boards all blamed a provincial premir who has been in power only 5 years (like blaming Bush for California's energy crisis) and the fact that the kids weren't given time to STUDY. It was a LITERACY test ferchrisakes! You can either READ when you're in grade 10 or you can't.
Graduating grades get "options" on A history or A geography course. These days kids have NO concept of the history of man, civilization or the chronology of modern times - say from 1900 up to the present. Most international News items baffle them as they have no idea where the story originates or who is there to be affected by it.
I'm not saying ALL schools and curriculums are as bad as some or most but the "DUMBING DOWN" has been appalling.
I witnessed three college students pouring over facts and figures in a third year environmental course. They had color coded countries and they were cross referrencing those countries with high mortality/morbidity rates with degrees of deforestation observed in various countries. Most of the countries with high deforestation rates fell in line with correspondingly high mortality/morbidity rates. What had them in such a tizzy was the fact that countries such as Libya, Morocco, Chad and Sudan showed Zero deforestation yet had some of the highest mortality rates
in the world. I interrupted them and pointed out that those countries didn't HAVE any forests and hadn't for 10,000 years or so..called the Sahara desert now!
They asked me if I was a teacher and how did I know that. I told them when I went to school I learned all "that" in grade 4. They thought I was joking. I thought they were joking at the start then I realized they weren't. They had maps all over the table in the coffee shop and I asked them a few questions..where was the Amazon River - best answer was Amazonia. Deserts like the Kalahari, Atacama and Gobi were complete mysteries. The Alps, Urals,
Andes...none of them even knew I was talking about mountain ranges. Hitler was the Prime Minister of Austria up until two or three years ago - the were pretty sure. Stalin? No idea. Trudeau? He was President "back when Mom was a kid." said one of them.
These were THIRD YEAR UNIVERSITY students!! We are DOOMED. This is our future and many teachers are still pointing fingers at the parents in the belief that we pay the school systems ten of billions of dollars to TEACH and really the parents should do all the important stuff before the kids ever get to scholl.
WHAT IS GOING ON??? DUMBING DOWN isn't coming close to what some schools are "graduating."
We just "subjected" students to a huge literacy test in Ontario - grade 10!! 40% flunked outright and another 30% came so close that they could be deemed functionally illiterate. The teachers, unions and school boards all blamed a provincial premir who has been in power only 5 years (like blaming Bush for California's energy crisis) and the fact that the kids weren't given time to STUDY. It was a LITERACY test ferchrisakes! You can either READ when you're in grade 10 or you can't.
Graduating grades get "options" on A history or A geography course. These days kids have NO concept of the history of man, civilization or the chronology of modern times - say from 1900 up to the present. Most international News items baffle them as they have no idea where the story originates or who is there to be affected by it.
I'm not saying ALL schools and curriculums are as bad as some or most but the "DUMBING DOWN" has been appalling.
I witnessed three college students pouring over facts and figures in a third year environmental course. They had color coded countries and they were cross referrencing those countries with high mortality/morbidity rates with degrees of deforestation observed in various countries. Most of the countries with high deforestation rates fell in line with correspondingly high mortality/morbidity rates. What had them in such a tizzy was the fact that countries such as Libya, Morocco, Chad and Sudan showed Zero deforestation yet had some of the highest mortality rates
in the world. I interrupted them and pointed out that those countries didn't HAVE any forests and hadn't for 10,000 years or so..called the Sahara desert now!
They asked me if I was a teacher and how did I know that. I told them when I went to school I learned all "that" in grade 4. They thought I was joking. I thought they were joking at the start then I realized they weren't. They had maps all over the table in the coffee shop and I asked them a few questions..where was the Amazon River - best answer was Amazonia. Deserts like the Kalahari, Atacama and Gobi were complete mysteries. The Alps, Urals,
Andes...none of them even knew I was talking about mountain ranges. Hitler was the Prime Minister of Austria up until two or three years ago - the were pretty sure. Stalin? No idea. Trudeau? He was President "back when Mom was a kid." said one of them.
These were THIRD YEAR UNIVERSITY students!! We are DOOMED. This is our future and many teachers are still pointing fingers at the parents in the belief that we pay the school systems ten of billions of dollars to TEACH and really the parents should do all the important stuff before the kids ever get to scholl.
WHAT IS GOING ON??? DUMBING DOWN isn't coming close to what some schools are "graduating."
bluntforcemama
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People always say "Kids these days...." But what's the point? It's the parents that you should be looking at.
Funny-looking kids come from funny-looking parents.
Funny-looking kids come from funny-looking parents.
Earthgoddess
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I deeply admire all teachers-Cymdidia-great post. I have a number of friends who teach and they work harder than any other proffessional I know, and for loads less money.
I am homeschooling my son-not because I don't have faith in teachers-but because I have lost faith in our governments ability to correctly and fairly distribute the appropriate funds to schools.
In my fair city our illustrious Mayor has spent a ton on our stadiums yet cut education dollars. His child attends a Catholic school in the county so I suppose it does not impact her education at all.
I pay my taxes and I homeschool-because we can not afford the type of school I want my son to attend and because over a third of the homeschooling parents I know are former city school teachers. To me that is the most powerful reason to homeschool.
[Edited by Earthgoddess on 05-11-2001 at 12:19 PM]
I am homeschooling my son-not because I don't have faith in teachers-but because I have lost faith in our governments ability to correctly and fairly distribute the appropriate funds to schools.
In my fair city our illustrious Mayor has spent a ton on our stadiums yet cut education dollars. His child attends a Catholic school in the county so I suppose it does not impact her education at all.
I pay my taxes and I homeschool-because we can not afford the type of school I want my son to attend and because over a third of the homeschooling parents I know are former city school teachers. To me that is the most powerful reason to homeschool.
[Edited by Earthgoddess on 05-11-2001 at 12:19 PM]
Andra_Jenny
Mentally Divergent
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Look at the Kansas City, Mo. situation.
Years ago a Liberal Judge by the name of Clark decided to write law and order the desegregation of the Kansas City school district. The behavior and attitudes of the new students in most high schools caused the reaction called "white flight," leaving the schools to the mercy of African-American school board members who have proceeded to:
1). Declare that whites were unfit to be the district superintendant because they did not understand the needs of minority youths.
2). Institute an Afro-Centic curriculum and the celebration of Afro-American Culture, a culture that increasingly views being educated as being “white,” and hence unacceptable, to the detriment of American culture. Programs were designed around athletics and entertainment.
3). After 25 year, millions of dollars, and African-American-Democratic control, the school district lost accredidation. When the state began deliberations on what to do next, the school board proclaimed the state legislature to be “rural, redneck, racists,” incapable of understanding the needs of the black community.
Thus over the course of two scant decades, the school board has engaged in racial discrimination, racism, and hate speech.
We need to stand up to this new urban culture and no more, because despite what someone else said, our rural schools work great! But we are not afraid to use traditional values, morality, religion, and reasonable punishments for improper behavior. Our teachers have it a lot better and the community supports them and develops long-term relations with them.
Years ago a Liberal Judge by the name of Clark decided to write law and order the desegregation of the Kansas City school district. The behavior and attitudes of the new students in most high schools caused the reaction called "white flight," leaving the schools to the mercy of African-American school board members who have proceeded to:
1). Declare that whites were unfit to be the district superintendant because they did not understand the needs of minority youths.
2). Institute an Afro-Centic curriculum and the celebration of Afro-American Culture, a culture that increasingly views being educated as being “white,” and hence unacceptable, to the detriment of American culture. Programs were designed around athletics and entertainment.
3). After 25 year, millions of dollars, and African-American-Democratic control, the school district lost accredidation. When the state began deliberations on what to do next, the school board proclaimed the state legislature to be “rural, redneck, racists,” incapable of understanding the needs of the black community.
Thus over the course of two scant decades, the school board has engaged in racial discrimination, racism, and hate speech.
We need to stand up to this new urban culture and no more, because despite what someone else said, our rural schools work great! But we are not afraid to use traditional values, morality, religion, and reasonable punishments for improper behavior. Our teachers have it a lot better and the community supports them and develops long-term relations with them.
Cheyenne
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cymbidia said:
Excellent post, Cymdidia. One of the best I've seen on the board in a long time. Your post should be a letter to the editor in your local paper.
I never had you as a teacher, obviously, but there are quite a few teachers in my own past who would measure up exactly to what you are saying. I had wonderful teachers who taught us so much more than just what was in the textbooks- and yes, I went to a public school. Sure, there was a bad teacher here and there. But for the most part, with hindsight, I can see how great most of them were. I was very lucky.
