Interesting information for your perusal...

[Leah]

Oh, I will also say, "No Child Left Behind" and standardized testing has really crippled the teachers that are there for the right reasons. It's a complete and total failure, and should go by the wayside. That's not the fault of the teachers. Blame your politicians.

I agree with you wholeheartedly.

[bcoop]

Oh, I will also say, "No Child Left Behind" and standardized testing has really crippled the teachers that are there for the right reasons. It's a complete and total failure, and should go by the wayside. That's not the fault of the teachers. Blame your politicians.

[JJs89lx]

Not to jump on just any bandwagon here, but I will say thanks for teaching.

[mikec]

ftt!

I'm a believer!

...If 50% of your students can't read or do simple math? You should be run out of town on rails and forbidden from ever getting near a school again....

No more tenure, if your students fail, you do too. I'm not saying the first year your students flunk you're gone but if it happens two or three years? It's not them, it's you.

The difficulty here is that you are forming your opinion, as do so many others, on what is reported. Even though you know that 'reporting', as we know it, is never actual and factual. In that I've been married to a teacher for the entire 12 years she has been teaching I'm a bit more in tune with what actually goes on, and it's bullshit. In reality, it is very difficult for teachers to influence what is and is not absorbed in the classroom, due to a multitude of variables I choose to not write a thesis on.

Bottom line is that when you wish to enact change in our educational system, much as when you wish to enact change in our political system, look not at those charged with carrying out the tasks at hand, but to the leadership that issues the ROE.

My wife dreams of only working 52 hour weeks...

Lets also not forget she(which is usually me) has to supply materials for the classroom. Paper, ink for the printer, markers for the whiteboard, etc.

With the amount of time she puts in, and the money we have to spend just so she can teach it averages to about $16 an hour.

I have personally tried to get her to quit teaching, but she loves it and loves helping the "children." She is the science UIL coach, team leader of the biology department, and routinely goes to the sporting events as some of her best students wants her support.

I will argue until I'm blue in the face that she is underpaid with anyone. With that said she chose this profession and we really can't talk...


With that said there are some mouth breathers she works with that aren't even worth the pot they shit in.

VERY salient post, and I agree wholeheartedly. The difficulty is that you have, as in most topics, people who have never done it, yet know absolutely every nuance involved, with firmly established viewpoints that will not truly examine what is and is not...

So, in essence, what we've got here, is a failure to communicate...

[FATHERFORD]

My wife dreams of only working 52 hour weeks...

Lets also not forget she(which is usually me) has to supply materials for the classroom. Paper, ink for the printer, markers for the whiteboard, etc.

With the amount of time she puts in, and the money we have to spend just so she can teach it averages to about $16 an hour.

I have personally tried to get her to quit teaching, but she loves it and loves helping the "children." She is the science UIL coach, team leader of the biology department, and routinely goes to the sporting events as some of her best students wants her support.

I will argue until I'm blue in the face that she is underpaid with anyone. With that said she chose this profession and we really can't talk...


With that said there are some mouth breathers she works with that aren't even worth the pot they shit in.

[bcoop]

this thread is no better than an ftp thread.

ftt!

[mstng86]

This thread is no better than an FTP thread.

FTT thread?

Where is Pink Floyd when you need them?

[Ratt]

This thread is no better than an FTP thread.

[Forever_frost]

This is the absolute truth. Fact is that it is impossible to get them to do the work if they choose to not do so. Many times the parents could care less. I've heard about it for years. Also school administration focuses on percentages of groups of kids to determine where their focus is for "x calendar year", with some departments being completely ignored until their percentages change and make them the focus for that years TAKS tests.

To no one in particular: Some of you people are pretty smart in your area, and completely ignorant in this one, though it's always nice to see your mastery of that which you know nothing...



My wife has taught for 12 years and I've never heard about even one strike. Not one.


As for hours she works? She is there five days a week, from 7:30 to 5, sometimes having to work on lesson plans and the like on the weekends. Where does that put her on the "full time hours worked" list?

You weren't watching the Wisconsin union bill last year were you? Teachers left and shut down the schools and took the students with them to protest.

[Forever_frost]

What about those kids that don't give a shit and won't do anything no matter what you do? Should teachers be penalized because a kid's an asshole? To hear the way you guys tell it, it's all the teacher's fault. That's the mentality that has put us in the position we are in now.

Example: Today was the exit level TAKS ELA test. My mother is a teacher in Southlake and I just got off the phone with her. She had a kid in her room testing (not one of her students, just one assigned to her class). He was just sitting there doing nothing. She walked by his desk and noticed he had everything bubbled in, but had not started his writing samples or essay. Mind you, you have to pass this test to get a diploma. She asked him about it and his response was, "Yeah, I'm just not feeling it today". She calls the VP-she pulls him out and talks to him, he's still 'not feeling it'. They call the parents and at this time, my mom has noticed that he hasn't even broken the seal on his booklet-he just bubbled shit in. He ended up not doing jack and turning it in knowing he was going to fail.

Should his teachers be canned because he didn't fucking try? In your world, they would be. I wish there was such an easy fix, but when you start making blanket statements like that, problems don't get fixed...they get compounded.

When you have instances like that, the students should be removed from the class. This is what I'm talking about:

n a study of 20 'high income' countries, the US ranked 12th on literacy tests. Illiteracy has become such a serious problem in our country that 44 million adults are now unable to read a simple story to their child. A few other shocking facts:

* 50 percent of adults cannot read a book written at an eighth grade level.
* 20 percent of Americans are functionally illiterate and read below a 5th grade level.
* Nearly half of all Americans read so poorly that they cannot find a single piece of information when reading a short publication.


If 50% of your students can't read or do simple math? You should be run out of town on rails and forbidden from ever getting near a school again.

Statistics released by the U.S. Education Department this week show that some 32 million U.S. adults lack basic prose literacy skill. That means they can't read a newspaper or the instruction on a bottle of pills.

The figures are for 2003, the latest year available. State and county results are available here.

http://www.gossiprocks.com/forum/news/48114-50-american-adults-cannot-read-book-grade-8-level.html

http://www.livescience.com/3211-14-percent-adults-read.html

No more tenure, if your students fail, you do too. I'm not saying the first year your students flunk you're gone but if it happens two or three years? It's not them, it's you.

[bcoop]

Why in the world would one attempt to teach private sector related course without any real world experience on the topic? How in the hell are they qualified? Degrees don't make you qualified for that. Am I the only one that finds humor in this?

You're definitely not the only one. I'd even go a step further and say a degree doesn't give you skill. It gives you knowledge of principles, theories, etc. IMO, skills can only be developed once you find a job where you can put that education to use. Not to mention all the skills a real job requires, that school/college teaches you nothing about.

[CJ]

Exception, not the rule. My brother had a finance professor at UNT that is worth millions. But he is the exception, not the rule. And to further back up another point someone else made - this guy already made his money. Teaching was a fun way to pass the time. Those that were successful in their fields, then went on to teach, make the best teachers/professors. But the fact is, most of the education field is made up of people that couldn't hack it.

I had a business professor which never ran or worked in the private sector at all. He had zero experience and he was trying to teach me business. I find the entire idea of a career educator to be laughable hypocrisy. Why in the world would one attempt to teach private sector related course without any real world experience on the topic? How in the hell are they qualified? Degrees don't make you qualified for that. Am I the only one that finds humor in this?

[bcoop]

Mine was actually head of back ground investigations for Pinkerton before going into teaching.

Just pointing out that those cute little sayings aren't always entirely spot on. Wish we had actual statistics to help determine exactly how accurate that particular one is...

Exception, not the rule. My brother had a finance professor at UNT that is worth millions. But he is the exception, not the rule. And to further back up another point someone else made - this guy already made his money. Teaching was a fun way to pass the time. Those that were successful in their fields, then went on to teach, make the best teachers/professors. But the fact is, most of the education field is made up of people that couldn't hack it.

Another "cute" saying to back up my position on this, is that if you don't do, you don't learn. Textbooks and lectures are only going to take you so far. There is no substitute for real world experience.

[CJ]

That wasn't my original response?

It seems like I read it wrong?

[ELVIS]

its raining outside.

god bless.