Posted on 02/20/2016 7:56:38 AM PST by Republicanprofessor
Bookmark
Point #5, allowing teachers with actual experience rather than lifelong academia is critical. Tenured academics who have never faced scrutiny on actual performance over their time in service need to face real competition.
Thank you for composing and posting your article.
Bookmarked also.
When the student is ready the teacher appears.
Pethaps we should get rid of compulsory education beyond Jr. High?
And provide more vocational training and get rid of all ethnic, feminist, gendergender, etc studies.
When the student is ready the teacher appears.
Pethaps we should get rid of compulsory education beyond Jr. High?
And provide more vocational training and get rid of all ethnic, feminist, gender, etc studies.
Having said that (respectfully), I'm a veteran urban public school teacher, and here's my two cents.
One, we have no control over curriculum anymore. Everything is centrally managed. I must teach an honors Physics class, all of whom have already taken trig, the exact same way I teach a basic Physics class. That's just crazy.
Two, we have no control over discipline anymore. The focus now is on reducing suspensions (to improve statistics), not on providing orderly classrooms.
And three, I (again respectfully) think you are overemphasizing the "bored, ineffective teachers" thing. I want to work with competent colleagues. The incompetent ones ruin subject tracking, not to mention their effect on students. But I estimate only 5% of teachers I've worked with are incompetent. That percentage is probably the same in most professions.
Great post.
Emailed to my Conservative wife (teacher)
Some of this sounds like conversations at our dinner table.
You are probably right on all accounts. I have hesitated posting this for some time, probably because I knew it was too much.
You are also probably right on the number of bored teachers. I have spent more time at the college level. My main question is: How do we motivate students to learn?
The elephant in the room is PC and the coercive tactics which are given moral high ground in protecting unexamined assumptions. I am an older college student, and it breaks my heart to see perfectly lovely young people competing over who has the most wrong with them thus qualifying them for coveted “victim” status.
There is a whole lot that will straighten out quick if PC is removed. The competitiveness is still there, it’s just currently being misdirected.
Have the teachers draw the bell curve in order to receive their paycheck.
Respectfully, your “there’s too much there” commentary makes his point. I started out in the public schools and had to work hard to get over the attitude that something was too much work.
One point he misses is getting pupils, and there is a difference between students and pupils, to love learning is the key; to make them life long learners is the goal. It does not matter that much if you master a subject without any ability to learn, take it further, and make use of it.
One thing I have NEVER been asked in all of the teaching positions that I have sought is, what do you know, and/or any real discussion about teaching In other words, how do you impart what you know?
All that schools are concerned about is indoctrination, hence the importance placed upon the diversity statement and discussions along those lines. Socialization takes precedence over learning.
Here’s the key: recognize that “education” is not something that is done to someone, it’s something that someone does.
And recognize that, at some age around 12, it’s possible to identify possible high school students and others (most) for whom further education is a waste.
Limit college to the top 5%, determined by exam.
After that, everything else falls into place.
Respectfully, once you get there, it's over.
So what do you know?
You can't.
Next slide.
I know what it is to teach. I know that the issues surrounding education cannot be covered in 30 second sound bites as we have been conditioned by public education and by media. I recognize when somebody is not ready for education or prepared to discuss something rationally and in depth.
Born, not made.
Universal high school is not only a waste of money (bad enough) but it pisses off the majority of sub-90 IQ "students", the boys get violent in response, the girls get pregnant.
My grandmother taught in NYC Public for 55 years, if she were here, she would say in response to the question about how to make non-students into students - "You can't. Somebody's got to clean the subways".
Too bad grandma's not in charge.
Some one once told me, "There are two things with which God will not help man; to find a teacher and to find a friend. You must do that on your own."
And of course, Einstein said, "There are two things eternal. Human stupidity and the universe. And I'm not even sure about the universe."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.