Posted on 09/08/2015 9:12:04 AM PDT by rktman
Something else to consider, according to deT the average man of the day was not only interested but well versed in the issues of the day. We FReepers remember the videos of questions asked of 0bama voters.
There are big differences is how much teachers are paid depending in which state that work in.
As for merit pay, the idea is insane. The quality of the students is a major factor in how well they perform. With merit pay you’d be paying teachers who work in the ghetto peanuts while paying teachers who work in rich areas a relative fortune. Does that make sense to you?
No doubt. If you can find it, somewhere someone posted a test for 8th graders(?) from back in the 1920’s or near that time frame. Hell, I had a hard time with it. LOL! Probably most HS seniors couldn’t pass it today. Sad dang state of affairs.
In home schooling our 8 kids we discovered that it is much easier to teach a child to read that to teach one to wash the dishes correctly.
But for now I'll limit myself to just one item. For most of my career, I've taught physics. Now, as any engineer or physicist will tell you, “torque” is a pretty important topic in physics.
But I'm not permitted to teach torque! Why? It's for the simple reason that torque is not in the detailed syllabus that I must follow. Oh, I teach it anyway. But should a supervisor walk in while I'm doing so, I'd have some serious explaining to do. And I could be fired for repeat “offenses” of this nature.
In a similar vein, we went through a period of years (thankfully over) when we were not allowed to correct a student's mistake until the next day. That was the bright idea of some outside consultant.
So, for example, if a student said "E=mc^3", I was supposed stop teaching and form discussion groups on that topic, but not mention it was E=mc^2 until the next day. That would have been an enormous time-waster, and I never did it. lucky I was never caught.
So yep, public schools are full of problems. But don't underestimate the constant interference good teachers must endure from outside consultants, supervisors who are looking to make a name for themselves, undisciplined students, etc.
(sorry for the long rant)
That makes me want to throw up. It really does.
That’s funny. And absolutely true.
It is not the teacher’s pay that is too high in most areas. It is the bloated bureaucracy that has grown like an overfed tick and sucks all the money from the school budget.
I hear ya. Am getting the payments made from HISD so I can fully examine each staff member employed at that school. I am pelting this idiot runaway school board on Twitter every day as hard as I can. We already protested.
Not a problem.(ahem!) I know there are still excellent teachers out there but it sure seems like they are few and far between and that may just be media induced thinking. During my career, the company often contracted outside ‘consultants’ for all sorts of things. Usually the results were less than stellar. Wonder just how much the ‘consultants’ that were hired to service us in the wonderful world of diversity toted off to the bank. A bunch I’ll bet.
Recently I sent a gift to a graduating, college-bound high school student.
His mother insisted on thank you notes (a good thing), but they looked as if they were written by a second grader who could not spell (not so good). This boy should be going to trade school, but, no, college material, the family thinks.
It’s both. I’ve no argument with you on the bureaucracy, in all of government, not just education...but the law of supply and demand proves that they are over paid, or at least, not underpaid.
Good deal. Thank you for doing what you’re doing. People would never know of such situations without people like you making a stand. Again, thank you.
Here are some more big Massie words:
http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/outthere/otmassiethesaurus.html
The reason the students seem to be illiterate is that the administration will not allow anyone held back even though they are not passing or doing grade level work.You can’t teach a stone !
Actually, trade school and a solid work ethic will put a student light years ahead of today’s average college graduate.
“tuning out” or “turning out”?
Merit pay is a fallacy. Teachers who kiss the administrations azz get the best kids who perform well. The teachers that are actually the best get the worst learning students along with the behavior problems. These students could not and really don’t care about so the teacher gets blamed.
I am an adjunct professor at a local community college where I teach American history and culture and constitutional history. I read a report recently that said most American college freshman read and write at a 7th grade level. From what I have seen in my 7 years this is very true, and only if the 7th grade level is a mess. It’s like high school doesn’t exist at all except for social functions for most American kids.
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