that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree???
Posted on 09/10/2011 6:51:05 AM PDT by erkyl
Ron Clark is an award-winning teacher who started his own academy in Atlanta He wants parents to trust teachers and their advice about their students Clark says some teachers hand out A grades so parents won't bother them It's OK for kids to get in trouble sometimes; it teaches life lessons, Clark says
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Just wow! How about turning the prism for a different take: assigning and requiring homework fosters a sense of responsibility—something that parents may be outsourcing to teachers.
Man! Public schools are failing. We get it. Teachers, generally, like so many other workers in our society, are doing a poor job. Check. Public schools have lost their way when it comes to teaching the building blocks of learning. Got it. And all this takes place in a vacuum? Not exactly. American schools are the product of America’s turn away from God, from America’s founding principles, from the original charter of our public education system—to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ (which, ironically, is the only thing you can’t teach in public schools nowadays.) Americans have let this happen. All Americans—not just teachers. Not just teacher unions.
You want a working public educational system? Really? Then you’d better get back to what was working before Americans thought they could live apart from God. That includes every American family, every finger-pointer here at FR, every bureaucrat/technocrat/educrat, every individual, every person fed up with dealing with a teenage counter person who can’t figure out change for a buck, every boss tired of hiring an interpreter for employee emails, everyone sick of seeing our country being governed by an Obama or a Bush!
I’m a teacher. And I assign homework. I don’t outsource my job. I check the homework turned in by my students all by myself.
Sorry to sound snippy. I know/hope folks aren’t ridiculing all teachers. But easy arguments do not lead to real answers, and just pounding away at the failure of public schools doesn’t fully address the complete nature of the problem.
“I feel so sorry for administrators and teachers these days whose hands are completely tied...We walk on eggshells in a watered-down education system where teachers lack the courage to be honest and speak their minds.”
I have no sympathy for administrators. In Tucson, they are the ones pushing to teach kids how we all ought to belong to Mexico, and how the evil white man wakes up daily trying to figure out another way of keeping his boot on the neck of poor Mexicans.
Hey, don’t forget about the driver there. If a person invests in car repairs and then goes about ignoring “regular maintenance” issues, chances are good that future break-downs will occur no matter the original investment.
You’ve got to change the oil, fill/rotate the tires, do an occasional tune-up, top off the fluids, etc. How many of our “little engines that could” can’t because they suffer neglect at the hands of their “drivers?”
See, it takes the mechanic AND a responsible driver working TOGETHER to keep the car on the road.
“It’s a self-fulfilling cycle — keep pay low, many good people won’t stay, but people who aren’t so good will...Spend money on your kid’s education.”
Stuff it. I’m paying $5000 each year in property taxes, virtually all of which goes to the schools - who beg for more. And that is a bill that keeps on going, regardless of having any kids in school. We home schooled our daughter for 4 years, paying for materials and courses out of pocket - AND still paid $5000/year in taxes.
Teachers are well paid for what they do. If administrators would support putting discipline in the classrooms, and allow teachers to spend time teaching instead of filing lesson plans, most teachers would be happy as a pig in mud.
Obviously you have not been on the same threads I have....but don't worry I'm pretty sure they will show up.
should be teaching reading, writing and arithmetic instead of social justice
You don't really think teachers are doing this because they want to ,do you?
they work for the parents not the other way around
Obviously you have not been on the same threads I have....but don't worry I'm pretty sure they will show up.
should be teaching reading, writing and arithmetic instead of social justice
You don't really think teachers are doing this because they want to ,do you?
they work for the parents not the other way around
In an ideal world that would be true, truth is they work for the school board....the parents aren't paying attention...that's how this socialist horsh$t takes root.I would venture to guess 90% of parents have no idea of the problems you are speaking of. They are more interested in their social world than their childs world..they have willingly turned that over to the beuacracy.
And regarding this article ... it’s spot on what she has had to deal with in her career. In the district she teaches in now, it’s become a parents-in-control situation. Unfortunately, the school board and administrators have allowed this to happen.
My sister and her husband both teach in Arizona. Neither one complains about parents. Both complain long & loud about the administration, and the stupid rules and paperwork that flood them.
Great observation and so very true! We let this happen. Most of us have passively sat by and watched schools take more and more control away from the parents and the local community while relinquishing control to the big unions and Washington. Saying nothing, not going to PTA meetings, school board meetings, complaining about homework, just not giving a flip and saying the school should be doing everything---and now we are where we are. Why is anyone here surprised that the unions and Washington have so much power? I'd like to ask how many of those complaining about the schools actually stood up to their own schools when they started to cross the line? How many of them attended a board meeting, wrote to the superintendent, participated in the PTA? As a teacher, I did all of these things for my own children's schools, and actually was able to accomplish a few things for the sake of the community and the cause of Christ. I have no regrets about my job as a parent.
I hate to break it to you, but kids are not cars.
Further, I don’t pay teachers to ‘fix’ my kids. That is a huge part of the problem - schools that try to FIX our kids instead of TEACH them.
My oldest daughter was in the 5th grade in Washington State when she spent time putting condoms on bananas. We found out when she came home and told us condoms come in multiple flavors.
I don’t need to pay a teacher mechanic to fix my kid’s belief that homosexuality is sin. I don’t need a teacher mechanic installing condoms. I don’t need a teacher mechanic fixing my daughter’s belief that Arizona should stay in the USA.
If y’all are so concerned that mechanics make more than teachers, try becoming a REAL mechanic. You might find customers who are unhappy with your performance, and employers who expect you to work the entire year. You might find customers don’t want you to adjust the engine so the power is 1/3, because you’ve decided they need to save gas. And if you never ‘fix’ the car, but keep demanding more money, you MIGHT find yourself out of a job!
Most auto mechanics will provide some kind of warranty if they don’t do the job right the first time.
Since parents are the ones given the responsability to raise the children I would say that it is their problem. But I think the problem is more that parents have given up their role of educating their own children and instead turn it over to “professional” teachers.
I have read the article and would like to point out some things...The statement was made, “we live in fear of what will happen next. We walk on eggshells...”...are these the same people that trashed the Wisconsin capitol building just a few monthes ago? (when they called in sick) The same people that have disrupted several school board meetings and speeches by political leaders around the state of Wisconsin...what kind of eggshells are they walking on?
The article goes on with two more statements...”looks at him and asks, ‘Is that true?’ Well, of course it's true. I just told you.”...and “approach the situation by saying, ‘...I know that children can exaggerate’...”. So if I understand the thought process here, anything that the teacher says must be true and should not be questioned, but the parent should not believe their own child when they bring something up...parents trust the teacher more then your own child...I don't think so. Thankfully, the parents listened to their children locally so that a local teacher that had been sexually assaulting his students is no longer teaching but is now behind bars...along with a local school administrator for child porn...and the list could go on...
Other statements include “and we need you to give us the respect we deserve. Lift us up and make us feel appreciated,” sorry to let them know but respect needs to be earned not given or expected (we deserve). In the same article it states that most teachers only remain in the profession 4.5 years...that is not a lot of time to earn respect...and also tells me that the teacher is not the person that is going to be there for the child for the long term...that is why the parent has the responsibility to raise the child.
Another statement is...”to trust us, support us and work with the system, not against it.”...here is another quote about this system, see if you want to “work with” it...”The battle for humankind's future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognizes and respects the spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being...The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new-the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism...” by John Dunphy in the article “A Religion For A New Age” in “The Humanist” published in 1983. I could go back a hundred years and give you very similar quotes from the founders of our public education system.
As a parent I have not and will not send my children into that system and will not trust those that are advocating for it...including pastors.
to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ (which, ironically, is the only thing you can’t teach in public schools nowadays.) Americans have let this happen. All Americans—not just teachers. Not just teacher unions.
I do not know a single parent who has given up. Most parents I know want to partner with teachers for the education of their children.
Schools would be greatly improved with the elimination of teachers unions.
I don’t think parents should leave the teachers alone. They only see a little bit of the child, and they don’t spend much one-on-one time with the children like parents do.
I have a special needs daughter, and she was having problems that were not being addressed during school.
In k-3, She had so much difficulty writing. She could memorize how to spell words, but she couldn’t sound them out. No one was addressing these issues.
When I told the speech therapist at school that it seemed like she had a hearing problem, the speech therapist said I was creating problems.
When I talked to the principal and told him she was always tired and couldn’t get out of bed in the mornings. She was falling apart and having terrible tantrums after school, the principal said I was crazy.
The all knew she had a brain injury. Finally, we had an independent evaluation, and found out that she had auditory processing problems that included being able to remember what people tell you and being able to hear the sounds in a word.
Then she had a grand mal seizure, and we found out she was having lots of abnormal spiking all throughout the day, but especially at night. She also had a heart arrhythmia that was worse at night.
Once she got put on anti-seizure medication, she stopped having the strange tantrums and she was able to wake in the mornings.
You missed my point. I seemed to have gotten quite angry in the process.
The purpose of the analogy was not to liken teachers to mechanics. It was to liken car owners to parents!
Most parents that I know that send their children to public school would rather send their children to private school or home school but have settled for public school since it is easier then fighting against the system. So then they try to be involved by staying in contact with the teachers but they tell me that the teachers only want their involvement on the teachers terms, the parent then feels that they have now lost control of THEIR child. This is were the parents have given up the responsibility...not just given up.
I hope your view of teachers is not only what you saw in Wisconsin. But I can assure you that teachers are walking on eggshells, scared for their jobs/careers. I know this from personal experience, which I will explain below.
So if I understand the thought process here, anything that the teacher says must be true and should not be questioned, but the parent should not believe their own child when they bring something up...
Your point is well-taken; however, the kids know this to be true, and use it to their advantage. At least the high school kids do. I lost my career because a student lied about a situation (not sexual or related to the classroom, but an extracurricular activity I sponsored) and the administration believed the student and would not accept my version of events. My family has suffered greatly and I have been through hell personally because of it. I sacrificed a lot to become a teacher, and it was my life's career and goal, and a lying teenager and a bunch of lawsuit-averse administrators, and yes, some parents who wanted to trust their child over the adult, took it all away from me.
My ability to earn a living and support my family was stolen from me, and my story was not the only one in my school--my principal and school district did this over and over again for the slightest student accusation of a teacher. I know of no less than a dozen teachers who lost their careers because of frivolous, ridiculous accusations made by students that were never related to the quality of the student's education or the teacher's classroom teaching ability, but because the district threw the book at them, put them on administrative leave and under investigation, the teacher's reputation is now ruined and their careers are over. Every single person I knew who had this experience, including myself, was an exceptional, mature teacher who was being well-paid and was replaced by an inexperienced, new teacher who was cheaper to employ. They called my principal "a cleaner" because the district would bring her into a school where they wanted to clean house and save some money. She had done this at every school she was at prior to mine, and now is an assistant superintendent with the district--lucky her. After nearly 3 years of part-time, online employment, being paid menial wages, I'm finally getting into a new career field and getting a chance to support my own children's college education. Teachers all over the country are familiar with these kinds of stories. Administrators, fearful of lawsuit-filing parents, throw good teachers under the bus. Parents who think that all teachers are lying pedophiles and child molesters and that their children can never tell a lie don't help and, essentially, are lending the district a hand in destroying the lives of many good, wonderful teachers.
that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree???
No, you can't come in and observe the class, we are showing the States Children how gay sex works and you with your outdated idea of morality might object. And give us more money.
Of course I took the $200.00 worth of school supplies you sent for your child and put them in the "sharing closet". We have got to start early teaching the little ones that nothing belongs to them and they should give everything to the state. And give us more money.
No, naturally your child doesn't understand mathematics. The system that I use is designed to confuse not teach. And give us more money.
No, I am not going to do anything about your child being beat up by other kids. What are you complaining about? We had a gang bang during a school assembly and did nothing. You think your case is worse? And give us more money.
Yes, I did teach your child to sing songs in praise of our great leader Obama. And give us more money.
Your child had the audacity to question the totally slanted view of history I was indoctrinating the class with. Put him on Ritalin or I will call CPS and have you charged with child abuse. And give us more money.
Your son is being given "special attention" by a gay classmate. He is objecting? Obviously he is a homophobe. And give us more money.
Yes, we took the children out of class and used them at a political rally. What business is it of yours? And give us more money.
No, I am not a teacher hater. All of these things happened. So forgive me if I don't trust teachers. There are reasons. And before you protest that they aren't all like that I know they aren't. But the majority are willing to look the other way and go along with it or these things would not be happening. Only a small minority are willing to buck the system. And they pay for it.
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