Been in a public school lately?

I'm wondering how many have been in a public school lately, to see the awful mess they have become. Or to see, first hand, what kind of children we have coming up who will be running things one day. I teach at a public high school in a large south-central metro area. I started here this year. Before this, I had been teaching in the military system, which I now realize is very different from the regular public schools. The difference being that where parents actually have something to lose, they WILL control their children. I want you to know something of what it is like. Our "children" are beasts. They are rude, disrespectful, full of themselves, pretentious, out of control, sex obsessed and stupid. They know they don't have to behave because there isn't a thing on God's earth we can do to them. The teachers cannot control the classrooms and we can't MAKE them learn anything. These little savages breeze through the system learning as little as possible. It isn't a stretch to realize that if a few of them can write their name, play ball or recite the words to the latest rap song, that is enough to graduate them. I WISH everyone could see an example of their reading, comprehension and writing "skills". I can promise you, you would be outraged. What's even worse, they DON'T care. They don't want to hear about the future. They don't want to hear about excellence. They are stupid and proud. We spend a fortune on Special Education- would you like to know how most of that money is being spent? The resources of special education are being spent on kids who are too disruptive for a regular classroom. These kids aren't "differently-abled" for the most part. I had one little darling tell me that he was there because he didn't want to do the work. That's all. I would love to bring you all in for an afternoon with an "honors class". I MUST wonder what, exactly, are the standards for "honors". There are a precious few kids in these classes who actually ARE brighter than the rest and, for them, I feel a great deal of sympathy. The atmosphere in these classes, as well, is not the least bit conducive to learning. One cannot teach when one cannot control the classrom. One cannot control the classroom when one if faced with parents who view discipline for their children as a lawsuit better than winning the lottery. One cannot teach or control the classroom when one is faced with parents as stupid and worthless as their kids. I will be leaving the public school system at the end of this year. The very people who have allowed this state of affairs to continue will remain in place until the people of this country learn to stand up to the left wing education establishment who have helped to create this abysmal "black hole" and until parents are forced to take responsibility for their horrible kids. Until then, I urge the parents of young kids to get them OUT of it- private school, home school. There are other,FAR better, choices. I'm heading for some OTHER type of job. I wanted to teach; I wanted to make a difference. Now, I am just bitter and angry. And more conservative than ever.

"This is what Sister is saying, I believe."

And as a teacher... shouldn't she have the skill to convey such a thought without leaving it open to interpretation?

I agree with most, including sister that public schools are, in general, a mess. I don't blame her for running, it would be a difficult, if not impossible, job to change the system from within.

Her post was zinged by a few. The reason I take exception to her post is: #1 - It lacked formatting. It's not difficult to figure out formatting. A teacher, of all people should be open to education. #2 - It was exceptionally negative. It was one of those, "I quit, I give up and this place stinks" kind of things. I have been in public schools. I know teachers. My brother works in our local High School. I know there are lots of issues. But there are still rewards.
If sister had posted suggestions, or something other than venting, the response may have been different. Her post reads like a democratic talking point: All criticism, no construction.

Our High Schools look like a prison, during lunch there are uniformed security guards at every entrance/exit to the cafeteria, about 6 to 8 security people.

The profanity coming from the inmates is unbelievable.

I agree, the security cost is very high.

I also own a small business. The school board took us to court after we bought the place, telling us that we 'didn't pay enough' for our business. They ened up raising our taxes 130%.

That's after we fought them in court. AND, they did this in violation of the Ohio Constitution.

But then again, Governor Bob Taft seems to have his attention occupied in other directions.

Here's the bottom line. When we bought the business our taxes were $1600 a year. In two years time our taxes are now $4400 per year.

All thanks to the school board. It's "for the children" after all.

The funny thing was, the female superintendent wrote an e-mail to one of her cronies after a school board election. In the e-mail, which was posted in the local TASS newspaper, she said that the voters and people in this city are 'brain dead.'

She's not even from this city and makes, I believe, just under 200 K a year. And our schools are still in Academic Emergency, or whatever the lowest rating is on their scale.

The people are brain dead, because this is a Democrat Utopia.

My wife has an MS in Education so I'll ask her.

The research on different personality types is accurate. Our school system has held several in-service days about personality types and learning styles. The increase in "projects", "portfolios", etc. is an attempt to address different learning styles. We could debate how effective all that is...

When I was in school, graduated HS in 1965, the strict dicipline made a more conducive environment for learning. There seemed to be something for everyone. So we had all the types you describe but we all learned.

I think lack of discipline is a major cause of the decline in achievement in the U.S. I tend to blame the pop psychology begun by Dr. Spock & others that began the concern with childrens' self-esteem, creativity, ability to express their opinions, etc. Some parents and some educators (but not all) have bought into this, and at the very least it's led to dissent on how children should best be taught and disciplined.

Schools seemed to work better when parents and educators were all on the same page.

I also think it's worthy of emphasizing that back in the early 1960s, most children were being raised by both parents, and Americans in general didn't have the obsession with "self-fulfillment" that seems to exist today...the "me generation" was just reaching adulthood, which caused considerable societal disruption at that time.

Also, other countries have these types too how come their kids learn better than our American kids?

In other countries, generally societies are more homogenous, and in many of the countries which have the highest achievement, higher education is a privilege to be earned, not the right of all students.

Quite right about learning in spite of the personality differences. Public schooling is best suited to the same personality group as that of the teachers, however, if there is discipline in the classrooms, the "other" types also learn. I can't answer your questions but I have some theories, amateur as they might be:

First, more is accomplished in a disciplined class so the other types can adapt and supplement with their own techniques. All students learn better in an atmosphere protected against distractions. For example, I learn best by writing things down and in classroom reading times, I could read quickly, outline the ideas and learn more that way than by discussing it with other kids as puzzled as I was. The method now seems to be having all the kids discuss it by getting in touch with their feelings.

Second, with the older system of classroom and education techniques, students had more flexibility to do class projects and homework that fitted their own personality types. I can remember a high school mythology project. Some students presented on ancient warfare. Some researched philosophy, or lifestyles. Some sculpted busts of Greek heroes. I wrote an "original" myth. And they were all individual efforts. No group projects, well, maybe one or two during my public school career but they were few and far between. My daughters had nothing but group projects where the most valuable thing they learned was not to trust their fellow group members to pull their own weight.

Third, formerly the personality types tended to self-segregate or be formally segregated into advanced, intermediate and slow classes or groups which reinforced each other while the teacher could challenge each student individually to live up to his or her potential. Now that type of academic segregation is considered politically incorrect. To the extent some of the brighter students are picked out, it is often to use them to teach the slower students, thereby slowing everyone up. Or worse, to hold the student up for praise in a classroom where students mock achievement.

Fourth, I think there was something to the idea that schools were not just an extension of personal lives. When we are at work we are all different personality types (although, as I mentioned, personality types gravitate towards certain careers and thereby continue grouping) but we also subordinate those parts of our personality that don't mesh with the work environment. The same thing happened, I think, to kids in school back in the dark ages. I never attended school in anything but a dress and I'm not that old (I hope, graduated high school 1970). It was just the dress code. One day a girl dared to wear a granny dress and she was sent home to change! (For those too young to remember, the granny dress was just what it sounds like: a dress granny might have worn. It had a high collar, long sleeves and a hem to the ground. The only radical thing about it was the psychedelic colors like pink and purple stripes mixed with pink and purple polka dots.) Today school kids dress like we used to when we washed the cars. And the teachers are, unfortunately, not much better. If you are in an environment where people look and act their best, their behavior is also better. Respect comes from appearances too. I know, I sound like an old fuddy-duddy but something important is lost when school isn't respected as a place to present your best face. Of course, nowadays, even work and church appearances are going downhill.

Fifth, education is not as valued today as it was back then. Back in the olden days, there were fewer safety nets for slugabouts. Parents continually stressed the importance of education as a way of getting ahead in life and gaining respectability. All personality types knew that education was a hoop to jump through, ill-fitting as it might be, to get to the real rewards in life. Today we have heroes and celebrities and millionaires who are rappers, cheating athletes, prostitutes and the like who made it without education. And, if by some unfair roll of the dice (to use Al Gore's analogy), the kids lose out on those avenues to wealth, what's the big deal? There's always welfare, scams, drug selling, identity theft, etc. Why bother to slog at work when there's no way to fail even if you won't work?

Today there is too much emphasis on entertainment and fluffy, politically-correct textbook and lessons. Computers often just become another source of distraction instead of instruction. The group is elevated above the individual with the plethora of group projects assigned. Teachers can barely move without risking lawsuits and poor evaluations by the administrators. Add to that the total disruption of the dress code, or lack thereof, for both students and faculty, and you have a very difficult learning environment. The noise level of our society is destroying the life of the mind. Computer buddies reinforce poor grammar, spelling, slang. Kids, and teachers and parents, are struggling against almost insurmountable odds to reclaim intellectual achievement as a worthwhile goal.

Just my humble opinion. What's yours?

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