I have seen very little cheating. Our school uses computers to test for our state exams and the tests are scrambled. No opportunity to cheat. However, my rising junior reports that she has seen kids text message answers, take pictures of tests and forward them to others or ask questions of another during a test via the cell phone.
Are you not allowed to insist on good performance?
I only see lip service to this idea. If a child fails, the teacher had better be able to demonstrate over and over how they tried to help that kid. This can be documented with phone calls, conferences with student, parent and administration, notes home, emails home, or extra help. And not just one of these things--all of these things over and over. If a teacher cannot show multiple example of each, she will be blamed for the failure.
Are writing skills ignored?
In a word...yes... teaching writing is hard work and kids will resist writing from the get go. Teachers are expected to entertain the students with hands-on activities every class, every day. Kids hear from many sources how "boring" grammar is and it all becomes a self-fufilling prophecy.
Are you forced to entertain children?
See above
Is there no ethic of excellence taught to the kids? Certainly, if no moral standard is enforced, a group of kids can quickly devolve along Lord of the Flies lines.
Ethics are slippery. My ethics may look quite a bit different from yours, especially if you come from a culture or school that emphasizes cooperation. The few children I have taught that were from a Latino culture do not view giving an answer to a friend as cheating--it is helping. (Please don't interpret that to mean all Latinos cheat--it is based on my experience in this area with about 20 or so kids)
What is your biggest challenge in the classroom?
Finding appropriate reading materials that both motivate and teach and are quality writing.
Do you think the material you teach now is comparable to what you learned in school, better, worse?
I think materials now are more colorful and come in shorter bits and bites. It's Sesame Street, but in text. Quick jumps to and from.
Is appropriate material taught, but the children don't make an effort?
Yes and no... A good teacher can use substandard materials and teach kids to think and excel. But a substandard teacher cannot teach no matter what materials are used.
Do parents cheat for their children and do their children's homework? Do parents call the school to complain about every little thing and insist that grades get changed?
This is a big problem. I often joke with my colleagues when I see projects on display and ask what grade did mom get? I have heard parent BRAG about doing their kids projects--yes, I'm serious--BRAG that they got an A on a 6th grade diorama. And yes, parents are constantly on the backs of teachers and principals to justify every grade. We had a parent last year take his kids grades in English to his accountant to verify the teacher was correct. (She was)
Can students read? Are they taught phonics?
Thankfully, we are seeing the tail end of kids in my county that were taught whole language. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping to see fewer problems in reading. My county adopted a developmental approach about 6 years ago (new buzzword for phonics instruction) and since I'm an 8th grade teacher, I'll be seeing this new crop of kids in the next couple of years.
Do all students memorize math equations? Is elementary algebra taught to all students?
Algebra is available as young as 7th in our county and on occasion in 6th. My younger daughter is a rising junior and has finished 1 section of Calc--she was on an accelerated schedule as she loves math. So far she has earned all A's--but it will be interesting to see the AP scores when they come in.
Solving the problem will not be easy. There are many teachers who are just entrenched in their ways. But it doesn't help when people lump all of us in one pile and consider us all to be losers. I will spend some time thinking about this issue and analyzing what could be reasonably done.
Thanks for your encouragement. Hope I gave you some of what you were looking for.