Posted on 12/20/2007 6:58:59 AM PST by wintertime
(snip)
American education will never be improved until we address one of the problems seen as too delicate to discuss. That problem is the overall quality of people teaching our children. Students who have chosen education as their major have the lowest SAT scores of any other major. Students who have graduated with an education degree earn lower scores than any other major on graduate school admissions tests such as the GRE, MCAT or LSAT. Schools of education, either graduate or undergraduate, represent the academic slums of most any university. As such, they are home to the least able students and professors with the lowest academic respect. Were we serious about efforts to improve public education, one of the first things we would do is eliminate schools of education.
The inability to think critically makes educationists fall easy prey to harebrained schemes, and what's worse, they don't have the intelligence to recognize that the harebrained scheme isn't working.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
So?....If the FR government teachers posting on this board are intelligent, and on average teachers aren't too bright, there must be some very stupid teachers on the lower end of that bell curve. I hope your kid doesn't have one.
The fact that Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell aren’t lauded as national treasures from every rooftop morning, noon and night is a national disgrace. The fact that they are invisible to the MSM is a crime.
I have mentioned studies about teacher ACT and SAT scores to my fellow teechurz. They are not too happy when they hear this. Of course, I’m just the token conservative in the teechurz lounge. Sadly I see many teechurz in my own publik scewl that are only here because they attended scewl here and now want to COACH here.
Many of these blockheaded bozos can't find Cuber on a map, or name any state and they'll gaze at the map forever.
Yet, they continually are granted 'contract' raises every contract expiration time and wonder why their salaries buy so much less ignoring the fact that their undeserved increases cause inflated prices.
People are voting down school levies with increased regularity.
Perhaps you should transition to teaching and show them how it’s done. Or you could complain on a message board. I’m sure that will solve the problem with equal speed.
Yes, there is much, much room for improvement ...
I am in a demanding profession, and many of my colleagues constantly criticize teachers, with their summers off, easy jobs, benefits, etc.
But the one thing I never understand is: if the life of a public school teacher were as easy as people say it is, why don’t smarter people become teachers? Is it the money? Yet, I don’t hear more calls for increased pay.
Our son has been a high school teacher for many years and has enough material to write an interesting, but frightening book.
I'd suspect that the attitudes, core beliefs, and intelligence of teachers on this forum are in no way comparable to the average NEA-loving, leftist indoctrinationists that make up a huge proportion of the teaching profession.
Many of the kids are incapable of expressing a cogent thought or write a paragraph that is easily understood.
It’s because the parents aren’t involved and demanding of junior to actually excel at the coursework assigned. The teacher can motivate a child to a point at school, but after that, it’s the parent’s job. The common factor between a great home school education and a great public school education? Parental involvement.
Yep, even at the “good” universities...
Unfortunately, the statistics prove you wrong. American children are less well educated than almost everywhere in the "developed" world, and many places in the "developing" world. SURELY you have seen the results of standardized tests for math and science given to groups in different countries???
"My parents have dedicated their lives to educating kids."
All my female forebears for three generations back taught school. I thought about it, and had actually intended to major in chemistry and minor in education--imagine my surprise when I found out that it was impossible to do so--you had to major in education to be allowed to take education classes (at a major state public college). So, the ed biz lost out, and I became a chemist and instrument designer instead.
I recently witnessed a situation where a a veteran AF officer of 8 years, graduate of the Air Force Academy, Pilot, with a major in math and mechanical engineering was turned down to teach H.S. math because Ohio does not recognize the AF Academy credentials. That is “freakin” pathetique.
I will clarify that my observations are my own. My views are not a blanket statement. There are some very qualified teachers. But the system has purposely been diluted.
Williams supports his article with facts ... the SAT scores are solid indicators of a trend. The answer from a politician is throw more money at it. Boehner/Kennedunk proves their own IQ. And on that statement I will shut up and keep my powder dry.
Actually, most of these "inter-country" tests pick the "best and brightest" kids for each country to take part, so I suspect "parental involvement" isn't a factor. Thse are our "elite" students. The sad fact of the matter is that the US educational system is grossly deficient, and has been "dumbed down" so badly that our children are being short-changed in a major way.
Me brudder is an engineer who got tired of being squeezed by low-quality, cheap Asian competition. He’s in a crash program at what was once a State Teacher’s College, and is now a State College. He tells me that most of the “How to Teach” classes are basically about trying to understand little Jimmy/Juan/JaMille’s background and deprivations and about trying to manipulate evaluations into soft-scored group efforts that will protect those who wouldn’t otherwise pass, so that the “No Child” tax money will keep coming in.
Absofreakinglutely!
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