Posted on 12/26/2017 9:10:12 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
My recent columns have focused on the extremely poor educational outcomes for black students. There's enough blame for all involved to have their fair share. That includes students who are hostile and alien to the educational process and have derelict, uninterested home environments. After all, if there is not someone in the home to ensure that a youngster does his homework, has wholesome meals, gets eight to 10 hours of sleep and behaves in school, educational dollars won't produce much.
There's another educational issue that's neither flattering nor comfortable to confront. That's the low academic quality of so many teachers. It's an issue that must be confronted and dealt with if we're to improve the quality of education. Most states require prospective teachers to pass a certification test. How about a sample of some of the test questions.
Here's a question from a recent test given to college students in Michigan planning to become teachers: "Which of the following is largest? a. 1/4, b. 3/5, c. 1/2, d. 9/20." Another question: "A town planning committee must decide how to use a 115-acre piece of land. The committee sets aside 20 acres of the land for watershed protection and an additional 37.4 acres for recreation. How much of the land is set aside for watershed protection and recreation? a. 43.15 acres, b. 54.6 acres, c. 57.4 acres, d. 60.4 acres".
The Arizona teacher certification test asks: "Janet can type 250 words in 5 minutes, what is her typing rate per minute? a. 50wpm, b. 66wpm, c. 55wpm, d. 45wpm." The California Basic Educational Skills Test asks the test taker to find the verb in the following sentence: "The interior temperatures of even the coolest stars are measured in millions of degrees. a. Coolest, b. Of even, c. Are measured, d. In millions". A CBEST math question is: "You purchase a car making a down payment of $3,000 and 6 monthly payments of $225. How much have you paid so far for the car? a. $3225, b. $4350, c. $5375, d. $6550, e. $6398."
My guess is that these are questions that an eighth- or ninth-grader with a good education ought to be able to answer. Such test questions demonstrate the low bar that states set in order for one to become a certified teacher. Even with such low expectations, college graduates have failed these and similarly constructed teacher certification tests. Recently, New York, after being tied up in court for years, dropped its teacher literacy test amid claims of racism.
A 2011 investigation by WSB-TV found that more than 700 Georgia teachers had repeatedly failed at least one portion of the certification test they were required to pass before receiving a teaching certificate. Nearly 60 teachers had failed the test more than 10 times, and one teacher had failed the test 18 times. There were 297 teachers on the Atlanta school system's payroll who had failed the state certification test five times or more.
With but a few exceptions, schools of education represent the academic slums of colleges. They tend to be home to students who have the lowest academic test scores -- for example, SAT scores -- when they enter college. They also tend to have the lowest scores when they graduate and choose to take postgraduate admissions tests -- such as the GRE, the MCAT and the LSAT. Professors at schools of education tend to have the lowest level of academic respectability. American education could benefit from eliminating schools of education.
You might ask: Without schools of education, how would teachers be trained? I think that we ought to adopt a practice whereby teachers are hired according to their undergraduate major. I learned this talking to a headmistress of a private school. She said she doesn't hire education majors. She said that if she hires a teacher to teach chemistry, math, English or any other subject, the person must have a bachelor's degree in the discipline. Pedagogical techniques can be learned through short formal training, coaching and experience.
Sitting here laughing! :)
Another Reason to Homeschool
If there are any educated children in nation it is because they have been homeschooled or “after-schooled”.
My guess is that these are questions that an eighth- or ninth-grader with a good education ought to be able to answer.
Gimme a break, these are 3rd grade questions.
“People who take this on face a sullen, restless, hostile group of adolescents who neither want to be there nor are willing to comply with minimal organizational requirements.” (Jim Noble)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
These young adult ( who have committed no crime) are imprisoned by law in a school that in many ways resembles a prison.
Then... society wonders why they are **rationally** sullen, restless, hostile, truant, and sometimes violent.
Yup. Buffalo, NY.
Been going on for decades.
The high school teachers could not pass the basic literacy tests high school students are expected to pass and their immediate reaction was cries of *racism*, which everyone else in the Buffalo area laughed at because the minute that charge was leveled, we KNEW which group of teachers was failing.
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Try geometry, trig, complex numbers, calculus without understanding simple ratios, and...uh...good luck!
The purpose of a masters degree is to increase salary.
The educational funding is to benefit educators, not students. Students are cannon fodder for educator guns
The truth:
1. Educators get masters degree for the increased salary not to become better teachers.
2. Teachers unions are impotent, and merely a wing of the administration in schools.
3. The standards on becoming a teacher are watered down, to essentially, “do you have a pulse”, because no one wants to do the job.
4. The career lifespan of a new teacher is less than five years.
5. Because of politics, teachers have no authority to even control the slightest discipline infractions, truly, public education is baby sitting.
6. As a teacher I deserve a raise in salary and your thanks because I keep these feral bastards off the streets and stealing from you while you work.
7. Our hope is that by the time they graduate, they may have matured enough to know right from wrong, or they are already in prison or dead, or have enough skills to inquire, “do you want fries with that”. Nothing more.
Ability to convert fractions to decimals is pretty basic stuff. I wouldn’t consider it arcane at all.
I agree. That carp about underpaid teachers is garbage.
It’s not so much the teachers as it is the curriculum in lower grade schools. They teach just about anything but the basics.
If you think schools are free you must live where there are no property taxes.
I’m looking at my 2018 property tax bill and well over 10% of it is devoted to school related items. Plus, 1% of our sales tax goes to the schools. In Aiken County, SC the schools are definitely NOT free.
Walter Williams, as usual, has a very valid point.
This is a good article and a better thread. So let me ask the very bright people assembled a couple of questions:
1. What does victory look like?
2. How do we get there?
Somewhere north of 85% of parents choose to accept Aid For Dependent Parents and put their kids in the government schools. The remaining 15% private school or home educate. I don’t see how a political solution fixes this when 85% plus of parents have opted into the government school paradigm.
I would say I agree with your tagline, and it answers your questions.
ps - but I am an idiot, so don’t take my word for it :-)
We’re on a political website, so suggesting that nothing much of worth comes from politics is prima facie evidence of being idiotic. Or lazy. Or subversive. Or being inclined to committing all of the 7 deadly sins simultaneously. Take your pick.
Thanks for the reply.
I’m going with idiotic. Lazy a close second.
“6. As a teacher I deserve a raise in salary and your thanks because I keep these feral bastards off the streets and stealing from you while you work.”
What are you saying here?
I hardly think all kids being taught by teachers are feral bastards.
.
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