[retrokitten]

Both of my sister in-laws (my husbands sister and my brothers wife) are teachers. One has her masters degree. I wouldn't these women watch my plants while I was on vacation let alone trust them to teach my children.

Some bits of wisdom from each of them:

-on a tour of Custer State Park in South Dakota, one wanted to pet the buffalo because, "they are used to people".

-one thought surfing was something "only people on TV and the movies do!" She was surprised when my father in-law saw actual people not actors surfing.

-we have a large Mexican population in our area. SIL A was going to the store and saw tons of "red, green, and white flags". She said, "I think it was an Italian Day parade!" Mexican flag, Italian flag- they are noticeably different and as a teacher wouldn't you expect her to know the difference?

-SIL B was shocked to find out that star fish and sea horses are not fictional characters they actually are real creatures.

-SIL A wasn't sure she would like the bread machine she got as a Christmas gift, because in her words, "How do I know I will like the bread it makes?" she thought you just pushed the button and like magic bread comes out.

These are just a sampling, I could go on and on. They both teach elementary age kids. If these two teach children, ANYONE on FR can do it!!

[Xenalyte]

Our religion forbids us to strike a woman, although, I admit, I do it all the time, and I know I shouldn't. But if they were my sisters-in-law, as Allah is my witness, I would not stop beating them.

[Pitiricus]

Again, we are now debating of bad teachers versus good teachers. I am the first to recognize that there are bad teachers... All of us had one... But this only shows that there should be reforms on how teachers are chosen... Also understanding how to deal with a bad teacher teaches how to deal with a less-than-perfect coworker later in life...

[jjones9853]

I tend to agree with Pitiricus on this one. I've seen two examples of poor home schooling. One was my brother and his wife. He dropped out of high school and she barely graduated. I guess they're happy that their boys will spend their lives being day laborers. The other example is a family from church. They got mad at school when their son caused trouble because he was bored. They pulled both of their kids out. The son ended up teaching himself, their daughter wasn't as smart and as a young teenager was unable to add double digit numbers. I do agree that some teachers should be in a different profession. My solution is to closly monitor my childrens education and help where I can. It helps that my wife is a teacher (one of the best in Mesa, Az) and knows what to look out for.