[Maelstrom]

No Duh
bump

[Publius6961]

Allow the bottom of the gene pool to run things, and before too long you get...

A worldful of pathological morons.
(Increasing their salaries won't help)

[EdReform]

BTTT !

[Hobsonphile]

This is why I opted out of education and decided to do Speech and Language Pathology. The master's program in SLP is much more rigorous, yet I can still get a teaching certificate.

[ampat]

The first paragraph is right on target. I hate the overuse of the word "self esteem". Its a misnomer. The way it is used most of the time is in the context of someone artificially inflating someone's ego. People need to be taught right from wrong, success from failure, good from bad. Once they understand these concepts, they will have "self-respect" or not, based on their behavior. To hell with "Self Esteem".

[SauronOfMordor]

It seems like the exercises are designed to ferret out the personality types and ideology of the prospective teachers, rather than convey good teaching techniques. We wouldn't want to have the "wrong" kinds of people given access to the teaching profession, now would we?

[Aquinasfan]

And people send their kids to these schools by the millions.

[Jonathon Spectre]

I love these education threads. They give me a chance to use one of my most damning quotes.

I used to work at one high school near my home as a substitute teacher. On Sept.11 I had a history class, and I spent the entire class talking with them about Sept.11. The "real" lesson plan for this day, given to me by the golf coach who "teaches" this history class was "Watch the HBO movie 'The Odyssey' and don't let anyone talk."

A week after I gave my Sept.11 lecture I got fired. I "didn't follow the lesson plan of a 'certified' teacher" and so I had to go. During the conversation the principal demanded I admit that what I had done was wrong. It didn't seem wrong to the students, or to the girl who came to me teary-eyed and thanked me for such a lovely lecture and for remembering the people at the Pentagon and on the planes and not just the folks at the WTC. So I told her that not only was what I did not wrong, it was flat-out right, and I received the following quote, which I treasure:

"It doesn't matter what is right and what is wrong, it matters that you follow the lesson plan." This person is the chief executive of an American high school with 2500+ students. I got up and left and haven't been back. I have heard a lot of rumors about this scumbag running for superintendent of schools in two years. Well, know what that means? That means public debate, with the public allowed to ask questions.

"Do you still believe it doesn't matter what is right and what is wrong?" delivered in front of a couple of hundred people will be a good question to ask, methinks.