"The pressure to pass students - even those who rarely go to class or can't read - is pervasive in the Philadelphia School District, teachers around the city say. The push comes in memos, in meetings, and in talks about failure rates that are too high, the teachers say. It comes through mountains of paperwork and justification for failing any student. It comes in ways subtle and overt, according to more than a dozen teachers from nine of the city's 62 high schools."
'We have to give fake grades," said a teacher at Mastbaum High in Kensington. "The pressure is very real..."' The thing is, we're not asked to educate our kids. We're asked to pass them," the Gratz teacher said. At Olney West, a teacher said she had received warning calls after failing students.'I'll get a phone call saying, 'Are you sure he earned a 58? Are you sure it wasn't a 65?' the teacher said. 'To me, if a student has 80 absences, the question should be, 'Why did they pass? and not, What are you doing so they don't fail?' "
I don't know about the rest of you, but I am totally against social promotions. I think it is one of the things destroying many of our inner city schools. Teachers have a hard job, and if anyone says that they aren't, for the most part, underpaid, that person must be living on the planet Dreamland. Read the quotes from some of our teachers under siege (and not from students per se. But from administrators and bureaucrats) here in Philly again. Is it any wonder that our murder rate is where it is?
The quotes in the first rwo paragraphs were taken from a Philadelphia Inquirer article which dealt with the subject. Clearly there is a problem in our schools with social promotions, and teachers and other educational professionals are finally speaking out about it.
Of course, as with most of these types of issues, there are two different points of views. There are some people who take the opposite view and who actually argue that social promotions are good. How else, they argue, would these students be able to graduate from their respective schools? Not socially promoting them could devastate them psychologically and do more harm than good in the long run. The dropout rates would be huge, and the end result would be children with no shot at getting even what would be considered a low paying job.
Well, I am not buying it. The kids who are socially promoted do no better in the long run than if they had been held back. Of course the social promotion advocates disagree:"They never really catch up.... They are stigmatized, and that makes it worse." So says one Ivy League expert on the subject. And my question to that would be how and when are they going to catch up if we just give them a degree and send them off into the world? Sorry, I am not buying it.
Of course the real problem is that many of these kids are coming from homes which makes it so much worse for them from the jump. Their backgrounds are so messed up and full of obstacles that by the time they get to school learning plays second fiddle to just surviving. But I am sorry, these kids usually hold back the kids who really want to learn, and they can be disruptive to a good classroom environment when they do decide to come to school.
So in the end, my position on this issue might seem harsh, because it would seem as if I am not considering these other variables, but I am. It's exactly why I would would hold these children back and work harder to educate them and prepare them for a future in the work place. Hey, I know that when it comes to this issue I come down on the same side with the folks from The Manhattan Institute , for crying out loud, but sometimes good ideas makes strange bedfellows.
Before I go, this is a good time to segue into the next subject; a tribute to my father.
He was the smartest man I ever knew, but he never acted like it. He knew famous and powerful people, but he was most comfortable with the people you and I would pass on the street everyday and not even know they were there. He was loved and respected by more people than I will ever know in my life, and to this day, because of the legacy he left me, I am treated by the people who knew him with the kind of respect that I could never earn for myself.
He believed in education, family, and hard work. And he believed in treating others like he would want them to treat him.
Finally, he taught me to respect people for who they were and not for what they had.
Thanks Dad. You raised me in the house, but you gave me a value system straight from the fields.
Happy Father's Day!
105 comments:
fn:
thank you!!!
most people have no idea what teachers endure daily...and typically only blame us for everything!!!
there are no social promos/modifications etc...in real in life
therefore, there should be none in schools either!
ditto!!!
ab
http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/feature-commentary/20030407/202/339
Field,
You are the exception Field, you had a good man in the house. Most of these kids in the inner city have no father present. Nor do they usually have an environment at home that fosters learning. Teachers can't make up for those kinds of things.
I feel that you should do something else, if you whine that you are pressured to pass students. I also wonder why you would ever have social promote a first or second grader. That says to me, you can not teach. I think that there are some schools where the idea that most of those children are mentally disabled is prevelent, especially if they can't be quite. I am not impressed with teachers in the most powerful union in the country, saying they are pressured from the administration to socially pass students. They seem to have enough work rules to keep them out of the classroom, so why don't they have protection from being fired.
I don't believe in social promotions either and I think the teachers are in a better position to do something about it.
A wise tribute.
Field, I hear you. It's not just the kids, though. There are quite a few incompetent teachers who aren't making the grade, either. That's always been a problem...lousy teachers in the inner city. The kids don't stand a chance with terrible teachers who don't give a damn about the kids.
The better teachers work in the suburbs and in private schools. Of course, there are some good teachers in the inner cities but more bad ones than there are good ones.
A very powerful teachers' union protects the incompetent. AB, who teaches that Obama is Hitler and his Black supporters are Nazis is a fine example of incompetence. Would any of you bloggers here like to have AB tutoring your child? Let me take a guess at your answer: "NO fucking way!"
Am I close?
Promoting an education is happening in every state. It is my husband complaint when he leave his weekly teachers meeting. He seriously considering leaving the system.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL THE FATHERS WHO COMMENT IN THE FIELDS!
Have you read the story of KHADIJAH WILLIAMS . From homeless to full scholarship to harvard. Very inspiring.
definitely worthy of field negro trophy.
this is a tough issue to comment on. I truly believe that teachers have an extremely difficult job. I'm not a teacher, but I volunteer in schools. Its hard. And teachers are often responsible for improving the grades of their students. That would be an easy thing to do if a child was cooperative.
I guess I'm trying to say that the responsiblity is on both the teacher and student.
Yes, some of our young AA students have it hard. But what if they lived in Afghanistan where girls are discouraged from going to school. Or what if they lived in a remote african village and had to walk miles to school?
I wish life was fair. Its not. But if we are going to succeed as a people, we need education.
The bible says... my people die for a lack of knowledge.
How in hell does a student have 80 absences? Sounds like the inmates are running the asylum.
Field: Your father sounds like the bomb. You are very fortunate.
Social promotion for black folks seems to be about protecting youths' self esteem. Somewhere along the way, someone decided that self esteem is better promoted by passing a failing student than having a high school grad who can actually read and write and problem solve.
I would be humiliated to have graduated from high school and barely be literate. School is apparently not about learning academics but a way to make nonachievers feel good about themselves.
This whole business of not allowing children to fail stunts their maturity. A white shrink wrote a book that said privileged white kids who got trophies for stinking at sports and honors for nothing, created adults unable to negotiate the real world. A lot of these kids grow into adults who end up being devastated by any kind of failure.
Many child experts state that youth need boundaries, structure, and need to make and learn from their mistakes.
Then you have the folks who think you should chew your child's meat for them until they are 21. You know them when you see them because these are the parents begging their children to bahave in public and trying to reason with a two-year-old. A lot of these kids end up living on mom and dad's couch until a partner comes along they can sponge off of.
Rich, poor, Americans are ruining children.
And before someone drags in poverty, see the LA Times sunday story about the homeless girl (homeless for many, many, years and lived a very rough life) who read vociferously, graduated with a 3.9 and received a four-year Harvard scholarship. If she could do that, there's no excuse for these other knuckleheads dropping out and blowing off education. I've just run totally out of sympathy for underachievers who have made failure their ultimate goal instead of a learning opportunity.
i do not teach political science to babies/adults you fool...[
i would be honored not to teach your heathen fool spawn!!!!
http://www.geocities.com/ambwww/schools.htm
fyi
ab
dumb assnon:
incompetent teachers do not:
have waiting lists
become tutors
win national teaching awards
break teacher exam score records
i do all of the above!
you are an idiot
do not breed!
ab
I think rather than have social promotion there ought to be alternative schools for kids who have fallen behind.
They actually have some here in my area. The kids may still be stigmatized but they are on another campus away from the main student population.
Also we really need to update the curriculum in this country. We're still teaching the way they taught last century.
@FN
Have you seen season 4 of The Wire? I know that it's fiction but I think they did a really good job of showing the obstacles some kids have and teachers too.
West Coast Story said "Then you have the folks who think you should chew your child's meat for them until they are 21. You know them when you see them because these are the parents begging their children to bahave in public and trying to reason with a two-year-old. A lot of these kids end up living on mom and dad's couch until a partner comes along they can sponge off of.
Rich, poor, Americans are ruining children."
And it just makes me sick. We have 3 children and what we have been through first and last and what we have put our local school through makes me sick as well. Yes, the two older ones did not move in until they were in their teens, but the 3rd that we raised from scratch makes me want to weep.
Could not, NOT get the oldest to apply for college until he realized that his girl friend was going to be an hour away in college. Yes, he did finally graduate from college.
The second would not do work he didn't "feel" like. He blew his final semester and chances of going to U of C's 4 years direct. We paid for several years of sign ups and withdrawals at the community colleges. Zip. Academic restriction.
The third we barely got out of high school. He had the poor teachers. They wanted to put him into "continuation school," which is where they put the dipshits that won't do the work or conform enough to be passed. They give them work books or stupid little things and graduate them with "A's" from these "continuation schools." At that point I said that I would see he got to which ever one he wanted, but that the point of this was to get an education. I quit trying to coax, coerce or whatever into doing his school work. To the patent dismay of his teachers he failed three (3) semesters. Some how they shoved him in wretched classes with poor teachers and work oriented classes. He graduated only a year late. It looks like we will get him graduated from college with an engineering degree in Computer Science at age 27. After the add and drop idiocy at the community colleges, doing a dance back and forth with extension classes we got him registered and properly transferred into a 4 year state university.
Between the bad attitude, miserable work ethic, laziness and lying that these three louts laid on their local high school I can not, could not apologize enough to the teachers and administrators. Between the three of them they had the best and brightest and probably some of the worst teachers. I flat ass did not believe the tales that the youngest brought home of the lousy teachers; for which I now feel really terrible about because I should have reported a teacher that appeared to be so bad to be suitably investigated. This was a "blue ribbon" school here in California. Approximately 33% of the students go on to graduate from college.
Until the culture of our country values or revers the educated and gives the educators the means and will to truly police themselves many of our schools do nothing but babysit the kids.
Graduating young people from high school with no rudimentary skills for a minimum job let alone a highly technical job is criminal...and I wish we could prosecute.
Funny, the youngest said that "people" should not raise kids, but be raised by professionals. Who knows, maybe we should not "try this at home."
Field -- Great tribute to your father.
AS someone who just spoke to his lazy younger brother about getting off his behind and finishing college, I can attest that American culture and our 'disaster capitalism' style school systems have raised a generation of lazy, ignorant kids who don't want to do for self.
But, like healthcare and the crumbling economy, Americans have no one really to blame but ourselves. In the Netherlands -- high school teachers are just as educated and make as much as family doctors, because the Dutch realize that make sure little Johnny can read and write is just as important as making sure he doesn't spread chicken pox. Granted, I wouldn't want the Chinese or Indian tracking systems that keep rural and minority children in those countries locked in virtual remedial classes until they're 20. But we need to do something.
Until Americans care more about educating our young people, our GDP the environment and healthcare and less about Kobe's 6th ring or two men marrying each other -- we'll continue to make the prison industry a blue chip investment.
Off the chain, for too many reasons to comment upon. You really crossed you every "t", and dotted every "i" with your take on things.
"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."
Mark Twain
I'm afraid that this occurs not only in Philly, but all over the United States. In Florida, teachers are required to give students who fail a semester make-up packets. If students complete these make-up packets, or in most cases just attempt to complete these packets, they then get a passing grade. So a student can absolutely nothing a whole semester and at the end of the semester get a packet of work that he/she takes home and the family completes or he/she may not complete it at all, and still pass. I need not tell you the problems this is causing for teachers.
What is happening is the school systems find themselves unable (or unwilling) to deal with the real issues these students face so instead of attempting to do so, they simply push them through. The inner city schools are being asked to perform social functions when they are barely equipped to deal with the educational function.
The students get a diploma but what then? Must of them can barely read or write.
Man, you all have been making some great points with the comments.
"this is a tough issue to comment on. I truly believe that teachers have an extremely difficult job. I'm not a teacher, but I volunteer in schools. Its hard. And teachers are often responsible for improving the grades of their students. That would be an easy thing to do if a child was cooperative.
I guess I'm trying to say that the responsiblity is on both the teacher and student."
That was just an example.
Monie nailed it with the alternative school solution as well. And we have some here in Philly, but not enough. I would try and get more of these schools up and running.
And yes, as LaCoin....said, we should pay them [teachers] more, but would the ones that aren't holding their own be held accountable? Just some things to consider, I guess.
Thanks for your personal testimonials about your own families as well, that always helps to bring it home to the rest of us.
Red Devil, thanks for that link.
And for all of you who had kind things to say about my pops, thanks! That was serious FN behavior.
@Max Reddick: "The inner city schools are being asked to perform social functions when they are barely equipped to deal with the educational function."
Good point, Max. I'm reminded of the old adage:
"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."
I beginning to think that many kids arrive at school ill prepared--emotionally and psychologically--to make the best of the experience.
Before forcing them to endure 12 long years of a demanding learning regimen, before introducing them to the 3 R's--perhaps we should give them 5 to 6 years of intense psychological counseling.
@Lady-Cracker: "We have 3 children and what we have been through first and last and what we have put our local school through makes me sick as well."
As you've indicated, it's hard to motivate a student to study, and excel, unless they're self-motivated.
Not possessing much self-motivation, you had to push your sons really, really, hard--you had to become an irresistible force against an almost immovable object.
@west coast story: "School is apparently not about learning academics but a way to make non-achievers feel good about themselves."
Good point. I have always believed that we feel best about ourselves when we actually do something worthwhile.
To socially promote is to reverse this maxim, and tell our kids instead: Do good, do bad, it's all good.
Why should the good students reach higher academically when they see underachievers being rewarded with passing grades?
Very little has been said here about the impact of this policy on the true achievers.
Too often our world is turned upside down, because it's the path of least resistance, and it's expedient.
If we really wish to make a difference in the scholastic achievements of our kids, we're going to need a holistic approach, where the student's family, and the child's readiness to learn are both evaluated.
As a result of the evaluation, a triage is employed, dividing children into groups, identifying those who're most in need of intervention and those who aren't.
Those families/students who are most in need are then given the support they need to create healthy learning environments.
In addition, they're given the coping skills they need to graduate kids successfully--with meaningful grades, and real self-esteem, the result of actual achievements.
Anonymous-there are not better teachers in the private schools anyone that knows anything about teaching knows that the private school teachers could not cut it in a public school classroom plus many of them are not certified to teach in a public school.Hastor -you're pretty clueless about teaching they are not whining they are standing up to the bureaucrats who want the numbers to look good,they apparently actually have standards.
Lovely tribute to your father.
Like Monie I was thinking of THE WIRE, Season 4. It really dug deep into the problems teachers and students face.
The Leave No Child Behind policy is not helping.
Good blog, Field!
I really didn't realize that so much "social promotion" was going on. What a rip!
Most kids in the worst schools don't have much of a chance at life anyway. There are no quick fix solutions to this. It's all a vicious cycle.
Mentoring can only go so far. And, chances of reaching the worst of the worst are next to nil.
Things have rapidly deteriorated at all schools and all levels of society with this "No Child Left Behind" curiculum. Teaching children to take tests is not teaching them at all. Period!
For children to be well rounded and well educated, they need to have their tummies fed first and besides the three R's, history and social studies, they need art and music. To also be taught how to take care of themselves and have pride in what they do.
How to get back what has been lost, I have no clue where to go with these poor lost children.
Maybe the solution is a lock down system, forced boarding school. Nah, that'd never happen!
Field,
That tribute to your father was great. My grandmother was a similar type of person and I think of her daily, many times during the day. It is wonderful to be so blessed in life. Thank you for sharing with us what your dad means to you.
I think we sometimes forget a teacher's role is to facilitate learning and administratives make it very difficult for them to achieve that goal. We have a one size fit all mentality in this country and it has become a hinderance in our educational system. Not all children learn at the same pace. In fact, there some children who are visual, audio, hands on, spatial learners, but we continue with rote method that was introduced in the 1880s to educate people to work in the industrial revolution.
Social promotion is a cheap easy fix. It does not require critical analysis to understand the root problems of why the child may not be learning and more importantly the school does not lose the additional funding. It is not about a child's self-esteem and if believe that reasoning, then I have a bridge located in Brooklyn to sell you. A lot of children are tested for learning problems. When I attended school, my hearing was tested because I had a problem with pronounciation of certain s words. My hearing was fine, but it was determined I needed speech therapy to help me pronounce the words correctly and learning music was also a tremendous help. Testing children for learning disabilities would be a great tool for teachers because they could create a different learning method.
At this moment, teachers are teaching students to take tests to pass. It is interesting how tests are used not to determine how we can improve learning, but use test scores to rank and receive more funding. In addition, what do the administrators do with that funding because more programs get cut like music, art, and gym extended school for tutoring and summer school but sports programs receive more funding.
If we want to build a child's self esteem, then we have to provide them with tools and identify their strengths and talents. For example, the child may not like to read, but learns by listening then perhaps audio books can be used a learning tool in addition to the process. Like my grandmother use to tell me there is more than one way to skin a cat.
I give teachers a lot of credit to teach with the limited resources available to them. I wish there was a way to pay administrators less money, give more pay to teachers, and allow them the creativity to further the learning process, then we may see more improvement. I would like to see more peer learning where the older students work with younger students where would expand even more by the younger students are learning from the older students and the older students would have a greater command of the subject. I think that could be a win-win situation.
anon2:
thank you for your truth, sanity, and empathy for teachers!
assnon is clueless as always
the very best educators are quickly running away as i did...
_____
fn:
private school teachers are generally far less educated/tested/restricted by state genocidal and elitist mandates and far more underpaid
but
they also do not tolerate horrid kids and absentee parents...THAT is the difference
public school teachers endure medicated children/children chemically abused in the womb/turbo breeder abusive parents/absentee parents/mainstreamed severely mentally handicapped students/overcrowding....all in the mixes
and in addition to all those sabotages, public teachers also the administrative toil of
NCLB, abusive stressed out principals, daily beatings and other violet harassment from teachers etc
incompetent teachers usually become prinicpals/superintendents etc!
the very best teachers are leaving education in droves!
the new young teachers have no work ethic and will never endure what we have...they are infamous for shirking toil/fabricating test scores etc...no scruples/no patience etc
public schools are bleeding teachers
they are walking out with no notices etc...
while american idols make headline news...there is a critical national shortage of teachers that has only just begun...running to private schools is not a financial or academic or behavioral option for most students/parents
and that is why public ed is doomed!!!
Horrid parenting is Americas most grave crisis and best kept secret. Teachers are being ruthlessly scapegoated for literally everything that is so very wrong in American schools. Toxic parents sabotage education. Toxic students are the undereducated leaders of tomorrow. Someday, every person in America will suffer, directly or indirectly, from the parents and children who exclusively torture teachers today.
Recent cover stories of the National Education Associations (NEA) magazine have featured the nationwide exodus of teachers and lamented abusively low teacher salaries. Epidemic violence against teachers, that has spawned the new YouTube generations sport of recording teacher beat downs via students cell phone cameras, has also recently appeared as a NEA magazine cover story. To date, I have seen no features on toxic parenting in this magazine
Typically, private schools do not adhere to any of the genocidal and mindless tenets of NCLB. Private schools do not tolerate misbehavior or enable abusive or absentee parents. Teachers at private schools are allowed to teach, while public school teachers are forced to compulsively test and perpetually discipline. This is a tragic national disgrace!
shame!!!
ab
http://www.geocities.com/ambwww/schools.htm
This weekend I got tired of all the people talking about Jr.s graduation on Friday or all the cars driving around with baloons celebrating graduation.
I'm sick of it because they wre all talking about 8th GRADE!!
They even give them something that looks like a diploma.
8th grade is NOT graduation. You have not achieved anything. You get it for just showing up.
Its a prime example of how far Philly has lowered the bar. If enough kids dont graduate we will just give them more graduations to make them feel better, Pre-K, Elementary, 8th grade, all an occassion to wear a cap and gown and a reason for grandma to feel proud and brag.
No need to actually achieve anything, or no need to push Jr. to do better.... after all, my baby "graduated".
AB said:
"and that is why public ed is doomed!!!
So...we should keep throwing more & more money at it? Apparently, according even to you, it's a waste of money.
The curriculum is different in low income schools than it is in predominantly white schools. How is that they teach subjects in predominantly white schools that are not taught in low income schools and at an early age. In low income schools they teach them to take test. That separate but equal was deceptive in the beginning and is still deceptive with poor quality education.
My grandchildren attend a predominantly white school and I noticed the difference in what they're taught and how they speak from children that attend schools in low income areas. I don't think it's the teachers fault that the kids are not learning nor do I think it is the kids. I believe it has something to do with the way the school's curriculums are set up in different areas. Some of them are set up for kids fail.
I have been a teacher in my life and it is damn hard work.
A Person of Interest- what will you do with all the problems AB enumerated without public schools. It is true that private schools do not tolerate the kind of crap public schools have to put up with, but where would the kids with incompetent parents, emotional handicaps, lousy attendance, etc go? Out on the streets? We need a whole shitload more money for education in this country defund a couple of military toy programs and taxes wouldn't have to be raised. But with more money we need a whole new vision for education. And we need real justice in the system.
No social promotions ever.
We need to do triage at the schools so the kids whom want to be there to learn have a environment to do so. Triage means doing many things but the goal is to make people realize school is valuable and treat it as such.
@FN:
quote:"And yes, as LaCoin....said, we should pay them [teachers] more, but would the ones that aren't holding their own be held accountable? Just some things to consider, I guess."
Well, Field, I agree with you, but there is one thing I forgot to mention. In the Netherlands they don't tolerate the level incompetence or lack of preparation that we do in the states. Basically, you need close to a doctorate in education to teach HS in the Netherlands, period. In the states, its seems as we have higher standards for the guy who changes my brakes.
BTW, I'm going to start mentoring in September, once I'm back from training. Field, your deserve moniker because you walk the walk.
@AB, I agree with you -- too many parents deal with their kids on auto-pilot. Like most of our problems in America, the main problem is the American populace itself. We are moving towards Mike Judd's Idiocracy. So long as getting a kid an IPod matters more than whether or not your kid can do basic calculus or write in complete sentences, we'll continue to have these discussions that go nowhere. I'll still be frustrated because the cashier at Trader Joe's can't count out proper change.
Bohammas,
Consider yourself blessed that it's 8th graders. Here in the deep South, they have full fledged kindey-garden gradidiotions. Itty bitty caps, gowns, rolled diplomas with ribbons, etc. They coach the cute little tikes to flip the tassel, just like the college graduates. With pictures taken after the ceremony! Argh!
I want to puke every time I hear one of these grandparents say, "my grandbaby just graduated." I ask which college?
I don't know who is dumber. Them stating that it was kindey-garden or me keeping on falling for the baby gradidiotions.
For all the idiots who want to blame teachers for their children's lack of education: what are you doing proactively to take your child's education in hand?
If parents taught/provided their children the basics, like manners and a basic sense of self-worth and empowerment, we wouldn't have these problems today. Quit coddling your little brats and do something about and with their lives!
Read to them, take them to a museum or art gallery or play. Go bicycling or for a walk in the park. Listen to them when they ask a question and don't just say "because I said so!" if your motives are questioned. Sometimes kids have legitimate concerns, too.
And, for crying out loud, quit giving little kids cell phones. This is absurd people. The only folks who should have cell phones are the ones who have jobs, including all these bratty mannerless teenagers.
Teachers are not the blame. I would say bad teachers is the same as bad anything anywhere, there just aren't that many to cause such crappy talk about them.
The education system and parenting (I should say lack of) is the blame and shame for the most part!!!
It's not just urban schools, Field, and it's not just poor ones. Social promotion, every child being above average, is one of the things that's bringing this country down. There are way too many kids coming out of schools, both public and private (and the private ones aren't immune because you better believe the parents raise hell if they pay tuition and their kids still fail), who are funtionally illiterate -- and then wonder why they can't get or hold a job. Well, if you can't spell good enough to fill out a job application, your options are going to be pretty limited regardless of whether or not you've got a diploma.
money is being thrown at materials and teachers...
throw some money at parenting classes and parental monitors/birth control/forced parental involvement programs/mandatory isolated suspensions/security officers with guns...etc
THAT will make changes!!!
kids ignore the books and computers and abuse the gifted teachers they have now!
fyi
ab
and
throw a living wage at teachers aides...to make classes more manageable/smaller etc!
it is not the funding that is erred...it is where the funding is being applied that is a waste of efforts
fyi
ab
FN, your tribute to your dad had me tearing up. I lost mine four years ago and HE WAS A GREAT MAN. He taught us values that we hold very dear till date. We still miss his warmth and sense of direction.
Social promotion would destroy our young ones and no one sees the danger therein. We have to instill the zeal for learning from home not the overworked school system. Giving out passing grades for the hell of it is dumbing down our children for generations to come. When will the madness stop?
Anon7:13am-"there are not better teachers in the private schools anyone that knows anything about teaching knows that the private school teachers could not cut it in a public school classroom plus many of them are not certified to teach in a public school."
That is baloney. Teachers worth their salt "leave" the inner city public school systems because of corrupt administrators, uncontrollable kids and uncaring incompetent teachers. Having to deal with this mockery of education on a daily basis is too much to take for those teachers wanting to make a difference in the lives of children.
As an example: A 5th grade teacher was having problems with several uncontrollable undisciplined children. She spoke to administrators and the principal about what to do. She was told the problem with Black inner city children is that they are 'niggers' who are animals and needed to be 'de-niggered'. Therefore, just pass them and hope they don't come to class very often. "Just get them out of your class as soon as possible". That was the solution offered to a caring and concerned teacher.
BTW, it was not a White principal and White administrators who offered that solution...they were Black. I have found that to be quite common among many inner city teachers. And Philly, Oakland- along with other cities across America has no shortage of this type of teacher.
The teacher who was looking for help and a solution decided, given the circumstances, there was only 'one' solution. She is now teaching in the suburbs with better behaved children interested in learning and parents who recognize the importance of education, and are very much involved with the school and their children's education. And the best side benefit to this teacher has been better pay, a caring and respectful principal and administrators-and it's safer!
This has been the story of many good teachers who have left the inner city school system. But make no mistake about it. Many did not leave because of the children, they left because of other teachers, principles and administrators who blocked any hope for a sincere and caring teacher to do her/his job.
So, Anon7:13am, better teachers DO leave and it has 'nothing' to do with being unable to cut it, or not having a certificate to work in the inner city. In fact, it's the 'other way' around. That is, not every city teacher can get those higher paying jobs in the suburbs and private schools. There are exceptions-- but 'generally' teachers left in the city are professionals who don't give a damn about the inner city children-- and have a very negative and hate filled attitude toward toward the kids. They 'actually' believe the problem is that the kids need to be 'de-niggered'-whatever that means. However, in order for the inner city kids to have a chance, it is the minds and attitudes of the 'teachers' that need to be 'de-niggered'.
These teachers need to be fired, instead of being protected by a union that cares little about the educational welfare of children. I hope worthless teachers will soon be 'permanently' relieved of their jobs, and those who are 'skillful' enough to teach children be given substantial raises...esp. in the inner city.
there are good and bad teachers in both private and public schools
more teachers from public schools are forced to meet rigid state qualifications/constant professional devv etc and earn more national awards than peers in private ed
and ALL are leaving in droves
when i resigned in 2008, 430,000 taechers left with me...
june 2009 resignations are being tabulated nationally now, the projection was 600,000...i expect more
these jobs are not being replaced
bankrupt states like cali cannot afford to retain or replace...
summer schools are being axed nationwide
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090621/D98V7T001.html
god help us all
it is going to be a long hot violent summer filled with dumb desperate illiterate criminal sprees...
shame!
ab
more teachers from public schools are forced to meet rigid state qualifications/constant professional devv etc and earn more national awards than peers in private ed
How rigid are those standards? Do you even have to have a degree in your field? There are people teaching math, biology, history etc. that don't even have a major in the field, or often even a minor! Education degrees are not as academically rigorous as other degrees- it's a well known fact. We need more teachers who know their subject matter backwards and forwards. We don't need more state qualifications that have to do with mindless hoopla.
I have seen first hand here in philly when a child's mother kept him home. He missed kindergarten (which is not mandatory here in PA) first, maybe even second. Due to many different reasons, now this child is not socially ready for school nor is he mentally, emotionally or intellectually ready to be in a structure environment. So what happens he begans to skip school because he is too big to be with the small kids (truancy) he hangs with older kids (now stealing or breaking into folks home while their at work) or even having sex (young parents). This cycle is hard to break.
FN, Happy Father's Day, due to your mentoring other children. Keep up the good work. All father's are not blood relatives.
assnon:
how many degrees do you have????
your insulting post is a perfect example of the constant and flagrant disrespect that teachers receive...it is the most thankless job on earth!
every teacher i know has at least 4a year education degree
most have master's degrees
like millions of retirees from corp america, i was a non-traditionally licensed teacher
i have 2 4 yr degrees that are not ed degrees
speech comm/pre-law - BA
&
interpersonal and org comm - MA
i trained adults for years in corps before i trained adults and kids in academia
we are rigorously tested etc in an accelerated 2 yr program...we teach full time and take classes full time simultaneously...then we must pass 3 rigorous exams...one being an 8 hr observation before we are licensed just as 4 yr ed majors...
all teachers endure more rigid testing daily to maintain licensing than any other field
especially elementary teachers!
do your homework before you keep foolishly blaming teachers and kids!
http://www.ed.gov/nclb/methods/teachers/hqtflexibility.html
http://www.ncei.com/Alt-Teacher-Cert.htm
shame on you!!!
how can you expect teachers to endure all they do, ANS low wages AND your contempt and scapegoating!
THIS is why schools are bleeding teachers...it is not worth the misery and madness!!!
ab
the average teacher must take a min of 60 hrs of professional development training annually
...and most tuition fees we pay out of our own pockets
we can only claim 250.00 per yr via irs for all fees and items we buy for kids...like the 1000s ii spent on bottled water/snacks for unfed kids/and all the school supply lists that turbo breeders ignore to buy weed/hair/nails/rims etc
http://www.nde.state.ne.us/federalprograms/pdf/NCLBQualTchTstReq.pdf
http://nclb.cps.k12.il.us/faq_parapro.shtml
teachers are tested to death
even more than students
and these mandatory training sessions take up our whole summers etc
while most fools think we are vacationing
good teachers work 7 days a week
365 days per year
and we do lesson plans etc in our sleep!
fyi
ab
Go ahead blame the teachers. It's easy. It absolves every parent of every child from the responsibility of being an involved parent.
I resent poor teachers, but there are just as many poor teacher as there are poor _________ <-fill your job in the blank. I hate them too.
I wish that my certificate was a magic wand that allowed me to teach my students everything that their parents don't teach or even reinforce. Parents tell me "I don't know how to make him do their homework." Well If you don't how to make him do the work at home, and you birthed him and have known him all your life.. what magic can I perform in 1 hour a day for 180 days a year?
Social promotion is not the answer, but neither is retention. The real answer is focused on teaching parents how to reinforce what goes on at school at home, and providing opportunities for those students who don't have that support like after school programs, summer schools, saturday schools etc. But that costs money, and I already have parents of failing students mad cause their taxes go up to pay my salary!!! Ha.
like millions of retirees from corp america, i was a non-traditionally licensed teacher
i have 2 4 yr degrees that are not ed degrees
speech comm/pre-law - BA
&
interpersonal and org comm - MA
Good- Can you ever stop being angry? You must have blood pressure on the moon. Do you realize that communication doesn't always involve being the most belligerent person in the room?
I have a masters degree and I'm starting my PHD program in the fall. My point is that non-traditionally certified teachers are often the best. There is little to no statistical proof that state licensing requirements make a teacher better. The whole system needs an overhaul.
Alicia B,
I totally co-sign with the throw money at parenting, preventing babies having babies, etc.
Yep! Forced involvement or jail you asswhipes!
Another comment on private vs. public. I went to the most dreadful private school in the universe. It cost my grandmother $2,000 a year for the years of 1960to 1965. The school was called Bateman School and it was in the old Cyrus McCormick mansion just off the Gold Coast in Chicago.
Mostly all these kids were little rich brats (not me and my BF) from broken homes. From the time we were in second grade we were ditching classes and causing wreaking havoc.
If my grandmother hadn't have come there to teach in my 6th grade year, I probably would have gone to high school there!
My favorite teacher (of all time) was Mrs. Sternberg, my 6th grade teacher. She got me up to speed for the difficult public school I would have to attend in 7th & 8th.
Shut down that hell hole years ago for back taxes (that was the story anyway).
see the abuse of nclb testing:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3617/is_200703/ai_n19430834/
see the unfairness, fantasy, and poison of merit pay:
http://education-portal.com/articles/Top_Ten_Reasons_Why_Merit_Pay_for_Teachers_is_a_Terrible_Idea.html
fair salary increases should be done for all...like overpaid congressman!
teachers are not to blame
admin and parenting must be fixed....all else will follow!
ab
You know, this has been going downhill for a long time now. I remember my Senior year of high school, back in about 1976. We had this History teacher with a Master's Degree from Jackson State University. I swear the man could not spell cat "KAT". This was back in the day when teachers would actually hand-write the questions on their test. The man couldn't have passed fifth grade English.
Last time I bumped into him, many years later, he was sportin' his three-piece suit with a bugundy vest, and was some big shot at the EEOC.
Remember....the students in Public Education today, will be teaching the kids in Public Shools tomorrow.
No wonder the quality of education is declining.
Amen Field! Social promotion is an utter subversion of the educational system. Even the original partisans of the "self-esteem" movement have admitted that their content-free awards and automatic advancement produced a generation whose self-esteem wasn't strong, but rather fragile and inflated.
And while I'm at it, NCLB was a dagger in the back to that same educational system. ("Everybody slow down so Timmy can keep up with us!") Until it not only gets repealed, but its effects actively repaired, it will continue to block any realistic attempts to actually help the children.
anon:
as a college educator
you must know that child ed is another universe!
visit any public elementary school and you will see all the ills immediately...
i am a fiery leo and a freshly traumatized teacher...
i am also lesbian/not rich/gay/black...
in amerikkka
if i was not angry
i would be dead
fyi
ab
http://www.geocities.com/ambwww/JILL-NELSON.htm
Anon @ 3:51, that's me. I want to add that teachers are piss poorly paid.
I make way more than a teacher and I have no room to complain about working hard compared to a teacher. A teacher that is devoted to teaching.
Might be why some cop the "I don't give a shit" 'tude. What with that and having to parent because parents won't. By some, I may mean 1 in a 100. I don't know. Only went to one good public school (7th & 8th) and Northwestern U. So, I may be skewed in favor rather than agin' the teachers.
even in nyc and new orleans
where teachers are lured with homes/apts
and
subs are lured with gift bags etc...
there is still a huge shortage
and teachers are still leaving in droves
no perks are worth the abuse/toil/bad dumb kids/ignorant parents etc
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=13992378
we are doomed!
ab
and keep in mind
elementary teachers who do what they must work 7 days per week all year
a minimum of 12 hrs day
they work in advance of their phony summer "vacations"
and ALL that ot is never really figured into their nominal salaries
but even if a teacher made 1 million a year...the job would still be hellish due to all the ills...
it is tragic!
ab
It's much easier to engage in social promotion. From the teacher's point of view, the kid is someone else's problem. From the administration's point of view, they don't have to face accusations that they're unfairly holding back minorities.
It all traces back to upbringing. When you have close to three-quarters of all black babies born to single mothers, and nearly half born without a cohabiting father in the picture, and you have sky-high proverty rates, it's hardly a surprise that a whole lot of kids arrive at school completely unsocialized and unprepared to be there.
It boils down to culture, and the program there is simple: Family, education, investment, future. Until minorities themselves really embrace the basics, I don't think focusing on the downstream results (social promotion, dropout rates, unemployment, imprisonment) will really accomplish a whole lot.
You have to go back to the source, and work there. Unfortunately, this involves not only a lot of hard work, but many questions that are EXTREMELY uncomfortable to confront.
So once again we have black kid's that are the most illiterate kid's in the universe, well,if that is the case, then why bother with them, and why are our young people the only one's given data on? is their data on white kid's as well? and if it is, you best believe it is made to look as if they are superior! do you think they will release data and say that, white kid's are far behind in their learning? NO!! this is the way the system work's, it is set up that way! when will we learn that, if their are twenty five black kid's doing good in CLASS, their will alway's be focus on the five that didn't pass the test, the focus is alway's on the negative when it come's to our people!
I notice that FIELD can post a BLOG about something negative when it come's to our people and some of you, will follow along with his personal opinion! and where do you think FIELD get's his so called accurate information from? oh, let's see, the so called fair SYSTEM!
anon:
i assure you that 5 students are not bad out of 25
23 are bad out of 25 and 10 are horrid and peless in the average elementary school!!!!
by high school 15+ out of 25 have dropped out!
the reality is that public schools are in such a crisis that children are being paid cash to study!
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06092009/news/nationalnews/student_cash_plan_in_limbo_173305.htm
fyi
ab
that was horrid and "hopeless:...
i had 32 students in my last class
6 with great parents will have great lives
the other 26 will be blessed to land at mcdonald's
most are headed directely to the pen or strip club
sad but true in most urban/rural schools
read:
shame of a nation
and
savage inqualities
by j kozol
fyi
ab
Anon, apparently someone didn't teach you when to use an apostrophe correctly.
And, it should have been "they're", not "their".
Just sayin'.
rushing
excuse the typos
that is
"savage inequalities"
and
"amazing grace"
by
j kozol
peace
ab
Grinder,
Many black kids in the public school system come from intact families, because most black working parents can not afford private schools.
As a parent myself I found it hard to be involved with my child's education. The teachers and administrators always mouthed parent involvement but loathe actual interaction. The school system is not geared to working parents, it is operating on a system where the mom stays at home. Contrary to popular belief, if it wasn't for grandparents and mothers on welfare many Home and School Association wouldn't function. The Home and School Associations fund raise all the time to subsidize software, books, computers, and special programs; even something that has to fixed in the school.
Alicia,
Please do not pay that anon person any attention because he or does not understand the history of education in this country. This person probably believes that school vouchers is a recent ideas when the concept goes back to late 1790s. I learned that Diane Ravitch's book Left Back: A Century of Battles Over School Reform. I thought it was a very informative book and it led me to the conclusion teachers are out of the equation in the discussion of school reform. I believe that teachers are the ones who should create the curriculum for the students considering they are people teaching, and yet that might too easy.
I defer to your experience in education and teaching, and as everything in life teaching is not an easy job and love those indiviuals have not step one foot at pta or a school board meeting to even know what is going on and how school funds are mismanaged, or how some states cut school funding and moved the funds to the prison system and we wonder why Johnnie cannot read, but we have a cell for him prison. Welcome to social promotion.
hennasplace:
i thank you so much for all teachers who get so very little empathy from anyone...
when a parent does visit a class, they typically say:
"wow...you all need raises!...how do you all do this everyday etc...i could never do this etc..."
peace
ab
Excerpts from The Shame of a Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America by Jonathan Kozol:
Pediatricians and psychiatrists may be disturbed to hear of schools where recess is truncated or abolished by the desperation to carve out a bit more time for drilling children for exams.
I thought the tests-and-standards movementhad been loaded with a coarse utilitarian toxicity and a demeaning anti-human view of childhood right from the start.
By giving every particle of learning an official name, we strip it of its uniquenessFascination and delight, no matter what lip-service we may pay to them, become irrelevant distractions.
Teachers who come into elementary education with some literary background tell me that they sometimes feel they are engaging in a complicated kind of treachery, when they are forced repeatedly to excavate a piece of poetry, or any other literary work of charm or value, to extract examples of official skills that have some testable utilityNothing could be less efficient than this misappropriation of a teachers energy and hours.
The difference in too many schools like P. S. 65 is that nearly the entire school day comes to be a matter of unnatural theatrics that cannot be improvised to any degree without the risk of teachers being criticized by their superiors.
Leaving these kids so utterly adrift in time and place seemed like an act of state-determined cognitive decapitation.
In a nation in which fairness was respected, children of the poorest and least educated mothers would receive the most expensive and most costly pre-school preparation, not the least and cheapest, because children in these families need it so much more than those whose educated parents can deliver the same benefits of early learning to them in their home.
The inequities in educational provisions that we give, or do not give, these children from the starting gate are given less attention.
The look of tortured dignity in the eyes of many [educators] who had welcomed me remained as one of the most stirring memories of that experience.
ALICIA BANKS
Whos Who in American Education - 2007-2008
Who's Who Among Americas Teachers - 2005-2006
Arkansas Department of Education - Praxis III Score: 57/57 - 2004
ab-"teachers are tested to death
even more than students"
That is BS. ab, stop your lying. No wonder you are out of a job. Who can trust you?
Call me old fashioned or Southern or crazy, but I like the little-kid graduations! I think that if we show the kids a great time when they graduate, theyll want to keep on doing it. Thats why I make a complete fool of myself whenever I see graduates - cause I want to keep on seeing them!
L
see real teachers lament about real classes/crises...:
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/blogboard/archives/2007/09/blogwar_why_tea.html
please pray for all teachers,
ab
Has long has being smart and educated is considered "acting white" black kids will need all the help they can get.Without help,all these black kids would be stuck in 3rd grade forever.
What we need is more social promotions.We can just call it affirmative action for kids.
ab-"i am also lesbian/not rich/gay/black...
in amerikkka
if i was not angry
i would be dead"
If anger is keeping you alive, by all means continue to use it every moment of your life. What part of Chicago do you live where you need such anger?
Believe it or not, there are human beings with the emotional intelligence to express a range of feelings other than anger.
There is much more to life than just anger. Hope someday you will be able to let go of some of your rage. It's not good for the students.
Field, thanks for sharing about your father, that was beautiful. Happy Father's Day!!
My kids have been in both public and private. One private school had some of the most unqualified teachers and principals I could possibly imagine and some of the stuff they did was beyond anything I could possibly have imagined. I kept notes on their behavior, sent in letters, and two of them did get fired, but I took my kid out before that.
I also volunteered for two years in public schools. I work full time, but my hours allowed for it.
You would not believe how bad some of the substitute teachers are, my mouth literally dropped at the things that the subs would do and say. And one teacher was so disorganized that I, an adult, had no idea what to do with some of her class projects. Also, in public school, my oldest child was hit or kicked at least five different times in the first month of school.
The school that they are in now, is a private Catholic school that welcomes all faiths, they do a lot of stupid things too, but over all the quality of the education is excellent,I checked all the teachers resumes before I enrolled them in that school, the math teacher that my 8th grader has is one of the best teachers I have ever met, and you would NEVER find someone like her in public schools, she is actually dedicated to her students and gets her satisfaction from their performance.
I do not believe in holding a child back, some private schools group students together in multiple grades, and some kids do have different learning styles, they probably will catch up if they are motivated. My little one couldn't even read the alphabet in 1st grade, and believe me, I do read to my kids. All of a sudden, she started reading, and does just fine. I am glad she wasn't held back.
ab-"it is tragic!"
Yes, it is. I agree. Bill Cosby was right about the parents in the Black community. The parents have failed their children by not guiding their children and stressing the value of an education.
But the parents themselves don't value an education. So, what do you expect?
If a child is subpar in school, one must not immediately jump to the conclusion that the child's parents do not "value education."
Some kids are rocks. Some are not interested. And some are defiant. No amount of "valuing education" will change that.
My mom was an educator and I brought home C's, D's and F's. My mom preached to the choir about "valuing education," but I was defiant and did my thing.
It did not hit me until I was in my early 20's, working for Roadway Packaging System (a UPS competitor back in the day), loading and unloading trucks. It was then that I realized the value of education and enrolled in the local community college. Since I effed around in high school, I had to take remedial courses. Hey, I had to start somewhere.
Nevertheless, I eventually "got it." The best lessons learned are the hard ones.
Off Topic
What was that again about "The end of civil rights?"
anon:
anger is not my only emotion
as if you actually cared or thought so anyway...
my students adore me for my compassion/passion/love/humor/inner child etc
i express my anger constructively in all i do...including dedicating my academic career to children who need me most
do you really think i could be a beloved and superb educator if i was only angry with babies????
really???
your incessant and obsessive digging at me insanely does nothing to make your "debate" look valid
fyi
ab
Like Jill, I embrace my anger and express it regularly. I will do so ALWAYS. My anger is as much a part of my being as my joy. To deny my anger, or any other part of my truest self, would be suicidal.
Anyone who can live in this cruel, elitist, sexist, racist world and not be angry is insane/in denial. It is righteous to be angry in an evil world. Anger MUST be expressed. If I ever stop penning my anger, I may begin to express it in other ways. I may use fatal sex, bombs, crack, cocaine, alcohol, guns, or knives instead of my pen…
I hope that this situation changes and children can receive proper education.
Re Hathor: "I also wonder why you would ever have social promote a first or second grader".
Please, try rereading before commenting. No one whose points even approach 90 would believe that this is about first or second graders.
IT IS ABOUT HIGH SCHOOLERS BEING PROMOTED AND GRADUATED WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO READ OR HAVING LEARNED ANY USEFUL SKILL NEEDED TO FUNCTION IN THE WORLD.
Next thing you know these functional illiterates are breaking into the home of that 90 year old blind lady next door and beating her to death just to steal he meager pension check.
"I don't think it's the teachers fault that the kids are not learning nor do I think it is the kids"
AND THE PARENTS ARE BUSY DOING WHAT?
Note: Parents in suburban (in your world this means white) are active participats in the educational system.
Stop by the schools in your neighborhood (in your world this means black) on Parent-Teachers Night and check out the attendance.
As an example: A 5th grade teacher was having problems with several uncontrollable undisciplined children. She spoke to administrators and the principal about what to do. She was told the problem with Black inner city children is that they are 'niggers' who are animals and needed to be 'de-niggered'. Therefore, just pass them and hope they don't come to class very often. "Just get them out of your class as soon as possible". That was the solution offered to a caring and concerned teacher.
---------------------
Perfect example of House Negro behavior here. These administrators are usually more concerned about their self-image and their six-figure salaries than they are about the school systems they help run.
Tiredofthephonies,
When do children learn to read? In high school?
Home and school associations meet at 9 o'clock in the morning, because most schools do not have funds to pay a custodian overtime to keep the school open in the evening. Philly is not the suburbs. That also include schools where white folks attend.
Many black kids in the public school system come from intact families, because most black working parents can not afford private schools.
Please trust me on something: A whole lot of white parents can't afford private schools either.
And yes, I don't mean to imply that every black kid comes from a chaotic home, and that every white kid is raised by Ward and June Cleaver.
I once dated a Vice Principle of a private Catholic high school where 98% of the students went to college.
She told me that the main difference between private high school kids attending her school and the inner city school system was primarily the motivation of the children and parents. She commented that even if the top flight teachers at her school were to loaf in their teaching jobs, the students would probably still find a way to learn as much without the teacher, anyway. That's because they wanted to be the best they could be, and looked forward to attending college. The Universities they wanted to go to had high entrance standards for getting in. So, they couldn't screw around.
So, the kids held 'themselves' to high standards. She also said at her school there was pressure on the kids and teachers to do their best whereas there was NO pressure on inner city teachers and their kids to even go to school, let alone go to college.
She had taught in the inner city for years and later left for a job in the suburbs, and later landed a job at a private school.
"A big part is a matter of motivation, desire, and will of the child," she said. With motivated kids it is fun to teach them. It's enjoyable and practically every child in your class rewards you by going on to college. With inner city kids, it is pure hell with no rewards, unless you are playing ball. Not only do they NOT go on to college but over 50% end up dropping out of highschool. If learning were loved as much as sports, there would be educated Michael Jordans and Tiger Woods all over the place. American Blacks would be world class in everything. But thank goodness for Whites and all the other races, Blacks prefer to remain ignorant and kill each other."
IMO, no good teacher in their right mind who 'loves to teach' would stay in a hell-hole unless they lacked the brains, motivation, and qualifications to be challenged by highly motivated highschool students with their eye on college.
Obama needs to clean house among the teachers in the inner cities across America. And bring in some motivating "coaches" of education who inspire our young kids to become good, really good at learning. But that can't be done if you have a bunch of teachers who can barely find their classrooms in the mornings.
Eagle
So once again we have black kid's that are the most illiterate kid's in the universe, well,if that is the case, then why bother with them, and why are our young people the only one's given data on? is their data on white kid's as well? and if it is, you best believe it is made to look as if they are superior! do you think they will release data and say that, white kid's are far behind in their learning? NO!! this is the way the system work's, it is set up that way! when will we learn that, if their are twenty five black kid's doing good in CLASS, their will alway's be focus on the five that didn't pass the test, the focus is alway's on the negative when it come's to our people!
Speaking of literacy, you need remedial instruction in how to use the apostrophe.
I once dated a Vice Principle of a private Catholic high school where 98% of the students went to college.
No you didn't. You dated the vice principal of a private Catholic high school. You know, if people are going to discuss education here, it might be a good idea to use correct English.
"You know, if people are going to discuss education here, it might be a good idea to use correct English."
You are right. I misspelled principal. Many people mispell words, except you of course. I guess that nullifies everything I had to say, huh? But you, Anon10:31 need to allow for human mistakes, and learn how to read pass mistakes to hear what the person is saying. Otherwise, all you can do is edit without opinion, you miserable jackass.
The underlying problem in the schools is that many students are disengaged from learning, in large part, because of what they're taught and how they are taught. The essential ingredient in good schools is teachers who are sensitive to students' needs and differences, and able to inspire intellectual curiosity. For what has guided successful teachers and schools is teaching the child, not the subject. Instead of trying to agree on a one-size-fits-all curriculum, schools should teach what students will not soon forget: problem-solving skills and critical thinking -- in other words, how to think.
Why are we babying our AA kids? How much motivation do they need? Can't they open their eyes and see what happens to people without a decent education?
As a Ghanian, most of the kids in Ghana are 1-2 yrs ahead of kids in the US regardless of race. We need a culture where "everyone" values education. I give my kids 30-60 minutes of extra homework everyday. I don't care what anyone else says or does. If my nieces/nephews in Ghana are doing long division at age 6, my kids can do it too.
A little bit of parental involvement goes a long way.
"A little bit of parental involvement goes a long way."
Yes, it's true. Parents make a difference in a child's life. It should be that way, considering they brought the child into the world.
"A little bit of parental involvement goes a long way."
Why don't we just fired all the teachers and hire the parents. See, that way the teachers won't have to worry about being bothered with the kids anymore period. Yup, no more babysitting or dealing with someone else child's issues, no more begging the parents to get involved, since that seems those seem to be the biggest complaints.
There will be no need for funding because there will be no need for teachers, administrators, principals,and board of education. Parents will have to take responsibility for their own children's education since they'll have to be the ones teaching them. Dropouts will become a thing of the past, because public and private schools will no longer exist.
Most of all, the blame game back and forth between the teachers and parents will stop. And maybe, just maybe, the kids will be TAUGHT how to THINK for once and for all.
@Granny: "...schools should teach what students will not soon forget: problem-solving skills and critical thinking -- in other words, how to think."
Granny, as usual, your's is the voice of commonsense and reason.
When I see how stupid some of my fellowmen can be, I realize the dearth of critical thinking in our world.
Consider the thought processes of the young man featured in the blog entry below this one ("Coming to an art gallery near you"), as a prime example of acting without thinking.
There's a paucity of people with the skills to think themselves out of a paper bag.
The news is replete with them, many of which are on Capitol Hill.
You are right. I misspelled principal. Many people mispell words, except you of course. I guess that nullifies everything I had to say, huh? But you, Anon10:31 need to allow for human mistakes, and learn how to read pass mistakes to hear what the person is saying. Otherwise, all you can do is edit without opinion, you miserable jackass.
You incorrectly capitalized "Vice Principle" (sic). Your label, "private Catholic school," was redundant; have you ever known of a public Catholic school? And yes, I am miserable. But I am correct, which is more than we can say about you.
You also misspelled "mispell." Talk about adding insult to injury.
Is critiquing spelling the new red herring?
Wow, a spelling Nazi. He/she must have stumbled into the wrong blog. Or, they are just f%&@#$g with the other anon.
Hey Anon. we don't care about spelling here. If you understand what the poster is saying it's all good. The blog host is the worst offender who thinks that proper spelling is a waste of time.:)
fn:
anti-intellectualism, cookie cutter mediocrity, and coddling false "equality" continue to sabotage academia:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/local_news/epaper/2009/05/27/0527valsal.html?cxntlid=inform_artr
it reminds me of a quote by the realist racist thomas jefferson:
"nothing is as unethical as the equal treatment of unequal people"
and it is profoundly revealing that jocks, dancers, and singers WILL be exclusively allowed special awards...
shame!!!!
ab
omg!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090622/ap_on_re_us/us_rubber_rooms
perfect example of what we do NOT need to fund in ed!!!
shame
ab
You're right, it's a little ridiculous to go after spelling. But this is a discussion about education.
it is ok to tape a teacher being beaten as sport
but not ok to tape a typical class in chaos as squealing
shame!
ab
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_12666605
Anon4:26pm-"...And yes, I am miserable. But I am correct, which is more than we can say about you."
I am correct, too. You have admitted that you are a miserable human being. That makes me correct, also.
BTW, I can correct my misspelled words and be 'ok' immediately, but you can't do that with your internalized misery. You are stuck being a miserable trolling lonely human being for this life and many more to come.
Also, you missed the word "pass". That was misspelled also. I threw that in along with "mispell" to see how sharp you are. Not so perfect, are you?
@Field-"Wow, a spelling Nazi. He/she must have stumbled into the wrong blog."
Thank you Field. Looks like Anon has ordained himself/herself to be the spelling police officer on your blog. Too bad he/she has nothing worthwhile to add to the conversation.
How would you like to live a pathetic and 'anal' life like that?
here is the hope of our future
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2009364589_harvard21.html
As the product of a poor single parent family, I am here to atest that I am sincerely sick and tired of folks making a million excuses for today's youth coming up short in their academic achievement. Additionally, I am tired of the lack ogaccountability being placed on parents! Despite my "disadvantaged" upbringing, my mother made it perfectly clear to me that if I came home with less than a "C," I might as well not come come home, but rather find a relative or friend to stay with until the grade came up. That being said, I am only 23 years old and while I am not that far removed from identifying with the high school students of today, the generation gap between us seems extremely wide. My question is; what happened between 2004 and 2009 that precipitated this culture? I am digressing however.
My main point is that more accountability needs to placed on parents. A mother or father who allows their child to have 80 absences in and 180 day school year is unacceptable. This entire issue boils down to the value system, or lack thereof, among some black folks in "a- merry-ca." I don't think that this is much of a secret, but among a growing population of black folks, education is simply not at the top of the list of priorities. Until that trend is undone, we will continue to have a culture which shifts accountability and awards substandard achievement.
mh
thank you!!!
even an ideal robotic teacher cannot erase horrid parenting and academic
amorality...
peace
ab
mh:
you too are
"the hope of america"...
see more at my blog
http://alicibanks.blogspot.com
peace
ab
Filled Negro:
As a native of Philadelphia I recall the fight to get Black people elected onto the school boards and over school administrations as the KEY MEANS of delivering quality education to our people.
25 to 30 years later - this clearly has FAILED.
At what point do you and other operatives acknowledge your bigotry and the fact that our community was mislead with the benefit going to the political establishment.
How long will you KEEP TRYING HARDER, Filled Negro?
Separate the kids of lower scholastic aptitude and inclination and put them on a vocational pathway after they have been taught the mandatory 3 R's along with history and civics. Schools are wasting resources trying to do college prep to kids that couldn't last a semester in a community college.
Trades pay REAL money, even as an apprentice. For inner city kids, it will take away the criminal vs. minimum wage earner excuse. There is no shame in a thechnical career that pays $60-150K per year.
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