Apparently I need to quit reading the local paper. I have always griped about the decline of the educational system in this area, and now have involved myself back on the forum page of the online version of the paper.
First, pay raises for teachers---the presumption being that if you pay them more, they will be better teachers. NOT. Ok, number one, I don;t like the idea of any pay raise for anyone that is not based on job performance. Sorry, I don't believe in giving raises across the board for anyone in any sector of work, private or public. I believe if you do the job you are supposed to be doing in the first place, then yeah you get a raise. Now if I give you a raise, then I also like to see a little more performance for my money. Works both ways.
So why should I give raises to those who do not teach the subject they were hired to teach? Any idiot can open a test booklet and tell you to study for the test and teach just a few concepts so that they look good when the test results come out. What about the biggest test of all----LIFE? Can you teach to that? Maybe not, but why not try to teach the kids all they may need to know later? No I do not use the Pythagorean thereom every day, nor E=MC squared, but I learned them. I do not remember the theme of Dreiser's "An American Tragedy" but I did read it. I do remember having to actually use my brain to do the classwork to get the grades to succeed in school. My parents and teachers expected, and demanded, the best of me and they got it, for the most part. I proved I could make A's in tough subjects, so I had no excuses for not making A's in easier ones. I learned how to think, which is a rapidly disappearing quality in many folks today, as evidenced by the poorly completed job applications I review daily. I learned how to question what I was taught. I would grant just about any teacher I had in high school a major pay raise, because for the most part, they did their job. They weren't there to get rich, but to teach. Yeah, maybe to some it was just a job. Heck I have plenty of days like that in my own job. But I still do it to the best of my ability.
Then there is the rapidly changing/disappearing honors program in our county high schools. My boys are honors students, and I see their 6 yr old sister reaping the benefits of having two very bright siblings---she will probably surpass them all. My stepdaughters are very bright----not in honors program, but I honestly feel that they would both have done very well in it, if given the chance. Even given the hormonal hurricane, ditzy, clueless days they all have from time to time, none of these kids lacks the capacity to think for themselves and learn whatever they want to know.
So are they being challenged in school? Are they being pushed to do at least what they are capable of? With a few execptions, the answer is no. Why not? That is my question. Since when does teaching at the lowest level of understanding benefit those kids who knew the stuff 3 yrs ago? What benefit is it for those gifted kids to be bored, and ignored, in the classroom, while fellow students who could not care less, or even those who learn at a slower pace, are taught and catered to? Why should my bright kids be in classes with those who are constant discipline problems? Get the problems out of there so the others can learn. Put kids of like abilities in the same classroom so they can learn from and challenge each other.
Demand the best. Always.
I am sure there will be much more on this topic.......
2 comments:
Hootie burped. And the world stood still. And the oceans dried up. And the moon fell into the sun. Venus married Mercury and they moved out south of Pluto.
And the teachers will get whatever they demand sooner or later. And all the pissing in the wind we do will not stop a vote driven legislature from catering to that many easy votes.
And Hootie said, "well, excuuuuse mmeeee!" and the rest of that paragraph 1 is a lie too. But the second one aint. And thats a fact.
And unfortunately that is the truth, because the same dumbass people keep electing the same dumbass do nothing politicians who cater to those who scream the loudest, instead of doing what really needs done. the damn state can't afford to patch/pave the roads that need it---i.e., the patch job in front of Guyan Estates has already fallen apart a week later. Yet they will give in to the ridiculous demands of teachers wanting exorbitant salary hikes at the expense, not the benefit of, our students. Because the moola has to come from somewhere folks.......
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