Though I believe that public education is important, the quality of public education is just terrible in many places. I actually was in a similar boat to GB, but without any private school experience. The main reason I've returned to college so late in life is because I was NEVER challenged in high school and had deplorable study habits because of that. Once college came around, it was kick in the face that I wasn't prepared for.
Revisionaries: PBS documentary on Texas' control of education
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Hell I learned that from the Guns of Navaronne.
GasBandit
Staff member
I don't remember that part...
It could be the crappy sequel with Harrison Ford... Just one of those WWII movies with the British Bomb Expert having to improvise a delay before the Jerrys come pouring through the door.
This happened a minimum of 3 or 4 times at my high school while I attended. And additional times I've seen on the news since.
Man, I had a sheltered life. The only interesting things that happened at my high school were tractor days, when all the farmer students would drive tractors to school and use up the parking lot.
I hear ya stienman. The most interesting thing that happened was a garbage can fire that happened on a winter day when it was -20, and thus we're all outside without our jackets. Basically whatever reputation the guy/girl thought they'd get was rapidly dashed under a chorus of "if we find out who made us stand out here in the f'n cold, we're gonna kill them."
Looks like it's here. [DOUBLEPOST=1359565618][/DOUBLEPOST]Look at that, it auto embeds. Here's the link if you want it.
Code:
http://video.pbs.org/video/2325563509#
North_Ranger
Staff member
Video not available. Dammit.
Zappit
Staff member
You want to know why education is in the state it's in? Let me lay it out.
Meddling, nitpicking beareaucrats and politicians, despite a distinct lack of teacher training and classroom experience, somehow miraculously know how to fix education, even in places it's not broken. They introduce new requirements and standards every other year, which teachers are forced to adapt to.
Data collecting is quickly turning into a colossal waste of time. Extra testing, surveys, and record keeping is happening more and more, taking away from class time and producing piles of often redundant data. What is done with this? Monitoring miniscule gains or losses, or simply applied to creating new methods for test preparation.
The emphasis on testing has become catastrophic, killing off the arts and vocational training in many places, replacing them with courses on how to take the tests. The first thing any teacher will tell you is that every kid is different, possessing varying skills. By shoehorning all students into one definition of success, many get denied the opportunity to get training or learn skills that could help them in the real world. The modern job market demands specialization, but there just isn't room to offer that because of the extra tests. The emphasis on testing techniques has also contributed to...
...the slow decay of critical thinking. Complex, multi-step problems aren't addressed on very many multiple choice tests, and we're producing kids who can think problems out or use basic logic to draw reasonable conclusions. We've put people on the moon, but I think the next generation is being sabotaged to the point that they'll be lucky to get a model rocket off the ground. But testing is a billion dollar business, and it's pretty damn hard to fight against that kind of money.
Our culture is no help. We have access to constant entertainment, with instant answers available online. Why bother thinking or researching when someone else already did it for them? Why pick up a book when they can watch anything on TV or on the net? How can a book compete against an X-Box? I know they say there's no connection between violence and videogames, but I wonder. I've given lessons on how the French, as a nation, smuggled artistic treasures to save them from the Nazis. What do the kids come up with? "Why didn't they just blow up the Louvre when the Nazis came in? Why didn't they hide snipers? Because that's what they would have done." It didn't mean anything that this massive effort took place, that it worked, and that people were honest and patriotic enough to bring the valuable art back. It meant nothing. They're desensitized to violence and almost ignorant of the concept of consequences.
NMLA Syndrome (Not My Little Angel)
Parents that show up only show up to absolve their children from any blame.
Why did he fail the class? Answer: He didn't do the homework and didn't study.
Why has he been called into the office so much? Answer: He disrupts the class constantly and harasses his classmates.
Why wasn't I made aware? Answer: His grades are online and updating daily., and multiple informational sheets about it were
sent home. There were warning notices, as well in the middle of the term.
Can't he do extra credit or make up the missing work? Answer: Grades close in a week, and while I can try to get fresh copies
of ditto sheets from three months ago for him and many other students, I understand that if I don't, then it is completely
my fault your child failed the term.
Why does he have so much make-up work? Answer: You went on a family vacation for a week in the middle of the school year.
What do you expect? I also understand that if I send it home before your vacation, then I've ruined his trip.
This and many other examples too numerous to ramble off here are what real teachers deal with every day.
Why do charter schools (falsely) appear to do better? Tuition. Parents have a monetary stake in it, and they damn well want to make sure their kids get them their money's worth. However, that didn't stop two charter schools in my area from getting shut down by the state over the last three years for wretched performance. The current push for that has a lot of anti-union backers who just want to see the unions squashed.
And there's a reality that's not talked about as much, and that's the evolving special education situation. Thanks to early intervention and improved testing methods, we can identify and address learning issues or disabilities. This leads to most teachers having multiple students on IEPs, 504s, or district plans in one room. Because modifications must be made on an individual basis, it creates a tremendous challenge to balance it for everyone without leaving anybody out. Teachers must also be available for regular team and parent meetings, some of which won't actually do anything. Regular classroom teachers with good reputations with Special Education may find themselves with a dozen or more such students some years.
Don't get me started on teacher evaluations. Few jobs have more variety to the challenges and variables that come into play. There really isn't one universal model that works because so much of the job will be random.
That just scratches the surface. I'm tired, so I'm done for the night. We've just got a lot of problems in education right now that need to be addressed on multiple fronts.
Meddling, nitpicking beareaucrats and politicians, despite a distinct lack of teacher training and classroom experience, somehow miraculously know how to fix education, even in places it's not broken. They introduce new requirements and standards every other year, which teachers are forced to adapt to.
Data collecting is quickly turning into a colossal waste of time. Extra testing, surveys, and record keeping is happening more and more, taking away from class time and producing piles of often redundant data. What is done with this? Monitoring miniscule gains or losses, or simply applied to creating new methods for test preparation.
The emphasis on testing has become catastrophic, killing off the arts and vocational training in many places, replacing them with courses on how to take the tests. The first thing any teacher will tell you is that every kid is different, possessing varying skills. By shoehorning all students into one definition of success, many get denied the opportunity to get training or learn skills that could help them in the real world. The modern job market demands specialization, but there just isn't room to offer that because of the extra tests. The emphasis on testing techniques has also contributed to...
...the slow decay of critical thinking. Complex, multi-step problems aren't addressed on very many multiple choice tests, and we're producing kids who can think problems out or use basic logic to draw reasonable conclusions. We've put people on the moon, but I think the next generation is being sabotaged to the point that they'll be lucky to get a model rocket off the ground. But testing is a billion dollar business, and it's pretty damn hard to fight against that kind of money.
Our culture is no help. We have access to constant entertainment, with instant answers available online. Why bother thinking or researching when someone else already did it for them? Why pick up a book when they can watch anything on TV or on the net? How can a book compete against an X-Box? I know they say there's no connection between violence and videogames, but I wonder. I've given lessons on how the French, as a nation, smuggled artistic treasures to save them from the Nazis. What do the kids come up with? "Why didn't they just blow up the Louvre when the Nazis came in? Why didn't they hide snipers? Because that's what they would have done." It didn't mean anything that this massive effort took place, that it worked, and that people were honest and patriotic enough to bring the valuable art back. It meant nothing. They're desensitized to violence and almost ignorant of the concept of consequences.
NMLA Syndrome (Not My Little Angel)
Parents that show up only show up to absolve their children from any blame.
Why did he fail the class? Answer: He didn't do the homework and didn't study.
Why has he been called into the office so much? Answer: He disrupts the class constantly and harasses his classmates.
Why wasn't I made aware? Answer: His grades are online and updating daily., and multiple informational sheets about it were
sent home. There were warning notices, as well in the middle of the term.
Can't he do extra credit or make up the missing work? Answer: Grades close in a week, and while I can try to get fresh copies
of ditto sheets from three months ago for him and many other students, I understand that if I don't, then it is completely
my fault your child failed the term.
Why does he have so much make-up work? Answer: You went on a family vacation for a week in the middle of the school year.
What do you expect? I also understand that if I send it home before your vacation, then I've ruined his trip.
This and many other examples too numerous to ramble off here are what real teachers deal with every day.
Why do charter schools (falsely) appear to do better? Tuition. Parents have a monetary stake in it, and they damn well want to make sure their kids get them their money's worth. However, that didn't stop two charter schools in my area from getting shut down by the state over the last three years for wretched performance. The current push for that has a lot of anti-union backers who just want to see the unions squashed.
And there's a reality that's not talked about as much, and that's the evolving special education situation. Thanks to early intervention and improved testing methods, we can identify and address learning issues or disabilities. This leads to most teachers having multiple students on IEPs, 504s, or district plans in one room. Because modifications must be made on an individual basis, it creates a tremendous challenge to balance it for everyone without leaving anybody out. Teachers must also be available for regular team and parent meetings, some of which won't actually do anything. Regular classroom teachers with good reputations with Special Education may find themselves with a dozen or more such students some years.
Don't get me started on teacher evaluations. Few jobs have more variety to the challenges and variables that come into play. There really isn't one universal model that works because so much of the job will be random.
That just scratches the surface. I'm tired, so I'm done for the night. We've just got a lot of problems in education right now that need to be addressed on multiple fronts.
Don't even get me started on IEPs. My mother teaches Special Needs kids, so she has an IEP for every kid in her class (20+). She is given one, 8 hour work day a year to do them all. However, these things can take upwards of 2-3 hours to do each. As a result, she spends about a month doing them at home... along side all the other paperwork, teacher meetings, parent/teacher conferences, grading, and planning she needs to do. She doesn't get paid an extra dime for all that time.
The only thing interesting that ever happened at my school is they found a full mammoth skeleton.
Zappit
Staff member
So aside from crappy cafeteria food, nothing interesting?
I was debating whether the intended word was "secede" or "suicide."
I was public school through HS, private through college, and I will tell you this: It does not matter where the funding comes from, it does not even matter where you go to school. If a teacher's focus is on anything other than preparing children for their adult lives, then those children will suffer for it. I cannot tell you how many teachers introduced me to opportunities I otherwise would have missed just because I did not know of their existence. A school with a faculty which cares about education will turn out strong students who are prepared to take on The World, standardized tests be damned.
The fact that the inherent truth of this is lost on so many species of bureaucrat is only slightly less of a tragedy than if those same bureaucrats stormed the schools and personally started slaughtering children. Either way, those children will have no real future, and pointing and saying, "Well, at least we made our funding," just goes to show how little they value the Education part.
--Patrick
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