On 03/08/2004 08:54 PM, Joe_Nicholson wrote:

> When teachers cannot use proper English spelling and grammar,
> -- sight/site, their/they're/there, are/our -- cannot use the
> mulitiplication tables and don't know how to find the square
> root of a number, a big part of the fault ** IS ** with the
> teachers (and the NEA).  And the remainder of the fault lies
> with those "other places" you mentioned.

I spent a good chunk of time over the past several years volunteering in
the public schools in this area, including some of the inner city schools
that are in deplorable shape from a phyical plant perspective.  I have not
seen teachers who exhibit the lack of basic academic skills you are
describing in these schools.  I would agree that teachers who cannot
perform these basic tasks do not have any business in the classroom - I'm
not denying the existence of this condition, I'm just stating that I
haven't seen it in the schools and classes I've visited.  

I have seen lazy kids who manipulate the system, and teachers who are not
allowed to discpline the students in the classes when they get out of
control.  I've seen kids that don't care if they do not pass, because they
know eventually they will be promoted out of the class, even over the
objections of the teachers, by manipulation of their scores.  This is an
administration problem, not a teaching problem.  I've heard about kids who
were moved from regular classes to special education classes, because their
performance or attendance was so bad that it would adversely impact the
class and school averages on the standarized tests or performace assessment
reviews, and endanger the school's chance of being "reckognized."
Again, this appears to me to be an administrative problem. Finally, I seen
some kids stop attending class, and others never show up in the first
place. You can hardly blame the teachers, the NEA, or anyone but the
student in that case. If anyone else shares the blame, it should be the
student's parents.

I believe that a serious problem exists in the elementary school system,
because I have encountered more than a few high school students who have no
discipline and poor-to-nonexistent study/research skills.  I have also seen
a problem where parents are not notified of declining performance of their
children, in sufficient time for them to take action to correct it. I do
not know why this is such a problem.  As concerned parents, both my wife
and I want to know how our children are performing and behaving.

>And the NEA, a big business which pushes teachers to run for and
> get elected to local school boards, is one of those "other places".
> They can't teach, but they run with campaign promises to "fix" the
> system.
>
> That's like putting the fox in the coop to guard the chickens.

I think you have the teachers confused with administrators.  "Back in
the old days", a successful teacher's career was in the classroom, and
I don't think that has changed much. (I concede that I could be mistaken.) 
The teachers I know don't have time to campaign, and sit on school boards,
because they are too busy calling parents about their kids, preparing
lesson plans, and grading classwork, trying to come up with new ways to
engage the students in their classrooms, or trying to figure out how to get
money to pay for the things they need in their classrooms. We parents
charge these teachers with the daily care and education of our offspring,
which is an obligation of the most serious kind. The salaries I've seen
published do not look to me to be excessive compensation for this role. 
I've seen reports that show sanitation people make more than teachers in
many areas.

I have seen politicians and high priced administrators come in and bilk the
system out of a lot of money and not get things fixed - hence the continued
poor state of the buildings, and overcrowded classrooms. These people
stopped being teachers for various reasons (if they ever really were
teachers in the first place), and I'll bet that not being a good teacher
was at least part of the reasons.
---
Daniel O'Leary, Admin/WebMaster  KloneZone - A TeleFinder 5.7 BBS
Voice=> 817-367-2558  Dial-In=>  817-367-2517  Fidonet=> 1:130/1015



--- MacKennel 2.6.Y2K