Do you have much faith in public school teachers?

I can't say I do. I have a neighbor who is in the 6th grade, for the weekend assignment his teacher sends home FOUR words to study for spelling, which he doesn't even have to spell, he can just look at them and type them in. The words are Musician, commercial, politician and electrician....and none of the i's have any dots on them and all the A's in the 'ian's' on the end are O's...and we're paying this woman with our taxes to do this and teach the kids it's right?

Oh lawd. Judging all public teachers by ONE teacher's standards again eh?

I give them the benefit of the doubt until they prove that I shouldn't have faith in them.

THere are wonderful, dedicated teachers out there, just as there are lousy teachers out there who donèt deserve their pay. Iève had the pleasure of working with some awesome teachers but and the displeasure of working with ones that are the reason teachers get a bad rap. Thankfully, there are more good teachers out there than bad ones.

Marc wrote:I give them the benefit of the doubt until they prove that I shouldn't have faith in them.

Unless I have a direct reason to not, I trust that they know what they're doing.

There are good ones I admit. But the crop of unprepared kids graduating seems to say to me that such teachers are in incredibly short supply.

Like every other group there are good & bad ones.

It's strange how the those who usually scrutinize public schools and accuse its teachers of being lacking are the same people who champion the idea of kids being taught at home by parents who know little about the area of teaching and curriculum.

JM130ELM wrote:It's strange how the those who usually scrutinize public schools and accuse its teachers of being lacking are the same people who champion the idea of kids being taught at home by parents who know little about the area of teaching and curriculum.

Well what can I say? I'm a little biased because when I was 13 I was starting college, and the 12 and 16 year olds living next door to me can only read on a first grade level, and the teachers know it and don't bother trying to work with them. And long before them, there was another kid who they just gave up on and did all his work for him so they didn't have to hold him back when he failed. As I said, education is not a priority around here, especially for the teachers, which is a further reason I have little faith in them.

While, of course, there are some sad excuses for teachers in the public school system…I don't immediately distrust teachers in general. The biggest problem with teachers isn't how competent they are in the field of educating; but rather their ability to reach problem kids who resist learning, or have a short attention span. Teachers are expected to be babysitters or away-from-home parents, and therein lies the problem.

Nhaiyel wrote:While, of course, there are some sad excuses for teacher in the public school system…I don't immediately distrust teachers in general. The biggest problem with teachers isn't how competent they are in the field of educating; but rather their ability to reach problem kids who resist learning, or have a short attention span. Teachers are expected to be babysitters or away-from-home parents, and therein lies the problem.

That might be but I don't think giving up on them and having no expectations for them is doing anyone any good either. I don't know about where everyone else lives, but here it makes absolutely NO difference if the kids do their homework or not, when they even get it...if it doesn't matter if they do it or not, WHAT is the point of sending any home with the kids in the first place? Maybe I'm wrong but didn't homework used to be MANDATORY and a large part of why everybody hated school? Of course I'm not an advocate FOR homework but if you're going to send it home with them, it ought to matter if anything's done with it or if it's brought back as blank as it was to start with.

Nhaiyel wrote:While, of course, there are some sad excuses for teachers in the public school system…I don't immediately distrust teachers in general. The biggest problem with teachers isn't how competent they are in the field of educating; but rather their ability to reach problem kids who resist learning, or have a short attention span. Teachers are expected to be babysitters or away-from-home parents, and therein lies the problem.

And I can tell you from experience.....I used to work in a high school.........MOST of that has to do with parenting. A lot of these kids have no respect for authority and don't care about their education. And the parents don't give a shit either. The parents are afraid of their own damn children. If they can't control them, how do you expect your child's English teacher to do so for 8 hrs?

This is true but you have to wonder, with the kids who spend more time at school than at home, that they are practically being raised at the schools, what DOES have the higher authority? You'd automatically think the parents would because they're the parents, but if the teachers are spending more time 'raising' them than you are, what's that say?

Supernova wrote:

Nhaiyel wrote:While, of course, there are some sad excuses for teacher in the public school system…I don't immediately distrust teachers in general. The biggest problem with teachers isn't how competent they are in the field of educating; but rather their ability to reach problem kids who resist learning, or have a short attention span. Teachers are expected to be babysitters or away-from-home parents, and therein lies the problem.

That might be but I don't think giving up on them and having no expectations for them is doing anyone any good either.

Neither do I, and in cases like that the parents roles need to be strengthened. You can't expect a teacher, who only see's a child for one hour a day, or every other day, to always be able to reach a difficult child…who may have issues that go well beyond the course in which they are skilled to teach. We shouldn't give up on these kids, but at the same time we can't hold the educators solely responsible (and deem them subpar) because they don't have a PHD to shrink their heads long enough to insert a history lesson in it.

Supernova wrote:This is true but you have to wonder, with the kids who spend more time at school than at home, that they are practically being raised at the schools, what DOES have the higher authority? You'd automatically think the parents would because they're the parents, but if the teachers are spending more time 'raising' them than you are, what's that say?

But they aren't raising them. Kids are at a school a standard 8 hrs a day. They're not living there. Most people are away from home that long or longer. If respect doesn't start at home, then it can't start at school. What is a teacher supposed to do if half the students cuts his/her class? When they do, or at least try, to notify their parent.....they're either met with hostility or indifference.

JM130ELM wrote:It's strange how the those who usually scrutinize public schools and accuse its teachers of being lacking are the same people who champion the idea of kids being taught at home by parents who know little about the area of teaching and curriculum.

Because that method of homeschooling is actually not what homeschoolers do to begin with.

And since many homeschoolers come of things at least as smart, if not smarter, than their public school counterparts, I guess it shows that these "parents who know little about the area of teaching and curriculum" are outperforming the public school teachers. lol Shows how bad a state the schools are in. But of course, most kids who are homeschooled aren't just taught by Mom. Just goes to show how ignorant the population is on homeschooling. lol

So yeah, public school teachers aren't proving themselves, as a whole. That is why they are scrutinized. So it's not strange at all. It makes perfect sense to rational people.

Forgiveness Man wrote:

JM130ELM wrote:It's strange how the those who usually scrutinize public schools and accuse its teachers of being lacking are the same people who champion the idea of kids being taught at home by parents who know little about the area of teaching and curriculum.

Because that method of homeschooling is actually not what homeschoolers do to begin with.

And since many homeschoolers come of things at least as smart, if not smarter, than their public school counterparts, I guess it shows that these "parents who know little about the area of teaching and curriculum" are outperforming the public school teachers. lol Shows how bad a state the schools are in. But of course, most kids who are homeschooled aren't just taught by Mom. Just goes to show how ignorant the population is on homeschooling. lol

So yeah, public school teachers aren't proving themselves, as a whole. That is why they are scrutinized. So it's not strange at all. It makes perfect sense to rational people.

Indeeeed, like I said before, I don't know what people think of when they hear homeschooling, exactly WHAT do they think the parents do all day, what do they teach the kids with? You have to buy textbooks and other supplies from the schools, and at the schools you get the books from, there are teachers there who grade the tests and compositions and book reports and diagrams to make sure the kids are actually doing the work and getting it. It's not like it's just the parent talking their head off all day about whatever's on their mind or whatever people think they do.

JM130ELM wrote:It's strange how the those who usually scrutinize public schools and accuse its teachers of being lacking are the same people who champion the idea of kids being taught at home by parents who know little about the area of teaching and curriculum.

Not strange at all. "Teaching," as we know it, is a business rather than a method of imparting knowledge. And my kids have learned an awful lot without school-in-a-box curricula. My kids have also learned an awful lot without being taught. Autodidactism and organic, in-context learning is the goal around here. It amazes me how many adults I know who aren't seemingly able to learn without someone holding their hand through it all.

It's not just the teachers I find lacking. It's the entire system. And before anyone jumps my shit and starts calling me a teacher-hater, I'd like to mention that my dad, my father-in-law, some of my friends, and several of my co-workers at the restaurant are teachers or have been. It's nothing personal. It's also no great coincidence that most people who become teachers are the same people who thrived in that sort of environment as kids. Not all kids are a good fit for sitting at desks and following orders.

2xy wrote:

JM130ELM wrote:It's strange how the those who usually scrutinize public schools and accuse its teachers of being lacking are the same people who champion the idea of kids being taught at home by parents who know little about the area of teaching and curriculum.

Not strange at all. "Teaching," as we know it, is a business rather than a method of imparting knowledge. And my kids have learned an awful lot without school-in-a-box curricula. My kids have also learned an awful lot without being taught. Autodidactism and organic, in-context learning is the goal around here. It amazes me how many adults I know who aren't seemingly able to learn without someone holding their hand through it all.

It's not just the teachers I find lacking. It's the entire system. And before anyone jumps my shit and starts calling me a teacher-hater, I'd like to mention that my dad, my father-in-law, some of my friends, and several of my co-workers at the restaurant are teachers or have been. It's nothing personal. It's also no great coincidence that most people who become teachers are the same people who thrived in that sort of environment as kids. Not all kids are a good fit for sitting at desks and following orders.

Especially since there don't seem to be many orders anymore. Here, the kids don't read any books, they don't have book reports, they don't have to spell their spelling words they can just read the list and type them, they don't have to do homework, they don't even get homework half of the time, I never hear any of the kids around here say they learned anything in any of their classes or that the teachers taught them anything but their teachers sure love to play card games with the high school students and show them cartoons. That's what we're wasting our tax dollars on?

Supernova wrote:

Forgiveness Man wrote:Because that method of homeschooling is actually not what homeschoolers do to begin with.

And since many homeschoolers come of things at least as smart, if not smarter, than their public school counterparts, I guess it shows that these "parents who know little about the area of teaching and curriculum" are outperforming the public school teachers. lol Shows how bad a state the schools are in. But of course, most kids who are homeschooled aren't just taught by Mom. Just goes to show how ignorant the population is on homeschooling. lol

So yeah, public school teachers aren't proving themselves, as a whole. That is why they are scrutinized. So it's not strange at all. It makes perfect sense to rational people.

Indeeeed, like I said before, I don't know what people think of when they hear homeschooling, exactly WHAT do they think the parents do all day, what do they teach the kids with? You have to buy textbooks and other supplies from the schools, and at the schools you get the books from, there are teachers there who grade the tests and compositions and book reports and diagrams to make sure the kids are actually doing the work and getting it. It's not like it's just the parent talking their head off all day about whatever's on their mind or whatever people think they do.

I think people think Mommy sits the kids down at the table and lectures all day from a book bought at Walmart.

Could be, a lot of people don't seem to get that there's a legitimate method to it.

Supernova wrote:Could be, a lot of people don't seem to get that there's a legitimate method to it.

That's cause they buy into the stereotype. They hear homeschooling and I think their mind immediately goes to some gated community where the men have 6 wives.

Forgiveness Man wrote:

Supernova wrote:Could be, a lot of people don't seem to get that there's a legitimate method to it.

That's cause they buy into the stereotype. They hear homeschooling and I think their mind immediately goes to some gated community where the men have 6 wives.

And that the kids are locked up in the house all day and NEVER come out or if they do they have NO idea how to do anything that 'normal' kids do. And another common belief is they have no friends because 'school is the ONLY place kids CAN socialize'. Funny, I thought school was a place you went to sit down and shut up until the teachers finished talking, did they suddenly allow the students to chat with each other during class?

Supernova wrote:

Forgiveness Man wrote:That's cause they buy into the stereotype. They hear homeschooling and I think their mind immediately goes to some gated community where the men have 6 wives.

And that the kids are locked up in the house all day and NEVER come out or if they do they have NO idea how to do anything that 'normal' kids do. And another common belief is they have no friends because 'school is the ONLY place kids CAN socialize'. Funny, I thought school was a place you went to sit down and shut up until the teachers finished talking, did they suddenly allow the students to chat with each other during class?

I remember a lot of sitting down, shutting up, even during lunchtime. lol Of course the bullies always find time after class to make you miserable. lol