Get Schooled

By V for Vendetta

February 23, 2007 11:14 AM | Link to this

Nope. I’m in a venemous mood today so forgive me. We live in a culture of ignorance and stupidity down here in the South. Before you raise holy heck, I want to mention that I am a southerner born and bred. I have lived in the Atlanta area my entire life, and some of the things I have witnessed on a daily basis are shocking.

The fact that race is still an issue down here is absurd. The guilt doesn’t just lie with the status quo white sububanites and moronic rednecks either, it lies with the minority communities as well. They cry “foul” much more quickly in the South than anywhere else in the Country. Those are words straight out of my black students mouths. But race in only part of the problem…

Once you leave the metro Atlanta area, IQs generally drop into the toilet. As you progress down into the lower regions of the state, ignorance reigns supreme no matter what your skin tone may be. Of course this isn’t an absolute, there are plenty of intelligent people scattered all around the state, but more often than not this idiocy permeates the general population.

I’m not sure there is a solution. In the more urbanized North (urbanized as in lots of cities, not as in the silly euphemism for black people), people tend to be more inherently cultured and worldly. Their views are more expansive and all-encompassing. Dare I say it, they are more liberal. I haven’t even mentioned the worst offender of all yet.

Religion. There, I said it. The obsessive amount of, and strict devotion to absurd religious beliefs dominates southern culture. People spend more time in church than they do in school and mile for mile there are roughly ten times the amount of churches in the South as there are schools. This slave-like devotion to a culture that preaches mostly intolerance and hatred for people that don’t share the same beliefs is what holds the South in the dark ages. Elsewhere in the country people have learned to balance their religious beliefs with the rest of their lives. Not here. Here we have debates over whether evolution should be taught. Here we put stickers in text books. Here we attack Harry Potter because he promotes witchcraft. The bottom line is this: if you want to find a cause for the majority of problems we have here in education, you need look no further than your local religious institution. Wake up people. If we continue down this path of ignorance and intolerance there won’t be anyone intelligent left. Not even three wise men.

By KA

February 23, 2007 11:21 AM | Link to this

The implication from the statistics is that Southern schools are failing to successfully educate their students. IMO the focus should be on the parents. Parents who value education have children who value education. My interpretation of the stats is that the South has more parents who don’t give a rip. Anyone who blogs here regualarly will agree that when parents value education, their kids always do better than those that don’t. I value education; my kids received a great education in Georgia public schools, and are very successful in college as well. The question for Southern educators should be, “How do we convince/train/educate the parents to be successful partners with the schools in their children’s education?”

By Teacher Teacher

February 23, 2007 11:30 AM | Link to this

Limiting my comments to Georgia, I say that there will never be worthwhile student achievement in the schools when the administrators who are appointed to manage the schools are dumber than the schools’ special ed students. It is quite telling that in order to gain admission to a doctoral program in educational leadership, an applicant’s GRE score is typically 200-300 points lower than the score needed by an applicant to, for instance, language education. Each year, every administrator in every school should be required to take the tests that the students in his/her school take. Plus, administrators should be required to take literacy tests to show competence in writing and speaking.

Top-down, people, top-down.

By oh really?

February 23, 2007 11:32 AM | Link to this

I know that this sets me up to seem racist, but since there’s a racial achievement gap, and the south has a higher percentage of black people, wouldn’t it follow that the south’s results are always going to be closer to the overall black average than any other region of the country?

If the demographics of the regions matched, would the south look better?

By catlday

February 23, 2007 11:33 AM | Link to this

I agree with KA. Our problems lie in the undervaluation of education generationally. “Mah daddy dinnt have any edycation and he did fine in tha mill.”

I agree with V that frequently the kind of religion we practice in the south does not encourage education, either, just blind obedience to what the pastor tells you to think or believe. Look at the background of those who pastor—around here very few have ever gone a day to college, and quite a few don’t have a high school diploma. They’ve got the Spirit (which is important) but little else, and that is communicated to their flock. “Don’t ask questions, just follow what I say”

It amazes me that with all the “law and order” that folks preach, we have schools that are in such behavioral disarray.

By dep

February 23, 2007 11:37 AM | Link to this

V, you’re my new hero. You said what I’ve thought for years. I am also a born and bred Southerner from rural Georgia, and I can’t tell you amazed I am by the self-imposed ignorance of people who think they’re perpetuating a way of life to be proud of.

I am a former teacher, and I was never so relieved as the day I walked out of my classroom for good. I quit in the middle of the schoolyear, after finally realizing that being there was only causing me to hate people and that because I felt this way, I certainly wasn’t able to blow smoke up the @ss of some kid too willingly ignorant to be in high school.

(Apparently I’m feeling a bit venomous today myself.)

By HS Teacher Too

February 23, 2007 11:40 AM | Link to this

Oh, this is going to be a hot topic today …

MY two cents.

Now as for the religion issue. I am a math teacher. I have had students and their parents tell me that they just “didn’t get it,” and they would put their grade in God’s hands. How can you compete with that, right?! I was reduced to silence.

V, I couldn’t agree with you more today! And don’t worry about being in a mood … it’s about time someone was just plain angry about all this!!

By mom1

February 23, 2007 11:44 AM | Link to this

I moved here from MN 9 years ago. I agree there is a difference in attitude towards education. My child is sucessful and had no probelms in her education HS and UGA. I firmly believe it was because she knew what was expected of her: respect for your teachers whether you like them or not whether they are good or not -involvement in her education not at the school but at home, there were very few nights she came home that some time of mine was spent talking about what she was learning. She often complained when I would walk by and pick up a book while she was doing her homework and start asking her questions about the topics but I believe it made a difference. She wanted to do it on her own but I am her PARENT it is my job to overrule her immaturity and make sure she succeeds. I never tore down a teacher in all her years of schooling. We would talk and figure out the best way to handle different personalities of teachers as she got older. Parents your child is being molded in to the adults of tomorrow -do you want to mold your child or do you want to just leave it to the schools?

By Jeff

February 23, 2007 11:49 AM | Link to this

V and dep:

If the South is so bad, why do all those Yankee carpetbaggers keep coming down here?

Ya know, I’d like a way to track and see just how good all these transplant kids do against the natural Southern kids.

Also, oh really? has a point….

By HS Teacher Too

February 23, 2007 11:58 AM | Link to this

Jeff,

WE keep coming down here for various reasons, and a lot of them are motivated by peoples’ employment situations moving them down here. On a lot of levels, there are people who feel that they can’t help but to move in those cases.

I’m lucky. I don’t have those restrictions. So, my husband and I have said COUNTLESS times that we’ll stay only until our kids are school-age. And then it’s either private school, or back up north. I’ll shovel snow again all day long if it means my kids get a better education.

I’ll tell you what else. After teaching in the public school system down here, there is no way on God’s Green Earth I’d put my kids in it!!!

By HS Teacher Too

February 23, 2007 12:00 PM | Link to this

p.s. to Jeff and anyone else — I’m about to get on the road, so if you direct any comments to me specifically, I apologize that I won’t be able to reply until Monday. :)

By dep

February 23, 2007 12:05 PM | Link to this

Jeff:

I don’t know. I certainly didn’t invite them. But I’m not talking about transplants, I’m talking about the natives I grew up with and the natives I taught—who saw no reason to “do better” than their parents, grandparents, et al. I’ve actually had relatives (all natives, by the way) tell me that because I didn’t talk like them, that I thought I was “better than my raisin’” and needed to remember where I came from. I do remember where I came from. I just see no need to stay there.

By mom1

February 23, 2007 12:09 PM | Link to this

Not that my reasons are any of your business but since you asked: family- my husband needed to stay close to his daughter. Should I have made him choose between me and her? This is the same successful daughter talked about above. That I cared for and supported as my own. She was my step daughter, who lives with her mom but came to our home every day after school to visit her dad - have dinner, do her homework and develope a positive relationship with all her parents. She has 4.

So thank you for poking into my personal life and calling me names. I hope you continue to have your day brightened like you have brightened mine.

By Albert

February 23, 2007 12:14 PM | Link to this

Thanks, V succintly put.

By Lisa B.

February 23, 2007 12:15 PM | Link to this

Many people in this part of the country just don’t seem to realize that the jobs at the mill, and on the farms are vanishing. Maybe their parents and grandparents did fine with little educational skills, but the jobs held by them are going, going, gone! Our world has little use for an uneducated workforce, except in jobs that pay so lousy no one can live on the salary. Somehow, that message must get out to the population.

My husband and several of his fellow technical college collegues visited the high school yesterday in the system where I teach. He said the children were respectful and quiet, but seemed completely uninterested in any of the programs offered. They don’t think about furthering their educations past high school, if they finish H.S., and have no desire to ever live outside their rural community. They don’t picture themselves working in hospitals, offices or with computers. It is so frustrating. I am terrified for the future of these students.

By Been There

February 23, 2007 12:30 PM | Link to this

I believe our outrageously high rate of teen births contributes to our education problems.

Most very young parents don’t take the parent-as-teacher role very seriously. They don’t have the experience, the perspective or the wisdom to teach their babies and pre-schoolers what they need to. When these children enter school, their parents are so young that they are often either too intimidated, too overwhelmed or too adolescently (is that a word?) belligerent to be appropriately involved.

By Janine

February 23, 2007 12:52 PM | Link to this

Bridget…quite a topic today and it has inspired those insightful posts, especially from V and TeacherTeacher! Just one thing from me today, regarding what TeacherTeacher said about the academic requirements for administrators….and I will also add for teachers in Ga. My bachelor’s degree was not in education, and I did a Master’s program in ed . I felt the entire program at Ga. State was farcical. I had to take a couple of classes outside of the ed. dept. which proved to be outstanding. THey were rigorous and challenging and what one would expect in a Master’s program. Not of them added to my knowledge of my subject area. In recent years, I have found that almost every teacher in my middle school was doing an “online” doctoral or specialist program ..or doing one of the *”go to class for 6 weeks in the summer ,come home, write a paper”’ educational leadership programs so they could become administrators. Meanwhile, many could not even write a grammatically correct note to a parent. One adminstrator had so many complaints that he had every note going home pass a designated “editor’s” desk before going home. TeacherTeacher is so right…most of them couldn’t pass the tests their students are taking.

By Janine

February 23, 2007 12:54 PM | Link to this

and HSteachertoo…I used to be such a supporter of public education! but now…my grandchildren will darken the doors of public schools only over my dead body!!!!

By JustMe

February 23, 2007 12:55 PM | Link to this

I agree with V. However….

I really hate these sweeping generalizations. In the South, even in GA, there are excellent public schools. Some of these are even out-performing those Midwest or Northern schools.

If you live in the South and you want a great education for your children, you don’t have to move out of the South and you don’t have to pay for private school. You may have to move into a school district that has one of these high-performing schools.

By Jeff

February 23, 2007 01:04 PM | Link to this

Ya know, my current gf is an elem level teacher. Assuming she gets two rings eventually, any kids we have will have at least one parent that spent time as an on-level teacher from the time the kid walks into K until the time said kid gets the Bachelors. Why is this important? Because I intend to do my job as a parent. My kids WILL go through the public education system. If I don’t think they are getting enough there, I or my wife will do our job AS PARENTS and give them more at home.

Parents need to stop bashing teachers so much and do YOUR job!!!

By wwww

February 23, 2007 01:13 PM | Link to this

This is interesting. I was listening to Neal (or is it Neil?) Boortz on the radio the other day, and he was going on and on about unions and the damage they do to the public school system, and how they should “bring it”, you get the idea.

There is one gaping hole in his theory:

There are no unions in GA or its neighboring states. GA and those states also happen to have, according to these national studies, the worst education systems in the nation.
While on the other hand, the Northern states, which are heavily unionized, always come out near the top.

So I wonder what explanation there is for that correlation.

By scott

February 23, 2007 01:38 PM | Link to this

p.s. There is no where in the Bible that mention there were specifically three wise men only the wise men presented 3 gifts(gold, frankincense, and myrrh) - Matthew 2:11

On the topic at hand, students + parents + school = quality education. This works in both public and private schools. People who blindly believe that private school is better deserve to spend their child’s college money before they make it to college.

By Jeff

February 23, 2007 01:40 PM | Link to this

Debbie:

How about you EMAIL that to Bridget instead????

By SET

February 23, 2007 02:00 PM | Link to this

V for Vendette: It’s good to see your posts again. Did the new stats reflect national failure in every way? Was there any success in any of the component groups? For example, did your 8th grade blacks do better than the 8th grade blacks in CA in some subject, etc? How about the Hispanic scores?

It’s hard to imagine not having a single component of the GA dataset not beat CA in something. And as far as your religious loonies go, ours are pretty bad also. They do bad things with Kool-Aid.

As far as the silly euphamism of “urbanized” - the Los Angeles Unified stats are on the Internet for all to see. I have family that taught in Northern CA school districts recently in the Bay Area. It’s astonishing how complete the segregation by race is in the CA Urban school districts. In the suburbs the trends are clear but the segregation isn’t complete. We commonly hear middle class mothers explain that they are working in order to send their kids to a “better” school. (their explanation - they also want the benefits and any retirement credits, etc.)

I think even baseline IQs can be taught to be functionally literate or better. I really believe the government is jacking up the “minimum” requirements in order to deliberately force the local school districts to fail and accept a takeover of school control.

I don’t believe that our schools (nationally) are making any effort to match curriculum to IQ - and are imposing a mismatched curriculum on the public school kids - under conditions (no discipline?) that are certain to lead to failure. I don’t believe there is any concious effort to master basics before throwing/allowing the students into Algebra and abstract reasoning academics - thus the problems.

I think it would help to require reading aloud fluently, before letting a child get into a High School.

By high school teacher

February 23, 2007 02:12 PM | Link to this

You’re all correct! I have lived in Georgia my entire life, and I love being here. I like the “suburbian country.” I feel that I obtained a good education in both secondary and post-secondary fields (I’m a UGA grad).

The county in which I currently teach is unique in that it’s relatively close to Atlanta, yet still very rural. The majority of our students and their parents see no need for education. My kids asked me just today why they had to learn Greek mythology: “It’s stupid, and it ain’t gonna help me fix up trucks,” is just one comment I received. How can I argue with that? It’s very difficult to educate a 14 year-old who has already decided that his career will be on the chicken farm with his daddy, neither of whom see the value of passing an End of Course Test in Literature and Composition.

Janine, I absolutely cringe when I get e-mails from administrators with grammar mistakes! I can understand typos as I am not the best typist myself, but usage errors drive me insane!

By jim d

February 23, 2007 02:49 PM | Link to this

I don’t know folks,

I’m seeing at least one high school that is going to address the reading issue by asking students that are 2 or more grade levels behind in reading to take an elective reading class upon entering high school.

I know it may not seem like much, but it is a start at repairing the damage done by elementary and middle schools that continue to just pass these kids on through the system.

Kudo’s are in order here for Mill Creek High School in Gwinnett and to Jim Markham for taking a stand

By high school teacher

February 23, 2007 02:59 PM | Link to this

I hate to burst your bubble, Jim D, but school does this as well, yet with little success. The students’ reading abilities are so varied that instruction is difficult. The insane part at our school is that they are concurrently enrolled in 9th English.

By jim d

February 23, 2007 03:10 PM | Link to this

Oh dear! High school teacher you may have allowed one of those inexplicable moments that you can actually reach students escape.

Apollo, the god of the sun, arts, and medicine.

Artemis, the goddess of hunting and protector of wild animals

Athena, goddess of wisdom, warfare, and crafts

Demeter, goddess of grain, farming, and soil

And leave us not forget Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry

This is all very important stuff down on the farm, you had a 14 year old in the palm of your hand and allowed him to escape.

By jim d

February 23, 2007 03:15 PM | Link to this

high school teach,

We shall see what the pros can do for these kids. A goal of one year in reading ability per semester has been set for them.

If this only helps a few of the kids with problems in reading it will be money well spent.

By catlday

February 23, 2007 03:25 PM | Link to this

jim d, speaking for elementary schools, we don’t WANT to send up these illiterate kids. However, we cannot hold them back unless supported by the administration and parents, who cannot conceive that it would be more damaging to little Johnny to be unable to read and in 7th grade than to be held back and have another year (and perhaps some motivation!) to improve his reading. We help them feel so good it kills them—sometimes literally! And now, it is 10x harder to get a child qualified for special ed, no matter how low their ability or destructive their behavior or learning disabled they are. My county has been told it has “too many” special ed kids, so we are dealing with that by not diagnosing them!

We had probably 30 kids eligible for retention last year, and I don’t think a one of them were retained!

By catlady

February 23, 2007 03:30 PM | Link to this

jim, I hope those “pro”s can help these high school kids who are reading 2 years below grade level. I, and my colleagues, are pros also, and it sure didn’t happen on our watch. I will be very interested to see the miracles wrought (and then maybe these pros can teach us what to do).

By jim d

February 23, 2007 03:34 PM | Link to this

Cat,

Oh, I’m confident they weren’t held back. I don’t know what it’s going to take for schools to finally stand up to parents and say; “your kid can’t read, what are YOU going to do about it? Fix it before the start of school or he stays here”

By jim d

February 23, 2007 03:41 PM | Link to this

And Cat,

That’s another thing. “eligible for retention”? Thats pure BS. That’s like saying “well we know he’s stupid but we’re going to show our ignorance by letting you show yours in demanding we promote him anyway”

School systems need to grow une paire de testicules (excuse my French)

By JustMe

February 23, 2007 03:41 PM | Link to this

catlday -

What you just posted may likely be the most important reason that GA needs a real teacher union (we have none right now).

Teachers are qualified to understand pedagogy and learning and child development. Parents, too often, have blinders on regarding their child - so the child may not be able to perform yet the parents do not want the child held back. The administrators have NO BACKBONE to stand up to the parents, even if it is in the best interest of the child.

So, teacher opinion (along with the student grades and test scores) is ignored and the child suffers by being shuffled along from grade to grade. It doesn’t matter that the child cannot read or write or do addition/subtraction. The child will end up in high school and then get stuck. It is not until high school when there are end-of-course tests and graduation tests that are “non-negotiable.”

Teachers in GA simply have no voice at all. We are puppets on a string that are jerked one way and then another. We are the scape-goats for education and are blamed for everything, yet we cannot make any change for the positive.

And, we wonder why there is a teacher shortage in GA????

By jc

February 23, 2007 03:42 PM | Link to this

I have said this for years…”why don’t we send a deligation of educators to observe how school districts that are successful do things”

By JustMe

February 23, 2007 03:45 PM | Link to this

jim d-

One “elective” course in reading, huh? This is supposed to catch up students that are behind by 2 grade levels.

If you think that will happen, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you!!!!

By jim d

February 23, 2007 03:46 PM | Link to this

Cat,

This is going to be a class specifically for reading and helping students set and attain some goals to improve their reading skills.

Somebody has got to do it and the fact that it is being acknowledged as an issue and is being addressed gives me hope.

Like I said, we shall see.

By jim d

February 23, 2007 03:50 PM | Link to this

OK, all you teachers are required by law to report potential child abuse. Why the hell don’t you report parents for abuse when they demand their child be promoted when they aren’t at the next level? Isn’t that child abuse?

By jim d

February 23, 2007 03:51 PM | Link to this

Just Me,

Sweep it off, paint it and get the deed ready!

By jim d

February 23, 2007 03:53 PM | Link to this

jc,

they’d only learn there are better ways to be a liar.

By high school teacher

February 23, 2007 04:11 PM | Link to this

Jim D, I refer you to V’s comments about religion. One reason they don’t like mythology is that it conflicts with their belief system. They can’t understand that it’s okay to learn about something without accepting it as truth. They think it’s stupid to have so many gods. These kids have already learned the gods and goddesses and what their respective reigns are; I was asking them about mythology to see what prior knowledge they had. I take offense to your comment that I may have allowed one of those inexplicable moments that you can actually reach students escape. You weren’t there. Trust me when I say that the student was not in the palm of my hand when he made the comment.

By Tag/White Rose

February 23, 2007 04:22 PM | Link to this

Well… let’s say it one more time. When veteran teachers with a history of success regarding student achievement are finally allowed to make the important decisions in our southern public schools - rather than unqualified and often incompetent and isolated administrators, politicians and bureaucrats - improvement will begin to occur. The role of school administrators in Georgia is all wrong. They should be a low-profile presence to SUPPORT classroom teachers, rather than all-powerful autocrats obsessed with DIRECTING and micro-managing teachers and otherwise consolidating their total control over all aspects. There is no way that principals and central office managers have the expertise and experience to tell teachers in diverse fields with specialized training how to conduct their activities. That curiously Southern tradition of overtly paternalistic leadership over passive, unquestioning subordinates who happen to have college degrees and professional licensing but little inclination to assert themselves when confronted… is not yet an anachronism, but rather quite still a paralyzing reality in Georgia schools. In addition, why do so many people believe that educators who willingly opted to abandon the classroom and thus close-in, day-to-day contact with students, are the right authorities to single-handedly determine the course of academic programs and activities? Parents… Look to and TRUST your child’s veteran teachers. These professionals, more than isolated administrators with vastly different priorities, understand what works best with most kids and they also know the students much better. Teachers… have the courage to demand the proper respect and autonomy for the difficult task of teaching kids. For too long, an administrative elite has squandered resources, intimidated serious-minded educators, blown countless plumes of jargon-laced misinformation at parents, and obtained for our students, schools and State the dismal results that continue to harm our future potential year after year.

By jim d

February 23, 2007 04:36 PM | Link to this

HST,

Excuse me?

Do we understand the term “may have”?

Grow some tougher skin my friend.

By jim d

February 23, 2007 04:42 PM | Link to this

TWR,

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“subordinates who happen to have college degrees and professional licensing but little inclination to assert themselves when confronted…”

Many seem to have no problem in asserting themselves when a parent disagree’s. :-)

Other than that—I’d say you’re 100% on target.

By high school teacher

February 23, 2007 04:44 PM | Link to this

I’m sorry; it’s the Friday of a bad week. But please don’t assume that I don’t try to look for teachable moments; I’ve made a career out of it. I apologize for being defensive.

By jim d

February 23, 2007 04:48 PM | Link to this

No problem—have a good weekend—rest up and hit em again on Monday—OH, and thank you for what you do.

By jim d

February 23, 2007 04:55 PM | Link to this

OH CRAP!!

It’s not child abuse in Georgia!

Emotional Abuse

All States and territories except Georgia and Washington include emotional maltreatment as part of their definitions of abuse or neglect. Approximately12 22 States,13 the District of Columbia, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico provide specific definitions of emotional abuse or mental injury to a child. Typical language used in these definitions is “injury to the psychological capacity or emotional stability of the child as evidenced by an observable or substantial change in behavior, emotional response, or cognition,” or as evidenced by “anxiety, depression, withdrawal, or aggressive behavior.”

By Jeff

February 23, 2007 05:02 PM | Link to this

jimd:

“Emotional Abuse” is more PCBS designed to make it harder for parents with a backbone to actually DISCIPLINE their child. The fact that GA does NOT have that crap in as “child abuse” is yet another GREAT reason to live in this state!

By catlady

February 23, 2007 05:38 PM | Link to this

jim, sorry, “eligible for retention” means they met the state definition of needing to be retained—low CRCTs in 3rd and 5th. Many more at our school should have been retained based on grades (they didn’t do the work but pulled out a passing CRCT, which means there is no sense in doing the work). We find some excuse to send them on, at our school. Our county has socially promoted to spare kids feelings for at least 30 years and we cannot figure out WHY we have one of the highest dropout rates in Georgia!

I am a bit prickly about what the “pros” can do. I have spent over two and a half hours a day for 2 years with some of these kids and they have not made two years’ growth, so the idea of them making a year’s growth in a semester seems pretty incredible, even if we are talking about block scheduling.

We can’t get action on anything but the most flagrant abuse (burning with matches, rape). I have kids come in reeking of their parents’ dope, missing school ‘cause mama won’t get up, etc, and NOTHING IS DONE.

Personally, I think two things might help. First, no child for any reason goes on if they don’t have the skills and manifest the skills on the exam AND in the regular classroom. Second, mandatory sterilization for parents who continue to ignore their child’s needs. If you think I am out of line here, you have not seen what I have seen over the last 30 years, and it is getting worse. God help us!

BTW, one other comment. All but one of the low achieving (average IQ, but below grade level with every kind of school intervention possible) boys I work with spends HOURS weekly on video games and TV. Parking your kid in front of that is neglect, too, in my book.

By HS Teacher Too

February 23, 2007 06:16 PM | Link to this

Jeff,

That’s a little too intense for me, being on grade level with my kid all the way through? I’m not sure I agree with the lessons that teaches.

And my problem is rarely with the teachers — in my experiences, MOST of them are in it for the right reason. My problem is with the system, and since the system won’t let the teachers do what they know how to do and know they need to do (and I think you agree with that), there’s no way I’ll put my kids in that system. And that’s the real shame, because I definitely champion public education. Just not here.

You’ll notice that my earlier post says we’ll either move OR our kids will go to private school.

By HS Teacher Too

February 23, 2007 06:31 PM | Link to this

Janine posted: In recent years, I have found that almost every teacher in my middle school was doing an “online” doctoral or specialist program ..or doing one of the *”go to class for 6 weeks in the summer ,come home, write a paper”’ educational leadership programs so they could become administrators. Meanwhile, many could not even write a grammatically correct note to a parent. One adminstrator had so many complaints that he had every note going home pass a designated “editor’s” desk before going home. TeacherTeacher is so right…most of them couldn’t pass the tests their students are taking.

Janine, I couldn’t agree more. Have you seen the “quality” of work these teachers are asked to do when they are in these programs? I understand that the reward at the end — in terms of salary — is significant in many cases, but I have a big moral problem with these programs, EVEN THE ONES THAT ARE ACCREDITED. They are farces!

Personally, I think if it’s meaningful enough to want to do something, it ought to be meaningful enough to want to do it right. Take night classes at a “real” school, take summer classes, etc. I REFUSE to do any of those joke programs. And then I look around at the people who HAVE done them and think “and they are somehow considered better than I am?!” It’s unbelieveable.

As for the grammar, I have vowed that every time my child comes home with an incorrect note from a teacher, I am going to correct it in red pen and SEND IT BACK. My neighbor’s daughter came home with an elementary report card where the LANGUAGE ARTS grade was circled with a teacher comment “their isn’t enough effort here.”

?!?!?!?!!!?!?!?!!!!!!

Nevermind the number of times that I have seen ANY AND EVERY word that ends in “s” needing an apostrophe. Even “thank’s!” showed up once on a note from a teacher!!!

It hurts my head. It really, really, hurts my head.

Another time I was in a staff-development class and we were all given samples of all of the HSGT tests — all disciplines, regardless of what we taught, so we could get a sense of what the kids were facing. A colleague looked at the social studies part, shuddered, said “Gosh, I can’t pass this even if I try,” and closed the book. Ah, but she has her specialist’s degree!!!!

And people wonder what’s wrong with the schools …

By Jeff

February 23, 2007 06:33 PM | Link to this

HST2:

Sorry, reread and realized you could have gotten than impression. What I am saying is that at any level from Elem - college, my kid will - again, assuming I upgrade current gf to wife status - have at least one parent that has taught at each level. Not that either of us would be our child’s actual classroom teacher at ANY point. (Indeed, I wouldn’t allow the kid to be in our classes, and I would push her admin to allow her to teach a diff grade the year the kid is in the grade she normally teaches. - I’m starting as a programmer Thurs, so while I don’t rule teaching out FOREVER, it is something I don’t intend to come back to for a WHILE.)

Just noting that either the wife or I would have experience as A teacher at each level, and therefore would be more effective at helping the kid through each. Por ejemplo, since she is an elem teacher, she would know how to work with the kid academically at that level, whereas I, like any other “normal” parent, would not. Same thing with me once the kid progresses PAST elem level. I’ll know how to work with him academically from MS - college, whereas a “normal” parent would not.

By Jeff

February 23, 2007 06:36 PM | Link to this

HST2:

And btw, yes, I would agree to that! I simply tend to look at private school and SUVs the same way: elitists. Me, I try to come across as much more of an “everyman”. So I don’t drive SUVs and I won’t put my kids in public school, among other things. Just personal preference there though. Not really saying anything good or bad about EITHER program.

By HS Teacher Too

February 26, 2007 11:41 AM | Link to this

Jeff,

Your second-to-last post makes me feel a lot better … I was starting to worry for your poor child(ren)! I definitely see your point and understand what you are saying now. And I have to admit that I agree with you. Thanks for clearing it up.

As for the SUVS — we’ll have to agree to disagree. Coming from (and routintely returning to) the snowy North, I wouldn’t give up my 4-wheel drive for anything. (I used to drive a modest little car, and when we got engaged that was one of the first things my now-husband changed… he wanted me in something bigger and presumably safer.) :)