What are they teaching them in school

[waynehartwig]

As Wayne said, it's not the teachers job to morality. That's a parents job and if the parents can't do it or don't care to, then they're SOL. Blaming someone who's job is to teach about calculus or art history for a kid being sexually active....umm, wtf? That's the parents job, they should be the ones explaining what's right and wrong. The problem that I see these days is that parents just don't give a **** about anything anymore. Lets blame the school for not passing my kid because he was always playing Xbox instead of doing the assigned homework. Makes sense to me right there. It's always someone else's fault instead of maybe, just maybe, the family. Weird.

I'd guess that 99% of the people on this board went through public schools and it seems that we call came out just fine with our education. American's have gotten lazy and would rather, these days, just point their finger at someone else than admit they ****ed up. You want your kid to do well in school, well, then take some time and ask them if they need help.

Exactly. When did educators become baby sitters? Or an extension of a parent? (I guess when is apparent, but what I meant is WHY?) As far as I'm concerned all they are responsible for is teaching the subject at hand (history, math, whatever) and assuring the childs safety while in class or at school - PERIOD. It's the parents job to teach sex ed, not the school or teacher. Through the years lazy ass parents didn't want to do it and made the school do it. Then there are some that find out Johnny/Linda are being taught about sex, and sue the school.

Parents now days are too frickin' lazy, they want someone else to raise their little shits (or the neighborhood/village ) and all they want to do is be their kids' friends (againt, chickenshit of confrontation or afraid their little brats won't like them). It's a wonder why todays youth is so f'ed up.... Don't even get me started on animal control, er CPS Some kids need CPS to save their lives; but most just need their butt's beat.

 

[GOAT]

you get what you pay for. why would an intelligent person want to go teach in a public school when he/she could make a lot more in a private or collegiate program. we need to invest more.

I ask Jenn this on a weekly basis. She is now a supervisor for the school district and things are a little easier. The system however, is an archetype example of goverment bureaucracy and corruption. We are not getting what we are paying for.

She's the opposite of me, a humanist, and feels she is doing her part for the greater good. I respect her for that, but the horror stories.......

I say, just teach them to stay the f*ck outta my way

 

[ryslc]

the parents are the problem.
not involved in their childs life or education
the majority isnt willing to invest time or money

 

[Maverick]

the parents are the problem.
not involved in their childs life or education
the majority isnt willing to invest time or money

yup, especially the time part. I don't know if I agree with "majority" but I do agree that the problem comes about because of the parents who are not willing to invest the TIME necessary to help their kids succeed, and each kid needs a different amount.

One of my kids needed HOURS of help each night with his 5th grade state report. Another kid, when he was working on the same project, would show me his completed portion each night, that he had done ahead of time, and that the teacher had used as an example in the class of the proper way to do it. Same teacher.

We've had some teachers that were better than others, but for the most part, I still think that it's time spent with the kids that makes the biggest difference.

Oddly, on the subject of "What are they teaching them in school", a few years ago I heard something on the radio about asking your kids what they had learned in school that day.

I started doing this each night at bedtime, beginning with "tell me what you learned in school today" and progressed into other open ended questions like "what's the funnest thing you did today" following with others like hardest, smartest, silliest, etc.

I would be careful not to criticize or get to preachy at this time, just to listen (difficult to do). I would take opportunities later to teach and preach as necessary, but I wanted my kids to feel free to share anything and everything without being guarded. Here's the crazy part: my kids LOVED it, and began calling it "questions". "Will you come do questions, Dad?" (unseen benefit: they would get their stuff done and get into bed before bedtime. Whether they left 5 or 25 minutes, that's what we'd spend.)

(3 kids in pub schools)

 

[RWH]

make a chunk of their pay performance based. The truly good teachers should have no problem making a little more coin. And the teachers just there cause it's comfortable and way to hard for them to get fired will either start to work harder for the higher pay, or drop off.

If I had all teachers that were as passionate about it as the guy in this video I would have been a straight A no problems student in school. It was always the classes where the teacher actually cared that I bothered to go to and do well in high school
Just my opinion.

[YOUTUBE]hw1MFobWD_o[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Catherine]

make a chunk of their pay performance based? By performance based you mean high test scores? Then every teacher that taught in the inner-city schools would quit because they wouldn't make enough money to live.

Just a little side note not many teachers are there for the sole purpose of job security.

 

[waynehartwig]

make a chunk of their pay performance based? By performance based you mean high test scores? Then every teacher that taught in the inner-city schools would quit because they wouldn't make enough money to live.

Just a little side note not many teachers are there for the sole purpose of job security.

No kidding and they are definately not there for the money. This is why I can't fault them. They are there for one thing, they like kids and teaching them things. Well, some of the hot ones are there to have sex, but that's a different conversation

I truly believe the teachers are doing the best they can with what they have to work with. The teachers are only faciliatators. They assign homework supposedly to get parents involved and to facilitate extended learning at home. There just is not enough time to teach subjects in class alone, hence the need for homework. Now if the parents don't care to get involved and either help or 'force' their children to do their homework, who's fault is it when the kids are held back or failing?? Hint....it's not the teacher's fault....

Used to be one parent was at home while the other worked. The one at home would raise the child while the other made the money. They knew they had a limited income and did not drive $60k Hummers. They knew they were limited, and had $20k mid class cars. They weren't living in apartments, either. They owned their homes before their kids were even born and chances are still lived in that same house when their grand kids started coming over. This was a very stabile environment. It's structured as well. Kids need this type of living environment to learn and grow. Just my opinion...

Yeah times change... Used to be money wasn't a status symbol. Now it is. Drive through an apartment complex sometime and look at some of the vehicles in the parking area. I bet some of them have payments more than their rent. They also probably have 3 kids in a 2 bedroom apartment. But if they would get rid of that $50k SUV and probably other thigns, I bet they could afford to buy a house in a decent area and actually give their kids a home with a decent upbringing.

...So now everyone can flame me. I grew up in apartments with a single mother that worked 2-3 jobs all the time and on public assistance. I have what I have because I worked my ass off to get it and get out of that type of lifestyle. Same with my younger two sisters. My younger brother, well, he doesn't mind.... Some just care and some don't. Either lifestyle can rear different kids. But why increase the odds?

 

[92XJeeper]

Good points, Wayne. I'll add that having well over 30 kids in a class doesn't help matters. Someone mentioned the bureaucracy. Education has become way too political; it's all about obtaining more money and controlling that money. Unfortunately, not enough of those funds are distributed where it's needed most. And now they must contend with meeing the standards set forth by NCLB, which affects the funding they receive from the feds.

There are great teachers out there who are doing the best they can with what they have while working under a system that badly needs to be fixed. Of course, there are a few others who have no business being in the profession.

While pursuing my degree in education, I took classes taught by one of the administrators at the state office of education and it really opened my eyes to some of the chit that goes on.

 

[waynehartwig]

Good points, Wayne. I'll add that having well over 30 kids in a class doesn't help matters. Someone mentioned the bureaucracy. Education has become way too political; it's all about obtaining more money and controlling that money. Unfortunately, not enough of those funds are distributed where it's needed most. And now they must contend with meeing the standards set forth by NCLB, which affects the funding they receive from the feds.

There are great teachers out there who are doing the best they can with what they have while working under a system that badly needs to be fixed. Of course, there are a few others who have no business being in the profession.

While pursuing my degree in education, I took classes taught by one of the administrators at the state office of education and it really opened my eyes to some of the chit that goes on.

True... But even in a class of 40, your child is only going to get out of what the parents help put in.

The teachers association is nothing but a union. And we all know how well unions work! They aren't good for the consumer OR for the children put under their control.

 

[unltd1]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

...oh, I'm sorry, I nodded off from all the terribly uneducated, misinformed, and brainwashed posts on this thread.

If you really want to know what it's like to be in a school, go be a teacher, or at least take a few hours out of your incredibly busy schedule and volunteer in your kid's school. Until then, keep your ignorant comments to a minimum....please.

As far as performance-based pay is concerned, if you want to know if it's worth it or not, it depends on who you ask. Ask an older teacher, and they are likely to say it's a terrible idea. Ask a 20-something, and they're first in line to sign up for that deal. It's a generational thing, not a teacher thing. Read a book on generational differences, and you'll see that EVERY field has the same issue. Young adults want to get paid for performance. Older adults want an honest day's pay for an honest day's work. That's just the way it is. End of story.

It's also a generational thing with regard to how much free time, parent involvement, and material wealth today's children have. Parents who are Baby Boomers or Generation Xers had parents who could give them relatively little material items, and they want to give their kids the toys they could only wish for as children. If they have to work more to do it, it's worth it to them. It's all just cyclical. Today's teens will have children with entirely different issues. Just sit back and watch, like a detached cosmic observer, and you'll soon see the patterns.

Also, I'd just like to add that we should all be eternally thankful to whoever is willing to work in the trenches 8 hours a day with juvenile delinquents, ahem, I mean children, because if they weren't in school, they'd be keying your cars, putting bags of flaming dogcrap on your doorstep, and getting EVEN FATTER!!! Where do you want to spend your money? Now, on schools, or later, on prisons? Pony up the dough, and shut your mouth. Teachers are keeping kids on the straight and narrow more than any policeman ever could.

And lastly, anyone who thinks the first post was anything other than a bad joke needs to go back to school themselves.

I am a teacher. I work with Special Ed students at a Middle School. It's what I love. I'd do it for free. Plus...I get 3 months off a year. Hard to beat...

 

[Meat_]

The public school system isn't working as well as it should. I don't pretend to know the reasons why, so I won't offer an opinion.

I can speak from my public school experience though.... I saw a lot of teachers who weren't much smarter than their pupils, I saw a lot of teachers who were flat out lazy, I saw a lot of teachers who were burned out from decades of trying to teach ingrates, I saw a lot of teachers who were frustrated with the limits of the curriculum, I also saw a smaller number of teachers who captivated every child in the classroom every day.

My personal experience with school was that it was never challenging, and unfortunately I chose the path of apathy over that of overachievement. There were a handful of teachers that I really learned from, I took every credit I could get from them and then audited their classes during my free periods.... I recently realized something about those teachers, every one of them owned their own business (not related to the subject they taught) and taught on the side, make what you will of that.

you get what you pay for. why would an intelligent person want to go teach in a public school when he/she could make a lot more in a private or collegiate program. we need to invest more.

More money can't possibly hurt.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

...oh, I'm sorry, I nodded off from all the terribly uneducated, misinformed, and brainwashed posts on this thread....

I was so hoping for another drunk post

btw, you would fit into the last group of teachers that I mentioned... except for the business owner part, but you are still young.

 

[92XJeeper]

I am a teacher. I work with Special Ed students at a Middle School. It's what I love. I'd do it for free. Plus...I get 3 months off a year. Hard to beat...

I have great appreciation for SPED teachers. My first experience was when my daughter was placed in Special Ed. Then, during my SPED classes at USU, I got a much better understanding of what these teachers do. It's very honorable work and I thank you for doing it.

As it's commonly asked, what are the three best things about being a teacher?

 

[Bart]

First, are you sure the students weren't playing with the "rights to bare arms" analogy? I don't know any of my kids friends that would be serious about that, but a lot of them would think it was a funny twist.

Second, I agree with Ryan. Utah needs to step up and increase spending on schools so we're not at the bottom of the barrel year after year. Our good teachers go to other states to get what they should get here. It seems that many in Utah are pleased to hatch out lots of kids and then not pay for them. Personally I don't think the voucher system is a good way to "increase our per pupil spending".

Third, again along what Ryan said, it takes lots of parental input and help to get a kid through the public system, but it can be done. I have a son in 11th taking a PSAT test this morning for a national scholarship and a daughter in 8th that scored very well on the national tests a month ago. We have dedicated study time and lots of input, and know the public system can work, and work well.

 

[Amy]

The government wants to keep america dumb so that we wont realize that they are going to erase the borders between canada and mexico and call our new dollar bill the AMERO. LOL

 

[waynehartwig]

First, are you sure the students weren't playing with the "rights to bare arms" analogy? I don't know any of my kids friends that would be serious about that, but a lot of them would think it was a funny twist.

Second, I agree with Ryan. Utah needs to step up and increase spending on schools so we're not at the bottom of the barrel year after year. Our good teachers go to other states to get what they should get here. It seems that many in Utah are pleased to hatch out lots of kids and then not pay for them. Personally I don't think the voucher system is a good way to "increase our per pupil spending".

Third, again along what Ryan said, it takes lots of parental input and help to get a kid through the public system, but it can be done. I have a son in 11th taking a PSAT test this morning for a national scholarship and a daughter in 8th that scored very well on the national tests a month ago. We have dedicated study time and lots of input, and know the public system can work, and work well.

I think it's like anything else, you get out of it what you put in. For parents like you that work with your kids, they're going to succeed (in everything) - but I think that is your deal and not the school. Because a family that doesn't, most like the child won't succeed - and I think that is the fault of the school system (and of course the parents).

 

[Amy]

oh...and homework is over rated!

 

[Brett]

Amy, no more trolling!

 

[Amy]

trolling?

 

[Brett]

trolling?

Trolling

 

[Amy]

What!!!!!