Maybe that is why so many parents are home-schooling their children. We have to do the teachers' jobs anyway. Might as well teach them from home.
The amount of homework that comes home each night is ridiculous. What are these teachers doing during the day?
Today was the kicker and what got me into this rant. My daughter, who's very smart, came home with science homework. She said to me, "Mom, I don't understand this." I asked her why she didn't ask the teacher. Her reply? "Because they look at you like you're stupid."
That did not make me feel good at all. Keep in mind my daughter has made the Honor Roll every semester since she started middle school. I really don't doubt her feelings on this matter. Over the years I think I have done more teaching in the evening than the majority of the teachers have done during the course of a day.
Now I'm not saying all teachers are like this, but it seems more are than aren't. A teacher's job is to teach and if you have to go over something over and over again, oh well -- isn't that your job?
We need to be grading these teachers just as they grade our kids. Just because you have a degree doesn't mean you are qualified to teach a subject. In fact, in most cases the more some of these teachers know about the subject they're teaching, the more they are unable to teach the subject at all!
The pattern I seem to always see are in the subjects of math and science. I'm sure these teachers are very smart, but they can't seem to teach others. Maybe because they find it so easy they can't relate. They have to be able to take the time and care. They also have to remember that these are children. As far as I am concerned, if the children aren't successful neither is the teacher.
Making kids take notes and rambling for an hour every day isn't teaching. You have to talk to these kids and put it in a context that is interesting and one that they can understand. Talking to them in Greek won't get the job done.
My daughter comes home each night to ask my husband and me for help. Of course we do help her, but in a way that she can understand. How come I can teach her in a way she understands, but they can't? Isn't that what we pay them to do?
Over the years I've done this time and time again. I feel my daughter's success is mostly due to what my husband and I have done at home to teach her. Now isn't that sad. This child is in school for seven hours a day and still has to come home and have us explain stuff to her. Not just once in awhile, but on a consistent basis.
I feel so sad for these kids who have no support system at home. How will they ever succeed if the teachers in school aren't doing their jobs?
We need to have some kind of system that grades these teachers and holds them accountable to some degree. That's part of why our country is going down the tubes. Most of the teachers are just not able to teach. Like I said, just because you have a degree doesn't mean you are qualified to teach our children.
Sometimes, homeschooling seems like a better and better option
Most of the teachers now don't even grade the kids' papers. They have the children do it. How in the heck can you know if a child needs help if you don't take the time to grade the papers yourself? The other way they are grading now are with these scanning machines. The child fills in the circles on a narrow sheet and they put it in a machine and it grades the paper. Again, talk about being out of touch with the children in your class! How can you possibly know what is going on, when you're relying on machines, and other students, to grade assignments?
I guess the school districts are okay with these scanning machines, otherwise they wouldn't provide them. Instead of making the teachers' jobs easier, why aren't they making things easier on our kids? Make these teachers teach and hold them responsible for a class's success or failure. They do that in the real world -- why not in the classroom?
You have to have patience as a teacher and be able to instruct children in a way they understand. Our school system is broken and someone needs to fix it and quickly. How will we remain a super power when we fail our kids on a regular basis?
Our children's future success is in all of our hands and teachers need to do their part too! You chose this profession so be the best you can be -- just like you expect from the kids.
8 comments:
Just one quick comment... it is good to have children correct their own papers because they DO learn from it! When a teacher corrects papers and hands them back, most students just put it in their take-home folder, never to be looked at again... except to see their score. Not all parents are this way, some do take the time to look over work with their children:)
I feel bad for you - what a horribly uninformed post. I understand that you are upset, but have you ever tried talking to your child's teacher? You blast and blast away and never once offer any useful advice about how to solve the situation besides homeschooling your child.
No system of grading teachers? Are you joking? There is a four year evaluation process for most districts in which you are visited in the classroom at least three times, have to sit through pre- and post-observation meetings, and then are subject to employment recommendations by the administration. There is no "free ride" here or lack of grading system for teachers as you put it.
I am wondering if you are filling your child's head with negative comments about teachers and public schools and then the child is taking this attitude to school. I can imagine a more damaging way to affect your child's thinking.
Boy, did I ruffle some feathers! First of all don't feel bad for me, feel bad for our kids.
Secondly, I don't fill my child's head with anything. She comes home and complains. The only thing I am guilty of is listening to my child. That and only that is what I based my blog entry on.
Could it possibly be my child actually knows what's going on?
As for me being uninformed, what about yourself? Do you have any children in school? Have you stayed up night after night so that you child is successful? I doubt it very much.
You talk about me being misinformed, what about yourself? Usually people who are as defensive as yourself must realize I have a point.
I also didn't blast every teacher if you really read the post. I said some teachers, not all.
My daughter has had many good teachers. She has also had many teachers who simply aren't able to teach. That was my point.
I didn't say the teachers weren't smart. I simply stated some teachers just don't have the ability to teach. That's not a slam, that's a fact.
I have 8 years of experience as a mother of a child in the public school system. What about you?
I have always volunteered in my child's school and helped whenever possible. So I do know what's going on. I am very involved -- not uninformed as you seem to think.
Maybe that's what got you so upset?
Actually I did come up with two solutions -- grade the teachers and home schooling. Seems like you didn't like either answer.
Maybe you can come up with a better solution. I'd love to hear it.
I was just on mLive's parenting forum and was surprised to see all the skuttle butt about my post.
Just to let everyone know I am not anti-teacher. I have many people in my family who are teachers.
My uncle was a very respected teacher, football coach and principal in Pennsylvania.
My husband's aunt and cousin are both teachers -- so it wasn't an anit-teacher thing.
Teachers need to be held accountable for the success or failure of the majority of their class.
Of course, there will always be some kids who won't be successful not matter what a teacher does or doesn't do. That isn't who I was referring to.
I am referring to the children who do well and try hard. If they fail then so does the teacher -- that was my point.
In the work world if you don't do your job you are held accountable -- why not in the school system? Aren't our children the top priority?
Yoopergirl, Scampi1 and Kevinporter -- thanks for your support. I'm glad someone understood what I was saying.
Either discuss your issues with the teacher or take your student out and homeschool her. Honestly the money to the district is not worth the problems your create by randomly voicing your biased opinion. You can either be part of the problem or part of the solution. It is pretty obvious which direction you are taking right now.
Gee, sounds to me like your opinion is a bit biased yourself.
By the way I am not biased just stating facts. If I'm not doing that why are you so defensive?
Can you offer some solutions? This is a wide spread problem and not just with my child. Just listen to the news.
I've heard other parents complain too. I wrote the post to address the issue, however,you seem to be part of the problem yourself.
Again, I'm not speaking about all teachers, but the problem needs to be addressed.
If the districts think the money isn't worth it why are they so scared of charter schools?
Maybe in your opinion the money isn't worth it, but I wouldn't repeat that comment to the districts. Especially if you happen to be a teacher.
As for being part of the solution that is just what I am. I think writing about the problem is a start.
Why is everyone so afraid of grading teachers? In every other job you are evaluated once a year on success or failure. Why not in our school system? Our children are worth it.
Sorry if you don't agree.
Good grief! I'm SO glad to finally find another parent concerned with how their child is going to turn out. I'm currently unhappy with my child's teacher. She's in 1st grade. she comes home with these little books to read. They're filled with sentences like "The cat is mad. The cat is sad. The cat is sad and mad." Yesterday she brought home book #27 - the same book she brought home 2 weeks ago as homework, only this time the teacher or teacher's aide stapled the book together with the pages OUT OF ORDER. How is she supposed to comprehend a story with the pages out of order!?!?!When these books have"new" words in them, like the word "frog" for instance, they have a picture of a frog in the sentence above TINY print that says the word, so the kids don't have to actually learn the word 'frog' - they see the picture. My daughter is 7, but quite advanced for 7 because we read to her as a baby instead of plopping her in front of a TV. She was reading to me the other day and the word "thunderstruck" rolled off her tongue like it was nothing.
I'm sick and tired of the schools dumbing things down for the smart kids. When I was in school (graduated 96)they did away with honors classes because the non-honors kids felt bad because they weren't in them. now they're just bringing down ALL the kids to the lowest level.
In my opinion, the school day should be a FULL day, none of this 8:30 to 3:30 with an hour lunch and all the vacations. everyone says the united states is doing poorly compared to other countries. I WONDER WHY.
She has science ONCE a week. Our school is considering adding foreign language for elementary, but they want to cut something. how about working a full day like the rest of the working world.
Her teacher sends notes home with words spelled incorrectly. Makes me feel good that this is the person teaching my child how to spell. my daughter is involved in the advanced reader course and they get points for taking book-related comprehension tests. she needed help logging onto the computer and the teacher told her that she would have to ask a fellow classmate for help. Why is there a teacher if another 7 year old has to help her log onto the computer???? they have college students in their class as part of their schooling to help them out. they have paraprofessionals who help with reading. they also have 'homework helpers' who go through the homework and go over it with the child. the homework apparently doesn't ever cross the actual teacher's desk because its all handled by the homework helper.
I can't afford private school and I can't affod to quit my job to homeschool, yet that's what i'm doing - homeschooling in the evening because the teacher isn't doing her job.
So, I feel for you and agree with you. You and I are apparently one of the rare parents who give a crap about their child and their child's future. Good luck. You're not alone.
The original post contains a myriad incorrect logic. The fallacies are highlighted below.
First, it is because of "grading teachers" and "accountability" that teachers can't spend more time helping kids and ensuring that they understand and master the material. The accountability movement has produced State standards, benchmarks, and pacing guidelines to ensure that students are ready for the MME/ACT which, by the way, grades teachers and schools as much as it grades the students. Accountability isn't lacking, the mechanisms for measuring it have been instituted in a completely misinformed way.
Second, it takes a village. We all need to work together to form communities where students can learn and thrive. While I'm sure your child's teacher apologizes that you must help them and be part of their educational process, it is important that everyone chip in a little bit--this doesn't mean simply paying your taxes--and do what is required as stakeholders to create educated children willing able to critically think.
Third, I don't know the author of the original blog post, but I've seen their type before--"my kid is a genius and can't possibly ever be wrong." Yes, it's possible the child has a sense of what's going on, but there are such a complex series of interactions behind the scenes between teachers, administrators, the State, other parents, etc. that a child really has no idea that difficulties of the job or the bureaucracy that one must endure--including, as one person said, a rigorous tenuring process. The types of parents that never hold the student accountable for their actions are problematic and create larger issues for the child later--like college when no one really cares whether your child gets it or not and it's up to them to figure out how to get it. With a Bachelor's Degree from an Ivy and a Master's from a Big 10 School, I can speak to this quite well. Education is what the student makes it! If the world is boring, they are boring! Kids need to advocate for themselves and not hide behind mommy's skirt when they shirk their responsibility.
Fourth, simply because you went to public schools or are parent of a child in one doesn't suddenly make you an expert. I've read Dr. Zhivago, but that doesn't make me the czar.
Fifth, the author of the original blog post lost a great deal of credibility when she resorted to the "some of my best friends/family are..." argument. It's that type of talk that allows racists and bigots to go underground and attempt absolve themselves from their agenda. It makes it seem like the author has a hidden agenda even if she doesn't. She would have had more credibility if she didn't try to subvert what she was saying with the tired old lines about who your friends and family are and why don't hate a certain group of people because you know them.
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