Posted on 05/13/2008 5:53:02 AM PDT by george76
That $13.2 million grant Washington state won last year to enhance the teaching of Advanced Placement courses in math and science is history.
It’s lost because of the financial incentives it would have provided for teachers who improve test scores. The Washington Education Association didn’t much like the idea of tying teacher pay to student performance on exams.
Neither did the teachers union like the involvement of an outside party, the grant provider, in teacher-pay decisions.
(Excerpt) Read more at tdn.com ...
Last week brought yet more proof that the Washington Education Association has little to do with education. It’s a union, plain and simple. And to advance its members, the union will even resort to anti-education tactics.
If the WEA were really interested in education, it would have applauded and supported a five-year, $13.2 million grant...
Logic leads one to believe the WEA would support more pay for teachers, but because the NMSI grant money would come from an outside source, free from union manipulation, the union effectively killed the program.
http://www.columbian.com/opinion/news/2008/05/05102008_In-our-view-Cheers—Jeers.cfm
At some point people will start to ask why we spend so much on public education and get so little in return. There are other (better) ways to teach children.
Everyone is a “C” student, no competitive endeavors such as spelling bees, math bowls, football, etc. All teachers get the same pay, and everyone a Democrat!
I believe there is a good label for their beliefs.
The schools get money just for having the kids show up.
In most businesses, you increase your market share and can generate increased profits by being better than anyone else at the work you do. Public Education isn't like that. They increase their funding by being able to say, "The kids are failing! We don't have enough resources! We can't afford textbooks! Give us money!!"
As long as the schools keep doing a lousy job, the money keeps flowing in, in ever increasing amounts.
The system works as planned.
On further consideration, the rule still holds (imo), it's just coming from another area, to different people and in much larger sums.
NEA ... the Fifth Column.
It’s no wonder why teachers and their unions refuse to be held accountable. It’s because they embrace and inculcate relativism and egalitarianism. Then they infect generations of children with the same. That’s what we’re facing today - these “chickens have come home to roost.” There are millions more behind them, and apparently there’s no political will to slam on the brakes.
What many teachers don't know is that they can get "umbrella Policy" on their home insurance to protect them from liability. The costs are half of and provide much better coverage than the unions charge for union dues. It's sad that good teachers have to have this kind of coverage while doing good things with our children.
And the parents keep accepting the mediocrity. The crappy education system in America is the parents fault for not being in the streets and on capital hill demanding better education for their children.
Improving public education would require breaking the back of the NEA.
I think that the main reason parents don’t put up more a fuss than they do is because the teachers have convinced everyone that the poor performance of government schools is almost entirely because of the kids. So parents say “Well, my kid is a good kid, does his homework, that means he’ll be all right”.
There’s also the “not my school” syndrome where somehow people are able to convince themselves that all this crap can only happen in places like New York or California. Well, that’s not true. Here in Iowa, the schools pride themselves on being “good” schools - but they still all participated in the “Day of Silence” garbage last month. And the local homeschool kids are still beating the pants off the government schools.
With all due respect I reject your premise that the parents of the children are a primary problem.
School teachers (of course there are exceptions) are promoting an educational philosophy based on:
There is no right or wrong. Morality and religion are the cause of prejudice and hostility.
There should be no consequences for actions. Government will save all the suffering people who screwed up their lives.
Adults should not be treated with respect. President Bush is a moron. Let's all make fun of our stupid president.
I see what the schools do. And when the defenders of the schools turn around and blame parents for doing exactly what the current educational philosophy calls for ... well ... I have no tolerance for that.
Equine manure. The teachers, administrators, and everyone related to the "ed biz" has been actively PREVENTING parental involvement for decades. The mantra is, send your kids to the public education system, and and for the PARENTS to "sit down and shut up" while they're there. Why do you think home-schooling is booming???
Some years ago I attended a public meeting for my town's educational curriculum. There had been complaints, and the school administration wanted to "address the concerns".
At one point a teacher proudly mentioned how second graders were taught to use a calculator. I stood up and said that second graders should be taught to do basic arithmetic and that calculators should be absolutely banned from the classroom. The teacher gave me a condescending little speech about how little I knew of the topic of education, and explained that she knew far more than I did about how to teach math to young children.
Another parent stood up and agreed with me. Then another parent did the same.
The School superintendant stepped in, pointed out that time was short, had to move things along, and changed the topic to the changes in health education.
They don't care what parents think. Parents are "the problem".
my wife was an outstanding teacher, but took an early retirement when the state installed the new “educational reforms” which, in essence, called for what I listed in the post above. And she wasn’t the only one. In fact, some of the state leaders expressed joy at learning many experienced teachers were leaving - getting rid of the old to make room for young pliable teachers.
Logically, given the variables and analyzing the data, the mathematical conclusion is "Sir, you are an elitist and a lousy educator". (But try telling him that.) And the D that she's going to get in that class is going to drag down an otherwise spectacular GPA. Thank you, NEA.
My position is clear: Schools are out to milk the taxpayers for money, as an institution they do not care about educating children, they blame parents for all the problems and they then use that blame as leverage to get more money from the parents. It's a racket.
There are some teachers who really care about the kids and who do a good job. But the institution itself is designed to work against those well-meaning teachers, work against involved parents, and work against the students.
Government schools cannot be fixed. The idea of government schooling is fundamentally flawed.
what I outlined was just the tip of the iceberg...my wife and I always had meetings with the kids teachers at the beginning of the school year ( we gave up eventually ) and told the teachers not to take any crap from the boys, and that we would back them up discipline wise...we would then provide them with our work phones, cell phones and e mail addresses, and told them to contact us any time day or night...needless to say few would even bother to give us the time of day, and then would blame us for not wanting to get involved!!!!!! and our school district was considered one of the best in the state!!!! Thank god they all graduated, if I had it all to do over again, i would work 2 jobs and send the kids to a real school instead of an i don’t give a sh@t public school....
I really hope you’ve gotten your kid out of there. That kind of nonsense is one primary reason why I am such an avid fan of homeschooling.
In my 3rd sons junior year ( he is the one this crap happened to ) i had him tested for admission to MENSA ( and I tested myself ) he did not qualify, but scored in the 95th percentile. He should have been in classes for the gifted, but our school district wanted him to stay for his testing scores....so they lied and cheated, berated and bemoaned myself and my wife in order to keep him there. I cannot be convinced that most of the teachers and administrators in public schools are nothing but whores, engaged in the selling of childrens intellegence and futures for their own personal gain..
About 10 years ago I had a delivery job in Chicago. One day I had to deliver some supplies to the NEA National Convention.
It was being held at one of the most expensive hotels in the country. And almost everyone there was 50-100 lbs overweight.
I feel bad for all the hard working teachers who constantly get ripped off by their bloated union.
The school system fails slower kids and those with disabilities. It can’t provide the kind of education they need in a classroom setting, so they don’t live up to their potential.
It fails smart kids. They can’t be put in special classes for fear of hurting the normal kids’ self esteem. Their test scores have to keep up the average for the school. And they’re usually smarter than their teachers and the teachers resent it. It takes as much special knowledge to teach extra-intelligent kids as retarded ones.
And the system fails normal kids, by teaching them they can just get by, not have to try to do better. You’re smarter than Bobby in Special Ed, isn’t that good enough? You’re not gifted like Ted, so why try to beat him at anything?
Oh, the government system works. It works beautifully. It just isn’t designed to do what most people think.
No one can prevent or should be permitted to interfere with parental involvement in their children's education.
I'm impressed with those who homeschool and do it well, particularly because I occasionally get students who have been homeschooled until they reached the maximum academic level that the parents could handle, and they tend to be great kids and excellent students.
I'm equally impressed with parents who handle public schools correctly. If your kid is in a history class that teaches "Hate America First", as my daughter's class does, there is no reason to allow the teacher an uninterrupted forum for such nonsense. I discuss every chapter with my daughter, present an alternative perspective on every alleged evil of western culture, and allow the class to serve as a reason for critical evaluation of whether America was wrong in a particular situation (yeah, it's happened) or the criticism is based more on hate than on fact and our country did the right thing (the most common conclusion). As a result, my daughter knows that there is a debate, has seen both sides, and knows why the anti-American Democrats are wrong. Far from preventing parental involvement, the liberal bias of most social studies teachers should promote involement and allows parents to inoculate their children against later exposure to leftist intolerance.
When my kids go through "Family Life" education, we review the curriculum in advance and opt out of inappropriate topics. If someone said we could not opt out, which has not yet happened, I would introduce our kids to the topic, explaining the Biblical stance on that topic along with the objective evidence that the Bible matches logic and reason. My kids, armed with the facts, would be more than a match for a leftist with an agenda but little understanding of the topic.
As for math and science, what I've seen in the public schools varies from good to great, with an occasional incompetent teacher thrown in. On the calculator topic that another post mentioned, it's the parent's job to make sure that technology is used appropriately. No kid should use a calculator to solve a problem that he cannot solve by hand (except logs and trig functions where kids no longer have the tables to look up those numbers). However, no kid should spend an excessive amount of time performing tedious computations once those skills have been mastered and the class is covering something else. I expect my students and my own children to use a calculator so that they can skip the long division or multiplying large numbers when those skills are irrelevant to the topic I want them to learn. I also expect my student and my own children to regularly demonstrate that they don't actually need the calculator to answer the questions. The calculator is a tool and not a crutch.
I've seen quite a few smart kids who are not in "Gifted" classes because their academic work is not at the level of gifted work. In some cases, they really aren't ready to do the more challenging work. Just as often, they're ready to do real work that challenges them, but they shut down when teachers for regular courses try to get them to work too far below their level. Most of the teachers I work with love spotting kids in the second group and bringing them up to speed in gifted or advanced placement classes. There are occasional terrible teachers and administrators, but they are the exception and not the rule.
Since I’ve lived here in WA there has been three or four major strikes by the teachers in different parts of the state.
Now mind you, strikes are illegal by state employees but the Rats who have controlled our state since I’ve lived here have not pushed that fact or enforced the no strike rule.
It’s simply pathetic that the union has enough power to to blatanly break the law but that’s what happens when the Rats who are backed by unions control a state government.
There are many teachers who don’t go along with this but they are powerless to change it unless they get enough numbers in their local districts to change the local votes. They are not only fighting the powers that be with the unions but the state government.
my son had 1 teacher who pushed him to excel...he won district wide math and science competitions, and took awards for writing, got straight a’s and love school that year.....the following year he got the worst teacher I had ever dealt with ( except for a gym teacher, but that is another story ) and the excellent teacher just disappeared from the not only the school, but the district...he got straight d’s that year, and never recovered ( this is the teacher that told me it is not his job to keep parents informed as to the progress of the kids )
IQ doesn’t mean that much as far as performance in school is concerned. It may tell you whether a low performing child is working up to their ability, but that’s about it.
My brother had the highest IQ that the school district had ever seen. The school officials came to our house when my brother was in fifth grade to discuss where the school and family had failed him. He just wasn’t interested in doing anything that wasn’t his idea. He tried the advanced classes, but he refused to do any of the reading and never did much of the homework, but when it came time to take standardized tests like the IOWA test, he scored 99.9% and his college boards were in the high 700’s, which back in the sixties, was a lot more unusual than it is today. A higher math course was a requirement for college in those days, and he tested out of all but advanced calculus. So, that was what he had to take. He hated math.
Coincidentally, I was watching an old Simpsons episode last night and they touched on the very subject.
The teacher was passing out some standardized tests and she said something to the effect of "take the tests as fast as you like; the worse you do the more money the school gets."
While funny in that context, it's really pretty sad.
The quality of public school education is inversely proportionate to the growth of the NEA.
Did you know that the NEA hired Saul Alinsky, back in 1948, to help them with their organizing methods?
EXACTLY! Failure gets the Rewards.....start REWARDING success (capitalism...oh my) and the schools would turn on a dime to get the REWARDS.
We spend taxpayer billion$ on education yet the product and results are piss poor. Ample evidence abounds to show more $$ is NOT the solution to education results.
God Bless You....keep it up!
See reply #17, which is absolutely typical. The "educational professionals" (and I use the term derogatively in comparison to "teachers") want only the type and amount of "parental involvement" that the "educational professional" decides to dictate.
It's kind of like "welfare" in this country. Trillions of dollars spent and what do we have to show for it? In the case of welfare, the destruction of an entire minority group. In the case of education, we've heard the same drumbeat of "more money: for decades, and after trillions spent on that, test scores keep dropping, students are less prepared, and they can't answer questions that were standard fare in 19th century 8th grade schoolrooms.
ping
Thanks geo.
It is the parents' job and the teacher's job to explain to kids why they need to do homework, just as it is the coach/parent/music teacher's job to ensure that kids practice sports and music. I don't care how talented or lacking in talent someone is, hard work makes all the difference in math as it does in sports and in music. Even Michael Jordan was cut from basketball when he was young, before practice brought out his full potential. Parents and teachers make a mistake when they assume that kids will do the work "because I said so" without a hint at the underlying reasons.
I like working with students like your brother, because I've been pretty successful at helping them to see a personal value in doing all the work or at least enough of the work that they will retain the knowledge and be able to use those skills later. I don't succeeed with every student, but I am making a huge difference. Still, when a parent opts for private school or homeschool, I assume they know what they're doing. Public school isn't for everyone, just as homeschooling isn't for everyone.
One of my goals is to be "that teacher", the one they remember as an inspiration, for as many kids as possible. As for keeping parents informed, that's not part of my formal job, but it is still my responsibility. Good teachers treat our students and their parents as we would want our own kids treated and keep the parents as informed as we would want to be kept. If for no other reason, teachers should still do it because it's far less work to keep the parents informed than it is to try to do everything on our own.
Your statement that it is the parents’ job to explain to a student why he needs to study. Do you think people didn’t try. My brother was convinced that he was not exceptionally intelligent, that everyone else was just stupid. I know because his derision was often directed at me.
roger, we need more just like you.....
At least you tried, and I know a lot of other people try too, although a surprising number of kids don't have anyone at home who makes that effort. Part of being a good teacher is making that case to kids, and it gets easier if someone outside the classroom is helping. I get a surprising number of kids who never considered the possibility that they could do well in a math class. I don't even try to convince kids that they are smart, both because intelligence isn't as important to success in life as most kids think, and because they probably have a deeply ingrained opinion on their intellingence. I just try to convince them that they can do well, learn what they need to know, and use those skills any time they need to for the rest of their lives. So far, I have a good record with my students.
There was a history teacher that befriended my brother in seventh grade, but all he accomplished was getting my brother interested in exploring communism and the USSR. He listened to radio Moscow on a short wave radio and corresponded with the radio announcers, much to the chagrin of my mother. My grandfather had been accused of being a communist by a political opponent for much less, and my mother was terrified about my brother’s activities. She was afraid that the government was opening the mail and monitoring it, like they did to my grandfather.
"The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people." - A Nation at Risk, report of the National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983.
“If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves.” - A Nation at Risk, report of the National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983.
"Personally, I liked the university. They gave us money and facilities, we didn't have to produce anything. You've never been in the private sector. They expect results." - Dan Akroyd as Doctor Raymond Stantz in, Ghostbusters.
"[Another] objection to federal aid is that it promotes the idea that federal school money is "free" money, and thus gives the people a distorted picture of the cost of education." - Barry Goldwater, The Conscience Of A Conservative, 1960.
"In modern times, the diligence of public teachers is more or less corrupted by the circumstances which render them more or less independent of their success and reputation in their particular professions. Their salaries, too, put the private teacher, who would pretend to come into competition with them, in the same state with a merchant who attempts to trade without a bounty in competition with those who trade with a considerable one." - Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Bk.V, ch.1, 1776.
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