Posted on 05/28/2013 9:13:04 AM PDT by Impala64ssa
As parents in several states have stood up against standardized education such as Common Core and CSCOPE, one teacher in the Chicago area (Highland Park) has taken a similar (although not necessarily directly related) stand that is now going viral.
Last week, 15-year teaching veteran Ellie Rubenstein posted a 10-minute YouTube video where she decried the state of test-centric eduction after the district she was working in said it was going to be transferring her and several other teachers– a move she says came because those teachers were vocal about their issues and one she says the district has attributed to concerns over the school’s “poor climate.”
“This is a total kangaroo court, a retaliation against four teachers who are quite vocal in advocating for their children,” Rubenstein said in an interview last week. “We are at the forefront of speaking our minds and at the forefront of advocating for our students. We are all being falsely accused by the administration and some colleagues of doing things we have never done, and saying things we have never said.”
Frustrated and out of options, Rubenstein decided to resign instead of face the transfer — and she did it in a way that has garnered over 350,000 views.
Among her concerns that have now gone viral: •“I have experienced the depressing, gradual downfall and misdirection of education that has slowly eaten away at my love of teaching.” •“The emphasis in eduction has shifted from fostering academic and personal growth in both students and teachers, to demanding uniformity and conformity.” •“Raising students’ test scores on standardized tests is now the only goal, and in order to achieve it the creativity, flexibility and spontaneity … have been eliminated.” •“Everything I loved about teaching is extinct.” •“Curriculum is mandated. … The classroom teacher is no longer trusted or in control of what, when, or how she teaches.” •She says complaint forms and write-ups are being used as tools to target teachers and keep them as “yes men,” instead of being used to get rid of poor educators — and she even takes a shot at the union.
And, the way you teach kids to learn is to have them question everything and then test the answers for accuracy and truth. (A.K.A. the Socratic Method)
But how can you do that in a system that shuns both. Liberals run our education system and they despise accuracy and truth because both expose the flaws in their theories.
What is a school today? It’s a transient system, it’s a sports arena, it’s a doctors office, it’s mental health program, it’s a social workers office, it’s a police station, it’s a political tool, it a restaurant, and it’s a drug store. Did I miss anything?
Very few of my teachers from the 60s and 70s remain alive but I'd sure like to have had this type of discussion with them. I have fond memories of lots of "fostering" going on at the same time as the 3Rs. I did have a great conversation with my 6th grade teacher/principal after I was an adult, through college and the military and out in the world of work. He had some interesting recollections about class sizes in those "Baby Boom" days (ca.1966), with my group having about 35 students. I suspect such a class size would induce an attack of "the vapors" for today's teachers.
Indoctrination center...?
That should be true. That intelligent people and conservatives do that proves how seductive Marxism is.
I think people who believe like you and me have a problem. We think we’re a success because our homeschools and private schools are not public school. Our kids are no more literate than many public school kids and not demonstrably better thinkers. There’s certainly a larger percentage of government school products who amount to something short of human debris, but that’s nothing to be proud of. The vast ocean of ignorance testifies to our failure as defenders of civilization.
We should do what’s in our power to make sure our kids get the same education that the greatest thinkers in human history got. I hope to provide my kids with a systematic, integrated paradigm that will produce and unassailable apologetic. All truth is God’s truth and when historical causes and affects are filtered through scripture, then scripture (God) is glorified.
I’m rambling.
Whore house. Meat market. Singles club.
LOL!
I started 1st grade in 1966 - there were at least 50 to a class and by the time I hit 8th grade there were still close to that many in my class, although lower grades had started getting smaller, from smaller enrollment numbers. In HS there were about 35 to a home room and classes ranged from 25- 35. My daughter is now in 9th grade and she says most of her classes are between 25 and 30, with the exception of her French class - that has only 11.
What you say is correct. However, I disagree with the implication that government schools cannot teach Christ. I lived with religion in public schools; in California no less! We said prayer every morning. We went to church once a week during school time. It was not until the late 1940’s that the attack on expressions of Christianity in public schools started. I think a well researched and presented history of the individuals and groups involved in the attack against our religious expression would be invaluable.
Amen. Classical education never worried about creativity. You had it or you didn't. But you damned well better have learned Latin, Greek, History, and Mathematics.
What you did with those eventually was up to you.
First time I heard this suggestion - sounds good. I think some students would push themselves to learn in order to exit with the first group.
Content “stabilizes” after 8th grade anyway so a portion of the students just tread water those last two years, having learned the core and now faced with repeating it until graduation.
What is a school today? It’s a transient system, it’s a sports arena, it’s a doctors office, it’s mental health program, it’s a social workers office, it’s a police station, it’s a political tool, it a restaurant, and it’s a drug store. Did I miss anything?
How about daycare? It’s also daycare.
No, you're advocating for you i.e. you want the public's yardstick removed. You see, the public have spent billions and received ignorance, sloth and the rest of the seven deadlies. We give you children and you give us Junior Marxists who can't make change, can't put air in a tire and have no idea who Andrew Carnegie or Napoleon were.
Tests are a last resort in objective measurement. The fact that teachers resent them tells us all we need to know about the teachers, not the tests themselves.
Post of the day.
I’m always amused by the constant crying of teach to the test. If you taught the kids how to think and solve problems, they should be able to solve any problem on the test. I have seen these tests, and especially the “graduation tests” that have been moaned about so greatly, and in my opinion, any 7th grader from “my day” should have had no problem acing it. I was obviously not “taught to the test”, and even with decades behind me and school I still find the questions laughably easy.
I was lazy (or overeager perhaps) and posted my mostly redundant response before reading yours.
I get annoyed when people do that to me so apologies offered.
It’s also a recruitment station for homosexuality through the attempted normalization of destructive behavior and thought as well as the Orwellian curriculum that outlaws any negative mention of gays or their actions.
Reading a bit of the back story, the elementary school had 3 different principals in 4 years and apparently the common thread running through their exit interviews was problem teachers with negative attitudes. Rather than let a few teachers spoil the school, they transferred them (what schools do to problem teachers). I would hazard a guess that this was a last resort step to solve the problem. And rather than face up to the fact that she was a problem employee, Ms. Rubinstein took to YouTube with lofty language that she hoped would resonate.
I recently retired from public school teaching. I don’t have a problem with holding bad teachers responsible. But I think that the real problem lies with trying to hold the students and their parents responsible. The thing that is killing public education is the fact that the public schools must accept every warm body that shows up. The more problems and ‘handicaps’ a child has the more rights he or she is given. The mainstreaming of problem children means that your normal child gets to learn in a circus atmosphere. Parents who know the score and have the means pull their kids out for parochial/private/home schooling—which makes the public school worse.
When I started teaching, each teacher had a paddle. If a kid crossed the line, three swats were given (with all the class doors open, to encourage the others). Twenty years ago the paddles were taken away—only the principal paddled. Five or six years ago the principal gave that up. Over the years minor punishments were taken away—sentences (like Bart Simpson), standing at the board, sending into the hall, etc, etc all taken away. All tha teachers can now do at my old school is send a child to a ‘safe seat’, if the behavior continues the kid is sent to a ‘buddy room’ where he or she fills out a form and returns. Sending a child to the principal is frowned on and requires the filling out of a long form. Suspensions do occur, but are rare because ‘that’s just what he wants’ and of course cost the school money. And God help a district if the percent of protected classes being suspended is to high.
Of course kids get passed on to the next grade regardless of what he or she has learned. Who wants a 15-year old in the fifth grade? Certainly not the parent of a normal fifth-grader. The best we can hope for is that he will be quiet in his eighth-grade class and let the others learn. If he can’t be quiet, then the others (including the teacher) will have to do their best in spite of him.
I don’t think teachers really asked for any of this. All of these things tend to get passed on from the top downward. In the last twenty years the top has been in Washington rather that the state capitals or local school boards. There are good public schools left—but that’s in spite of not because of the current trends.
Teachers I know stopped reporting bad behavior on paper because it’s always the black kids misbehaving, and the teacher will be a documented racist if they keep reporting actual incidents.
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