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I have no idea what the perfect system would entail, but there's something wrong when you have a teacher sleeping with two different students (like what happened last week in NYC) and the DOE is powerless to terminate her employment.
The situation with the rubber rooms is another joke.
The upheaval with the education system in every area of the country is truly annoying. There is no perfect situation. I was reading the thread about class sizes in Hauppauge and all I could think was "are you kidding me"? My kids have had smaller classes here in NC!
If your kid is a dummy, or doesn't do homework, or is mainstreamed when they should not be, I would not blame the teacher. I would place the blame on the kid first, and then the parents. Math tests are not subjective. Now, if the entire class is failing the regents despite getting A's in the class, we have a problem with the teacher.
I retired as a NYC high school math teacher 3 years ago. I took early retirement at 56, because I was fed up and had saved my money when I was younger. And yes, I saw lazy teachers. One guy just showed movies to his kids all day. Another just handed out the same worksheets term after term, like a robot. They were each collecting over $100k a year. But everyone always blames the teachers only. There are others involved, and the fish stinks from the head down.
My assistant principal was the worst waste of space I have ever seen. She spent her day working her makeup, her nails, and chatting on the phone with her sister. No joke, and no exaggeration. Two or three hours a day on the phone. She ran a small department, and never taught a class like they are supposed to. She made over $120k a year. Her friends would get paid for an extra period to sit around and chat with her. When one was absent, the others in her group would cover for the absentee. So they all had "perfect" sick records. That money belonged to the kids, not to the AP. I don't know how these people got away with this.
What everyone assumes, and which annoys me the most, is that students are distributed randomly like from a deck of shuffled cards. Nothing could be further from the truth. Teachers are tracked, just like the students. I am 6'5" and from day one, they wanted me as a cop, not as a math teacher. But not just me. The same teachers always got the good kids, the same teachers always got the tough kids. I would get 34 kids in an "on track" class, but 30 out of those 34 would be either special ed, remedial, or both. My friends told me I was good with them. So my reward for doing the hardest work of the organization was to get more of the same. Time and time again. Emotionally challenged, or hoodlums.
The classes of my AP's friends--the ones who got paid extra to chat--were composed of 20 Chinese girls. So who do you think got good results at the end of the year? Are the teachers in Watts or the South Bronx bad teachers because they get bad results? Are the teachers in Little Neck or Beverly Hills good teachers because they get good results? Even Mayor Bloomberg, no friend of teacher unions, said there had to be some way to account for this. But there really isn't.
**** rolls down hill. And up hill sometimes. The whole system and mentality of the current system sucks.
When I was growing up, if a kid was struggling or falling behind, the teacher would put a priority on that kid and rise to the challenge of helping them.
It meant something(it also meant you thought your teacher was mean! Ha ha!).
Now, if you fall behind they put you through all kinds of tests in order to put a label on you and keep coming up with excuses and ways to push the blame elsewhere when the kid is flunking.
When my kid flunks out of math it IS the teachers fault to a degree. Their job is to educate my child. When a garbage man fails to empty your can when it is out at the curb who's fault is that? Yours? No.
Now, putting aside any disabilities and if the kid is cutting class or stuff like that, it is the teachers responsibility to to educate the child. These shady crafty bastards gradually tried to Jedi Mind Trick the parents into absorbing more than half the burden of education. When a kid is doing poorly in school they push the blame towards the parents and people have been brainwashed and conditioned to agree with this over the last few decades. Total BS. If that's the case what am I paying for? A $10 or 15k a year babysitter?
The whole system has become a joke and an insult to the history of the educational system. It's become a cash grab situation. It's no longer about a life long passion to make a difference and educate and whatever, it's about money.
Bottom line.
What is your job as a parent then if it's not to educate and prepare your child for the world?
What is your job as a parent then if it's not to educate and prepare your child for the world?
Work around the clock to pay school taxes.
Of course the parents should be involved, that should really go without saying.
But there has been a stronger shift by the schools to place more burden (blame) on the parent when Johnny isn't doing well.
And again, this of course is under normal circumstances and not some legitimate underlying reason like Johnny being a dingbat or delinquent.
If teach is doing his best and Johnny is just totally not even putting any effort in then that is not teach's fault.
I had enough of the school talking down to me condescendingly like a child and blaming us and everyone under the sun aside from them for my kids lack of learning so that's when I lost it and jumped over the desk and choke slammed all of them at the last meeting. Then I gave the principal a good round house on the way out. Ok so that didn't happen. But I did think about it.
Status:
"Let this year be over..."
(set 22 days ago)
Location: Where my bills arrive
19,219 posts, read 17,095,590 times
Reputation: 15538
There needs to be a fair way that a teacher is evaluated and dismissed if found to be ineffective same as any job. Giving them a Golden Key that takes a multi-year legal action and a letter from g** is not justified.
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Fish stinks from the head down
