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And both of my kids with IQ's that would peg the IQ meter had a difficult time getting a meaningful education in Denver schools, even with their IB programs. Both struggled to get up to speed in college classes, with one needing a lot of help from other family members to do basic level work at a community college in Seattle. The other one took 9 years to complete his degree, although to his credit was hired by a major software company at 6 figures before he'd even started his BS degree; they did require him to get his degree as a condition of his employment. The marketplace being what it was, he was laid off shortly after completing his degree. Both kids shared a talent that their grandfather had ... and I don't ... a relatively accurate "photographic memory". Both could read a class assignment, and when tested upon the material, could review the text mentally as if it were an "open book" test. They cruised through HS on that memory ability, not on critical thinking skills. Thankfully, one has a mid 6-figure job which doesn't challenge him and the other has bought a service business which suits his temperament and sales abilities, although doesn't yield a high income (not to worry, his wife still works for the software company and makes big bucks).
I don't understand how you could be insulted about the circumstances of the young lady I mentioned. I accurately reported the choice that she was confronted with; ie, either get a meaningful education that she could use to earn a living or she'd need to find somebody else to support her. Her choice was complicated because she was asked for her hand in marriage upon HS graduation by several extremely wealthy families' sons from the area; she'd have been a partner in a multi-million dollar family business immediately and a lifelong level of affluence worrying about keeping her second and third homes in Aspen and Scottsdale and the Hamptons.
She'd been a very popular girl in HS and grew up in that level of social circles. Such were her choices and they weighed heavily upon her ability to keep focused on her own education, independence, and financial ability. At that, she was repeatedly pursued by two young men upon her BS degree from CSU from that same group of families, only now they were in med school and headed into different directions than the family businesses; still, they each had trust fund incomes in excess of $5 mil/year. I'd mention that they had dated somewhat seriously during HS and college; for other reasons not germaine to this thread, she choose her own independence and career instead of either marriage proposal.
I find it hard to believe that your school was as good as you say if your kids are that smart and needed that much help in a community college. Kids from our school are regularly placed in higher level classes because their high school curriculum is plenty challenging. We have about a 90% rate for getting 4, 5 on the AP exams and most kids that are going on to college graduate with 1-2 years worth of college credits under their belt. There are plenty of schools around the country that are doing their job, and doing it very well.
A few years ago the mother of one of my (mild) special education students was on a sequestered jury for six weeks. She said it was the best six weeks of her life. No cooking, no cleaning, no laundry, no grocery shopping, no child care, no going into the office every day, etc. She said that she missed her husband and three young children but loved the hotel living & eating every meal in a cafeteria (lunch) or restaurant (breakfast & dinner). Her husband said it was the worst six weeks of his life. She told me that he was much more helpful around the house after he realized how much work she needed to do every day.
This thread certainly got off-topic....so I will post before it is closed because of that.
I have taught in both vo-tech (as you say you have sunsprit) and public schools, and although I know you will say I'm lying or I don't know as much as you do (because that's what you always say about my posts in the Wyoming forum) these students are VERY different from each other.
Vo-tech and Career Tech Ed students are taking the classes because they WANT to (even public scchool students in CT Classes) ...public school students are taking many classes because they HAVE to. And with the new goal of 100% graduation rates, in many schools, these difficult students who don't want to be there are running the schools because administrators are scared to death they will drop out and ruin that district's graduation rate.
In my school, these kids come from broken families with parents who honestly don't care if they drop out because the parents never graduated. So in order to bribe them into not dropping out, the administrators instruct the teachers to not require much of them. Thus, achievement suffers. We even have students taking classes online/elecronically designed by vendors that charge huge $$ for the programs to get students to graduate. I heard 2 girls in my class last week saying "just go to the office and threaten to drop out....they will let you take earth science online and it's so MUCH easier".
Last edited by toobusytoday; 03-25-2012 at 08:07 AM..
Reason: removed insult
So my state is moving to teacher evals being based off of common assessments and today I get a summons to petit jury. That means if selected I will miss 6 weeks of school.
Not only will my students lose and have no way to regain 6 weeks of instruction but they would likely fail the end of year exams. Then I would get a bad evaluation and lose tenure.
Should teachers be exempt from jury duty during the school year?
Let's get back on topic please. Any posts after this that are off topic will be deleted and infractions may be issued.
In our school district the subs do have teaching certificates, but it's not required to have subject certification and most day-to-day subs don't. I could be wrong, but I believe that someone that's only elementary school certified can still sub at the HS. I think 6 weeks would qualify as a long-term sub position though, so they would get someone subject certified for that. As a parent, I know I've been unhappy many times when a teacher had to take a medical leave as it certainly disrupted the learning process and affected mid-term and final exam scores.
The problem getting 'long term sub' for jury duty is there is know way of knowing how long the trial is going to be. It might be 1 day and it done. 3 days. 6 week, 6 months. The judge may have a idea, of how long it may last. But when you go in you have no idea how long, it depends on if you get seated, and that trial.
Do you want to commit your LT subs to every teacher who get called? When it might be 1 day?
I think it should be defered to over the summer, and the teacher should get paid his/her daily rate for that time. I do worry a little about the attorneys gameing the date of there trial to get more teacher on the jury if the summer is teacher time.
The problem getting 'long term sub' for jury duty is there is know way of knowing how long the trial is going to be. It might be 1 day and it done. 3 days. 6 week, 6 months. The judge may have a idea, of how long it may last. But when you go in you have no idea how long, it depends on if you get seated, and that trial.
Do you want to commit your LT subs to every teacher who get called? When it might be 1 day?
I think it should be defered to over the summer, and the teacher should get paid his/her daily rate for that time. I do worry a little about the attorneys gameing the date of there trial to get more teacher on the jury if the summer is teacher time.
Well, the OP seems to know she will be gone six weeks, so that shouldn't be a problem.
In my experience, and I have noted my husband has been called to jury duty a number of times over the years, first, you usually don't even have to appear; secondly most potential jurors are dismissed (I did a little fact checking on that Michael Jackson jury search and they interviewed at least 150 people before choosing my friend and 11 other people); thirdly, the chances of being chosen, then sequestered are even lower than the chances of being selected in the first place; a judge is usually a pretty good judge (no pun intended) of how long a trial will last; in DH's experience most of these trials he interviewed for were supposed to last 2-3 DAYS.
I think this is all very overblown. If the OP does get involved in a trial that sequesters her for 6 weeks, it sounds like a long-term sub can be employed to teach her class. Otherwise, she may not miss any class time at all, or potentially a day or two.
The public teaching industry has figured out how to blame everybody else for their lack of performance ...
it's the school boards fault.
Wait a minute, it's the district and state departments of education's fault.
It's the fault of those cheap workers who don't have teaching credentials.
Again, we get that qualification that teaching can only be accomplished by folk with "teaching credentials". Personal experience and watching schools taught by folk without those teaching credentials tells me otherwise. As well, I see a number of home schoolers in my area who turn out accomplished students with skills exceeding those of the public schools; the key point here is that the instruction is given by folk without teaching credentials.
It appears to me that the business of public education has been reduced to a series of excuses instead of performance. It's everybody else's fault, right? .... none of the workplace requirements and pay scales and steps have been influenced by a teacher's union, have they? It's all everybody else's fault.
from my perspective, it appears that the teaching industry has institutionalized their performance level to the lowest possible level while seeking maximum pay not frequently tied to accomplishment& results; only years of service and teaching industry credentials matter. It's a self-serving business in many school districts. Every state school board superintendant of instruction I've ever had the opportunity to vote for has always presented a long resume of professional teaching background and management. As well, many of the school board members I've looked over had a background in the teaching business.
My district is one of the best performing in the nation. Literally, top ten. Number one in the NATION for science and tech (which is what I teach).
Should I get all of the credit for that the same way you want to place all of the blame on the other teachers whose kids are not "performing" they way you expet them to?
Because I know that the majority of why my students excel is due to their home lives. They have involved, supportive parents EXACTLY the same way homeschooled children do.
Every piece of research our there describing teacher effectiveness HAS to control for SES. Why do you think that is? Because the single largest factor contributing to the success of students is SES and parental involvement.
Lets expect the same thing from everyone. Doctors have to have 100% of their patients have perfect health or not pay them. Having patients who do not follow advice, or have cancer is no excuse for not having all of them live forever. All lawyers must win every case 100% of the time, we will ignore the physical impossibility of that as well.
But thanks for hijacking a thread about my concern over my students into your personal agenda. We know what really matters to you at least, money.
Well, the OP seems to know she will be gone six weeks, so that shouldn't be a problem.
In my experience, and I have noted my husband has been called to jury duty a number of times over the years, first, you usually don't even have to appear; secondly most potential jurors are dismissed (I did a little fact checking on that Michael Jackson jury search and they interviewed at least 150 people before choosing my friend and 11 other people); thirdly, the chances of being chosen, then sequestered are even lower than the chances of being selected in the first place; a judge is usually a pretty good judge (no pun intended) of how long a trial will last; in DH's experience most of these trials he interviewed for were supposed to last 2-3 DAYS.
I think this is all very overblown. If the OP does get involved in a trial that sequesters her for 6 weeks, it sounds like a long-term sub can be employed to teach her class. Otherwise, she may not miss any class time at all, or potentially a day or two.
This is federal, the notice said most trials last a minimum of six weeks. Many last for months and months.
As the OP I can tell you that they cannot find qualified subs to teach my class. I know because when a colleague went out for maternity leave, they had months of notice to find a sub for her classes and could not. Two of her classes as well as two of mine, require the teacher to have a graduate degree in their field due to accreditation agreements. The district forced other teachers to teach all period with no lunch or prep to make sure the classes were covered. It was a disaster.
I would really, really like to have that NOT happen to my students. Two of my kids got in to USNA. If they lose credit for my classes they will not be allowed to attend. Really, really not fair to them.
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