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The news is full of stories recently about how terrible the schools are in America and how we are slipping behind the rest of the world. Of course the group that gets the most blame is the teachers. The second amount of blame goes to the Principal and the rest of the blame goes towards the school administrators and bureaucrats.
If a failing school in the worst neighborhood in the City does not do as well as the school in a rich suburb with parents who are doctors, lawyers, and scientists with high IQ's and PHD's, then the failing school's Teachers and Principal are fired.
Why won't the media admit the problem with American schools are: uninterested parents, a messed up popular culture and students who are more interested in acting out than learning?
Do you think the Teachers and Principals should get most of the blame for the problems in American Schools?
The media's job is to sell their newspapers, tv spots, etc. It's the teachers and parents jobs to teach the kids. I think most people realize that news stories are subjective, sensationalized and often misleading.
It's about 50-50 (e.g., 50% the kids, 50% the teachers).
I say that because many of the kids are too busy with facebook, twitter, WiFi'ing on their Wii's, listening to their iPod's, and texting to be concerned with opening up an actual book and learning something.
Then at the other end there are many teachers that are just disinterested in teaching anymore. My daughter is 15 and she has a math teacher that doesn't even stay in the classroom. He comes in, takes roll, tells the kids what page in their books to turn to and do the problems on the page. Then he leaves and goes into the lunch room for "coffee" and doesn't come back into the classroom until just a few minutes before the bell rings.
I'm tired of it. My tax dollars pay for the school to educate the kids. This teacher is a sorry a$$ed dirtbag that needs to be fired.
Then too, the no child left behind act doesn't help things. A kid can be passed through school all the way through his/her senior year and graduate without even knowing how to read.
The schools need an overhaul and teachers need to be reevaluated and their pay should be based on their performance. If the teachers were given a score based on the bell curve using the average of the students grades in their classrooms, and then paid accordingly -- I guarantee they'd take a sudden interest in getting those kids to learn.
Sorry, this is a hot subject for me because I have 8 kids. My kids all do well in school mainly because my wife and I push them to. We have strict rules in our house and no one gets to have any free time until they've finished their homework.
I have an adopted son that's 6 and he has down syndrome. Even he is making excellent grades in school, bless his heart. He loves learning new things and always tries very hard at everything he does.
Quality of education relies so much on the support that is received by home and the community. The schools that are struggling have limited funds and limited support on all accounts. The highest quality teachers are not in the lowest performing schools, lets face it. Even if the lowest performing schools had the highest quality teachers and administrators, you are still missing an important part of the equation, that is home and the community. You can not blame it on the kids when they are led by example. Teachers can work their tails off with the kids during the day, but if there is no one to help with homework or to support the child when they get home, then what happens.
More often than not the students in the lowest performing schools started out behind the curve because no one read to them or started on teaching the alphabet before school started. When you start off behind the curve, then it is an up hill battle.
So maybe we need to send the lowest performing students to the highest performing schools and see if that makes a difference? There is not a simple solution, and so much of it starts at home. We need to build better communities to build better schools. We also need some parenting classes........
My thought is blame society, because I do not think the parents that have kids in great school are even aware of what is going on around them, and they probably do not care either.
Last edited by dez181; 10-08-2009 at 07:49 AM..
Reason: typo
I think there are too many factors involved to place blame on any one group.
Parents: Too many parents expect schools to raise their children for them. Many do not want to be involved with their child's education. Many hinder teachers from doing their job by never backing up the teacher. When I was a kid my parents made it clear that I was to respect my teachers... or else... I don't see that so much any more. Parents allow kids to miss school and the school gets the blame (i.e. risks losing funding)
School level (teachers and school administrators): Yes, there are some crappy ones, but I think most are sincere in wanting kids to learn. In a lot of cases their "hands are tied" because the curriculum and the way they teach it is mandated by state standards (in most states). They are also getting so bogged down with paperwork and very large classes that many get burned out and wind up just being happy to have survived the day.
State and federal level: The trend toward high stakes testing (thanks to NCLB) creates a school environment that is not conducive to learning. Too much pressure is placed on the districts, which filters all the way down to the classroom. It's difficult to teach (and for students to learn) when there is a constant threat hanging over one's head. I work with pre-service and alternate entrant teachers. I see the happy glow of hope on their faces when they are just about to start teaching, that feeling of "I'm going to make a difference for my kids". After a year in the classroom that glow is dimmed or completely gone. Many never return the following school year.
It really bugs me that politicians can dictate what our kids should be taught. Most have no training in education and have never set foot in a classroom beyond when they were students. Yet they think they know more than the trained professionals. Even worse, the voting public thinks so too!
Society: There is a general trend toward disrespect for teachers and schools, and there is a general lack of personal responsibility for one's behavior and actions. Of course schools are going to be the scapegoat.
Why won't the media admit the problem with American schools are: uninterested parents, a messed up popular culture and students who are more interested in acting out than learning?
Because at least part of the blame is due to poor teachers. You may not be a poor teacher. Maybe 90% of the people who post in this forum are not poor teachers either. But they are out there. And it's their fault--at least partially.
There are only a certain number of people out there that are really able to be so engaging that they can hold the attention of kids. There are many average teachers just like there are many average accountants, office managers and car salesmen.
I put the blame on the bad schools mostly on the students, parents and popular culture. Maybe 20 percent could be linked to some bad teachers.
Why won't the media admit the problem with American schools are: uninterested parents, a messed up popular culture and students who are more interested in acting out than learning?
I place the blame on the shoulders of the parents. It's their duty to motivate their children to do well in school. If a kid is failing in school, then the parents are failing the child.
If you take a good hard look around, it's been going on for much longer than just the past 5 years or so.
There are adults in this forum that don't know the difference between:
they're, their, there
know, no
of, off
hail, hale
pail, pale
steak, stake
guest, guessed
peaked, piqued, peeked
capitol, capital,
deer, dear
... and tons more words just like that.
Many don't use proper sentence structure, they don't capitalize proper nouns, and they don't use any punctuation.
If you take a good hard look around, it's been going on for much longer than just the past 5 years or so.
There are adults in this forum that don't know the difference between:
they're, their, there
know, no
of, off
hail, hale
pail, pale
steak, stake
guest, guessed
peaked, piqued, peeked
capitol, capital,
deer, dear
... and tons more words just like that.
Many don't use proper sentence structure, they don't capitalize proper nouns, and they don't use any punctuation.
I can be, but isn't necessarily the teachers fault! Many people (for example, grown-ups on this forum) just don't have the desire to learn the difference between their, there, and they're, etc. Teachers shouldn't be blamed for the laziness of others
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