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It's their kids...they can figure it out. After all, kids are only in school 180 days a year. Parents arrange for childcare the other 185 days.
All parents and communities do is complain about the schools, the teachers, the policies, the rules, the unfairness of the system, the taxes, the salaries, etc, etc, etc.
Take the schools out of the equation and everyone's happy. I mean, just ask Bill Gates. Salman Kahn is an education God that puts all other educators to shame. He should just add language arts and history to his website and we have no more need for teachers. Kahn can do it all!
Give the kids a tablet, send them home to their parents.
Problems solved
You're welcome.
Not solution
1.Childcare is princey
2.more people on welfare
3. not everyone learns well from a computer
Last edited by Sommie789; 12-27-2014 at 09:38 PM..
The society and culture of the U.S. has evolved into population of life-long adolescence. There is no point in quality public education if at the end of it all you live a life snuffling at a common pig trough. We have a society that is bankrupted in so many areas that the idea of "fixing" it with just some changes in the educational system is a pipe dream.
It has been the government control of education that has facilitated that evolution. People can be brainwashed into believing anything as religion proves.
I don't think it's entirely the governments fault, parents share some of the blame as well. They expect their little snowflakes to receive A's just for being special and fabulous, never mind if they actually do quality work or not. It's no wonder the system has gone to pot when you can graduate high school just for showing up.
I don't think it's entirely the governments fault, parents share some of the blame as well. They expect their little snowflakes to receive A's just for being special and fabulous, never mind if they actually do quality work or not. It's no wonder the system has gone to pot when you can graduate high school just for showing up.
There is no doubt we have a feel good education system. I'm told to "teach to the bottom of the class" when I should be going Jaime Escalante on them because I teach in a district where high expectations SHOULD BE the norm. Sadly, the mantra is teach to the bottom of the class because that's how you increase your state test scores.
Not too long ago I was talked to by the principal because my students complain that I "act like I expect them to know things when they ask me questions.". Um, yes I do. I expect them to remember what they've been taught and I will tell them to look it up if they can't remember something that was taught. I'm not google and I don't owe them answers they don't care enough about to remember. Apparently, expecting them to actually remember what they were taught is frowned upon where I teach. I would never have asked a teacher the same question a dozen times when I should know the answer. I have more than one student who asks me the most basic things every day. I tell them to look it up and tell them which chapter they can find the answer in. I'm stunned that my admins even entertain this "complaint". Yes, I expect my students to know things they were taught and yes I'm going to act like they should already know it because they should. IMO there is nothing wrong with expecting students to actually know what they've been taught.
One reason education is so poor in this country is that it's feel good. We care more about whether teachers connect with the kids than if they know their content. We care more about kids liking school than expecting them to learn. The expectation that they learn is seen as too much pressure to put on them. Actually knowing what you teach is not seen as an asset. Having kids like you is. How can kids learn what the teacher doesn't know to teach? How can they make connections the teacher doesn't know how to make? I am so glad I came up through school during a time when I was expected to learn whether I liked the teacher or not and the teacher was expected to know their content. I find it amazing that much of what I learned in chemistry in high school is now considered AP chemistry. I remember my semester 1 final well. It was the big ion identification lab that is now an AP lab. We were given two test tubes of solutions containing multiple ions and a week to figure out what was in each test tube. I was a D student and didn't blink at this task. My students, their parents and my admins would all cry foul if 20% of my student's grade was getting the contents of two test tubes correct. I got six if mine right and got a C (there were 4 ions in each test tube). I was pretty proud of myself. Today if a student gets a C the parents are demanding the teachers head on a platter because their special snowflake is an A student.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. The problem with education is complete failure to expect students to learn. We're not allowed to hold them to high standards. We're supposed to repeat anything they might need regardless of how many times it has been taught before. This wastes a lot of time in the classroom.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 12-28-2014 at 01:47 PM..
I have a question for all the folks who keep using this term: Just who are the "special snowflakes?" I have one kid who just finished HS and one who just started. I keep hearing about "special snowflakes" but I haven't seen any. What I have seen on the other hand is two types of parents -- those who expect their kids to learn, behave, display proper behavior and those who don't give a crap about what their kids do.
I don't believe there are that many special snowflakes. But I do believe our education system has gotten focused on "everyone can and should go to college" when probably 30% or more need to be off-ramped around 10th grade (+/-) into a Vo-Tec high school, another 30% into pre and para professional CC courses, and maybe one 40% or so really belong in college.
Kicking out the ones who cause trouble (oh, and if you don't finish HS, then no welfare for you buddy), then tracking the remainder to the appropriate education path would do more to fix education than any other thing.
As for teachers, given the problem parents I've dealt with coaching and in my volunteer work, I don't blame them for the classroom issues. The one change I'd make on teacher education is require a domain specific BA/BS before acceptance in the education course (perhaps as a 5th year or MS add on).
I have a question for all the folks who keep using this term: Just who are the "special snowflakes?" I have one kid who just finished HS and one who just started. I keep hearing about "special snowflakes" but I haven't seen any. What I have seen on the other hand is two types of parents -- those who expect their kids to learn, behave, display proper behavior and those who don't give a crap about what their kids do.
I don't believe there are that many special snowflakes. But I do believe our education system has gotten focused on "everyone can and should go to college" when probably 30% or more need to be off-ramped around 10th grade (+/-) into a Vo-Tec high school, another 30% into pre and para professional CC courses, and maybe one 40% or so really belong in college.
Kicking out the ones who cause trouble (oh, and if you don't finish HS, then no welfare for you buddy), then tracking the remainder to the appropriate education path would do more to fix education than any other thing.
As for teachers, given the problem parents I've dealt with coaching and in my volunteer work, I don't blame them for the classroom issues. The one change I'd make on teacher education is require a domain specific BA/BS before acceptance in the education course (perhaps as a 5th year or MS add on).
You'd be surprised by the number of parents who think their child deserves an A just for breathing. Parents use the defense "My child is an A student" when their child isn't getting an A. There MUST be something wrong with the teacher if their child isn't getting an A. I just had a conflict with one such parent I posted about. The student was lying about turning in an assignment and mom was swearing to it insisting that her son would not lie so I MUST have lost the assignment and I needed to give him full credit or she was going to the school board about me. I'm being sued by one parent and another teacher by another parent right now because of the grades we "gave". These parents don't get that grades are earned and cannot accept that their child got the grade they earned.
Too many kids have been raised to think that they are geniuses and that everything should be easy. They don't know how to study because mom does so much for them (mom is an enabler). They expect the class to be easy and when it's not they don't know what to do. Mom of course swoops in (usually towards the end of the semester) and blames the teacher. I used to deal with parents like this on a weekly basis but now my school does test retakes so most of the special snowflakes manage to get their A the second time around. Those who don't have no leg to stand on because we gave them two chances and they took an identical test the second time though I do get parents who want retakes well after the retake dates have passed because they didn't realize their child hadn't taken the retake. If they can't get an A that way, they're just not A students. We are giving more A's than ever though. GPA's are rising sharply.
I agree with you on that teacher requirement but the current belief is that subject matter expertise is optional and irrelevant. I can't wrap my brain around how someone could teach a class like chemistry without knowing chemistry but that's what they claim. Apparently anyone who is a real teacher can teach anything. Just a few weeks ago my admins handed out the findings of some research that basically said subject matter expertise has no impact on student outcomes.
I agree with you on kicking out the trouble makers AND on tracking. It is incredibly difficult to challenge chemistry students who are taking calculus while remediating the ones who can't do simple algebra because chemistry is very math intensive. Everyone would be served better if kids were tracked. I don't mind doing every step of the math except it bores the top half of the class who learn less because I have to do every step of the math and explain it as I go or I lose the bottom half of the class.
I do have a very funny story about THOSE parents with their special snowflake children though. Back when dd#2 about 1 1/2 I was at the park talking with another mom while our children played. Dd decided to climb to the top of the monkey bars and was standing on the top. The other mother started to panic but I knew that as long as we didn't startle dd she'd get down just fine because she'd been climbing since 7 months and walking since 9. So I said to this mom "Don't worry, she's been walking since 9 months she can get down". This mother's response was to inform me huffily that HER CHILD had been walking since 7 months and then she stomped off and dd climbed back down. She took my statement that dd had been walking since 9 months which is a sign of very good balance to be boasting that my child was better than her child. It starts young. One day while I was picking dd up from preschool the moms started talking about THOSE WORKING MOMS not realizing that I was one. I pointed out that I was an engineer. Then one of the mom's said snottily "I guess none of OUR kids are doing to win science fair". They were all of 3 and attending preschool, lol.
Parenting is a competitive sport for too many moms. I say moms because I don't really see this from dads. I don't get it. I just know it is.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 12-28-2014 at 02:54 PM..
Ivorytickler, my sister was the type of parent you write about. My nephew was a smart kid but lazy as hell and always did the bare minimum to get by. On one assignment he didn't get full credit because he didn't follow the guidelines set by the teacher. My sister b*tched endlessly that the teacher shouldn't have been so hard on him because at least he did the work and that should count for something... Never once did she hold her son accountable for not following the original directions. That's what qualifies as parenting nowadays.
Ivorytickler, my sister was the type of parent you write about. My nephew was a smart kid but lazy as hell and always did the bare minimum to get by. On one assignment he didn't get full credit because he didn't follow the guidelines set by the teacher. My sister b*tched endlessly that the teacher shouldn't have been so hard on him because at least he did the work and that should count for something... Never once did she hold her son accountable for not following the original directions. That's what qualifies as parenting nowadays.
My theory is that mom's self esteem is rooted in her children's accomplishments. If they do well, they're brilliant. If they do poorly, the teacher is too hard on them and unfair. The sad part is it's the kids who lose here. They never seem to learn that they have to work to get ahead. They learn to make excuses like mom does. These parents don't realize that high grades don't mean smart. The smartest student's I've had didn't always have the highest grades.
I try to stay out of my children's educations. Only once has mama bear came out but my dd made me promise I would not take on the teacher. She got a D in gym because she can't run fast enough. I can't remember the times but it was something like if you could run a mile in 7 minutes you got an A, 8 was a B, 9 was a C and 10 was a D. Dd practiced all the time but could not run a mile any faster so she got a D. I did think that was unfair. Dd improved her time a lot but that counted for nothing because she wasn't fast enough. I bit my tongue even though I do think that one was unfair. The rest of her poor grades were earned because it took her a while to figure out that she actually has to work to get good grades now. On the bright side, she figured this out BEFORE college.
I hope these kids figure it out in college. Necessity is the mother of invention so they might. I think it's going to be culture shock though when mommy can't swoop in and fix things.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 12-28-2014 at 07:35 PM..
I hope these kids figure it out in college. Necessity is the mother of invention so they might. I think it's going to be culture shock though when mommy can't swoop in and fix things.
In my nephew's case, he dropped out of college after his first semester and now lives at home, works a whopping 20 hours per week, doesn't pay rent and loves his X-Box....but the important thing is his self-esteem is intact!!!
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IMO there is nothing wrong with expecting students to actually know what they've been taught. 
Just a few weeks ago my admins handed out the findings of some research that basically said subject matter expertise has no impact on student outcomes. 
