Wed May 15 20:06:50 2002
My kids are good kids. They are. They don't do drugs. They don't like hurting other people. Sure, like any other pubescents, they don't think but, fundamentally speaking, my children are good kids.
But they can't add. Or subtract. Or multiply and divide.
They can't manipulate fractions. Or proportions.
I do not kid. 50% cannot accomplish the above at all. 25% can't accomplish the above without serious help.
They're 6-7th graders.
Material commensurate with a 2-5 level education. And I'm supposed to cover atomic theory? Calculation of force/mass/speed/velocity? Prepare them for the FCAT standardized test?
A test that will be used to gauge my teaching ability?
How is this going to happen? My bosses tell me I'm doing fine. They tell me to do my best but *just what the hell were my kids learning in elementary school*?
???
Worse still, my kids are mostly foreigners. Not US residents. Many don't have adequate language skills in English.
I'm not looking to complain on here. I know you all have problems. And I'm not looking for a pat on the back or suggestions.
This was a cathartically, rhetorical activity.
I guess I just had to let it out. Especially now that the test results are primed for release within the month's end.
:/
M.
(Edited by Madan at 1:07 pm on May 15, 2002)
Wed May 15 21:24:02 2002
I have the same sentiment when you say: *just what the hell were my kids learning in elementary school*?
I deal with some people in the financially-troubled Philadelphia school district. Things don't look pretty, that's how they describe it to me. Yes, there are some percentage of kids who are doing well, but it seems to be a small percentage. I'm sure that it's a combination of school administration, some teacher issues, and kids' home environment (as I firmly believe that learning habits begin at home).
Wed May 15 22:15:41 2002
But they can't add. Or subtract. Or multiply and divide.
They can't manipulate fractions. Or proportions.
I do not kid. 50% cannot accomplish the above at all. 25% can't accomplish the above without serious help.
They're 6-7th graders.
Fuck, if you think that's bad, I taught entire classes of Provincially-examinable Math 12 that had the same problem.
Wed May 15 22:31:42 2002
m.
Wed May 15 22:37:27 2002
Teaching sucks.
Wed May 15 22:38:59 2002
I know that "passing the buck" happens every year in every school, and it sucks. IMO it's the early-school teachers who should be the most responsible. The kids you have didn't get in their current predicament because of you, but you can potentially lose a job.
Just a thought: Would it be feasible for you to give an 'aptitude test' at the beginning of every school year? It would seem to me that this would tell you what the kids' current levels are as they come into the class/grade, and you could then report to the administrators that you have "x" amount of kids in grade <whatever> that are below state standards *before they reached you*. This is just an idea that came to mind as I was typing my reply, but is it something that can be done?
Wed May 15 22:45:25 2002
M.
Fri May 17 09:06:41 2002
I've said it before, if you are not in a private school, you are learning jack and shit.
What the hell is going on in our education system?
Fri May 17 13:51:24 2002
What the hell is going on in our education system?
Lowest-common-denominator (mob) rules?
Don't-give-the-kids-bad-grades-lest-they-get-their-egos-bruised-and-grow-up-to-be-serial-killers mentality?
Maybe some kids don't get exposed to spanking because their parents think that it's unhealthy or cruel.
I get the impression that the curriculum has gotten easier as time wears on. I look at the stuff my cousins (in HS now) and 12-yo niece are currently working on, and it strikes me that I did the same stuff at an earlier grade. Of course, I also had family stressing to me the value of a good education, and that stuck with me.
When I was in college, I made some extra cash by typing up/printing papers for other students (this in the days before everyone had a personal computer). I had a roommate on the football team, and so a number of their papers made their way to me. The literature that was handed to me had to be seen to be believed; some of these people couldn't make a coherent sentence if you'd handed them a noun and a verb. I cleaned some stuff up as best as I could (for readability), but I didn't change the contents... that costs extra. Yes, I did appraise them of the fact that sentences were incomplete, or run-ons, or whatever, but most of them didn't care. [I believe that part of the situation was due to the different treatment that those in college athletics often get, but that's a different rant.]
Fri May 17 19:11:32 2002
My mother's job is to make sure kids can go to high school. I don't know about you but if some little punk cannot read, write and do simple math, he/she sits in grade/middle school until they can.