Education

[theBeamisHome]

Ok so I looked for something like this and didn't find it. As some of you may know I am a mad scientist looking to bring others up in the way of mad science.... i.e. i'm a biology secondary education major. I've always loved to learn and i don't really know what to do with myself when i'm not in school so I figured that being a teacher is the best way to do what i love most... and most people accept smartasses as teachers :D.

so... this thread is a place to talk about education... policies that are in effect... how important it is to you.. how important it is to your country... how much you think teachers should be paid ;)... do you wish you got more... etc, etc...

ok so i can start... it bothers me a lot that America puts such a low emphasis on education (although i think we claim different), teaching isn't even officially considered a profession yet! i mean, without teachers where would all the "real" professionals be??? grrr

[alinda]

As a life student , I am behind these feelings completely, but for you personal feelings of frustration? with the system. Kudos to you for coosing educating of yourself, and especially for wanting to share your knowledge with others! I wish I had had a teacher as wonderful as you, just think how smart I could be!! :D

[theBeamisHome]

aww thanks Linda :wub: but ur already too smart to be a pupil of mine

[Sam]

First off, I believe that education is the most important thing we have to give ourselves and our children.

Second, I am insulted when someone who barely graduated high school at 20 is able to work in the same profession as I and actually gets paid MORE than I do when I have four college degrees. It actually happened. I was working in law enforcement and someone with no experience, no military background, and no education beyond high school started working at a higher salary than I was getting after four years and one promotion with two additional years experience from a previous job. Something is very wrong with a system that doesn't reward you for being a more well-rounded, more intellegent, and more experienced worker.

Third, I think we do a disservice to our children by teaching to the lowest common denominator. I'm not suggesting that we should teach above a classes ability to learn, just that we shouldn't teach to the dumbest kid in the class. Challenge the majority. If the slow kid doesn't get it, let him get help after class, during recess, after school, etc. I do realize that a great many, far too many, parents have no input into their child's education and don't seem to care if they learn or not. But what good does it do for a bunch of kids to sit there bored out of their skulls while the teacher tries to teach a 15 year old how to multiply.

Perhaps nationalized testing should be institued in order for kids to get out of each grade in elementary school.

[theBeamisHome]

thanks for your response Sam! very interesting... and it sucks about that guy out of high school at your job.

as far as standardized testing... that's actually what i think is wrong with the education system right now. i took tons of standardized tests when i was in school... basically how i got certified as a genius but now it's even worse. teachers only have time to prepare students for the tests because if the kids don't do well they (the teachers) are in trouble. it also doesn't allow for them to actually teach. and some kids just aren't good test takers... and that doesn't mean they don't know what they're taught, but maybe that they have anxieties.. i know plenty of smart people that are bad testers and i don't think it is really good preparation for the real world.. we aren't governed by standardized tests in real life.. you just have to know what you're supposed to know.

[razz]

just a few quick simple thoughts:

our schools need to sort out priorities.
we can't wear jeans.
I don't know why. they won't tell us. I mean, we can't wear BLUE jeans. we can wear black jeans, or white jeans, or pink or yellow jeans. just not blue. You'd think there were more important things to worry about than what we wear.

[Jon]

teaching isn't even officially considered a profession yet! i mean, without teachers where would all the "real" professionals be??? grrr


Not capitalizing the begining of sentences and the word "I." :P:evil:

[alinda]

Jon, you noticed that at 155 am? :orely:

[Sam]

I understand that some people have test anxiety. I did too, but I got over it. The world isn't going to hold everyone's hand so I don't think the schools should either. School is to get our children ready for their adult life. There are some hard lessons in life that need to be learned, and I have worked with the results of not having learned those lessons. The biggest lesson is that the world doesn't revolve around you. It doesn't owe any of us a thing, and rarely gives us anything we didn't earn through blood, sweat, and tears. After two years of working in a prison, he still had not learned that first lesson.:angry:

When I say national testing, I mean just one test to move up to secondary school. I would say to just pick a grade, like the 5th or 8th, and require the passing of that test to continue to high school. When I was in school, we had to take a test in order to graduate. If you did not pass the test (and it did happen from time to time), you did not receive a diploma. Instead you would get a certificate that said you attended school for twelve years.:cry: This usually went to the kids in special ed, but every now and then... oh well. I think it might be a good idea to have a test like this somewhere else. It would be a way to see how much the student has learned and if he nees to remain behind to learn some more. Just an idea mind you, I'm sure the politicians could screw it up enough so it would never resemble anything close to a good idea.

[alinda]

:pullhair: yeah, it's hard to be sure. Yet I believe that when a child is born, ( really before) that what they need is to be cherished, and spoken to as a student from the start, because they are like sponges, soaking in ALL they see & hear! By the time a child gets to school I think basic 2 or 3 grade stuff should already be known. Now, I realise a lot of folk dont have time , money whatever! Your child is worth the sacrifice believe it!
Teach the the TRUTH! they know it in their hearts anyway. Never teach them anything you dont want them to remember later...etc. Teach them to believe in themselves, and how to love reading. Tell them they can and they will :D

[Jean]

:pullhair: yeah, it's hard to be sure. Yet I believe that when a child is born, ( really before) that what they need is to be cherished, and spoken to as a student from the start, because they are like sponges, soaking in ALL they see & hear! By the time a child gets to school I think basic 2 or 3 grade stuff should already be known. Now, I realise a lot of folk dont have time , money whatever!
Money, or even time, isn't really the issue; priorities are. If the parents talk themselves blue about how good it is to read, but everybody around regards readers as nerds and losers - and what a kid sees in movies or commercials is basically the same - it will be very hard. I grew up in a country and in a circle where education, knowledge, learning, being well-read, and good brains was top priority regardless of age, and the worst a kid could be accused by his peers of was "YOU DIDN'T READ THAT BOOK!!!" Even the fact that the educated ones could later in life earn a lot less money than, say, workers, didn't change that attitude (but, of course, "a lot less" here means pittance anyway; everybody living in near-equal poverty made the role of money in our life all but insignificant).

I remember that shock we all had when we learned that a "popular" guy in American high school was, according to all those high school movies, someone who played football, not someone who was the brainiest or the wittiest or the brightest (but, then again, we didn't have any sports at school at all).

[Odetta]

I find it a little sad that schools don't hold children back anymore... If a child is not able to meet the requirements of the grade he/she is in, they should repeat the grade. Why let them slip by?
Why have grades at all then? If they will just let everyone move on anyhow?

[alinda]

right on !!

[turtlex]

Teaching, to me, is a calling for people.

I have a couple of friends who are teachers and I could never do what they do.

I think the US in general is mixed up over testing. I think it's a mistake to do standard testing, because then things happen where the teachers are ONLY teaching what is going to be on the test. I think the problem is STANDARDIZED TESTING, not giving tests. You have to have tests, of course.

I feel that, if that were the case when I was in school ( standardized tests ), I would be a completely different person right now.

I have been fortunate enough to experience some VERY special teachers: teachers who took the time, who recommended additional reading, who let me take extra English classes because I hated study hall.

I loved the teachers who encouraged me to think beyond the tests that we had. Who said "Oh you liked that? Then you might want to read..." These people changed my life.

Now I'm a Unix Admin, and though I figure my job is kind of important and what not, I don't think I ever changed anyone's life. Also, though I don't always like my job, my teachers were the one's who gave me the ability, the thought processes, to escape into history, into reading, into writing.

I think it's sort of a sin, a shanda, that teachers aren't some of the highest paid people in the country. I feel the same way about Police and Firefighters.

: end rant :

[theBeamisHome]

i didn't know they weren't holding kids back anymore... missed that part.

i was always the smart kid and the teacher's pet. i was popular in elementary school... but by the time i got to middle it was played out i guess.. but that didn't stop me. i was never the kind to give in to peer pressure.

[theBeamisHome]

turtlex.. that's exactly what i meant about standardized testing. sometimes they aren't even fair to students from different backgrounds. i don't think you can get rid of tests altogether but the emphasis on standardized testing is not a good thing.... and that's the kind of teacher i want to be... the one that looks beyond the tests.

[turtlex]

theBeamisHome - wanting to be that kind of teacher, that will MAKE you that kind of teacher.

I have three or four teachers who were just terrific with me - recognized the head I had for wanting more and being open to new things.

I had a great English Teacher named Mr Scanlon who was always suggesting titles for me to read. He'd just walk past my seat and then stop and say something like - "I was thinking about it, and if you liked 9 Stories, you really should read Catcher In The Rye" and then he'd move on to someone else. He was great. Then he'd always take time when he saw me reading something to ask what I thought about it and engage me. He was a great teacher.

It just wasn't about whatever he was doing with the class at the time.

It was about being encouraging and teaching, about opening up my world!

[theBeamisHome]

exactly!!! i want to teach kids not only the content that's in the curriculum... i'm going to teach them to want more... and also that it's cool.. that part might be harder but i believe i can.

[turtlex]

I believe you can too.

[alinda]

:clap:I know you can! ;)