Posts about teachers and education

I have been a history teacher for 8 years...the last few years,
especially, have been chaotic and very uncertain in terms of
education.

I have been very impressed by a lot of the comments about
teachers and the education system on here (yt). Usually, I
quietly endure comments from the community about how a lot
of the testing, "common core" etc.., are the teachers' fault. In
NY we now have a gov. who is openly attacking us and the
whole education system.

As I said, I have been impressed here, on YT, by everyone's
comments. As a whole, you guys have demonstrated a solid
understanding of the education system and where a lot of fault
lies. I have not seen much in the way of attacks throughout
the last few days. So, thanks to all of you for "getting it".

With regards to the 3rd grade math...it is nuts...kids should not
be doing that kind of stuff...they need to learn to explore ideas
and numbers and enjoy math. Not be force fed abstract
concepts they are not ready to understand.

A lot of commentary here on families, etc.... It is amazing how
blind people can be. I teach in a relatively urban (broken
factory city) where a large portion of the population has made
a career of living off of the system. In our school, there is no
one economic class, race, or gender that creates the most
problems. We have great black and hispanic kids, great white
kids. Great boys, great girls. Good kids who are poor, and
good kids who are well off. And the same goes for our bad
kids. Most commonly, it is those with parents who don't hold
them accountable for their actions. Those who expect us to do
their job. Those are the students who are problems and it is a
large number of them. They can do no wrong, they don't fear
parents, school faculty or even the police. Without a healthy
fear, they can be un-disciplinable.

An earlier post mentioned that many teachers do not like kids.
It is true, but I know some teachers who openly don't
particularly like kids and still do a good job teaching and
dealing with them. Myself, I like kids, that's why I do what I do,
and I try to treat them with respect and I have very, very few
discipline problems in my classroom. Though, over the years,
I have been told to F*** myself, on more than a few occasions.
I understand, from my own youth, that kids do stuff to get a
reaction. The most effective tool I use, is minimal reaction and
quiet words. Walking over to a student and quietly saying "I
am going to go back to what I was doing, and you will get up,
gather your things and meet me in the hallway in 30 seconds.",
a quick, harsh stare, and walking away works every time. I
never lose, but I also don't need the last word. I also never
use empty threats and am honest with my kids 99% of the
time.

Got side-tracked there, but as I started with. Thanks to
everyone here who seems to "get it". 90% of teachers do a
good job within the limitations of their power.

An analogy: Image you were a vegetable farmer. Instead of
specializing in one or two crops, you were responsible for
raising whatever type of vegetables you were given each year.
Instead of seeds, you were given small plants. When they
arrive to you, they are in a variety of conditions as they were
each started in a different house. Some took care of them,
some arrive already lifeless. After you plant them, you are
limited to caring for your farm to 1/3 of each day, the other 2/3
it is in the care of a bunch of other people, some do what they
are supposed to and weed, water the plants, others do
nothing, others actively make things worse. When harvest day
comes, which is a pre-determined day, you must harvest all
plants, even those who take longer to grow. You are then
judged on the overall performance of your vegetables. Not the
easiest way to be successful, for the farmer or the plants.

As for me & I think for the most part I can speak
for the most of us. It starts at home, when we
were still in diapers. Being country/farm kids
we learned the value of things.

It also helped that most of us were schooled
be for the Fed Government was the deciding
factors of decisions & we Prayed in School.

I was drug to the tub, when I was young
And I didn't want to go?
Would come out clean so I could be seen
Man I thought that was mean.
Drug to reunions, funerals & weddings
These place I didn't want to go?
School Bus Stops & wood sheds
Those were place's I Usta Dread.
Sunday school & youth retreats
Were the Farthest from my mind.
But by the ear I did go &
pacified the time my time.
Drug to the office for disrespect
A piece of wood did the trick.
And when at home I'd hear the Phone.
A leather belt would follow.
Pony tails came into view?
I followed, that's what Boys do?
I got drug back to church,
Heard the word me, Not I?
I only searched for my hearts desire
I was the one who needed to grow
Ended up losing that someone I know.
Seasons come & seasons went
All the wasted time I spent?
I'm so glad they Loved me so.
Pushed & shoved & made me go.

Steve,
Good post. I too am like you and impressed with the wealth of knowledge and respect of YT members. When I posted I thought it would quickly become political. it seems that YT'ers have a lot of family that are in or were in education.

Good luck to you and keep fighting the good fight...

Excellent post!

My wife was a therapist...and she had parents who had trouble getting their 5 year old to school...her advice was always "pick them up, throw them in the car, shut the door, drive to wherever you are going, open the door, drag them out and bring them to where you want them to go. No choice, no discussion, no negotiation. You need to be the boss. If you can't get your 5 year old to go to school, imagine how great you will do when he is 16." Fast forward, she is now a MS counselor and...drumroll...those same kids still aren't coming to school. (parents, at the time, never followed her advice).

We are roughly 100 days into the school year...on average, for my 9th grader...average # of days missed so far...21. We were told we need to make school more interesting so kids will want to go. I told admin "guess what, school isn't interesting."

Good luck in the new field. I enjoy the diversity of my
life...teaching, hay farming and light carpentry on the
side...never have the same day twice in any of those fields.

Very good analogy. Just as the mom and pop stores disappeared, I believe there will be more school district consolidations resulting in larger mega "box" schools that will turn out mediocre, complacent kids. Instead of greeters at the door they'll have security personnel.

I strongly feel that there is a place for sports in school as it develops self discipline and work ethics in kids. I just don't see the over emphasis on sports related infrastructure and travel at the expense of the school's general budget. I would also like to see a more equitable salary system for teachers that doesn't have so much reliance on local real estate taxes and also more flexibility for teachers to be creative and not stifled with generic, mandated curriculum.

I realize how fortunate I am to have attended small schools where we had 4 grades in one classroom and the teacher was respected.

I had some great teachers when I was in school. One of my favorites was our Ag. teacher we had in High School. He would lay down the rules at the beginning of the year and stuck to them. He used the wall to wall counseling method to get our behavior straightened out. We learned a lot from that man and everyone had great respect for him. If you followed the rules of good behavior he set down he treated you with the same respect. It was a sad day when he explained that he was burned out with teaching. We all understood his reasoning, but we still wished he could continue teaching. He didn't leave the teaching profession until after my senior year. He moved on to be a county agent and was very good at that too. It was always a joy to run across him after I was out of school and visit with him. I wish there were more like him today.

Who were your favorite teachers and why you liked them so much? It will be interesting to hear about these teachers.

Whether it is sports, music or being into cars/shop class...kids need to learn dedication and the importance of practice and repetition and finsihing what they start.
Of the thousands of the kids I have taught, there are very few that I would hire as a farm hand. I do not believe this is their fault...no time working with mom or dad, no hours spent at the wood pile, no sweating it out on the hay wagon...
whether it is their math homework, or sports practices, the majority of our kids totally lack dedication and desire to finish what they start. I always laugh at Professional Development conferences when we are told how "smart" and "tech savvy" kids are...the truth is that they never both to learn HOW stuff works...none of them TINKER with stuff...I worry about these kids...
that is one thing I like about Bryce and Lanse (if you remembver him) Though they can be bold and brash...they have a true thirst for knowledge that you can't teach

In my high school, there was an English teacher, "Mrs. B", who taught in the same school from the 1940's to the 1980"s. Everyone who went through that high school over that 40 year period at some point had Mrs. B for a teacher in at least one class. She was an institution of her own in the school district.

Fast forward to 1990. Mrs. B was retired and I was Service Manager for the local Ford dealer. Mrs. B brought her car out to be serviced, and chatted with the dealer's wife out in the showroom during the time it took to service her car.

After Mrs. B left, the dealer's wife told me that Mrs. B told her that of all the students she had over all of those years, I was the one she would have most liked to have killed.

Coming from her, I thought that was a real honor and distinction!

(quoted from post at 16:35:11 02/19/15) Whether it is sports, music or being into cars/shop class...kids need to learn dedication and the importance of practice and repetition and finsihing what they start.
Of the thousands of the kids I have taught, there are very few that I would hire as a farm hand. I do not believe this is their fault...no time working with mom or dad, no hours spent at the wood pile, no sweating it out on the hay wagon...
whether it is their math homework, or sports practices, the majority of our kids totally lack dedication and desire to finish what they start. I always laugh at Professional Development conferences when we are told how "smart" and "tech savvy" kids are...the truth is that they never both to learn HOW stuff works...none of them TINKER with stuff...I worry about these kids...
that is one thing I like about Bryce and Lanse (if you remembver him) Though they can be bold and brash...they have a true thirst for knowledge that you can't teach

Click to expand...

Not having children work side by side with a parent, or another adult is lacking in these times. My wife and I were always at odd with this. She always took care or our lawn, still does. When our sons were old enough to take over these duties she wouldn't let them. Said she didn't want them to do it because they didn't know how. Well duh, of course they wouldn't know until someone showed them how. I'm sure glad I was part time farming when they were growing up. I always had them work right beside me all the time. I would even present story problems to them on mixing rations and let them figure it out. They got pretty good at it. I also had them take care of the sows and litters when I was working nights. It taught them responsibility for doing a good job even when I wasn't around. They made their share of mistakes, but I didn't have to beat them up over it. After I explained what went wrong and how not to do it again they understood and eventually didn't need so much supervision from me. A young beaver doesn't know how to build a dam until the older beavers show them how. Children are the same way.

Good post. I especially liked the analogy. Never realized that until the better half started teaching early childhood.

Growing up back when you did what you were told makes it hard to understand the world we live in now. Going to school was a given just like breathing. I too remember getting whoopings at school & getting another one as soon as I got home. Never did find out how Mom knew to give me another one cause we didn't have a phone. Parents now a day's get mad if their child gets corrected when they need it. Makes no sense to me.

I believe the politically correct term for lack of perseverance in kids is now referred to as ADS?

Both of my "off-springs" were in FFA and their adviser was (and still is) an absolute pillar in our county. Fortunately, they took after their mom and made the honor roll rather that the "ornery roll" like their dad. I think I graduated in the upper 95% of my class LOL. I sometimes wonder, though, if a student has straight "A's" that they aren't being challenged enough?

Forty years ago if I didn't go to school,other than being sick, I got the privilege of cleaning out the farrowing house, barn, or whatever dirty hard hand work there was at the time. Got to hate snow days real quick. Had 5 days unapproved absences from eighth grade to graduation. All for being in hospital with pneumonia. Wife teaches school, our own kids are now kicked out door and handed a shovel, told to start scooping, Took several years for wife to learn this, but has really helped at home. Now she's the one that hands them the shovel. Was taught in college to be students friend. Found out it doesn't work. Good luck.

I don't very often LOL but I did on that one Goose.

I lived in central NY for 40 years and had four kids go through the public school system in Otsego County. No way would I rate 90% of the teachers as "good." Half would be a better figure but I'm sure it varies by area. A few were poorly educated and not very bright. The teachers college at SUCO-Oneonta hands out Masters Degrees to many teachers regardless if they earn their required "B or higher" or not.

You took me by surprise mentioning whiny-boy Andrew Cuomo being hard on school teachers. In what way? I left NY after 40 years solely because of idiots like Cuomo but it had nothing to do with school teachers. In fact, we're home schooling our last and youngest child. No more public schools for us. I've yet to see a public school that was not a chronic money waster. That in itself is not the teachers faults though.

One of the biggest problems I see about public schools is the homelife a lot of these kids have. A high school principle told me that every year his wife who is a grade school teachers has students who either one or both parents are in jail. I think the breaddown of family life is a contributer to problems in our schools and society in general. I went to a christian grade school and those teachers were all dedicated. In the public high school I went not so much. But still the biggest problem I see in our schools are the parents. I have neighbors who home school their kids. The kids are great but there education is sadly lacking.

I certainly was involved with my last 4 kids in public school and my involvement was an uphill battle all the way. At age 50 I was going to college (when not turning wrenches) while my kids were in school. I took some of my kids to attend actual graduate college classes when they had free-time and the school fought me on it. I also tried to get my son banned from sports until he did his school-work first and the school fought me on that also. Another time I helped my daughter study for an exam. She answered a few questions on Quantum Mechanics based on info she got from me. Same on Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. Same on the Electron Theory. She gave the correct answers but was marked "wrong" because it was the teacher that was clueless. Later after having a meeting with the teacher - she told me she does not really know much about physics, but felt it was important that kids answer questions on her tests based on what SHE taught in class. Even if it was factually incorrect. Needless to say - our youngest kid is being home schooled and it's been a pleasure. My wife has several grad degrees and stopped working just to stay home an teach our kid and she loves it. I help out also.