Schooling

[Dysfunctional]

I taught, for a couple years, at a private Catholic school.

Interesting mix of students: the very, very brightest and the very, very most drugged out.

At least the low end would sleep it off in class and not disrupt the others.

I believe politics has messed up the public system.

Everything is organized around the lowest common denominator.

 

[BeerAd]

Having the common sense to realize that some people are smarter than others and that people are NOT created equally is far more important than being a good "people person".

Being a good "people person" means that you have the common sense to realize peoples differences. What you fail to realize is that by working with these people you realize how they function. Realizing how others function gets you very far in the business world.

 

[ZRH]

Being a good "people person" means that you have the common sense to realize peoples differences. What you fail to realize is that by working with these people you realize how they function. Realizing how others function gets you very far in the business world.

ZOMG personal attack. You are slandering my character based on your already prejudiced view of Catholic Schools.

I know damn well how most people function. Most can barely hold an abstract concept and keep breathing at the same time. You apparently think I cant behave properly in any social setting, which goes against all empirical evidence to the contrary. If you have some point let's spit it out, this does get dull.

 

[BeerAd]

One side I dont like about FG's schooling is that you never truly see how others relate to the world. Constantly looking down at others is why we are currently in this problem to begin with. If I did learn in that situation is that when I am the smartest person in the class I can help others out. When I am not the smartest I will receive help from people who understand the subject better. If everyone is at the same level there is no peer helping going on. I dont like that.

 

[BeerAd]

ZOMG personal attack. You are slandering my character based on your already prejudiced view of Catholic Schools.

I know damn well how most people function. Most can barely hold an abstract concept and keep breathing at the same time. You apparently think I cant behave properly in any social setting, which goes against all empirical evidence to the contrary. If you have some point let's spit it out, this does get dull.

haha, settle down there silly pants.

 

[ZRH]

One side I dont like about FG's schooling is that you never truly see how others relate to the world. Constantly looking down at others is why we are currently in this problem to begin with. If I did learn in that situation is that when I am the smartest person in the class I can help others out. When I am not the smartest I will receive help from people who understand the subject better. If everyone is at the same level there is no peer helping going on. I dont like that.

Teamwork makes the dream work!

Did you miss my entire post about being picked on for knowing things? If you think that kids truly play well together... Well I dont know what to do for ya. In my stay, albeit short, in public school what I remember most is that almost no one wanted to learn things, and the ones who did were. Reading books was "retarded"! You cant help those who dont want to help themselves.

Im also not going to be sat here and listen to you tell me that is the school's fault, or the parent's fault. If once you get to HS and all you want to do 'hang out' and go to parties it's pretty much your own decision. You need a strong sense of direction until maybe 5th grade. No amount of outside force is going to make idiots learn.

I have absolutely no problem with teaching people something they dont know but want to learn. This is a very very rare occaision though.

 

[BeerAd]

Teamwork makes the dream work!

Did you miss my entire post about being picked on for knowing things? If you think that kids truly play well together... Well I dont know what to do for ya. In my stay, albeit short, in public school what I remember most is that almost no one wanted to learn things, and the ones who did were. Reading books was "retarded"! You cant help those who dont want to help themselves.

Im also not going to be sat here and listen to you tell me that is the school's fault, or the parent's fault. If once you get to HS and all you want to do 'hang out' and go to parties it's pretty much your own decision. You need a strong sense of direction until maybe 5th grade. No amount of outside force is going to make idiots learn.

I have absolutely no problem with teaching people something they dont know but want to learn. This is a very very rare occaision though.

Yes, I did miss that post. I agree with most of these points in here and if you want to be in a private school for those reasons that is fine. I actually had to go back to your first/second post because I was giving you attitude for the wrong reasons. I thought you had said that public schools cater to the dumbest people, as in saying that everyone in public school is a dumbass. You were saying they have to cater to the dumbest person in the school after I read it again. I do however feel that the norm for teachers today is horrible. I can only say this because I did have the rare good teacher who taught me an amazing amount of info. If half of my teachers were like that I would be so much better off.

 

[ZRH]

Holy hell. Someone understands what I'm trying to say.

Exactly.

 

[Shalimar]

since i don't know how to effectively quote individual sentences, i'll try and do this from memory..

I would agree that bonuses and other incentives might encourage teachers to do better in the classroom.. the only problem is how to gauge that.. standardized tests? how you gonna measure that? I work in the hood.. the students in my classroom, IN GENERAL, don't come to the table as "smart" as kids from wealthier families.. from the suburbs, etc.. they don't have the same life experiences, the same frames of reference (I have kids who HAVE NEVER BEEN OUT OF ST PETERSBURG) .. so my question would be: should I be punished then since historically our students perform lower on those tests? If this was the case, you would see mass exodus of teachers from lower socio-economic schools to schools with more money.. more monied families.. there are some extensive studies out that say something to the effect of: for every $10,000 your parents gross, you know 2000 words.. obviously, you could figure out how that might impact "bonuses for teachers with high performing students"..




some of the craziest drunks/addicts/freaks i knew were from private schools.. dated a chick from Evangel Christian who kept a thermos of vodka in her trunk at all times.. i'm not gonna make a generalization and say that's the case of all of them, but it is one story.. kids of privelege usually don't have to worry about the mundane things like what's for dinner? when's mom gonna be home? doing the laundry for the family .. at 8 years old! uh.. gosh, i can't sleep with the police sirens going on outside my house.. uh, i hope people don't clown me because I've got holes in my shoes.. etc.. so, IMO, their minds and time wander to other things.. drugs.. sex.. drinking.. (i said it earlier about some of the kids having enough money to buy lunch and not doing so, but we DO have a healthy percentage of kids who are just plain dirt poor.. foster kids.. children of incarcerated parents.. children of drug addicts..)


I'm on the fence about the stand. testing.. we do need SOME way to measure the performances of children in miami vs. jacksonville vs. tampa.. teachers DO teach to the tests very often.. as yall have mentioned, when your school funding rests (sometimes damn near entirely so) on your performance on "the test" you better damn well believe we're preparing for it..

i'm NOT a fan of vouchers for the reasons i mentioned above.. most private schools aren't held accountable to "the test" so giving people money to go there without measuring their performance once they get there seems ass backwards to me..

LOTS of dumb kids in school.. got an uncle that told me back in the day, centuries ago.. lol, they just put the dumb people on the front lines of the war of the day to "cull" the society of rejects, , and just plain dummies.. don't have that now.. and we are so f'ing PC that we have to act like "little johnny is just as capable".. well, fuck, I can look in five of my students' eyes right now and tell you all the lights ain't turned on.. there's some neurons that ain't firin like they 'posed to.. teach em a trade.. mechanics and house framers make good money sometimes..

spanking.. eh??? kids ain't scared of us anymore.. that's why they act up, because they know we can't "do anything".. "call my momma.. i don't care, the phone's disconnected".. FEAR, my friends, is very motivating indeed..

NCLB.. (sounds like 'nickelbag' ) .. again, i agree we need some common way to test performance of students, and to also hold teachers and schools accountable.. but a zero tolerance, black/white issue of either ARE or AREN'T passing due to a test.. well, that doesn't make much sense.. what if the kid had the flu testing day? what if his mom stabbed his dad and he spent all night in the hospital, sleepless, but they sure enough dropped his a$$ off at school for that free babysittin? what if a girl's grandfather is molesting her, and she just found out she had herpes, given to her by her own grandfather, and they wouldn't have found out about the molestation had she not began to show symptoms of the herp?

yeah, i'd do good on a test with all that hanging over me..


mingle's note: the last 2 stories are true from children in my own classes.




students have been gone now for a while, so i got papers to grade.. and parents to (try to) call.. cot damn bebe's kids.. out.

 

[Shalimar]

One side I dont like about FG's schooling is that you never truly see how others relate to the world. Constantly looking down at others is why we are currently in this problem to begin with. If I did learn in that situation is that when I am the smartest person in the class I can help others out. When I am not the smartest I will receive help from people who understand the subject better. If everyone is at the same level there is no peer helping going on. I dont like that.

LOL.. LOTS of smart kids don't want to help less smart kids (dumb is so un-PC)..

and WaAAAAAAAY too often the class only operates at the speed of the slowest kid, thereby boring smart ones to tears.. or sleep.. or apathy..

 

[sabrina]

I'm sorry but there's just no way to justify spanking in school. There are different methods of discipline, and it is very much possible to have well behaved kids without them fearing physical punishment on the parents' or teachers' part. There are other punishment / reward methods that can be used. If I have kids, no one but me will have a right to decide what method I use to discipline my children, and I'd be very pissed off if I heard of a teacher spanking my child. That's fucked up.

 

[my little brony]

Although I agreed somewhat with your last reply this is so horrible. So my parents are "poor parents" because I went to Pre-School?

No, reread the sentence and get back to me.

 

[lemon_fresh]

I would agree that bonuses and other incentives might encourage teachers to do better in the classroom.. the only problem is how to gauge that.. standardized tests? how you gonna measure that?

I've actually, given the bonus thing some thought. In the real world you have performance reviews. You could do something similar in the schools, but you would be reviewed by three different groups. First review would be by your peers, second by the parents of the students you teach and lastly by your administration.
Three seperate reviews to even out for the "don't kiss the principals ass" or " won't kowtow to the pain in the ass parents." Throw out the lowest score and avg the next two. Scale of 1-5, 5 gets you the best raise bonus, 1 gets nothin' but your step raise. Somethings gotta be better than what we have in place down here now.

 

[ZRH]

`snip`

You're a teacher?

Just please, please try to post coherent paragraphs. The quote button is the little thing in the bottom right corner of a post. Just do it in multiple posts if you dont want to edit down the quotes.

Ill stay away from the latin but you are bringing up multiple unrelated one off circumstances (ignoratio elenchi) and use them to justify your entire argument. It is a pointless exercise to address these things. They in no way reflect the whole of the persons being addressed by this subject. To address them is to again bring down things to the slowest person being taught. Everyone should not have to pay for the mistakes of a few. There are other agencies designed to take care of these problems. Not the school system.

 

[sabrina]

I would agree that bonuses and other incentives might encourage teachers to do better in the classroom.. the only problem is how to gauge that.. standardized tests? how you gonna measure that?

My University has a pretty awesome way of rating teachers: every semester students have to fill out a survey about their teachers AND classes, and what they feel they've learned / haven't learned. The way they make it work is that there are some questions where you rate the teacher / class on a scale from 1 to 5, but there are also questions that you have to write out, and explain WHY you think the teacher or class is good or bad. It also doesn't place all the blame on the teacher, because sometimes the teacher is great but the way a class is structured is bad. At my school they carefully look over these surveys and really make changes based on them. Many bad teachers have been fired because of the survey results. Although I don't think that high schools can implement the system in the same way, since I go to a private university, not a public high school, but they CAN make use of a similar system to reward good teachers who are doing their job.

 

[BeerAd]

No, reread the sentence and get back to me.

FG already said I F'ed it up, I am slammed at work today so it has been really hard keeping up without misreading. My fault if I pissed in anyones cornflakes cause when I woke up I had a turd in my taquito.

 

[my little brony]

FG already said I F'ed it up, I am slammed at work today so it has been really hard keeping up without misreading. My fault if I pissed in anyones cornflakes cause when I woke up I had a turd in my taquito.

I don't mean to directly insult anyone's parents or anything. Most everyone here seems to be relatively intelligent. My beef is with parents that can or at least could take the time to teach their children the basics yet choose not to because they feel the responsibility of raising a child falls with the government. That attitude, to me, is utterly sickening.

 

[Shalimar]

You're a teacher?

Just please, please try to post coherent paragraphs. The quote button is the little thing in the bottom right corner of a post. Just do it in multiple posts if you dont want to edit down the quotes.

Ill stay away from the latin but you are bringing up multiple unrelated one off circumstances (ignoratio elenchi) and use them to justify your entire argument. It is a pointless exercise to address these things. They in no way reflect the whole of the persons being addressed by this subject. To address them is to again bring down things to the slowest person being taught. Everyone should not have to pay for the mistakes of a few. There are other agencies designed to take care of these problems. Not the school system.

look here norwegian flame guy. . (BTW, i thought 'juxtapositonal irony' was funny as hell)..

yes, i'm a teacher.. yes, my grammar isn't always perfect ON A MESSAGE BOARD.. yes, i tend to bounce around when stating MY OPINION.. it isn't a legal brief.. i ain't turnin it in to a professor or a boss.. so sloooooow down man, tap the brakes a little bit.. i tend to post in the form of a conversation, not complete sentences.. sorry if I don't post "the way" you want me to.. you're funny man, you really are..

my opinions on the AMERICAN educational system are based on a k-12 public education experience as a student and 13 as a teacher on the front lines of poverty stricken schools in South St Pete .. just in case you need verification of my credentials..

yer flame-retardant buddy,
Ignoratio

 

[BeerAd]

I don't mean to directly insult anyone's parents or anything. Most everyone here seems to be relatively intelligent. My beef is with parents that can or at least could take the time to teach their children the basics yet choose not to because they feel the responsibility of raising a child falls with the government. That attitude, to me, is utterly sickening.

Pre-School in my case was for earlier interaction with someone who is more or less a professional in the field. Even if I am a stay at home dad I would be putting my children into pre-school. I will teach my children all the values that my father taught me plus beginning reading maybe. I am not qualified to teach my child how to write, as I am not a good writer. Why start teaching them wrong when they can learn it right?

 

[BeerAd]

look here norwegian flame guy. . (BTW, i thought 'juxtapositonal irony' was funny as hell)..

yes, i'm a teacher.. yes, my grammar isn't always perfect ON A MESSAGE BOARD.. yes, i tend to bounce around when stating MY OPINION.. it isn't a legal brief.. i ain't turnin it in to a professor or a boss.. so sloooooow down man, tap the brakes a little bit.. i tend to post in the form of a conversation, not complete sentences.. sorry if I don't post "the way" you want me to.. you're funny man, you really are..

my opinions on the AMERICAN educational system are based on a k-12 public education experience as a student and 13 as a teacher on the front lines of poverty stricken schools in South St Pete .. just in case you need verification of my credentials..

yer flame-retardant buddy,
Ignoratio

Get used to it!!!

Some people here will point out when you type your instead of you're