The sad state of affairs of our education system

[Barbershopman]

This is a yahoo lifestyle story of a Facebook post by a teacher who called it quits.https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/style/

When I read this story, I was heart broken for the current state of the US education system. I think the saddest thing is, what he said is 100% true.

Today's teachers face a no-win situation. They don't "teach" anymore, they drill students to be able to pass standardized tests. These tests are tied to everything from their job performance to state funding. If the students don't do well, funding is cut and then it is even more of an uphill battle to get kids educated. And like he says, he's "tired of being told that if the students fail, it's not their fault, it's mine".

There are a number of other factors that make teaching less glamorous than when I went to school:

My kids ( I have three) seemed to take more standardized tests in two months than I can remember taking in a year. Teachers curriculums today are situated around getting students prepared for these tests than actual teaching. This, in my opinion is a direct result of teachers preparing students for testing rather than teaching facts and figures, arming them to be successful in the world, rather than a slave of it. He states that "Lots of districts only care about school-wide growth, children are pressured to succeed without factoring in their personal development". I have another post on the forum about "smart phones/ dumb people"; it amazes me how kids can spend hours on their phone or computer, yet have trouble making change from a $20 bill or can't spell worth a crap because "today's technology can do that for us".

As stated in the article, they go through active shooter drills as part of everyday life at school. This is something people my age never even dreamed of having to do. A hot topic today is the debate over arming teachers. In my opinion, it is a bad idea, but his explanation is better than anything I could ever come up with, "we didn't go to school for law enforcement". Save the fact that this takes time away from instructing when there aren't enough school hours in the day as it is.

He states that he some times had to dip into his own pocket to buy supplies for his students because he couldn't get school funds to do it (see state funding). I know many teachers today who do this.

They constantly clash with administration. Now this probably happened when I was in school but I can't imagine it happened at the level it is happening today. Early in my marriage, my ex used to teach at a grade school. The principal at that school would often throw the teachers under the bus to side with (please) the parents. This undermined the authority of the teachers and caused the kids not to pay attention or respect the teachers. This has only escalated since I was in school and seems to be an epidemic of ultimate proportions today. ”As he states, this is a major reason for the "toxic" work environment.

They also have to deal with students with an array of psychological issues or on any number of medications. I'm not belittling this situation, just stating that this is one more thing they have to deal with. My youngest was diagnosed with ADHD and if she didn't have medication, she couldn't concentrate enough to complete her schoolwork. I'm not for sure, but I think a college education degree requires more than just the basic psychology courses.

Perhaps the saddest part of the education system is that some "parents" today send their kids to school to not only be taught to read and write but expect the school to teach them how to function in society. And if the school "fails" to "teach" that, the parent is all up in the administration's business about you didn't your job educating my kid. One of the responsive comments from the post said that in their school handbook it reads- "Parents are the primary educators of their children. *school name* works with parents and the student to teach them not only academic material, but social responsibility, compassion, and respect for others." Truer words were never spoken.

Reading this article stirred my emotions about the state of the US today. Teaching values, morals, respect for authority and responsibility for and consequences of one's actions should be taught at home by the parents with the school in a partnering role. Forgive me for my bluntness, but if you fail to teach your kids right from wrong and your actions (good or bad) have consequences, you've failed as a parent.


Barbershopman

 

[dskodj]

I agree 110% with everything you've said and pointed out here. In short, I will say that technology has screwed this earth and its young and upcoming generations beyond repair.

Nothing we can do, short of killing the internet (or, bringing it back to what it used to be in the late 90's through early 2000's) and bringing cell phones back to what they used to be in the 70s, 80s, 90s and early 2000's (a portable/mobile telephone for on the go people or business use). If those 2 things would happen, I feel we'd be on the right track to getting humanity and intelligence back in the new generations ahead.

 

[milagros317]

I also agree with you 100 per cent. That is why I was glad in 2016 to be able to retire after 40 years of teaching.

 

[Barbershopman]

Mils, only having experienced it through my ex-wife and my kids, I can only imagine what it is like to be a teacher today. You've lived it. Is it as bad as he says? Are the kids or the parents more to blame?

Barbershopman

 

[milagros317]

Mils, only having experienced it through my ex-wife and my kids, I can only imagine what it is like to be a teacher today. You've lived it. Is it as bad as he says? Are the kids or the parents more to blame?

Barbershopman

Since I was teaching in a college, the students could express their disinterest in learning by cutting class, making the classroom itself not so bad. I always believed that, in the vast majority of cases, the parents are more to blame. They molded their children's character.

 

[Barbershopman]

I agree 100% with your statement, Mils, the parents are more to blame. The kids wouldn't behave (near as nasty) if the parents exhibited more discipline at home. You had them and it's you're responsibility, not society's to raise them.

Another thing that I whole-heartedly agree with that wasn't mentioned in the article is that teachers, as a profession, are woefully underpaid for all that they do for kids. Doctors, lawyers, and other high paid professions owe their salaries to those that taught them.

Barbershopman

 

[oldgeezer]

An article about our educational system and someone quickly agreeing 110%.

I am pleased to see a couple others limited their agreement to 100%.

 

[SamuelKhan]

Responsible parents build strong families. Take care of your kids and they'll take care of you later on.

When you see youngsters behaving badly, you see their parents. That's where they learned how to be bad. Even with single parent households, you have junior stealing cars, dealing drugs and ending up in prison for life before 18. Dad isn't there to guide them, or worse yet, dad is too fucking drunk or stoned to care.

That's what happened to me, and it's been a struggle to set my ship right. My father was a ruthless, abusive bastard and my mother was a bystander that almost had me and my brother taken away from her.

Of course, the problems with society start at home. No means no doesn't mean shit anymore. Common sense has gone the way of the Laserdisc and courtesy is rare.

I'll get off my soapbox now. This isn't a political issue; it's a family issue!

 

[Tenebrae]

This is a yahoo lifestyle story of a Facebook post by a teacher who called it quits.https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/style/

When I read this story, I was heart broken for the current state of the US education system. I think the saddest thing is, what he said is 100% true.

Today's teachers face a no-win situation. They don't "teach" anymore, they drill students to be able to pass standardized tests. These tests are tied to everything from their job performance to state funding. If the students don't do well, funding is cut and then it is even more of an uphill battle to get kids educated. And like he says, he's "tired of being told that if the students fail, it's not their fault, it's mine".

There are a number of other factors that make teaching less glamorous than when I went to school:

My kids ( I have three) seemed to take more standardized tests in two months than I can remember taking in a year. Teachers curriculums today are situated around getting students prepared for these tests than actual teaching. This, in my opinion is a direct result of teachers preparing students for testing rather than teaching facts and figures, arming them to be successful in the world, rather than a slave of it. He states that "Lots of districts only care about school-wide growth, children are pressured to succeed without factoring in their personal development". I have another post on the forum about "smart phones/ dumb people"; it amazes me how kids can spend hours on their phone or computer, yet have trouble making change from a $20 bill or can't spell worth a crap because "today's technology can do that for us".

As stated in the article, they go through active shooter drills as part of everyday life at school. This is something people my age never even dreamed of having to do. A hot topic today is the debate over arming teachers. In my opinion, it is a bad idea, but his explanation is better than anything I could ever come up with, "we didn't go to school for law enforcement". Save the fact that this takes time away from instructing when there aren't enough school hours in the day as it is.

He states that he some times had to dip into his own pocket to buy supplies for his students because he couldn't get school funds to do it (see state funding). I know many teachers today who do this.

They constantly clash with administration. Now this probably happened when I was in school but I can't imagine it happened at the level it is happening today. Early in my marriage, my ex used to teach at a grade school. The principal at that school would often throw the teachers under the bus to side with (please) the parents. This undermined the authority of the teachers and caused the kids not to pay attention or respect the teachers. This has only escalated since I was in school and seems to be an epidemic of ultimate proportions today. ”As he states, this is a major reason for the "toxic" work environment.

They also have to deal with students with an array of psychological issues or on any number of medications. I'm not belittling this situation, just stating that this is one more thing they have to deal with. My youngest was diagnosed with ADHD and if she didn't have medication, she couldn't concentrate enough to complete her schoolwork. I'm not for sure, but I think a college education degree requires more than just the basic psychology courses.

Perhaps the saddest part of the education system is that some "parents" today send their kids to school to not only be taught to read and write but expect the school to teach them how to function in society. And if the school "fails" to "teach" that, the parent is all up in the administration's business about you didn't your job educating my kid. One of the responsive comments from the post said that in their school handbook it reads- "Parents are the primary educators of their children. *school name* works with parents and the student to teach them not only academic material, but social responsibility, compassion, and respect for others." Truer words were never spoken.

Reading this article stirred my emotions about the state of the US today. Teaching values, morals, respect for authority and responsibility for and consequences of one's actions should be taught at home by the parents with the school in a partnering role. Forgive me for my bluntness, but if you fail to teach your kids right from wrong and your actions (good or bad) have consequences, you've failed as a parent.


Barbershopman

I agree with everything you wrote. And contrary to what Samuel Khan wrote, I believe the response can only be political. Simple measures can be taken to remedy the problem. They are drastic but they'll work. I won't elaborate on them, because this is not the P&R. They won't cost any money either. All that they would require would be something teachers, schools administrations and politicians have forgotten long ago. COURAGE. Courage to stand for what's right, for what matters: knowledge, science, tradition, authority, hierarchy, and most important of all humility.

But do they REALLY want to go down that road? Yeah, I didn't think so either

It pains me to know this. The US have a long tradition of academic excellence; James Elroy once said that "we (the Americans) have taken the best of Europe's cultural heritage and are passing it on to future generations".

 

[Barbershopman]

Responsible parents build strong families. Of course, the problems with society start at home. No means no doesn't mean shit anymore. Common sense has gone the way of the Laserdisc and courtesy is rare.

I agree Samuel Khan, responsible parents DO build strong families. If you aren't invested in your kids lives, or worse yet absent from them, they grow up making ill-advised decisions and choices. In my opinion, it is because no one is there to care for or mentor them, or does a piss-poor job of it.

I heard something today that stuck with me- I hated my folks when I was younger for being so strict and demanding of me, but now I know it was the right thing to do because it taught me to respect people and their opinions, even if they differ from mine. I'm glad that my folks held me accountable for my actions when I was growing up and I've tried to instill that kind of character in my own kids.

Common sense and common courtesy seem to be going the way of the dodo, which is a sad and scary thing. I read something last year that said- common sense is so rare these days, it should be declared a super-power. Guess what if you want to be treated with respect the you have to TREAT with respect, it's a two-way street. The way to get people to listen to you is to talk to them, not scream and yell, and not DOWN to them.

Guess what, raising kids to be courteous and responsible for everything from their behavior to their actions and consequences not only helps them growing up, but also transitions into their adult lives where they exhibit the same traits. Kids are mirror images of their parents, if you see a kid behaving ignorantly, you have a pretty good idea what their parents look and act like.


Barbershopman

 

[chicago]

My mom did her best. (Single parent, working 60 hrs a week. Hard to be as attentive as needed when we had to go to food banks at times.)

I graduated high school with honors from a public school even though I had no support, was a parent to my family, and was severely lacking in math and science (I could not add or subtract fractions by the time I went to college.)

No child left behind was some bullshit.

And this should probably be in P&R.