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>
> Message: 12
> Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2011 09:40:23 -0400
> From: Wojtek S <wsoko52 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Liberals
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Message-ID: <BANLkTi=ANFy+RN=R6jq-BmJ9SogWm24c5A at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Joanna: "They are currently being run by bureaucrats who have no
> knowledge of content but understand "faster" "earlier" and "more", the
> sum of which equals success. And they are the ones who set curriculum
> and decide whether teachers are competent."
>
> [WS:] Yes, indeed. My wife who teaches at Montgomery County Public
> Schools - which is a Mercedes of public education in the US - says
> pretty much the same thing. According to her, the most disastrous
> effect of these policies is a rat race to the top that leaves most
> kids behind (my phrase, not hers.) For example, kids whose
> educational needs have been neglected and do not understand basic math
> are nonetheless forced to take Algebra II, which they are bound to
> fail and eventually drop out.
>
> According to my wife, tailoring instruction to the level and needs of
> students would remedy this, but teachers cannot do this because
> curriculum that teaches to standardized tests requires meeting imposed
> from above standards.
>
> As to "teachers' qualifications' - she says that it is very difficult
> to find qualified teachers, because people are leaving the profession
> in droves. Oftentimes, nobody even applies to open positions
> especially in math and science - as people who are qualified to teach
> these subjects can find better paying and less stressful jobs
> elsewhere.
>
> Stress is a major factor that affect teachers. One major source of
> that stress is idiotic policies of "more," "earlier" and "faster"
> imposed by the no-child-left-behind policies and teaching to
> standardized testing. Another major source is parents. Wealthy
> parents are particularly obnoxious because they often threaten
> lawsuits if their kids do not get the grades they expect. Fearing
> lawsuits, schools administration puts pressure on teachers to alter
> grades or in some case to do work for such students!. The poor
> parents, on the other hand, either do not have time and skills to
> guide their kids (many of them are FOBs who do not speak English and
> work several jobs) or do not care about their kid's education and
> become combative when school contacts them. I've heard horror stories
> of students being abused or neglected by their parents. There not
> that many services available to remedy this in the first place, but
> obtaining even those limited services requires heroic efforts on the
> part of the school. Oftentimes, kids get no services unless they are
> court-ordered.
>
> Schools are expected to provide not just instruction, but social
> services as well. However, facing cost cuts, schools district cut
> services right and left - but not the administration size! - increase
> class size and require teachers to work extra hours without pay. For
> example, my wife routinely works from 7AM to 5Pm (10 hours, not
> counting extracurricular duties) without being paid overtime, because
> her position is qualified as "supervisory" (she is a "resource
> teacher" which is nominally a supervisory level position.) As a part
> of her position, she takes "leadership" training courses which focus
> on how to squeeze more out of teachers, circumvent union contracts,
> etc. Her favored quote was a recommendation against giving teachers
> "professional time" (i.e. paid time outside the instruction time)
> because teachers would use this time to grade papers, which they
> normally do in their non-working i.e. unpaid time.
>
> It is really hard to imagine why someone with marketable skill would
> want to be a teacher. The job is extremely stressful, not respected
> by anyone including students and their parents, the pay is not that
> great, given qualifications required, the work schedule is extremely
> inflexible, and the pressure to work unpaid extra hours is tremendous.
> And on the top of it, teachers are scapegoats for everything that is
> wrong with the upbringing of children in this country.
>
> Wojtek
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
-- -- Chris Sturr Co-editor, Dollars & Sense 29 Winter St. Boston, Mass. 02108 phone: 617-447-2177, ext. 205 fax: 617-447-2179 email: sturr at dollarsandsense.org