On Feb 15, 2012, at 11:11 AM, Wojtek S wrote:
> Doug: "The way other countries do this is the teacher gets the degree
> and learns to teach via something like apprenticing for quite a while
> with a master teacher."
>
> [WS:] That is soooo un-American. It takes the management out of the loop.
The whole American set-up is crazy. And it's getting worse because it's bringing MBA consciousness to bear.
Also, none of the progressive education types I've interviewed on the radio, and I've interviewed many of the luminaries, want to talk about how American anti-intellectualism figures into the problem.
> Another point. Why is there so much attention paid to the teachers in
> this whole school debate, aside the obvious union busting agenda? If
> there is a problem with the educational system in the US of A, it
> certainly is NOT caused by the teachers and their teaching credentials
> or lack thereof. It is caused by the "students being unavailable for
> instruction" (as it is called in the educational system lingo.) We
> may argue what is the root cause of this unavailability - but it
> certainly is NOT the teachers. I am generally unsure about most
> things in life, but I am pretty damn sure about this one.
If you're referring to poverty, then that's only partly true. Other countries do a lot better compensating for poverty than we do. But to do so we'd have to spend more on education for poor kinds, and that's not the way the USA works.