[Rhodes22-list] Todd's spelling skills

[Steve Alm]

Ed,
Your position on this needs a little fine-tuning.  We've been hearing a lot
about "failed schools" but we hear little about failed students.  C'mon now,
there are tons of kids out there that couldn't pass even if they DID have
the best teacher in town.  Surely we can't put all the blame on teachers, as
is popular to do by Republican union-busters.

I'm not going to take the time to go through it all, but I'll preface by
saying that both my parents were teachers and later administrators.  Both
hold PhD's in education.  My wife's a teacher of 15 years and I was a
teacher for 4 years.  So I'm not uninformed on the issues.

The job of public school teachers is more daunting now than ever before.  I
think many parents deserve spankings more than the kids.  But you don't hear
many complaints about parents from school boards because parents are voters.
Wouldn't want to offend them.  Kids come to school without sleep, without
breakfast, without clean clothes, without having done their homework-- and
you want to blame the teachers?  Or maybe they don't come to school at all.
Attendance is another huge problem.  Teachers' fault?

We have a huge population of students that don't speak English. Even the
best teachers are challenged to the n'th degree by this.  Yes, we have
language specialists who address this, but show me the money!  It ain't the
Democrats that keep cutting the school budgets.  Another problem is with
kids/families moving in and out of districts during the school year--some
move several times a year.  Even the best students' grades suffer for this.
Should we discuss poverty and its effect on students?  Whew!  I don't have
all day to go into it, but again, not teachers' fault.

Unfortunately, those who are academically talented in
> getting high grades and thus the ones getting a job as a teacher often does
> not translate into imbuing skills on others.

So what are you suggesting?  Hiring those with LOW grades?  We need the best
we can get.  No, certainly not all teachers are "master teachers" but when
starting salaries are abysmal, whom do you expect to attract?  Nothing but
geniuses?  These days the average life span of a new teacher is three years.
By then, they find better money and less demanding work elsewhere.

If you want to point fingers, look no farther than GWB and his No-Child-
Left- Behind crap.  Any such unfunded mandate is just that--crap!  Ask any
teacher!  The only way to get ALL kids to pass is to dumb down the tests,
and this is exactly what GWB and the rest of the country are gonna get with
his failed reasoning.  That's exactly what he did in Texas.  But then I
can't help but wonder if that's exactly what he has in mind.  Dismantle the
public schools, bust the unions, get more kids into unaccredited home
schools, charter schools, religious schools and private-for-privileged-only
schools.  All the poor kids will go to the dumbed-down public schools, and
the rest will get hired for all the good jobs.  It'll be so easy to tell
them apart!

It's simple, Ed.  If you want better public schools, VOTE KERRY/EDWARDS!!

Slim


On 10/4/04 8:17 AM, "ed kroposki" <ekroposki at charter.net> wrote:

> Todd:
> Often having to repeat a grade in school is not a function of a
> student's ability, but rather a function of a teacher's ability to reach all
> kinds of students.  Unfortunately, those who are academically talented in
> getting high grades and thus the ones getting a job as a teacher often does
> not translate into imbuing skills on others.  What I am saying is that some
> teachers cannot teach. (I am sure that this does not apply to Chris.)
> I for one will say that you have demonstrated excellent
> communications skills.  Keep the diagrams flowing.  Keep them on the list,
> contrary to comments of others.  Your technical drawings about the trailer,
> et al, are what this list should be.
> 
> Ed K
> 
> 
> 
> __________________________________________________
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