Hawkeye’s thread about the map got me thinking.
Most of us, self included, blame teachers for the sorry shape of our recent graduates.
But thinking back, I was blessed with some very good teachers who made a difference in my life, and how I look at things.
In first grade I had Mrs Hammers. She was nearing retirement, but I remember her reading bible stories to us. I’m sure she prayed for each of her students.
2nd grade was Mrs Dull. I was in the second class she ever taught. Another one who took the time to care and nurture.
Miss. Byers taught 4th grade. I know we were her first class. She recognized my interest in history and really encouraged my studies. Very young and pretty, I had a crush on her. I think most of the boys did.
In high school I had Mr Gregg, who taught English and Reading. He and I had many shared interest, hunting, guns and history. He always hand picked books for me from his own collection.
Vocational Agriculture was my major in high school, mainly because it had the best shop. Mr Gayman was fresh out of West Virginia U, but his family had a big local farm so he knew more than most teachers. Me and Larry Hyde always had some big mechanical project going, and Mr Gayman taught me an awful lot, in school and out. He’s still a friend of mine.
Some, maybe most were just there to fill a chair and run a class, but these and a couple others really took the time to make a difference in some of us.
7mm

Teachers are a symptom, not the cause.

Parenting first and foremost. 100%. Period.

A lousy teacher maintins their job because parents dont hold administration responsible.

Parents run school districts. The district becomes what the parents int eh community wnat, and one or two squeeky wheels goes a long way.

Ultimately, parenting and parental apathy is the root cause of any of our societal problems.

Mr. Wood was our Ag/Shop/Welding/Small Engine teacher, and more importantly, our FFA Advisor. That man had a big impact on a lot of lives and I'm not sure he realized to what extent. We pushed his buttons and tested him, but he was simply a great person and the right man for the job. There were others but he had the greatest impact.

Those day are long gone.

Today's Union teachers are protected from dismissal for all sorts of reasons one being poor performance.

Teachers of old taught, today's teachers are activists, spreaders of propaganda and indoctrinate.

They no longer teach the basics because they don't have to. They are typical Union protected public employees.

They are more concerned with Political Correctness, Zero Tolerance and summers off then they are about actually educating.

They are one of the top three reasons why America's youth are drawn to Socialism and Communism.

Unions RUN school districts.

You can't think back and see what's happening now. Back and now are 2 totally different things. Teachers recently out of colleges are far more indoctrinated than older teachers were. The education climate is radically different that what it was 20 years ago, and that's not for the good.

The teacher factories are turning out democratic socialists by the millions...every year. You, me, can't send our traditionally raised children to the colleges and universities for the minimum four year indoctrination of Marx and Engels and expect to get the same child back. Very few young brains can resist 4 or 5 years of dogma and peer pressure. The tenured professors of today were the Antifa goons of the '60's and 70's. I don't have a clue what a concerned parent can actually do. Fire (prolly impossible) a teacher for being unmotivated, incompetent, or politically biased? He/she will be replaced by another clone from the factory, odds are. Maybe some kind of parent review board on new hires? I just don't know.

I was lucky my parents had my back if I was right about an issue. They also had the teachers back if I messed up. Lot of rich kids in my parochial school who liked to bully. Plenty of fights defending myself, but never missed a day due to suspension.

Had some truly outstanding teachers and some not so great administrators.

Mr Rathe was superb. He taught math and more importantly how to reason and think. If you couldn't answer "Why?", you didn't understand the subject. He didn't have many multiple choice tests. Good man, blessed to have known him. RIP

It’s our responsibility as parents to make sure our kids learn what’s important. I said that in Hawkeye’s thread. Just as a cop has no responsibility to protect you, a teacher can’t make anybody learn.
But there are several I’ve had that truly cared, and that’s why I started this conversation. I wanted to start something more positive.
7mm

Some of the shiite that's taught, assignments given, and comments made by teachers and administrators would curl some of you older guys' hair. The entire thought process is hosed, in my opinion. They don't seem to enjoy when I come to visit.

The system is designed to keep parents in the dark. Any thing that looks like it was designed to keep parents informed is simply the minimum so the schools can say "we tried".

We used to walk out of drafting class to the parking lot and sit in Mr Trekell’s car and smoke all his ciggs, took his car apart and brought his steering wheel and hubcaps in and hung em on the wall. Superglued all the crap to his desk, his little fancy machined aluminum paper weights, we superglued them to the chalk board, pull out the drafting table draws and spit chewin tobacco juice in there. Took his grade book changed everything to A. Had an epic snowball fight in drafting class. He got drilled right in the side of the head.

He didn’t rat us out cause he knew we’d beat his ass.

He started the feud cussing us, dropping f-bombs, the first day and trying to act like Sgt Hartman, acting all cocky. With a fuggin porn Star mustache at that.

I seen him about 10 yrs after high school, he was delivering mail for USPS. I said wassup dude, he acted like he didn’t know me.

My question is what teachers are teaching these days. I work with a scout troop, ages 11 to 15. These boys seem to know no history, no math, they have very poor reading skills not a lot of anything.

How do you go about making sure that No Child Gets Left Behind??



Make sure the curriculum is simple enough that all the dumbasses can pass.

Kids running the class and bullying the teachers are a big part of the problem. Not something I’d brag about, but that’s just me.
We had one who had a nice car, and he tried to talk cars with us Motörhead’s but he didn’t know anything. We joked around at his expense some, but I was taught by my parents to respect people.
I was hoping for some positive stories, but this has already gone downhill far enough.
7mm

He wasn’t a ‘people person’.

Post office is the best place he could’ve landed. We just showed him the way.

He should’ve sent us all letters thanking us.

The shop teacher called me out once.


He had enough of the constant teasing I guess.


He didn't think that him banging a female student (high fives!) was near as funny as I thought it was.

Especially during one of his "integrity" speeches.

Our black asst principal was banging an English teacher. Her husband was the band teacher also there at the school. What a cuck.

Everybody in the school knew the deal and the asst principal had no control over students. It was such a screwed up deal. Kids would kick the fugg out of his oak door he always kept shut. We didn’t know the term mudshark back then.

So much for positive role models.

All my elementary and middle school teachers were mostly great, complete opposite of the shîtbirds in highschool.

I had at least two that were borderline on the better looking girls. It was a different time back then, but I bet today they’d get reprimanded at the very least. I always thought it was kinda sickening to see a 35 year old flirting with a high school girl.
Me and another guy were working at a school, and he was ogling the cheerleaders at practice. I said to him, “Doug, didn’t your daughter graduate from here two years ago?”.
Not to be preachy, but a little respect is a wonderful thing to have.
7mm

You are ignorant and should keep quiet about what you don’t know.

Look in the mirror if you want to know what is wrong with schools. Schooling starts at home.

Schools went downhill when corporal punishment went out of favor.
Police have to be called when little Johnny won’t get out out of his seat because the teacher can’t snatch him up and bust his ass. Kids don’t understand their place anymore.

my thoughts are that teachers, for the most part, are an integral part of the problem with America today. By and large, teachers are liberal, they are products of liberal teacher colleges, and are in perfect sync with the socialists that run the teacher unions, and boards of education.

Corporal punishment needed to go. Too many "educators" enjoyed it too much.


Someone lays a hand on one of my kids and there is gonna be a problem.

The stepdaughter learned that using a ruler on the globe in class shows if we were closer to the equator or the north pole..

It was like Jay walking right here at home

Excellent post. Parents don’t bother teaching kids to respect anybody, and teachers no long have the power to teach respect. Threats of law enforcement are the only tool they have, and a criminal mind has no fear or respect of police.
Hammer, meet nail!
7mm

Unions run the school districts.

Unions fund school board members election campaigns.

Unions have their controlling thumb on these school board members.

Unions run the school districts and it;s members.

Someone make a note to PM me about this thread in 6 weeks or so.

FC

Wife taught for 38 years, said the glaring problem was inept administration not backing the teachers. My mother was superintendent certified by the state of Texas back in the days when it meant something. Now all it takes is some bozo/bozo-ette with PHD from Texas Southern behind their name to qualify.

I was in a small district, we had good teachers, good coaches. I made all A’s because if I didn’t I wasn’t allowed to play football. When my kids were growing up, I sat at the table with them, made sure they were getting their work done. I liked that time with them.

Kid in 7th and 11th grade. The stuff I hear, school is nothing like I
remember.

Except, bullying.
Despite enormous time and money spent on anti bullying programs,
human nature hasn't changed. Imagine that.
What has changed is the good kids are afraid to fight back.
Fearful of administrative repercussions.


To the OP,
I mostly detested teachers and their condescending ways.
However, their were several who I truly respected.

Larry Garlock, high school English.
A huge intimidating sized man.
Quiet, always kind and respectful to his students. (Another topic)
Vietnam vet, I learned of his service outside of school
he never talked about it


John Topper,
Coached for years, (IDGAS)
High School history.
Rodeo Rider,
Country/Western/Gospel singer
Inspirational speaker.

Mr Topper was a quiet teacher that loved his subject
and made it come alive. It unfolded as a story, and you wanted
to learn more. Tough and demanding on assignments, but it
was presented in a way that you wanted to do it.
Also, command presence to the max.
He never blistered, never threatened or raised his voice.
Most, didn't want to upset him,
the rest.
just knew better.

7mm,
I bet you are aware of Topper just from his performances
or church visits.

Our school system uses a head-hunter search when it’s time for a new director. 39 schools in this county, almost 4000 teachers, 33,000 kids. We burn through a new director about every 3 years.

Pay them more than the county mayor.

And they won’t promote from within. They haul in some liberal with miss America type answers for every question.

I live between two schools in the city I was raised in but went to parochial school , sister went to public school and it showed. The demographics here have changed significantly the last few years and even with hefty school referendums test scores in public schools have gone down.

Here's a couple things I have noticed recently,

A large number of teachers driving new Mercedes Benz and almost none driving domestic vehicles.

Detective with the drug dog is at the grade school everyday, not the High School.

When it's cold or snowy they get more days off in a year then we got in four.

Somebody seems to put Trump signs between the schools in the middle of the night that are taken down in daylight by teachers...


The Boys and Girls Club received a $500,000 grant to tutor black kids because their graduation rate was so low, but that's not racist.

If you think the people shown in that clip were representative of the people who stopped you are part of the problem. It is far more likely that they were acting off a script. Stop letting Jews engineer your views about your countrymen.

Couple years ago I tried teaching. HS kids.

Taught welding for a JuCo as dual enrollment.

It’s about money.

They gotta have butts in the seats. $$.

Kids i taught were a mix of rural country kids and city kids. You won’t have to guess many times where ethnic the city kids were.

I could call the school resource office to come get them. They would never get kicked out of the class. Gotta have enrollment. $$.

Something like that is a strain on a teacher. Trying to help/ teach the ones genuinely interested and babysitting the others.

Bless the good teachers. The rest are waiting on a fugging retirement.

Some very good points made here, and I’m seeing a connection, mainly because we’re all near the same age.
If you grew up when we did, you were taught to respect other people. Maybe your parents, maybe teachers, maybe a neighbor. Christ, I think everyone in my school at one time or another had an issue with being bullied or something. But we were taught respect for ourselves and others, and if someone didn’t show you some respect, there was alway a meeting after class and away from teachers.
“I’ll see you after class behind the building” One way or another, you learned to respect one another, and you learned the fact that you need to look out for yourself. The teacher wasn’t always there, there were no cameras, and law enforcement was something altogether different from school grounds.
Now we have a couple generations of snowflakes who are afraid of every shadow, and they rely on someone from the government or the police department to protect them.
Maybe the reason we’re not afraid of Russian interference or global warming is because a parent or a teacher or somebody down the road taught us to think about things, question authority, and above all, look out for yourself and others.
I hope to hell “Bighunter” is following this thread and a couple others here.
7mm

My original post on that thread was wondering how many people they interviewed to find the idiots! It was also one of the reasons I was trying to create a positive thread about teachers in the first place here! We see how that went!
7mm

Are you a teacher ?
Have you ever been on a school board ?

I like one thing about your system,
the structure of administration.

We used to have a county superintendent.
No more.

We have 5 independent districts,
each with a superintendent.
Most have a PhD (required?) And get over $100k/year.
Several have assistant superintendents, also PhDs.

In a rural county of under 50k.
With 36% to 57% poverty rates depending on district.
Ours do not leave!
Who would?

A lot of teachers are liberal wack jobs. But a lot of parents are lazy and expect schools to raise their kids. When my wife was a kindergarten teacher it wasn’t unusual for half the kids to show up not being able to count to 10 or say the alphabet. When she taught the higher grades she had several parents whose kids were failing due to never turning in homework give her some variation of “I’m not doing homework with jr as I sent him to school for you to teach him

I taught at University for 18 years and agree with this completely.

I had a crew of former students who took care of corporal punishment for me when it became necessary, which was rarely. One guy in particular, who worked for a trucking company that was a money laundering outfit for organized crime was particularly effective at giving snot-nosed brats who thought they were untouchable an education in what street justice was all about.
Jerry

In the 70's the work force opened up more positions for women with degrees ( who were previously forced to go into teaching) and many women left or did not enter the teaching field to go get MBA's, med school, law school etc. The quality of teachers really dropped and ed major is the easiest major now in college so many of the poor, intellectually challenged students, who should never be in college, choose this major. ( Of course there are still are a small percentage of good teachers) I know many younger teachers who enter teaching simply because they like summers off, not because they are passionate about teaching.

Both my parents taught over 30 years and would fail students who did not turn in home work or pass exams. Of course that ended in the early 80's so every student could graduate.


My Mom and Dad use to say you can teach them and then they go home to dysfunctional home environments and forget everything. How can a kid form a plugged up home learn when Mom or Dad is an abusive alcoholic, drug addict or Mom's new boy friend is trying to molest them and there's no food in the home...

Millions of kids now are just doomed to fail and coupled with extremely lowered teaching standards, corrupt teachers' unions who love the failed status quo so they can demand more money all the time to "fix it" , there is no hope.

There it is.

Teachers teach what they are mandated to, and every damned year some [bleep] "up above" (Fed and state government) piles more crap on without ever removing any previously mandated crap, leaving basic education hanging by a thread or ignored due to time/money constraints. And this is money-concerned - every SD wants that state and federal money. Don't "teach" it, you don't get the money and oyther sanctions are applied.

Your next sentence is spot on, but these are mandated as "have to", not "more concerned" while basics take the hit - and it isn't really the teachers' chouce. The curriculum is is set by the school district and above.

It’s all over the place.
Some states the teachers are paid very little. And it’s sad.

Remember the Chicago UNION teachers strike during Obama’s “presidency “

Poor teachers striking for their rights.

They wanted.
Average pay would have been over $100k
TWO YEAR TENURE!!!!!! 2 years and can’t be fired......
And all raises based on time......quality had NOTHING to do with it.

Now tell me about Unions......and the Unions get their cut.

No
Yes

We all have things we’d probably do different if given the chance.
I chose military service as a mechanic, because I had a good mechanical background and wanted to start a family.
Later on I sorta regretted not going to college and becoming a History teacher. But I highly doubt I could be a teacher now, let alone teach American history as I know it to be! I’d probably be run out on a rail.
Between that, and the battleground that many schools have become, I doubt that I’d be happier!
I’ve got a cousin who’s a teacher in New Port VA. She got another job, because the schools were run by gangs and most teachers were in fear of them.
I mean we bitch because someone calls a cop on a student for chewing a pop tart into the shape of a gun, but teachers and administrators are powerless to prevent the disciplinary problems caused by liberal values.
Mrs Hammers or Miss Buyers had the option of corporal punishment, and occasionally used it. We signed a paper allowing it on “Bighunter” but we also taught him to respect his teachers. I don’t think it ever necessary, because he knew he’d get his ass beat at home as well. His teachers always complimented Carol and I on his politeness and behavior. He was probably a better student than I was, and I did pretty well.
And yes, comparing schools today to the schools we attended is an apples to oranges thing. But we as parents allowed it to get to this point. Carol was very active in PTA and school board meetings. I was usually working 3rd shift, which took me outta the picture a lot. (Not that racecars and shooting sports didn’t)
Yeah, it’s still called Chestnut Ridge, but it’s nowhere near the school I attended. None of them are.
7mm

I am a fifth generation teacher. I can tell you that the respect presently given to teachers is demonstrated in this thread. There are a lot of liberal-minded folks that are teachers but I can tell you that we work in impossible conditions with very little fanfare. I say this prepping to make 35 gallons of Moose Soup and 400 servings of Indian Fry Bread for my students tomorrow. How many of you would give your local school 50 lbs of game meat for the students so that hunting in the next generation is viewed favorably. I make a living wage but I work harder than most people that I know. Right now, I have three classes of more than 35 students. I would guess that many of my students are rougher than the students in Slumlord's class. I had 24 at the beginning of the year in one class until 10 came back from multiple day suspensions for fighting, drug use and four for jacking off in class. I am not a strict disciplinarian but I get results with the roughest and the brightest kids. During my roughest class I have an old retired school math teacher who comes in and takes 10 students who are non-readers and reads the book selections to them. They do that for 20 minutes and are then ready for class.

I have 25 years in. I am in the last cohort of teachers with a defined benefit. We don't get social security in Alaska. When my cohort is gone teachers relying on their 403b retirements will have a %50 chance of being able to retire if they are single and work for more than 30 years. Alaska was ranked at the top for education when they paid teachers the most and had great retirements. We are now ranked 49th in the nation. Our school has the highest test scores in any larger comprehensive school in the state. However, they are cutting AP programs for remedial programs. I don't see things improving. I taught out in the bush for several years and was shot at, stabbed by a 3rd grader amped up on Ritalin, and was burglarized constantly. Those places continue to be very much a violent and as chaotic as Mogadishu or Fallujah.

Daily, we have to battle parents who say that their sweet little angel can use their cell phone to watch netflix and porn whenever they want. We confiscate their phone and send it to administration only to have the little angel's parent come into the school and return the phone right to the student. Parents that will back down administration by saying that they need to have their student to be able to do what they want. I take all of my career in my hands when a punk who is trained in MMA decides to beat up a girl that they don't like and I take the kid to the ground and haul his ass to the office.I take my career in my hands when I tell a doctor's daughter that she needs to go to the office to change her clothing because her nether regions are prominently on display. I also take my career in my hands when I have to report to OCS that your student is threatening suicide because a boy dumped her. I finally take my career in my hands when I call a young lady a young lady when she decides to be Harold for the day. Kids have so much power but are so fragile that the vast majority of you would be bounced out quicker than you can imagine.

Yeah, the unfireable teachers basically do nothing and let the kids run the classrooms. They don't rock the boat and just keep passing problems along. I know many of you respect teachers but to me it looks like you haven't a clue. I only get a very short window to do one hunt per year. So I have to make it count. Used to be that a teacher could take summers off. That doesn't happen anymore because teachers are expected to be in working families where there are two incomes. My wife is disabled so I work about 70 hrs per week on the teacher side and then 20+ hours at SW.

So before you crumb the teachers that teach your kids, I advise you to take a day off and spend an entire day shadowing a teacher in your local school.

He brings up an excellent point about class size as well.
Our district at the time I attended had around 125 to 140 kids per grade. We had 4 separate grade schools, each grade having 30 or so kids per class grade.
High school was one building housing grades 7 through 12. They broke us down into classes of 30 or so, based on our grades for junior high.
In senior high there were 14 of us in Vo Ag. The English or History classes had 30 or so kids.
I graduated in 1983. I got no idea what the average class size is now, but it’s gotta be a helluva lot higher than 30. With that many kids lumped together, I’m certain it’s much harder to know kids personally, and to help the ones who need it.
My Mom took time to go over our lessons with us, but like I said, I was a pretty good student. I know Carol did that with Bighunter as well.
I know we’re all busier now. I know we all have more stress in our lives too.
I’m very pro-life, but if you’re too damn busy and stressed for your kids, maybe you need to think about some priorities....
7mm

I should say that I really love my job. Students treat me with a great deal of respect. They love to learn different ways and have great hearts. I can say that there are a lot of students who are conservative and they love the fact that I don't hide my views even if I can't tell them how I would vote. It is a job that is not about the money even though wages in Alaska are decent. It's just a fallacy that a newly minted liberal arts student is going out to a classroom thinking that they are really going to make it big financially. People who go work in the trades make more money than most teachers but their bodies start to wear out in their 40s. The demographic of which age and sex is most likely to die of an heroin overdose in Alaska is a 55 yo working male who has been overprescribed painkillers till its a real problem.

What I cited was one particular teacher, we were a rough bunch but that was bad one, things got sideways in there from the get-go because of his disrespect towards us.

We all had a 75-80 yr old 12 grade English teacher, she didn’t take any crap and was ‘all-business’ probably one of the best teachers in high school and everyone hated English. But you kept quiet and did the course work. We did tie a goat 🐐 to her desk on the last day of school. She had sense of humor, got a big laugh about it at graduation. Respect is give and take.

Now the chemistry teacher, we were kind of mean to him too, setting the trash can on fire almost every Friday, mixed all his chemical samples during our “unknowns” exams. Even he was fugged up and why compounds precipitated that shouldnt haha. Stole his coveted chunk of sodium metal and tossed into the Ag pond. Was like a hand grenade going off. I felt bad about the chit that went on in there. lol

My kids go to this same school now. I enjoy telling the admins up there how much their school sucked back in the day. Place was dump, asbestos abatement during school hours, buckets to catch roof leaks.
Today they have free pizza on ACT testing day, free chicken box dinners during pep rallies, today everything is painted and flowers planted all nicey-nicey. They got 4 vice principals, 4 guidance counselors, 2 sheriff’s deputies.

I was a vocational teacher for 42 years. Started back in 1972, evolved with the changes in society and the way the public schools were run. I would have difficulty starting now. Luckily I was a vocational teacher for the entire time. Most kids wanted to be in the shop classes unless the teacher was an absolute jerk. I only knew one guy who took over the wood shop who ran kids out in a few years. He was too hung up on every detail.

Perhaps my classroom management approach was different. I viewed a shop class as a matter of priorities. I began in Jr High and after 9 years moved to High School. I taught woods, machine tool technology and automotives. Safety was the top priority with getting things spotlessly clean perhaps last. Some things can be allowed to go on as they are minor in the theme of things. I always showed respect for all students. I would delegate responsibility often. Ever see a kid's eyes light up when you allow him or her to drive a car into the shop? One thing I never tolerated was talking when I was talking or teaching a lesson. Today's teachers don't seem to care or don't notice these days. Perhaps that is the beginning of the slippery slope of class control that many younger teachers don't often have.

As time went on the state, school board, superintendent and our principals altered the way things were done. Some of the changes helped but many didn't. It didn't take long to figure out that discipline was my concern unless safety violations became chronic. Writing a referral generally was a waste of time. Fortunately safety issues were viewed differently. I had a safety violations log book and any time a student violated the rule, which in many cases was a state law, the student had to come up and sign and date log. Getting caught not wearing safety glasses the first time was usually enough to scare them into always wearing them. Once in a great while, approximately one student every two years would get removed from the program due to safety violations. At least the state was wise enough to have those laws and any administrator that ignored the violations would be in deep trouble.

I loved teaching young men and women life skills in my programs. I hated the way the system evolved. I think there are many good teachers in the system who are overwhelmed with requirements shoved upon them by people in control who have never taught. Most kids want to learn and will show respect if given same.

I understand the frustration of many who have posted. I think it was a good suggestion for anyone concerned with today's schools shadow a teacher for a day or at least visit a school and see first hand what it is like.

I dunno that we have any teacher’s unions worthy of the name is Texas.

With all this being said, it all goes back to poor parenting. Just because you can make a kid, that didn’t mean you should.

One thing I never tolerated was talking when I was talking or teaching a lesson. Today's teachers don't seem to care or don't notice these days. Perhaps that is the beginning of the slippery slope of class control that many younger teachers don't often have.

This is probably an almost universal rule in teaching.

The other thing I would ask a teacher in a PT conference is are they an "effective" teacher according to Harry K. Wong. They are going to run the boat up the bank if they aren't.


[u][/u]

The ten per cent like you are holding what remained of the educational system together. You remind me of my Dad who taught 37 years. One of his goals was to get a local girl from the Chippewa Rez to go on to college.He would help fill out college applications for them but the tribal council shut him down for 30 years.

When I was in high school the students (mostly boys) that couldn't make it either scholastically or behavior wise got expelled or quit school and drifted off not to be a disruption any longer. Now I don't think they can get kicked out for murder. We had a 14 year old unprovoked shot his brother down on a dirt road near their home and the local judge forbid the school expelling him even when he came to school talking crazy. My kids were sent to a Catholic school that could get rid of problem students. A young man I know was teaching locally and kicked a kid out of class and told the principal not to send him back to him to teach. Guess who had to leave? Personally I'm against teachers striking kids except in self defense but they sure ought to be able to kick them out and I don't mean send them to alternative school.

Teaching isn't the same as learning. they were taught all of those skills,retained them long enough to pass a test and then forgot it. Learning is being able to retain those skills to accomplish something. Kids learn what is important to them.



There are as many conservative teachers as liberal. And on top of that kids are only in school 6 hours a day for about 180 days each year. They are at home under the supervision of their parents almost 9 times that many hours each year. if your kid is being influenced more by their teachers than their parents then as a parent you suck.



Never worked for a union. Never met a teacher who did. If unions are running your school then you need to move.

The unions are much stronger on the east coast, west coast and mid west. not so much in the south

I taught school for 6 years, then realized I didn't want to put up with the mandated BS and administrative azzwipes for another 14. Or the hours to be on top of it. A personal failing perhaps. I can live with it.

My wife is stubborn, and in one capacity or another, from teaching K- Administrative, went 42, retiring 3 times, going back in twice when she just couldn't stand not working (She might just be a workaholic.... ). She had more credits than most PHD's when she retired the last time as an Special Services Director, answering only to the Superintendent. Or for that matter, in accepting her last two positions before that.

Tenure has its place as a buffer against Azzwipe administrators, those in mostly for career and empire building. If you ain't for them, you are agin them, no matter how corrupt they are, and they will get you if you don't agree, comply, and often endanger yourself legally. Actual education is often well down the line. We have stories...and my wife is smart, knowing how to dodge bullets. Anything above "teacher" is political, for the most part. And even then...

2 year tenure- if a teacher can't prove himself in that time, what does that tell you? The district has that amount of time to evaluate and not renew contract. They are unlikely to not be competent the rest of their career if honestly retained. . Assuming administrative competency. If they are good, they will only improve (for the majority) with experience and mandated additional credits. Many go far beyond that mandated additional credit requirement every few years.

My wife's Masters cost us $30K - her salary increase upon completion was $1K, annually. Not exactly cost effective. In a far north, high salary position, after she got her admin certificate(more $), I influenced her to pull the plug for her 3rd retirement, after 8 years there. (I loved Kotzebue- could have stayed more years). She was getting damned dizzy, after 8 years of working 90 plus hour weeks, 12 months a year. She was afforded 6 week leave annually, but only took 2, and was compensated at 80% for the rest. Effectively, she was working at a discount. Her next year's salary would have been $140K. You do the hourly wage math.... It was tempting....but she was pretty batshit - we had to go.

They hired 3 people to replace her - a record. Usually it was only 2 in past admin positions. It's hard to find suckers, apparently...

You anti-teacher no-nothings can just GFY, from my perspective. I can't speak for the greater US, just from our last 45 years here in Alaska.

For the most part, teachers have my respect- and yes, I realize most lean left personally - it is in the psyche, but I have seldom seen that manifested overtly in the classroom. Up here.

YMMV.

I once - once- once... told my wife that if she was a better(classroom) teacher she would not be working 60-70 hour weeks.....


That went over well!

I like to think of myself as fairly conservative with pretty conservative values. I’m certainly not grey-haired, yet; however, I’m also not as young as I used to be. I, like a lot of the people I grew up with, went to college right out of high school. This was only 17 years ago. Like a lot of other people I know, I didn’t graduate because I never let class or homework get in the way of a good time.

Since my unplanned departure from higher education some 15 years ago, I did time in the US Army, got married, had two kids, and have spent the majority of the rest of the time working in the oilfield.

Just recently I decided to go back to school to finish a degree and try to find a better job once I complete it.

Some of the things I have seen, read, heard, or otherwise witnessed by both professors AND fellow students leaves me little hope for the future. It has gotten to the point where I’m not really surprised anymore.

Hastings,

A friends 7 grade daughter was ambushed in the bathroom by
2 girls, beat up with her head slammed against the wall.
Concussion, missed several days of school took a few weeks
to get right. This wasn't a fight, just flat out assault.

Cops were called, phones confiscated and dumped,
A "Real Crime Investigation".

Neither girl missed a day of school.
The ring leader now goes to Laurel Life,
an in school contractor that runs a program for "troubled" kids.
She isn't allowed to ride the bus.
So, a minivan picks her up at her door in time to get to school,
Reverse that at days end.

Summation,

She caused a brain injury to a student....
She now gets chauffeured to school as the only passenger
with her personal driver.

She gets put in "tailored for her" classroom settings,
With their own cafeteria setup.

We have close to a dozen of those vans at our 6-8 grade school.
Maybe 500 kids worth.

I thought No Child Left Behind was great.
Unintended consequences have exceeded the good.
Some kids need left behind.
Both discipline problems and slow learners.

My daughters took a test before kindergarten, one scored 92, one 98.
50 was considered minimum for kindergarten.
Both times I ask if the scores were used to arrange classes.

NO!!!

The younger (98) was placed in class with an acquaintance's child
who has Asberger and scored 48. The slow girl wasn't left behind.
My daughter was hobbled so she couldn't get ahead.

Talking with a 5th grade math/science teacher about the elder, she
said "Jenna is going to love the Middle School, they split the kids
up an she will be in accelerated classes".

Questioned on that she told us she teaches 5 math classes to
Jenna's class. The same 25 kids are in her room about 1/2 the day.
In that time, she teaches science, and to 5 different math levels!

"WTF, Thats one room schoolhouse schidt".
She hung her head and quietly said "I know, and we beg every year,
But Admin will not allow any segregation".

Just to head off any thought by some,
This is a 98% (government statistic) white area.
Nothing but whites in any of this.

Public School 'History' Lesson Compares Trump to Soviets, Nazis

Taxpayers in Maryland are funding anti-Trump history lessons that compare the president to the Soviets and Nazis. An unidentified teacher(s) inserted the propaganda into a slide show used in an advanced placement history class at Loch Raven High School in the city of Towson, according to the Associated Press.

A slide depicts President Trump above pictures of the Soviet Union flag and the Nazi Swastika. The slide captions read, "wants to round up a group of people and build a giant wall" and "oh, THAT is why it sounds so familiar!."

The only thing "advanced" about this class is the instructor’s Trump Derangement Syndrome.

If students are capable of drawing "their own conclusions," as the public school official spokesman suggests, then why not just teach students the historical facts? For example, maybe students should know the Nazi Party, or the National Socialist German Workers' Party, were big government socialists. But I guess then the students might conclude the Nazis and Soviets have more in common with the modern left than with President Trump.

Bernie Sanders, the current front-runner in the Democratic presidential race, is a big-government socialist who has called for a revolution in the United States. Sanders honeymooned in the Soviet Union and referred to breadlines of starving people as "a good thing."

But you know, orange man bad.

townhall.com/tipsheet/bronsonstocking/2020/02/23/public-school-history-lesson-compares-trump-to-soviets-nazis-n2561771?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=02/24/2020&bcid=f3b32cb9739f7ac823837210e9d3eaf4&recip=27116010

Teachers, don't ya just love them.

Folks here been describing actual teachers better than I could. I’m still employed, 30+ years at the same school (a student graduated, put in 25 years in the military, came back here to teach and I was STILL here ).

It’s never been work for me, I enjoy doing it. As for the outcomes with the kids it’s 90% parenting that determines that. I’ve seen changes over the years, not for the better. First was the rise of the internet, providing video games and explicit pornography to your kids. A side effect of this was a dramatic reduction in interest re: the outdoor trips I take kids on on three or for Saturday’s a year (due to increasing legalisms, overnight camping has become far more difficult).

Next has been the rise of the smart phone, allowing them to play games or access anything 24/7. Literally, if they are off their phone for five minutes at a time that’s a lot. So whoever is out there on the ‘net with whatever agenda they are pushing, they are likely spending more time with your kids than you are.

I've had teachers that were worth much more than they were paid, and some that should have been truck drivers. I apologize to any truck drivers.

The problem started in 1965 when the federal government took over public schools. Those of us who went to school before that know what education should be. Today it's Common Core, better known as Communist Core. Education colleges are brainwashing future teachers as well.

There are two problems with public education: 1-the government is involved. 2-the union is involved.

I don't agree with everything you post but you're obviously committed to your students and respect that.

You know how to help your kids keep from getting a sunburn?


Teach them to put on sunscreen.