Tony Danza: What I learned teaching your kids
There are at least two harder jobs than acting — one is teaching and the other is writing a book about teaching. I’ve now done both, having gone toe-to-toe with a class of Philadelphia 10th-graders for an entire year and then written about it. And, let me tell you, when it comes to teaching, perfection is elusive.
The question I still wrestle with is, “In the midst of a tough economy and continuous budget cutting, how do we send a message to students that being in school and making the most of their time there is important?”
Everyone knows we have a problem. By every education metric, we’re no longer No. 1 in the world. Dropout rates in many districts approach 50%, and some estimates put the number of dropouts at more than 1 million a year. How do we sustain a great country with those numbers? Education has become a national security issue. If we don’t get our schools right, we won’t have the labor force or the soldiers we’ll need in the future.
A parent doesn’t always think that way, though. A parent asks, justifiably, how do I help my kid?
There’s one important thing I learned in the trenches at Northeast High in Philadelphia: Teachers have no problem being held accountable by parents. In fact, they crave parent involvement.
more . . . http://www.usaweekend.com/article/20120824/HOME01/308240011/Tony-Danza-What-learned-teaching-your-kids
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