Reply #23: A 1st gen teacher speaks out

[toolabard]

First of all, I have been a teacher of metal technologies since 1969. I have taught in some pretty bad environments. Being a machinist/floor instructor, I later got a job teaching Federal CETA programs in high crime areas. I never made more then $10 P/H. I never joined the NEA or any other union. I never got any perks. From Fla. to northern NE, I set up shops, and trained men with grade 7 educations how to be machinists. I have taught over 300 students in ten years. I have been there.
I do not expect applause.
The American education system sucks on every level. Our national apprentice program is dead. One NE state's vocational system did away with their Machine technologies program altogether. Kids in my substitute classes were using calculators in the THIRD GRADE. They couldn't tell me what 2x4 was without a calculator.
Schools are more concerned with teaching kids how the system works. And they learn very quickly how to manipulate it to their advantage. But they couldn't bake a loaf of bread, make change for a dollar, or know that John Glenn was the first American to orbit the planet! Oh and before I forget, the argument that there is just to much information out there for them to learn is a piss poor excuse.
There is nothing out there to grab a child's imagination anymore. They don't want to be an astronomer, or a painter. They want their MBA and corner office. The day Dubya closed down NASA, what was left of the National Science Foundation, died. There is NO incentive from the govt. to really push for a liberal arts education. To many preachers, lawyers, and bean-counters dictate what shall be taught in our schools. You hear more about prayer groups, and football teams then science clubs.
As I see it, the problem is three-fold. Parents need to learn HOW to be parents again.If your going to be a parent, you have to be at parent teacher meetings. Get involved with your child's school work, and back the teacher up when its needed.
Kids need some plain old discipline. If they misbehave in class, they get the paddle.They need to be taught respect. Kid don't have rights. Who ever decided a home was a democracy is an idiot. They have entirely to much gameboy time,and not enough book time.
The school curriculum must go back to a liberal arts education. Kids need to sample the world. You don't learn the world from a Bible. You learn by doing. You learn something in class, and then you apply it in your life. By weaving ideas, and life-lessons into the daily learning plan, kids can put what is taught to work.
As for the teachers, if you went into teaching for the money, you ain't to bright. But there are some who do. They are the ones who refuse to help a kid with a math problem after school. They are the ones who think that they have to put up with so much, and get so little. They pass on kids that are falling behind. Who gives a $hit. They are the ones that get tenure because their damn union has a strangle-hold on the taxpayers that are to damn scared to stand up and speak their mind.
I feel I should explain why you are a teacher. You are a teacher because you have a desire to learn, and a passion to teach. Because you LIKE to teach. And you know how hard it can be to learn. At least that is why I still do it.
As a taxpayer, I get reamed each year by a system that guts the local taxpayer. Our school budget is larger then our total town budget! I sit through budget hearings, and watch all the teachers relatives show up and vote on that budget. They outnumber the poor slobs that are afraid to speak up in fear of their kids getting singled out, and harassed by the school.
And you sit there and tell me how rough it is for you. Horse shit. Try living on $20,000 a year and NO perks. Your pretty union protects louts that act like teachers. They are given raises for time served NOT on merit. The kids are NOT learning because there aren't enough quality people in education to end these abuses.
The time to fix this broken system is terribly short. In your lifetime, the world as you know it will become something you may not be prepared to handle. Between the global climate change, and the end of oil, you may wish you had learned how to plant a garden or dig a well. For that matter, do you think your students will survive without computers? Can they do a multiplication problem in their head?
Look at it another way. We both know the whole thing is about to fall apart. Take two children of age 15. One is from the present, and has an average education for his time. The second child came from the year 1860. He knows a lot about his era. Which one is likely to survive without electricity,computers, or any of the modern conveniences we have today? My money is on Huck Finn.
If you wish to convince me your worth your fancy degree, then lets see some real ideas. I am your paycheck, make me proud of being a teacher again. Your work is cut out for you.