Disturbing Era in Public Schools
 

I saw this article on Facebook posted by people, apparently horrified, by what was going on. It's a resignation letter from a teacher of 25 years. She complains of the increasing testing requirements; how these poor children are forced to learn and the poor teachers are now held accountable for actually teaching.

She can no longer just give them a wad of play-doh an occasionally wipe their snotty noses. These ridiculous requirements are forcing her to actually do her job educating these children so they may actually do something with their lives. She just thinks this is horrible and cannot continue to work in a position where she's expected to do her job.

Is it just me or is this the dumbest thing ever? I guess if I didn't have to do anything at work for 25 years and suddenly someone decided to compare me to people that were actually doing their job I'd be pissed off too, but damn.

Teacher’s Resignation Letter After 25 Years Describes ‘Disturbing Era’ in Public Schools | TheBlaze.com

I believe you've missed the point.


The point is that schooling has been moving towards "fuck teaching these kids, we're just going to prep them for some arbitrary testing and not bother preparing them for the real world."

And it's been going on for a long time.

I think there's a difference between "prepped to pass a test" and "learn something".

I think that was her point. But I just skimmed the article.

Maybe I just grew up in a system that focused on testing so that's what I expect of it. I kind of thought the point of school was to give you basic academic knowledge. All the "real world" stuff I just kind of acquired from the real world.

Teach to test teaches you rote memorization. Real teachers teach you how to learn.

School is to teach you how to learn, and to give you a base on which to build.

I learned more in my first month on the job then I did in all the years I went to college.

Not sure about the play-doh, not mentioned in her letter or articles?

Anyways, Her letter seemed interesting. I have to tend to agree that we need less focus on measurement/scale and more on teaching real world useful stuff and "inter-personal" experiences.

Unfortunately there is a strong drive to measure students' performance, determine that some are not doing as well as others in this topic, then "help" them do better. sounds good on paper, but I think it fails on implementation.

lol, what a hippy bullshit article. She sounds like a tool.

fuck yeah math

There are 3 changes I really want to see in US educational system:
- Separate science out into actual damn subjects. Bundling physics, chemistry and biology into "Science" is bullshit.
- Teach logic/algorithm design or just general computer science/problem solving... or programming. Make it mandatory.
- Moar math. Kids are taught long multiplication and division in what, grade 4? I knew that nonesence before going to school. What the hell.

$20 says the teacher is a liberal and union member who will still always vote left when it comes to these sorts of matters, even though she actually rejects it enough to leave the system, but doesn't want to admit it to herself.

How much you wanna wager she doesn't get a job in a private school where she can teach in a better, accountable manner, or starts supporting school vouchers?

I postulate that the teachers unions hold a great deal of accountability for the dismal state of education in our country. I see this
relentless push towards 'teaching to the test' as being a desperate means to provide a tangible (objective??) measure of teacher performance so that corrective action can be made in staffing. Sadly, it hasn't worked, and it's the kids who suffer for it.

The first step to improving our children's education would be to outlaw teachers unions.

She sounds like she is just butthurt

When I was in school we had to do quite a bit of standardized testing, and it was a joke. It only existed to make sure the really bad schools were managing to teach the tiniest bit of anything. Everybody breezed through these tests because they were elementary compared to what we were expected to know in the schools curriculum.

I think pdexta hit the nail on the head. She wants to be a kindergarten teacher who goofs off with little kids all day while high on valium. Then she was told she had to teach them things and couldnt be bothered.

what happens when the school's curriculum mirrors what's on the tests?

Is this not how it is? Has it changed that much since I graduated HS in 2000?

I was in Chem I & II and Physics I & II, Trig, Intro to Comp Programming, a few different Philosophy classes, etc. all in High School.

And I live in buckle of the bible belt with a bunch on inbred 'tards for the general populace.

Funny comments from those of you without school age children. The system is broken, and no child left behind is the reason. The feds have once again stuck their noses in where they don't belong.

Standardized testing has become all about the tests. Whether the children learn anything is immaterial. Teachers have to push the students to do well on the tests, because it directly affects their income/raises/tenure. They are in turn pressured, because it directly affects the state aid the school gets. Therefore, the entire curriculum is focused not on learning, problem solving or critical thinking, but only on high test scores. This is true from the earliest grades right up to graduation. Creating good little drones is the result.

Since the tests have standardized material for teaching, there is little to no leeway in how the material is presented, but instead it involves mindless repetition to get higher scores. The whole program also focuses entirely on the average scores, so the push is to bring up the low scoring students, with absolutely nothing for the higher performing students. In typical socialist fashion, it's all about ignoring the best to prop up the losers.

It probably does at really shitty schools.

+1

ftfy

I've taken plenty of standardized tests and I do not recall them typically having "memorization" type questions (aside from history or basic math or something that's essentially unavoidable). You're in a lot of trouble if you try to memorize answers to every literary analogy or algebra problem that could show up on the SAT, but some basic critical thinking typically goes a long way. Maybe it's different with earlier (elementary age) tests or something.

From my experience in the Florida school system and FCAT I would have to say the absolute focus on standardized testing is the most detrimental aspect of thr system. If you are a high performer your parents better put you in the magnet programs or you will stagnate and probably lose all interest in learning. If you are struggling you get pushed through the system even if you are not ready. It is a giant clusterfuck of terrible.