here’s an idea. keep bad teachers on the job but payem less. say what?

 

1. I will believe it when I see it.

   Posted by LyndonB       05/01/2012  at  12:48 PM  



2. My God, I could write a book on this one.

   I’m a college professor. I’m also somewhat involved in our local public school system, because I have a couple of kids currently progressing through it. Like I said, I could write a book, but I’ll confine myself to two quick points.

   1. It’s not that easy to measure teacher performance. I’m not defending poor teachers, but how do you evaluate them? Student performance on a standardized test? That leads to ‘teaching to the test’ - drilling the students on memorizing and regurgitating in place of critical thinking. Performance in subsequent grade levels, or going on to college? There’s a lot of extemporaneous variables involved in those outcomes. I will say that teachers unions and reluctance to evaluate teachers are obstacles to rewarding good teachers and eliminating poor ones.

   2. The tenure system is antiquated and subject to abuse. In much of the US unionized teachers get tenure in the K-12 system after a mere three years. After that they have no worries about being removed or disciplined for poor performance. Many teachers remain dedicated, but there is a significant number that just goes through the motions. Under the tenure system and unions there is no way to remove them.

   The same is true at the university level, although tenure is more difficult to attain. But abuse of tenure is rampant. My field is Information Systems, which is a dynamic and constantly changing field. I’ve seen other professors who don’t bother to stay current, because they have tenure and are untouchable. Their students are the ones who suffer.

   Unions, tenure ... both had their place, but both are no longer necessary, and subject to abuse and misuse. Sigh…

   Posted by CenTexTim       05/01/2012  at  09:34 PM  



3. CenTex - how about “We The People” are a bigger union than any teachers union, so we say NO to their union existing. Period.

   Lots of fresh graduates from the teacher colleges every year.

   I agree that it is difficult to judge teacher performance, but I disagree that having standards leads to “teaching to the test”. That was a canard from Bush’s No Child Left Behind thing. A good teacher will get the class to push itself past their minimum requirements. Children’s minds are great big sponges waiting to soak up knowledge. You don’t have to feed it to them in teensy amounts because if you do they’ll just absorb junk elsewhere. I remember kids in 3rd grade who couldn’t do simple math but could spout sports statistics by the hour. Parental support is paramount. Critical thinking is NOT really needed in the lower grades, when rote memorization is more effective. Learn to read, learn to spell, learn your basic math. Then get some light history and positive civics. That’s how the rest of the world, Asia especially, handles it. And that’s how it used to be here back in the day. And it works. 2 times 2 is 4, 2 times 3 is 6, etc. In 14 hundred and 92, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. And leave the Diversity, the Green Agenda, the Social Justice, the Communism, and the “history of hatred” BS behind.

   Posted by Drew458       05/04/2012  at  04:26 PM  

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