What do you think ?.

Discussion in 'Free Thoughts' started by mike47, Dec 12, 2009.

  1. mike47 Banned Banned

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    My experience with schools is that they are full of uncaring teachers and principals who chose teaching for making a living and most of them hate that .
    They try to control both the students and their parents . What are your experiences with schools and their officials ?.
     
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  3. shichimenshyo Caught in the machine Registered Senior Member

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    I have had both great and poor experiences when it comes to schooling. I have had teachers and instructors that obviously only cared about their paychecks and abused the power they had over students as a way to entertain themselves. I have also had teachers that have inspired me to strive for greatness and taught me a great deal about a variety of subjects. Its really a mixed bag.
     
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  5. jpappl Valued Senior Member

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    Totally disagree. My dad was a teacher for 30 years. It's not the teachers who don't care, it's the parents. They tend to not hold up their end of the bargain, teaching doesn't end at the school.

    I have been a serious athletic coach for 15 years, not my day job. You have to set boundaries and controls for everyone to operate in.

    It's not a matter of being mean or controlling as much as a matter of establishing an environment in which the kids can excel and feel that there is fairness in the system.
     
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  7. jpappl Valued Senior Member

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    Yes to your point it is a mixed bag, including the parents.

    But most teachers at least start off more idealistic.
     
  8. shichimenshyo Caught in the machine Registered Senior Member

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    I did have more good teachers than bad ones, but man those bad, ones phew they sucked.
     
  9. jpappl Valued Senior Member

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    Yes they did. I think the worst ones were just to apathetic to care. They got tired of trying, it takes a lot of work and many of them have their own kids to work with when they get home.

    I spent three years taking a team starting at age 12. I spent 3 nights a week in training + weekends for games and tournaments. Lots of travel. In the third year we won the state title, payoff for all the work. But I was exhausted and done with it. The parents, mainly a few of them really wore me out. All of the pressure to win etc etc, plus all the evenings standing out in the rain and cold hour after hour. When we had our first child I quit because I couldn't dedicate enough time to both.

    So, I think that it's very difficult to maintain the passion for a lot of years, it's easy to do for a while but then it gets tough to be motivated for the few that really want to learn, especially when much of your time is being wasted by those who don't and won't care to listen.
     
  10. mike47 Banned Banned

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    My experience is that the teachers when talking to parents they do it as if they are talking to kids. Also they blame evrything on parents as if parents think for their kids . Schools are the real place to learn and excel and not homes .
     
  11. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    I disagree.
    My brother retired from the Air Force and then got his masters in education. He said its easier to be in the military because it didn't have as many rules or as many hostile people (parents) you have to deal with. Every parent thinks their child is a gifted angel that the teacher needs to help raise.

    We have teachers in my town that put together backpacks filled with food for some students to take home over the weekend. They are now putting together over 200 backpacks. Wanna guess how many of those students have parents who won't buy food but always have money for beer and cigarettes.
     
  12. CutsieMarie89 Zen Registered Senior Member

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    Not that the school system isn't messed up, but I don't think that's the fault of the teachers. Almost all of my teachers have been great and caused me to see the world a little differently, which is something I really value. I have to agree with everyone. Parents are the worst. Teachers are often surprised when my mother shows up to discuss my brother's progress in school. They tell her that lots of parents don't even care, by the time their kid is in jr. high. Which the teachers find quite frustrating.
     
  13. mike47 Banned Banned

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    I agree on the fact that being a teacher is not an easy job since you deal with different kids and some are good and some are bad . However blaming the parents for the lack of education is not justified as it is the school system that teaches and not the parents . The other point whereas parents do not buy enough food for their kids is just pain disgusting and there is no reason for it . Some idiots drive nice cars, smoke, drink and take hard stuff too but they go to the food banks with straight faces . I just call them the lowest of the low .
     
  14. (Q) Encephaloid Martini Valued Senior Member

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    There may be some teachers like that, but overall not. And, those who are like that eventually get weeded out of the system as there are droves of good unemployed teachers waiting in the wings.

    Perhaps, your problems are more of an image of you and not your teachers.
     
  15. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    how many of those parents sit down and go over their kids homework? Go to the conferences? Get involved in PTA?

    I bet there are parents that don't know the name of their kids teacher or the principal.
     
  16. shorty_37 Go! Canada Go! Registered Senior Member

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    I have found that the teachers are getting younger and younger, too young IMO sometimes. The kids don't respect some of them because they are trying to be hip and more of a friend then a teacher.

    When we went to school we had older teachers, not 20 something right out of school teachers. They had many yrs experience and weren't afraid to give out homework.

    Today I think school is a joke. I had parent/teacher interviews last week for both my kids. One is in grade 3 and the other grade 8. The grade 3 teacher told me how she has done research along with other teachers and she doesn't believe in homework. Shit!! where were these teachers when I was going to school??? In fact she told me that the whole Toronto School Board has adopted this policy now. They rarely have have any projects to do either. When I went to school we always had a big Science Fair project we had to do each yr. Then we would set them all up in the gym on tables to be judged and for the parent's to come out and see. Now there is NONE of that.

    As far as the teachers go.........They don't give out homework and that saves them from taking it home at night to mark it. Sounds like a great idea for them doesn't it. :bugeye:

    My older son's teacher spent most of the time not talking about my son's grades ( he is doing well) but telling me about how she can't control the class and teach her lessons. She said the kids are changing seats while she is talking, yelling and laughing and she can't get anything accomplished with them and is at her wits end. I asked if my son was involved in this behavior and she said no and I said he is lucky. The teachers have their hands tied because the kids know that they can't really do anything to them except go down to talk to the principle. All that is time out of class IMO. She told me that the parent's have been contacted numerous times but nothing has changed. What the hell is wrong with parents???????? If I was called my Son I guarantee would not be continuing with that kind of disrespect and behavior. She said that they are in denial or they can't control their kids either. In the long run she said the other kids education is suffering because the class is so disrupted they aren't learning what they should be. The whole thing is a joke.

    Then at my younger kids school they have lunchroom supervisors. They are all Indian women. When something happens on the playground at lunch, like my son get's pushed down or bothered by some other kid, the consequences depend on who you are. If an Indian kid did it....then it is excused and nothing happens. If a white, or other non Indian kid does something they are sent to the office.......:bugeye:

    Shit.... I could go on and on all day.
     
  17. shorty_37 Go! Canada Go! Registered Senior Member

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    Like I said above the parent's need to get on the ball and make their kids understand that when they are at school they behave and respect their teachers. I don't understand how a parent can get that call from the school not once, twice but 3 times and they don't put the screws to their kids. The parents are the ones who can lay down the lay and the punishment more then any teacher or principle can.
     
  18. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    I had 2 good teachers. Literally 2.

    Others were mentally retarded, right-wayist morons.

    I dropped school at 12 and studied at home most of my life.

    Some of that was my ASD-ish traits - I was very asocial then and mostly refused to mix with anyone, and even if I wanted to I usually ended up hanging around alone anyway - a lot of it was just stupidity on the school system's part. I wasn't the only one.

    My teachers were mostly stupid hypocrites. On one hand, we were supposed to be strong and resist peer pressure. On the other, they got "concerned" if a student was seen to be not fitting in with the rest. They joined in bugging me about how my hairstyle was SLIGHTLY different from other girls (first a low tight ponytail that made me look "too harsh", then a high one that fell into my face...yup, to be cool, you had to have a mid-length and mid-height one exactly in the center of your damn head...I kid you not...)

    They alowed bullying to go on in class and didn't so much as tell the culprits to shut up. Seriously...it was common for the alphas to openly jeer if I got a question right. When my mother took this up with the staff, they said 'Yes, you're not the only one. This happen to lots of bright kids. The other kids don't like it.'

    They knew it was going on but just accepted it, because That's What You Do.

    Oh, and then there were the episodes where teachers openly made mistakes in class and threw a fit if you pointed them out (and other kids rounded on you and got pissy for breaking the social rules). I had one teacher who told us that adrenalin was produced in the pancreas (yeah, really...apparently no one has corrected her yet. I heard a girl from that school say in conversation 'You know, your islets of Langerhans, where you make adrenalin?). Another one who told us that oil was denser and heavier than water...

    Schools are fucking toilets. Toilets, I tell ya.
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2009
  19. mike47 Banned Banned

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    And seen how the laws are.....what can parents do when these naughty kids refuse to take their parents advice and be good ?.
    The teachers keep on asking kids if they have problems at home wit their parents as if their own parents are their enemies and as if the teachers care more about the kids than their own parents . The juridical system should give more discretion to parents on how to deal with their kids when in trouble at home or at school .
    Certainly we are losing the battle to educate and to teach because of the crazy government laws that interfere too much in the family disciplinary actions .
     
  20. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    do you know how many times its the school that catches on to the fact that kids are being physically or sexually abused while neighbours and/or family members ignore it?

    Do you know how many kids are being raised with the mantra "don't let nobody disrespect you" while never teaching that child to respect others?
     
  21. mike47 Banned Banned

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    The dilemma these days is that too many kids are no good when it comes to both behaviour and academics . In fact there are so many kids out of control at both home and school to the point where something has to change to face the challenges . I know a psychiatrist who works for a separate private school board and he told me that those special schools are a waste of time because real education is at regular schools and not at behaviour schools . Also he told that his job is to help them return to the regular school as soon as possible . So the bad behaviour is costing money and time while I believe that if parents are given the discretion to educate their kids' behaviour, it will be more helpful at the end . Yes and yes there are some terrible parents but generally speaking; parents love their kids and want them the best .
     
  22. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    and how many of these out of control kids are angels at home but out of control at school, so therefore its the teachers fault?
     
  23. parmalee peripatetic artisan Valued Senior Member

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    i think it's peculiar, albeit very human, to impart blame to either the teachers, the parents, the children, whomever. undoubtedly it's all that, as well as host of more abstract factors: funding, allocation of resources, pedagogic techniques, bureaucracy, cultural tendencies, etc. and for sake of clarity: which schools are we talking about? in the u.s., elsewhere?

    assuming the u.s.: education is not perceived as a priority by many americans. the degree is considered important, but the acquisition of knowledge, critical thinking skills, and skills in general which facilitate maneuvering successfully in the world are peripheral concerns. consider the amount of time the average american adult spends reading, and more critically, what specifically he is reading. consider the average american's cultural leanings and dispositions: does he appreciate real literature, does he care about art and music (for this argument, i do not consider what is played on a radio station which is commercially funded as music), does he care about academic matters which do not relate directly to the market, i.e. history, philosophy, etc.? rhetorical questions.

    the problems with schooling in the u.s. are deeply rooted and entrenched in the american psyche: americans are motivated by the promise of consumer goods and "luxuries" and care little about abstract intangibles.
     

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