Conservatives Battle Liberals In The Classroom

[Dr.Traveler]

Thanks for giving me the opportunity.

You're welcome. Given the choice I'd let you talk ad nauseum. The longer you talk, the more obvious the shortcomings in your reasoning become. Please, keep talking.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Thanks for giving me the opportunity.

You're welcome. Given the choice I'd let you talk ad nauseum. The longer you talk, the more obvious the shortcomings in your reasoning become. Please, keep talking.

I've made my points clearly and with documentation.

You are simply not equipped to understand them.

I can explain them to you, I just can't comprehend them for you.

 

[midcan5]

How does 'lazy' respond to the OP?

BTW, in NYC senior teachers make over 100k, unrelated to student learning.

According to the Fordham Foundation, between 2003 and 2005, 20 states have seen dramatic improvement in the “proficiency” rates on state exams that determine whether states meet federal guidelines for adequate yearly progress. But children in these same states have not posted similar gains on the federally mandated National Assessment of Educational Progress, leading some experts to declare that NCLB has started a “race to the bottom” in terms of lower state standards.
Here, from the New York City Teacher’s newspaper is the spin to ‘explain’ why kids seem to be improving, on state exams, but when exposed to the NAEP, show where they really stand:

“Teachers have been telling the UFT that there is too much emphasis on teaching to the state standards as measured by state tests. Now, the results of the national math tests this year support their claims.
Students in New York State showed no real progress on these tests this year despite big gains on statewide exams.
Flat scores on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in math stood in stark contrast to large gains on the state test, where an unprecedented number of students have met state standards over the last two years.
Education experts and commentators questioned whether schools have become so focused on teaching to the specifics of state tests that they have sacrificed broader and more challenging curriculums. Others wondered if state tests have misled educators about how much students actually know.”
National tests show no progress in math - United Federation of Teachers

So, according to the United Federation of Teachers, it is not that the system is faulty, not teaching enough, but rather that teachers are doing too good a job at teaching ‘to the [State] test.’

'Lazy' was the first answer, "Parents" is the primary answer. That has come from several teachers, up to HS level and including private schools that cost lots. But I admit they are probably a bit biased and so annoyed by parents today, who claim Joanie can do no wrong, parents is an easy answer for them.

So why? Allow me to extrapolate: Consider the Couric interview with Palin, if Palin were our child and expected to know some of the things asked or at least to answer intelligently, would we blame Couric for the stupid answers. The right does. And that is what teachers in America face today. They face an attitude that the brat can do no wrong or stupidity can be rationalized as not stupidity. If a teacher told my parents I did wrong in school my father would have handled it very simply. Today the parent would argue with the teacher and claim they expect too much.

But this only gets at part of the answers I received. TV, Video games, sports, no respect for adults, lack of reading, no consideration for their professionalism, were also mentioned. But why do these things make them dumber - because being dumb is a consequence of all of the above. Dumb has become an American value, see only our last president.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Dumbing-Down-Curriculum-Compulsory-Schooling/dp/0865714487/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241441360&sr=1-14]Amazon.com: Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling (9780865714489): John Taylor Gatto: Books[/ame]
Dumbest Generation Home
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/High-Tech-Heretic-Reflections-Computer-Contrarian/dp/0385489765/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248093458&sr=1-1]Amazon.com: High-Tech Heretic: Reflections of a Computer Contrarian (9780385489768): Clifford Stoll: Books[/ame]
Are children getting dumber? « Prospect Magazine
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Dumbest-Generation-Stupefies-Americans-Jeopardizes/dp/1585426393]Amazon.com: The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30) (9781585426393): Mark Bauerlein: Books[/ame]
A Nation of Morons - TurnOffYourTV.com



From 'Notebook, A Quibble,' By Mark Slouka

"I was raised to be ashamed of my ignorance, and to try to do something about it if at all possible. I carry that burden to this day, and have successfully passed it on to my children. I don’t believe I have the right to an opinion about something I know nothing about—constitutional law, for example, or sailing—a notion that puts me sadly out of step with a growing majority of my countrymen, many of whom may be unable to tell you anything at all about Islam, say, or socialism, or climate change, except that they hate it, are against it, don’t believe in it. Worse still (or more amusing, depending on the day) are those who can tell you, and then offer up a stew of New Age blather, right-wing rant, and bloggers’ speculation that’s so divorced from actual, demonstrable fact, that’s so not true, as the kids would say, that the mind goes numb with wonder. “Way I see it is,” a man in the Tulsa Motel 6 swimming pool told me last summer, “if English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it’s good enough for us.”

Quite possibly, this belief in our own opinion, regardless of the facts, may be what separates us from the nations of the world, what makes us unique in God’s eyes. The average German or Czech, though possibly no less ignorant than his American counterpart, will probably consider the possibility that someone who has spent his life studying something may have an opinion worth considering. Not the American. Although perfectly willing to recognize expertise in basketball, for example, or refrigerator repair, when it comes to the realm of ideas, all folks (and their opinions) are suddenly equal. Thus evolution is a damned lie, global warming a liberal hoax, and Republicans care about people like you."

Article appeared in Notesbook. Harper's Magazine

 

[Samson]

Our math dept is not permitted to grade homework and tests and quizzes may not count for more than 40 percent of their grade. Hence, 60 percent of their "achievement" is based on having a face.

We can't be the only ones who know and notice these things.

Can it be that the vast majority of parents are less concerned with the education their children get than simply getting them baby-sat?

Academic content is a key reason why we homeschool.!

I've taught Science and Math to the entire spectrum of students, from 76% Free and Reduced Lunch Minorities taking 8th grade Math to the Elite AP Physics II students.

It had been my experience with both these groups, and all in between that the last thing parents want to concern themselves with is if their child is learning anything.

The former want free babysitting.

The latter want high GPA's.

 

[midcan5]

I thought this worth adding to the discussion. See Amazon review and comments quite interesting.

NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children By Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

"Why don’t white parents talk about race? Why does praise produce underachievers? This blockbuster draws on years of psychological research to discuss how common knowledge about raising children does the opposite of what we expect. In 10 enthralling essays on topics such as how childhood sleep deprivation influences memory and why kids don’t outgrow lying, it manages to debunk tried-and-true parenting tenets as well as broach the bizarre world of childhood ethics: One study found that children thought that lying was the same as swearing, believing it to be an essentially harmless breach of etiquette rather than a possibly harmful moral transgression. But you don’t need kids to fall under the book’s spell. Combining the fascination of pop psych with rigorous application of science, NurtureShock is more people manual than parenting manual."

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/NurtureShock-New-Thinking-About-Children/dp/0446504122/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260064684&sr=1-1]Amazon.com: NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children (9780446504126): Po Bronson, Ashley Merryman: Books[/ame]

 

[Samson]

I thought this worth adding to the discussion. See Amazon review and comments quite interesting.

NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children By Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

"Why don’t white parents talk about race? Why does praise produce underachievers? This blockbuster draws on years of psychological research to discuss how common knowledge about raising children does the opposite of what we expect. In 10 enthralling essays on topics such as how childhood sleep deprivation influences memory and why kids don’t outgrow lying, it manages to debunk tried-and-true parenting tenets as well as broach the bizarre world of childhood ethics: One study found that children thought that lying was the same as swearing, believing it to be an essentially harmless breach of etiquette rather than a possibly harmful moral transgression. But you don’t need kids to fall under the book’s spell. Combining the fascination of pop psych with rigorous application of science, NurtureShock is more people manual than parenting manual."

Amazon.com: NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children (9780446504126): Po Bronson, Ashley Merryman: Books

The more I read about "NEW THINKING ABOUT CHILDREN" The more I wonder; "what was wrong with how Spartans Raised Children?"