Quote:
Originally Posted by SummerChild
IASK,
Yes, there is a problem in GA. I get on my bfriend's case all the time about whether teachers and administrators are doing their jobs...and why the kids are out of school so much. They are out roughly 2 weeks for winter break, 1 week for spring break, then there are at least 5-10 teacher in-service days per year when the kids are not in school, then the usual holidays during the school year. I think that they are out roughly 6 weeks - out of a 9 month year!!! Really, let's be honest, I don't think that the kids are even in school enough to learn what they are supposed to learn. Why are they out of school so much?
He explained that teachers need training days and those are the in-service days. I'm sorry, teachers can train after work or on the weekend, can't they? They are salaried so how come they can't put in a little extra time *after* the school day is over so that the kids won't have to miss another day of education. In any other occupation one is required to work a weekend here or there or an evening, why not with teachers? Why do the kids have to miss a day of education for teacher training. He and I disagree on this matter.
In the same vein, teachers are so poorly paid that it is a wonder that *any teachers* care about their jobs. It is ridiculous what they are paid. Then again, it may not be that bad if you divide the salary by 9 and then extrapolate it out to what teachers would be paid if they worked the 3 extra months. I don't know.
I definitely think that low expectations is a problem and children produce what they are expected to produce. My bfriend has very high expectations and accepts no excuses - from parents or the kids. He regularly goes to their houses to talk with the parents if the parents don't come out and talk with him at the parent conferences and the kids are not doing well or just not doing their homework...but his expectations are high for the kids. I hate to hear about kids placed in special ed unnecessarily or put on all kinds of medication for add, adhd, ahhdd, and everything else that kids are medicated for these days. Some of them just seem to need a good old fashioned butt whipping to clear up their attention and acting out issues.
Re acting out in class, he has explained to me that AA boys behave much differently from other boys, and even from AA girls. These differences in behavior are often seen as "bad" behavior. He said that they are just different ... and somewhat misunderstood. He teaches a number of AA boys and has his entire career. He said that he uses different techniques with them as compared to AA girls, for example. But he recognizes the differences...in part, because he was one of them. I wish there were more AA men in the classroom to work with AA boys. I think it would make a world of difference for some of the boys.
SC
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I totally agree with what you said about teacher being paid so poorly. Besides being paid poorly, all too often they are expected to buy classroom supplies out of their own personal funds because the school can't/won't provide them. Many of the people in education now really DON'T care about the children because they feel they don't get paid enough TO care. Whether that is right or wrong, you can't blame teachers for being annoyed about how poorly they are paid.
However, I have to disagree about the children being out of school too much. They really do need those breaks so they don't get burned out during the year. I know in particular at my old high school the stretch between February and June was pretty rough and had it not been for spring break, I don't know what we would have done.