Our Kid's Education - the lowest common denominator ...
And some people wonder why smart girls become exotic dancers ........
By Joanne Jacobs (Fox News)
Smart women now have lots of career opportunities, which has lowered the quality of the teaching force. That's the conventional wisdom, but is it true?
Writing in the New York Times, Virginia Postrel analyzes a study of teachers' aptitude scores (used as a measure of teacher quality). From 1964 to 2000, there was little change in teachers' scores. But the best female students are much less likely to choose teaching careers today. Postrel writes:
"Whereas close to 20 percent of females in the top decile in 1964 chose teaching as a profession," making it their top choice, the economists write, "only 3.7 percent of top decile females were teaching in 1992," making teachers about as common as lawyers in this group.
So the chances of getting a really smart teacher have gone down substantially. In 1964, more than one out of five young female teachers came from the top 10 percent of their high school classes. By 2000, that number had dropped to just over one in 10.
The average has stayed about the same because schools aren't hiring as many teachers whose scores ranked at the very bottom of their high school classes. Teachers aren't exactly getting worse. They're getting more consistently mediocre.
Another study looks at the effect of unionization on compressing the range of teacher pay: All teachers earn about the same, regardless of their abilities.
"Women who went to a top 5 percent college earned about a 50 percent pay premium in the 1960's and earn about the same as other teachers today," Mr. Leigh said. "By comparison, somebody who went to a bottom 25 percent college earned about 28 percent below the average teacher in the 1960's, and they have the earnings of about the average teacher today."
In hiring teachers, we get what we pay for: average quality at average wages.
There’s another reason smart women don’t become teachers. It can be dangerous.
Physical assaults on teachers are up 17 percent this year in Chicago, reports the Chicago Trib.
Janet Pena-Davis is barely five feet tall, but the veteran English teacher doesn't scare easily.
One day, though, a girl arrived 15 minutes late to class -- and full of attitude. When the girl took out a snack and began to talk loudly to a friend, Pena-Davis asked the student to leave the class and try again the next day.
The girl hurled a full soda can at her head.
Pena-Davis was able to duck the can. But as the teacher went to close the classroom door, the girl dragged her into the hall and began to beat her --punching and scratching, pulling off her glasses and tugging viciously at her hair. The attack was enough to terrify Pena-Davis, 55, who walked out of Austin High School that day and never went back.
Teachers complain violent students get short suspensions and return to class before the victim's bruises are healed.
Pena-Davis was assaulted by a girl who'd just returned from a 10-day suspension.
The school disciplinarian told her to be careful because the girl who had beaten her up had a boyfriend who already was looking to avenge his girlfriend's arrest, Pena-Davis said. When she asked to fill out an assault report, she was told it was not necessary, she said.
When she called to follow up on the police report that was filed, the police told her to give up, she said. Nobody was going to pursue the case.
Failing Teachers
Philadelphia's middle school teachers are having trouble showing they're qualified to teach their subjects. Many are former elementary teachers who aren't subject-matter specialists. Half of the "district's 690 middle school teachers who took exams in math, English, social studies and science in September and November failed," reports the Inquirer. Nearly two-thirds of middle school math teachers failed the exam.
The district will offer test prep classes to teachers who have to retake the exams, and will try to hire people who know math to teach math.
Fake Master's
Not everyone kills their buy-a-college-degree spam. In Georgia, six teachers will have to pay back $30,000 in pay raises they received for earning advanced degrees from an online outfit based in Liberia that sells "life experience" degrees.
Re:Our Kid's Education - the lowest common denominator ...
thats why they have to make a special teachers edition book.
I always thought it was sad that I knew more then some of my teachers. Even in collage I had to show my computer skills teacher how to get the printer to work.
also its not just girls, there are lots of male teachers now adays.
really I think that if a student hits a teacher the teacher shouldnt be afraid to hit back. with the laws now I bet a teacher would get in more trouble for doing that then the student who started it.
Re:Our Kid's Education - the lowest common denominator ...
yah, not only does the teacher get screwed(fired/ arrested) but the school (town) would get sued by the parrents. all because we dont take responsability for our actions. im sure if we savagely beat a student or two who accosted teachers durring an assembly, students would think twice about striking their teachers. but alas, parrents are in denial about the actions of their precious angels. no matter, the parrents will pay in the end when they have nobody to support them.
Re:Our Kid's Education - the lowest common denominator ...
What is wrong with our society? We have our children, most of us nurture, protect and love them. We teach them the basics of life and we tell them that education is the key to success. Then we have teachers who do not care and we have schools that are very over crowded. What happened to the individual (sp?) attention that students need?
Our children are the next generation and yet they are put on the back burner. We have a department of education that we all pay taxes for, but yet the things that are most important like teachers salaries and more schools are not addressed. :o
Re:Our Kid's Education - the lowest common denominator ...
Just remember when it comes to government procurement, everything but the graft and corruption went to the low bidder.
Re:Our Kid's Education - the lowest common denominator ...
Also, traditional education will not make a child successful in life. They don't teach financial literacy (how to save and invest, etc) at school or college.
You can be school and college smart yet financially illerate.
I'm not against education, just that we should realise that alot of what our kids are taught will only help them partly... they are missing 'the other half' of their education: financial education.
Re:Our Kid's Education - the lowest common denominator ...
our public school system is HORRENDOUS. The best solution is to find a school that allows you child to flourish and be an individual. The best one I have found is the world's fastest growing private school chain, the Waldorf School. I am VERY VERY comfortable about sending my daughter here when the time comes. I am actually quite excited about it. I have visited a couple of these schools and they totally blow my mind. They teach children how to gror fruits and veggies, how to cook, they have plays, different aged children playing together, no textbookes, lots of time in nature, and a strong emphasis on letting each child find and concentrate on their god-given talents.
http://www.fortnet.org/rsws/waldorf/faq.html
http://www.suncoastwaldorf.org/
Re:Our Kid's Education - the lowest common denominator ...
Quote:
Our children are the next generation and yet they are put on the back burner. We have a department of education that we all pay taxes for, but yet the things that are most important like teachers salaries and more schools are not addressed.
Well, actually these matters ARE addressed - by PRIVATE schools. In private schools, teachers are very definitely paid according to their credentials as well as their ability to teach. In private schools, students who don't want to make an effort to learn are booted out of the school so they don't hold the other students back. In private schools, troublemaking students are booted out as well. Everything that American public schools used to be and used to do, only happens in private schools today.
So what happened to the public school system ? #1 liberal court rulings have basically removed any responsibility for students to live with the consequences of their actions. Even if a student commits a criminal act, it's usually not prosecutable. Thus teachers and administrators have lost control of the schools, and now care more about not being assaulted and not having the school blown up than they do about educating students.
#2 liberal government and school board policies have developed where all a student need do to pass to the next grade is show up in class once in a while, i.e. "social promotion". Even if a student in 12th grade can't pass an 8th grade math and reading test, they are still graduated. This of course removes a lot of the incentive for students to bother trying to do well, and also the incentive for teachers to push students to do better. This also permeates the business community with the knowledge that a high school diploma means absolutely nothing today in the way of job skills.
#3 public education systems are SO politicized that any teacher who makes a "stand" of any sort, shows initiative of any sort, or goes against policy in any way, runs the risk of having their career politically assassinated by a dismissal without recommendation. This guarantees that any teachers who are counting on a lifelong career in teaching wind up kissing superintendent ass on a constant basis.
Believe it or not there is more money spent today for public school education on a per student basis in the USA than at any time in history ! The problem isn't money, it's where the money goes once it gets to the school systems. Lawsuits - insurance premiums - security guards - metal detectors - none of these things were major budget items 20 years ago, but today they're at the top of the list.
In regard to "financial" education, this is NOT a subject that the government wants people to learn too much about. After all, for every winning stock market trade there must also be a loser !