Effem all in Central Falls

[RIJIMMY]

Originally Posted by bloocrab

As I often get first-hand exposure to classroom activities,...I sometimes ask myself, .....how does one maintain the drive to teach disrespectful students?

It is NOT the teacher's job to teach the kids respect. That SHOULD be taught at home. If 30% of the class does not have respect for the teacher, the teacher will lose the battle in teaching the class as a whole. In most cases, they spend more time disciplining the children than they do teaching them.

I TRULY believe that schools with such high failure rates are the product of poor parenting. YES, IT BEGINS AT HOME!!!!! I imagine that as a teacher, when you continue to get disrespected day in - day out, you lose your "drive"....you feel like a baby-sitter as opposed to an educator. Trying to get parents to come to school to discuss their child's education is pointless. Most parents living in places like Central Falls suffered the same upbringing,....for the most part, you teach what you learned. They're not learning respect at home....so WHY should they act respectful?

A respectful child will learn faster and quicker. They go hand in hand. Parents like to blame the educators....., too bad, because it's the kids that will suffer the most.

Are there bad teachers out there? Absolutely, do a few bad apples ruin the basket? I dunno, this is a tough subject. When the PRINCIPALS' office area is full of delinquent kids, the word goes out to the teachers to try and keep the kids in the classroom...the kids aren't stupid, they know how far they can push....and they know when to use that tool.

OK....somebody help me off the soapbox...

Your missing a HUGE fact in the Centrals Falls case - the majority of the parents do not speak English. I have a 2nd grader, every night I sit and do homework with her. She needs me to and she is a bright kid. What would happen if I didnt speak English? My kid would be falling behind as early as kindergarten! The problem with Central Falls isnt teacher respect, its more complicated than that. If children are progressing through grades without being able to read, its the schools fault. Otherwise the kids should be held back, no?

[Sea Dangles]

A viable solution may just be to blow the town up and use it for a landfill.Otherwise RI can look forward to widespread crime and stupid people who get caught and cost the taxpayers mucho dollars.I'm sure it would be cheaper in the long run and a better use of the land.

[WoodyCT]

________________________________________
* Some teachers do nothing but show up to collect a check. Some go into it just for the work schedule and benies. Kids deserve better.

* Teachers hands are becoming ever more tied by Federal and State mandates, and correspondingly overstuffed curricula, that force a high teaching pace just to expose kids to the material before they take the standardized achievement tests. It would be far better to teach less content but to a greater depth than to turn kids into memorizing machines that can't solve basic problems. Less is more.

* Administration no longer works to protect the learning environment from disruptive students who deter the others from learning. Parents, and kids, have learned how to bully administrators, thus, the admin is lax and lets kids get away with too much. This in turn sets the example for other kids who quickly realize there are no/minor consequences for acting out. Administration won't stand behind their teachers anymore, and they often toss them under the bus when contentious issues arise. They have spared the rod and spoiled the children, just as parents have.

* Administrators are often upwardly mobile and intent on becoming superintendents. As such, their focus is on running a smooth operation for a few years to bide their time to get the experience needed to move up to the top paying education jobs. It used to be that administration worked for the teachers to provide the kids with a good education. Now they work for themselves first, their superiors second, parents third and the teachers last.

* Towns like Central Falls are destined for educational disaster solely due to their socioeconomic composition. Poverty brings drugs, alcohol, broken homes, homelessness and crime. KIDS GROWING UP IN THESE CONDITIONS VALUE A SCHOOL MOSTLY AS A SAFE HAVEN FOR 8 HOURS A DAY. Effective parenting is nonexistent, thus the kids are unruly in school and disrupt teaching and learning to entertain themselves. Sadly, many of these kids don't see education as a way out of their troubles, nor do they respect the institution for their classmates who do. Teachers are powerless to make kids behave, much less learn in this situation.

* Teachers unions, like any other, can bring out the worst while trying to protect their members. The CF union over played their hand, but not all do this- my union took a 0% increase for next year, and we agreed to freeze our steps for at least 2 years to help our community.

The issues at hand here were created by society, not a profession. Fix our society and the teachers will happily make the children achieve.

[american spirit]

nice woody. couldn't agree more.

Originally Posted by WoodyCT

________________________________________
* Some teachers do nothing but show up to collect a check. Some go into it just for the work schedule and benies. Kids deserve better.

* Teachers hands are becoming ever more tied by Federal and State mandates, and correspondingly overstuffed curricula, that force a high teaching pace just to expose kids to the material before they take the standardized achievement tests. It would be far better to teach less content but to a greater depth than to turn kids into memorizing machines that can't solve basic problems. Less is more.

* Administration no longer works to protect the learning environment from disruptive students who deter the others from learning. Parents, and kids, have learned how to bully administrators, thus, the admin is lax and lets kids get away with too much. This in turn sets the example for other kids who quickly realize there are no/minor consequences for acting out. Administration won't stand behind their teachers anymore, and they often toss them under the bus when contentious issues arise. They have spared the rod and spoiled the children, just as parents have.

* Administrators are often upwardly mobile and intent on becoming superintendents. As such, their focus is on running a smooth operation for a few years to bide their time to get the experience needed to move up to the top paying education jobs. It used to be that administration worked for the teachers to provide the kids with a good education. Now they work for themselves first, their superiors second, parents third and the teachers last.

* Towns like Central Falls are destined for educational disaster solely due to their socioeconomic composition. Poverty brings drugs, alcohol, broken homes, homelessness and crime. KIDS GROWING UP IN THESE CONDITIONS VALUE A SCHOOL MOSTLY AS A SAFE HAVEN FOR 8 HOURS A DAY. Effective parenting is nonexistent, thus the kids are unruly in school and disrupt teaching and learning to entertain themselves. Sadly, many of these kids don't see education as a way out of their troubles, nor do they respect the institution for their classmates who do. Teachers are powerless to make kids behave, much less learn in this situation.

* Teachers unions, like any other, can bring out the worst while trying to protect their members. The CF union over played their hand, but not all do this- my union took a 0% increase for next year, and we agreed to freeze our steps for at least 2 years to help our community.

The issues at hand here were created by society, not a profession. Fix our society and the teachers will happily make the children achieve.