I'm Already Ready To Quit !

I recently read a post on Linked In - High School Chemistry Teachers Group - it was as follows:

"Came into a teaching situation 8 weeks ago and am ready to quit already!
I was hired to teach chemistry at a local high school.
I have previous experience teaching the subject (to a student body with similar demographics)
plus a number of years of actual lab work. I had been working in this district for a year and
a half as a sub while in grad school so I thought I was familiar with the climate of the school
and that this endeavor would be something I could handle. After 8 weeks, I have discovered that
many of the students apparently have been conditioned to "not care" so they think it is ok to eat,
use cell phones, sleep etc no matter what I attempt to do to correct the problems. I've had AP's
come through and obviously the problem corrects itself momentarily but nothing permanent. I am so
frustrated with one class in particular, I nearly walked out today. I've never seen such apathy in
students in my life and am wondering if anyone has similar experience and/or suggestions as to how
to at least make it to the end of the school year. Thanks!
Lorraine"

 I sent my reply -
"The sad part is that the "educrats" that run the public schools keep telling teachers that they must
be "engaging" and "make the subject fun" in order to be a "good teacher".
I did forty years of chemistry and physics teaching and performed many exciting demonstrations such
as the dust explosion, the wax explosion, etc.
After these events I would always ask the class - "Why do you think that happened?" and the constant
reply was "Let's see it again!" and rarely an attempt to explain why.
Essentially then, the students wanted more entertainment, not more understanding !
I think children have been convinced that the teacher's job is to entertain and cajole them into
learning on a daily basis and if the teacher can't do that he is a "poor teacher" and undeserving of
their attention.
My concluding comment about this situation is "If you can use a piece of chalk and make pH as interesting
and exciting as a Rolling Stones concert you certainly shouldn't be a high school chemistry teacher, you
 should be on Broadway !
Walt"

What do you think?

Can Someone Please Explain This to Me ?

How can the State control the schools for twenty years and then when the district asks for control to be passed back to them the State claims the district is not performing well enough ?
If the State was in charge for twenty years and now the district is not performing well, how can that be the district's fault? I don't get it.  
Can someone please explain this to me ??
It appears to be a Catch 22 engineered by the "educrats" at NJDOE !

Confronting The "Educrats" NJEA Style ?

I sure hope there's a better  NJEA  Plan C because Plan A (a lot of whining with little action) didn't work too well and if this is Plan B (essentially cuddling up into a fetal position), it won't work either!

An Education in "Educational Testing"

Deep Throat & Deep Pockets Made Deeper

I discovered this article the other day and found that if it is true, it completely substantiates my suspicions. I have posted the abstract of the article here.

For the complete article go to:

 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/02/15/1187346/-So-why-do-hedge-funds-so-favor-charter-schools

Let's Privatize Everything and Get It Over With !

The paper is recently full of the news about the US Post Office ending Saturday delivery due to ever increasing deficits. The crux of the problem is explained as the dramatic increase in electronic communications usurping the first class letter business of the 
USPO. Much of this is, of course
true, but there is another major factor accelerating the Post Office's demise. That factor is a law passed by the Congress relating to the postal employee pension fund. It requires the prefunding of the pension seventy five years out over a ten year period. This is monumental financial challenge and most probably an unattainable and unnecessary one at that.
    Now, you might say "Why do you care. You're writing about education, not the Post Office?"
    Well, call me cynical (I don't know why you would), but I think the whole thing relates strongly to public education. I view the current bureaucratic, educational "reform" movement in this country to be a guise for the attempts at privatization. The demands placed on the Post Office are another manifestation of the same kind of mentality, that is, demean, destroy, and "reform" public agencies and services and then eventually privatize them.  
   I guess you might ask, "Why would politicians be interested in privatizing public institutions and services?" My answer would be:
   "How many lobbyists for Fedex, UPS, DHL, etc. do you think there are in Washington?"

   "How much money in campaign contributions is doled out by these people?"
"How many cushy, high paying jobs are waiting for them when they leave office?"
   "How many free, 'working' vacation trips are taken by our public officials on the corporation's dime?"
   And the same kind of questions are appropriate for those companies and public officials, both state and federal, seeking to privatize the public school system. I've included some excerpts below from an article relating to the Post Office situation and America's future if the rush to privatization continues unchecked. I also show a rate schedule for Fedex delivery. The rate is for a one pound package, the least weight they will carry.  
 It aint cheap! I wonder what the price for sending a letter via private carrier will be once the Post Office's termination is complete?
   I'm pretty sure it won't be forty six cents !
x

"Your mother wears army boots"

    "Your mother wears army boots" - that's what we used to say in my school days. 

   Based on the article below I supposed that the school should have been held liable for not punishing us in the severest fashion for our obvious "bullying".

    Now, before I begin my short rant, let me say that I never appreciated nor condoned anyone being "picked on". I never allowed it in my class or in the teams which I coached. Most often all it took was a stern - "I want you to leave him alone" - and the harassment would immediately stop.

I certainly am not in favor of "bullying" of any child or as a matter of fact, any adult either.

   But, my questions are:

What is the definition of "bullying"?

Is the occasionally childhood teasing really "bullying"?

Is a teacher's criticism of a student's poor performance "bullying"?

Is a teacher's insistence that a child do his homework "bullying"?

If a coach tells a player that he should have done better is that "bullying"

How about a parent nagging a child to take out the garbage?

   I think, like many things in America that are designed to improve society, the "Bullying Law" is being taken to unreasonable extremes.

   As I read the article it says "the incident" which implies that it occurred once. Does that comprise "bullying" or  is it just occasional, childish name calling?

   Additionally, it says "A.C. (the accused) is not a chronic troublemaker". I think that might suggest that he is not a "bully" but merely acting as children often do and without any malice.

   I also noted that the parent demanded $50,000 for "emotional damages" plus legal fees from the school. It seems that when there is the smell of money in the air, lawyers flock to a situation like bees to honey. Could that be the case here or is there legitimate indignation on the part of the parents who really think their child has been "bullied"?

   And lastly, if we care to take the "Bullying Law" to the extreme, as I think may have been done here, then how about this:

If a teacher is harassed and interrupted (and possibly insulted) while trying to teach a class is that "bullying" by the students.

Does the teacher have the right to press charges against those disruptive students?

Can the teacher sue for "emotional damages"?

Must the administration report the incident to the state?

   Let me reemphasize, I am not defending bullying, but I certainly think a rational approach to the situation and a reasonable definition of "bullying"  is required. If not, we soon may see almost every child (and possibly adult) in every school in the land being accused of "bullying" based  on every inane, occasional comment.;

It Sure Makes Sense to Me ??

New Jersey Pension "Deform"!

Republican Christine Todd Whitman, running on a tax-cutting platform, defeated Florio in the 1993 governor's race. To help pay for her promised tax cuts, Whitman, like her predecessor, turned to the pension fund. In 1994, at her urging, the legislature adopted another pension "reform" act that allowed her to reduce state and local contributions to the plan by nearly $1.5 billion in 1994 and 1995, according to the task force report. Florio's and Whitman's accounting changes were "the one-two punch from which the retirement system has never recovered," says Douglas Forrester, who was the assistant state treasurer under Kean.

For all the miscues, New Jersey's pension woes can't be blamed on particularly poor investment results. An examination of state reports shows that the fund's returns have more or less tracked the broad stock market's. The real problem has been the underfunding.

If union concessions, cost cutting, and higher taxes are not enough, then what? Inevitably, New Jersey and other states would turn to Uncle Sam for help. The pressure on Congress would be great. "How will they say no to state workers when they've said yes to bankers?"

(*Congress is very good at funding foreign wars, occupations and "rebuilding" - Maybe it's time to "rebuild" the good old USA!)

"The pension obligations could spark a huge problem for New Jersey," says Thomas Kean, a former Republican governor. "They must be paid because they are absolutely an obligation of the state, but as it is, the budget is balanced with chewing gum and sealing wax"

(*"must be paid" because they are an "absolute obligation" - How then can the COLA be eliminated and call the pension obligation being paid?)

Sources -

http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/12/news/economy/benner_pension.fortune/index.htm
Star Ledger - January 2013 

Evaluation By the Evaluated?

   

When I taught at Middlesex County College, student evaluation forms were always issued along with the final exam.

   I thought, by enlarge, the results were a fair distribution of positive and negative remarks.

(BTW - These all were anonymous evaluations and not used by the administration to grade instructors - as far as know anyway)

   One thing I liked about the form was the section asking about the student's efforts. This too, generally resulted in a fair distribution of honest responses. Often a student indicated a serious lack of effort on his part but still didn't criticize the instructor as the reason for his poor grade. I hope that the same kinds of questions  will appear every proposed student / teacher evaluation form (but I'm not confident that they will).

  And , remember, the evaluations of which I'm speaking were written by mature adults, not children!

   Now, let me get back to the editorial.

   One of the statements reads as follows:

"Kids do know what makes a good teacher. And it's not a mystery why they'd know better than trained adults...".

   Well if this is true, than -

   Why do we need well paid administrators to observe and evaluate teachers?

   Why do we need the "Educrats" at the NJDOE to tell teachers when, what and how to teach children.

   Why to we need politicians to continually pass legislation instructing teachers when, what and how to teach children?

   Let's just leave teachers to their task and then accept the children's evaluations as the  indicator of the teacher's success. We would no longer have to spend all the time and money needed by these other evaluation methods and would get a better result than that provided by "trained adults".

   And, since we are talking about evaluations of teachers by their charges, why not have teachers evaluate their administrators and supervisors?

   While we're at it, why not have local administrators evaluate the honchos at NJDOE ?

This way we could a true picture of what's going on in NJ education and in the case of the DOE, I'm not so sure that it would be a pretty picture!

   What do you think?

Understanding Why "RI Teacher Says 'I Quit' "

The Brain Drain and The Wallet Drain

I recently had the poor judgment to log in to the local message board on the Internet. In so doing, I read a post by a town resident regarding the high school.

After reading it, I continued to exercise poor judgment by responding.

I guess I just lack self control! Maybe that's why I continue to write this blog.

Below is the initial statement to which I replied. It is followed by the remainder of the conversation.

I have blocked out all the names of the institutions mentioned because I don't want be accused of spreading disparaging comments about any school system.

 ****************   

Poster:

Unfortunately, the problem of the brain drain at the high school level in NHS is not unique in Bloomfield and Montclair as well. The movement of students to private high schools in this part of Essex County seems to be common.

[/quote]

*****************

W:

I have worked with many students who attend  private schools and also many who attend the public schools in this area. I hesitate to name the private schools but I will give abbreviations of the  names - Del, New, Kus, SPP, Sol, SHP, SJM. MKA  and you can guess which they are.

I can only speak for the chem and physics programs (and the teaching there of)  at these schools. They are generally inferior to, or at best equal to that of most of the public schools in the area.

Additionally, the school calendar for these private schools is abbreviated. The winter vacations at some is two weeks long, the spring break is two weeks long and the school year ends in early June. The entire year adds up to far less than 180 days (maybe in the 150 range),

You really don't get too much class time for the $15K to $25K tuition.

I would think long and hard before sending my child to a private school.

If you want to send your child to a private school for prestige or to keep him/her away from the "Riffraff" then it's probably a good idea but if you expect a superior education, I'm not so sure it's going to happen there!

*****************

Poster:

With all due respect what are you basing your information on. Have you taught at these schools or sent a child to one of these schools?

I respectfully disagree with your "evaluation" that claims the named schools are inferior. Take a look at the AP exams* from Nutley HS as presented at the BOE meeting in February 2012, they are less than impressive. The SAT Critical Reading Mean and Writing Mean scores in Nutley have been below 500 for the past five years. The Mathematics Mean score in Nutley has not topped 516 in the last five years. This is based on a perfect score of 800. Again less than impressive. So clearly the "extra" days in the class room (based on your numbers) have not helped the students achieve great heights. I will take 150 quality days of quality instruction time to your 180 days of mediocrity any day of the week.

I have two children. Child #1 attended NHS, child #2 did not. Child #2 wrote more essays and papers in a single marking period than child #1 wrote in four years at NHS. Child #1 was completely unprepared for the amount of written work required at the college level.

Now let's talk about the intangibles, things like character, respect and accountability**. I speak from experience, again having one child at NHS and one child in private school, there is no comparison. Nutley talks about character development and talks about accountability but the follow through is weak at best. Private schools not only have a student handbook, they hold their students to the rules in the handbook

Now let me shatter the small-minded thoughts that parents pay to send their child to private school for athletic advantage. The fact is people send their children to private school for the purpose of a better education. It was not in our family plan to spend money on high school education, but after living through four years at NHS, we deemed it a necessary expense. Our experience at the elementary and middle schools was exactly what we had anticipated, but there was a big drop-off at the high school level.

****************

W:

I can only tell about my experiences having helped many private school students in the area and only about the chem and physics programs.

Admittedly, this is all anecdotal but it is my experience over the past twenty years or so.

As far as character, respect and accountability, again I can only speak from my experience.

I never relied on the school to teach these things to my own children (BTW they both went to NHS and were well prepared - my daughter graduated from engineering school and my son earned an MBA).

Character, respect and accountability were taught at home and I wrote the "handbook" for them myself and adhered to it.

There are handbooks issued in public schools citing rules and regulations pertaining to many of the qualities of which you speak but often the school is unable to enforce them. To remove a child from a public school, even the most disrespectful and troublesome, is next to impossible.

In a private school, expelling a student is simple and therefore private schools can enforce the handbook rules and regulations with ease

.

***************

More Comments:

* I taught AP physics at the secondary level. The class was often filled with unqualified students who were there strictly for extra GPA points.

During my time teaching the course I asked myself several questions which still beset me.

Firstly, I was teaching a full load of classes and at the same time expected to provide a college level program at the high school for the AP class.

Now, during this time I was also teaching chemistry at an area college. At the college, the situation was different by light years.

 I was provided with a full time lab assistant who set up and supplied each and every lab session.

The full time staff at the college were assign teaching assistants (TAs) to help students out of class time.

Instructors also had offices hours provided to help students.

The weekly teaching load of the full time instructors was but 15 class hours.

Faced with the conditions at the high school as compared to those at the college, was it fair that I  was expected to duplicate the same instruction level and student  help in AP classes, as that provided by college instructors with all the advantages they held?

I did my best to provide a rigorous course but I was always perplexed the this inequity.

Secondly, the AP exam was always given in mid May with almost a month and a half of school left. Therefore, I not only had the disadvantages aforementioned, but also a serious loss of instruction time. In other words, I was expected to prepare students for a difficult exam in a difficult subject in a very compressed time frame. These circumstances exist for all AP teachers throughout the state.

When I called the College Board (the AP people) and asked why the test couldn't be given at the end of the school year, I was told it was because schools in many other states was ended earlier than in New Jersey. I guess that was a correct answer but not one that helped my student nor me!

The answer should have been "we will prepare another test for students who end school in June and administer it at a later date". 

Could it be that they don't want to spend the extra time, effort and money?

** It appears that the public schools are now expected not only to educate the children, give dental checkups, fight obesity, give scoliosis examinations, prevent teenage pregnancy, prevent STDs, do drug testing, prevent bullying, end discrimination, (and I'm sure there's more) but also be the sole instiller of character, respect and accountability.

Wayne's World - Maybe It's Worth a Shot!

Upon hearing of the Sandy Hook tragedy and the NRA's Wayne LaPierre's  solution to the ongoing school carnage, I feel compelled to offer my solution to the ongoing school carnage.

Since the NRA refuses to relinquish its stand on assault weapons being sold to the public, maybe it would be wise to station armed personal at school buildings as he suggests, so as to wart attacks by crazed gunmen carrying military style weapons.

            Who better to protect our children against attack by persons carrying military weapons than the military itself?

            We currently have troops in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We have thousands of service men stationed throughout the world in Germany, Japan, Korea and so on.

I propose that we bring them all home and have them provide the security that Mr. LaPierre speaks of, at each and every school in the nation.

            The "Defense" Department continually claims to be defending us with our troops in foreign lands, thousands of miles away, fighting endless, futile wars and engaged in perpetual occupations.

            This would be their opportunity to really defend us here at home, where we are actually being threatened.  

A New Approach to Classroom Discipline

Merry Christmas

What a Suprise!!

Budget task force sees major fiscal challenges ahead for N.J.
Thursday, December 13, 2012 Last updated: Thursday December 13, 2012, 1:56 PM
BY JOHN REITMEYER
STATE HOUSE BUREAU
The Record

From The Political State blog on NorthJersey.com:\

No matter who wins the 2013 gubernatorial election, New Jersey will continue to face some steep fiscal challenges unless major budget reforms are enacted.

A new report on New Jersey’s finances released Thursday by the State Budget Task Force said heavy debt, a grossly underfunded pension system, looming federal spending cuts and an “eroding and volatile tax structure” are all among the “difficult choices” the state faces in the years ahead when it comes to budget policies.

The report, one of six the task force is compiling at the state level, spelled out each major issue in New Jersey in stark terms.

The state will need to come up with $133 billion over the next 10 years to meet infrastructure needs. New Jersey is also carrying $33.7 billion in debt, which is more than the current state budget and among the highest of all state’s per-capita.

The property tax burden in New Jersey has risen to $25 billion statewide.

The state’s annual obligation to the public employee pension system – a payment that has been skipped or only partially funded for the last several years – will sit at $5.5 billion in just five years, which is five times the amount Governor Christie put in the current state budget.

And since the state is relying on $12 billion in funds from the federal government, even a 10 percent cut that could result from the looming federal fiscal and spending policy changes generally referred to as the fiscal cliff could cost the state $1.2 billion.

“Balancing budgets, to say the least, is going to be a challenge,” said Richard Keevey, distinguished practitioner in residence at Rutgers University’s School of Public Affairs and Administration and an author of the report.

Christie, a Republican, has already said he’s running for re-election in 2013. And Democratic leaders are waiting to hear from Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who has expressed interest in challenging Christie but has yet to make a final decision. State Sen. Barbara, D-Middlesex, filed paperwork earlier this week to run for governor.

Other possible Democratic candidates include U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-Paterson, state Sen. Richard J. Codey, D-Essex, and state Senate President Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and state Assemblyman Lou Greenwald, D-Camden.

No matter who wins in 2013, they will have to confront the significant budget issues spelled out in the report.  One major question is whether tax hikes would be needed, something Christie has resisted doing since taking office in early 2010.

The report said a complete review of the tax and spending structures at the state and local levels is long overdue.

The task force’s advisory board is co-chaired by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker and former New York Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch. They started the project in 2011, and issued an overview report in July 2012.

The in-depth report on New Jersey’s budget issues is one of six state-level studies. The other state reports cover budget issues in California, Illinois, New York, Texas and Virginia.

Both Volcker and Ravitch appeared with Keevey to go over the New Jersey report Thursday morning at a hotel in Trenton.

They were reluctant to cast blame for some of the major budget issues — such as the skipped pension payments or a reliance one-shot revenue gimmicks — on any one party or governor.

“It’s very, very tempting to respond to the inevitable questions about politics,” Ravitch said. “There were dumb things done on a bipartisan basis.”

And though the report made a series of recommendations — including more multi-year budget planning, regular funding of the pension system, and the tax and spending review – the men did not advocate for any specific solution, such as tax hikes or spending cuts. That is better left to the elected officials, they said.

They also said the response to superstorm Sandy only highlights the need for a sharp focus on the budget issues.

“It all comes back to the same question of priorities,” Volcker said.

 ******

From Media Matters

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2011/03/07/doesnt-anyone-remember-christine-whitman/177285

"The first thing Christine Todd Whitman did upon taking office as governor of New Jersey in January was to cut the state's income tax. Then in July, as she signed into law her first state budget, the Republican cut taxes again while simultaneously closing the huge deficit left by her predecessor.

This is what her supporters call the Whitman miracle, the fiscal accomplishment that has sent her stock soaring among

New Jersey's voters and transformed her on the national scene from a political unknown into one of the Republican Party's newest stars.

But the key to the Whitman miracle lies neither in her political philosophy nor in her spending cuts, but rather in the fine print of her budget. Contained there is a series of arcane fiscal changes that some experts say amount to this: Christine Todd Whitman has balanced New Jersey's books and paid for her tax cut by quietly diverting more than $1 billion from the state's pension fund.Whitman calls what she did a "reform" of the pension system that puts it on a more "sound actuarial footing." 

Others are less charitable. The one thing that even the actuarial consultants hired by the Whitman administration agree on, however, is that the chief effect of the changes will be to shift billions of dollars in pension obligations onto New Jersey taxpayers 15 to 20 years from now."

*****

My Comments-

And McGreevy and Corzine followed suit. All raided the pension fund or back doored it to allow increased spending and tax cuts so as to enhance their chances of reelection.

Essentially, then, the pension fund contributed to the political campaigns of all these past governors and is continuing to do so with Christie. He is not contributing nearly what is required.

I really thought the contributions were required by law but if you are the governor it seems the law doesn't apply.

And now there's a shortfall?

What a surprise!

It's all some sad BS perpetrated on retired workers, future retired workers and the New Jersey citizens.

And -

How about the federal government?

They spend trillions on "defense" (I don't know who we are defending against)

They spend billions on "The War of Drugs" and haven't won one battle yet!

They spend billions on Foreign Aid (much of which is used to arm foreign countries)

They spend billions keeping troops in countries such as Germany, Japan, South Korea, etc. Why do we have to have military outposts in these countries continually since WW II?

I think we all know why. 

So tens of thousands of patronage jobs are made available for politicians to dole out and so military contractors and arms manufacturers (who employ cadres of lobbyists) can reap huge profits from taxpayer dollars.

Maybe it's time for the feds to stop all this wanton spending and start spending on our own people by helping to balance state budgets and improving our infrastructure!

They say "A fish rots from the head down" but in this case I think the whole fish (state politics and federal politics) are rotted !

I ask again, "What do you think??"

Why We Should Expect Disrespect !

This memo was distributed to the staff at a local suburban high school was posted on the town's Internet message board.

******

Folks- oversight on my part - but an important piece from Mr. F as we move to the mid-point of the year.

Quoting Mr. F

"As many of you are aware we have had an inexcusable number of fights and events in our building over the last few weeks. As Dave and I work together to manage discipline I have been experiencing a number of extremely disrespectful students. This behavior is not acceptable on any level. If you confront a student who is disrespectful please send them down and they will be dealt with accordingly. To help alleviate discipline problems please aim to plan lessons and activities that begin and continue through the bell. Also, your presence in the hallway between periods is recognized by the students and so I ask that you assist us as much as possible. Thank you!"

I would like to add that you should not have to deal with consistent surliness in your classrooms--- Send them down-- we will send them out.

D W

Principal

High School

******

Some replies to this post, blamed the Governor amongst other things for the increase in disrespectful and aggressive behavior at the school.

Some other subsequent posts defended him.

I replied as follows:

"It disturbs me that you are finding a way to blame the Governor for this" (A quote from one of the posts)

Here's how the Governor and all those who constantly bash teachers are to blame.

Kids are not stupid!

When they see public officials and the public in general show little or no respect for teachers they figure, why should they?

How can you expect children to respect someone who is continually referred to as "greedy, lazy, poor performing, a leech, overpaid, under worked, in it strictly for the time off, etc."?

Additionally, teachers are frequently chided for not making it "interesting enough".

If only they did, all children would learn and flowers would bloom in every classroom.

In other words, we want teachers to be entertainers for forty two minutes every class period.

If the child doesn't pay attention, do the work and learn, then it must be the teacher's fault because he hasn't been entertaining enough.

If the child isn't entertained sufficiently, the teacher is doing a poor job and the student has the right to act up and be disruptive.

If the child is sent out of the class for poor behavior then the teacher is labeled as "not being able to control the class".

Trust me, Socrates couldn't teach a disruptive class!

If the student refuses to participate in learning, it is the teacher's fault because he hasn't "engaged" the student.

This mentality has been foisted on public education by politicians and educational "experts" many of whom haven't been in a classroom in decades (if ever) but continue to pontificate and dictate.

The saddest part of all is the public continues to believe it.

At a later point in the message board conversation I wrote:

Teachers and schools have little authority and what little they have is becoming less day after day.

If a child is given a poor grade, it is because the teacher is a poor teacher.

If a child is disciplined, he is being bullied.

If a coach requires a child to do an extra push up because of poor performance, he is the victim of corporal punishment. (Believe it or not asking a child to write "I will behave" fifty times is considered corporal punishment!)

If the child does poorly on a state test, it is because he hasn't been taught well.

If a child is disruptive, it is because the teacher hasn't made it "interesting" enough.

And to top it off, every one has an Uncle Joe who is a lawyer eager to pursue all these injustices!

Additionally, to address the fight issue.

If a teacher intercedes in a fight and a child claims injury, the teacher is punished.

If a teacher intercedes in a fight and a child claims any sexual infringement, the teacher is fired or worse.

If a teacher does not intercede in a fight and a child is injured, the teacher is neglectful.

If the teacher is injured - well tough luck for him (or her).

Talk about no win!

******

What are your thoughts on student behavior, how it affects classroom learning and manner in which discipline is handled at your school?

What Do You Think??

I have received comments about my proposal to ask for your ideas regarding educational questions in my future posts.

I am including them below and also posing a question as I suggested I would.

Here is a prelude to the question.

In Jersee (as we like to call it), we have had over the past decades,  the following educational schemes, instituted and imposed by the State:

The Renaissance Act

The Urban Hope Act

No Child Left Behind  (NCLB)

The Race to the Top

The Quality Education Act  (QEA)

Thorough and Efficient   (T&E)

High School Proficiency   (HSPT),    (HSPT9), (HSTP11)

Grade Eight Proficiency  Assessment   (GEPA)

Quality Single Accountability  Continuum   (QSAC)

Comprehensive Education Improvement and Financing Act   (CEIFA)

The School Funding Reform Act

The New Jersey Assessment of    Skills and Knowledge  (NJ ASK)

NJ ASK 3, NJ ASK 4, NJ ASK 3-8

Minimum Basic Skills testing program  (MBS)

Early Warning Test (EWT)

Alternate Proficiency Assessment (APA)

Elementary School Proficiency Assessment (ESPA)

The Open Classroom

Core Curriculum Content Standards

and

The Charter School craze!

I hope I haven't missed any. There's an allow lot to remember!  If I have, please remind me.

Question:

Which, if any of the aforementioned plans, have had any success in improving New Jersey education or education in general?

Which, if any, have proved negative for education and teaching?

And, if you could devise a plan to improve education, what would be its prime components?

Please your reply to: 

wsautter@optonline.net

****

Here are some of the letters which I have received regarding my previous post:

Walt,

I stumbled upon your blog through High School Herd, through Pinterest, while looking for math ideas for my high school classroom in Ohio. I am at a career and technical center serving grades 11 and 12, teaching Intermediate Algebra/Geometry and Algebra 2. I am also the numeracy coach (for one period of the day).

Your comments and feelings are echoed here in Ohio. I assume the culture of the profession and unions is similar across the country. I think the site is a great idea and would be proud to contribute to the cause. At worst, I could occasionally share some perspective from my state.

It was surprising that your blog was only a few days old. I was expecting at least a few years worth of comments. I have been teaching since 1999 and my first full year started with an eight day strike. I have been at my current district since 2007 and have certainly noticed a shift in the mindset of communities as well as union members.

Back to teaching! Looking forward to hearing back from you.

Jeff E.

*****

Sounds great! I'm in.

Peg Nicholson
Missouri Information Coordinator



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****

Thank you Jeff and Peg for your replies.

 

The Past, The Present, and The Future of Teaching

A teenager was brought into the Principal's office to be disciplined. The Principal spoke.

"Your teacher has told me you are ignorant and  apathetic. What do you have to say for yourself?"

The teenager thought for a moment and then  replied.

"I don't know what that means and I don't care!"

Do today's teachers exhibit the same mentality?

Are they ignorant of how much effort was required of their predecessors so as to enable them to enjoy the benefits of today's teaching profession? (Benefits which are rapidly being eroded.)

Are they apathetic to the fight to maintain those benefits? Do they merely take them for granted?

I wonder!

Over the past two years I have posted close to a hundred items. They primarily dealt with my observations and experiences pertaining to education.

During my forty years of teaching, at both the secondary and college level, I witnessed tremendous improvement in the status of the profession.

When I started in 1965, bargaining and negotiations were non existent. It was pretty much we went "hat in hand" to the Board of Education and relied on their largess. 

In the years following, during the seventies, teachers worked hard to change those circumstances. Many engaged in political action, many walked picket lines and endured strikes and some even went to jail.

In the end, after much strife, the profession gained fair wages and benefits as well as renewed respect from the public, administrators and the politicians. 

It took a good twenty years of hard work but it was worth it. People gained pride in themselves and in their profession and were eager to say "Yes, I'm a teacher". It came to a point where teachers were actually invited to participate in decision making regarding education and their opinions were valued.

I retired in 2004 and since then I have seen a rapid decline in all that for which we worked so hard.

Today, when some say "Yes, I'm a teacher" he is perceived as greedy, lazy and possessing poor work ethics. All these negative stereotypes are constantly reinforced by the media and self serving politicos.

  Teachers are no longer asked to  participate or make suggestions as to the improvement of our schools. They are merely being held responsible for the poor outcomes of the plans and schemes implemented by "educational experts" and politicians.

All programs and regulations of the past, proposed and enacted by these "experts" have been abject failures as evidenced by the fact that they are continually replaced by new programs and schemes. Additionally, the State's two decade  takeover of the poorest city schools has resulted in no progress what so ever.

Now, since none of the aforementioned has worked, the only plan left seems to be, blame the teachers and then transfer the schools into private, for profit hands.

All this has occurred since 2004 and is accelerating.

You might ask me, "Why do you care? You're retired".

Here's why!

Teachers have become like abused children lacking self respect and fearful. They are constantly required to succumb to the dictates of arrogant, condescending supervisors. Rarely are they allowed to pursue their own worthwhile approaches in educating our children.  I find it depressing to see the profession in which I spent my entire life being reduced to that of an unappreciated, ridiculed field hand.

I would like to begin to use this blog as an outlet for teacher's daily frustration and anger and help the profession to regain the pride that once existed.

It pains me to see all that has been achieved over the past forty years being erased without some much as a whimper.

I've said this before. ( I am sure you know, as a teacher you say things over and over again in the classroom and the habit just follows you into your social conversation without your even realizing it.)

Ross Perot, when at Ford once said, and I paraphrase, "Unless a manager goes down to the factory floor and puts a wheel on a car once in a while, he can't be a good manager".

I would like to see the opinions and thoughts of those "on the factory floor" heeded and respected.  Those people are you who read this blog.

I am considering posing questions about education and teaching and asking for your comments and suggestions. I would then like to post them, with or without the author's name, and get a conversation going about the real problems and solutions in education.

This, hopefully, could be the start of an effective way to stem the tide of teacher bashing and disrespect. I think it could serve the cause better than just my constant diatribes and ranting.

 Having your voice heard, I believe,  will lead to greater self esteem and promote challenges to the forces that would destroy our profession.

What do you think?

A good idea or not?

Something in which you would be willing to participate?

Drop me a line and tell me what you think? Thanks.
Walt

Click here to Email

wsautter@optonline.net

PS

I really see NJEA doing little to fight back. (I don't even see their sappy ads on TV any more!)

It is disheartening to say the least when a "powerful" union as they would like to call themselves, doing little or nothing for their members. (Members who send them tons of money each and every pay day!)