The Teacher Bashing Thread

[bringusingoodale]

"I've never let my schooling interfere with my education" --Mark Twain

"Education is too important to be left solely to educators." --Francis Keppel

"You don't have to think too hard when you talk to teachers." --Jerome David Salinger

There is a long tradition in America that views formal education in less than praiseworthy terms. At best, critics of the educational process heap lackadaisical, ironic invectives against education; at worse, cynicism runs the risk of turning into complete disregard and repudiation for public education and educators.

This outlook is not exclusive to America, however. When one looks at accomplished figures in other countries, they seldom point to their "schooling" as the principal factor for their achievements.

In this thread lets continue this discussion (bash teacher/educators allied with formal institutions).

I'll start:

I hated my middle school teachers because I knew, even at the young middle-school age, that all they wanted was a secure paycheck.

High school had some better teachers. But even here, for every decent teacher that actually inspired me to think and learn, there where countless others who could do little more than have us copy the daily agenda.

Let's just say my state school college education was dissapointing. (Though, admittedly , at this level there is more at play going on here).

What's sad, is that I at one point considered teaching. I took some fieldwork classes and quickly changed my mind.

 

[mm84321]

 

[FtRoyalty]

With all due respect to OP and others who would like to contribute to this thread, can we please move this thread to another subforum like Current Events?

If people want to discuss how horrible American education and its teachers are, that's fine, but there is another place for it.

To quote this subforum's description, "No politics please."

 

[Harold falcon]

I taught a continuing education course at the local community college. Does that entitle me to bash myself? I can confirm I did it only for the paycheck.

 

[CBrown85]

I think there's a pretty valid concern over teachers. In fact, many teachers that I know are frustrated by other teachers. Lazy and apathetic teachers are a significant barrier to meaningful change. That said, most teachers want to do good and do so on a daily basis. These are the teachers who have reached burnout stage and don't help themselves so they can help others.

On the topic of human motivation (that is, are teachers necessary) I think it's important to remember that people self-organize into systems. As a result, people learn. I'm a strong constructivist so I don't see teachers as a gatekeeper to knowledge, especially in a skill-based economy. Our education system is almost entirely knowledge-based, which works for some things but not for most. Do we need teachers in the future when you can just go onto iTunes U and watch Yale lectures, jump on Twitter or Facebook and collaborate or join a forum like StyleForum to learn and share? I think so, but if you're the type of teacher who can be replaced by a machine, you should be. The entire paradigm of education needs to be discussed, debated and changed if the West is to succeed in a globalized economy.

I'm reading a few books right now. One's called How Lincoln Learned to Read which talks about self-learning and intrinsic motivation rather than formal education. It brings up a lot of great points that students, teachers and parents should be considering. Another is Last Child in the Woods. This one is probably the most important, as it's about all the economic, social and technological factors that contribute to our alientation from nature. The results are pretty scary. Uhhhhh, Making Minds is probably the most relevant, and it's about the changing paradigm of education.

At the end of the day, yeah there are a lot of ****** teachers, but they're functioning in a broken system that really only suits a narrow range of people. They're teachign the way they were taught and lack the intrinsic motivation themselves to succeed in the profession. Bad teachers can be helped. ****** teachers can't and they don't last long, contrary to popular belief.

 

[bringusingoodale]

Originally Posted by CBrown85

...if you're the type of teacher who can be replaced by a machine, you should be. ...
At the end of the day, yeah there are a lot of ****** teachers, but they're functioning in a broken system that really only suits a narrow range of people...

We have been predicting the end of humans and the subsequent rise of machines/technology for years. It seems to be getting closer to this, but I am still skeptical.

Some people will claim that teachers are the system.

 

[CBrown85]

Originally Posted by bringusingoodale

We have been predicting the end of humans and the subsequent rise of machines/technology for years. It seems to be getting closer to this, but I am still skeptical.

Some people will claim that teachers are the system.

Well if we're talking about the end of humans than it's the end of the thread...

People who claim that teachers "are" the system aren't taking many factors (economic, social and cultural) into account.

 

[Hombre Secreto]

I remember being like in first or second grade and forgetting my money at home for the class picture. It was like $20 bucks for a bunch of pictures, so I was kinda angry and sad, because I knew I was gonna get **** from my mom. I couldn't call her to get the money, because she was at work, so I was the only one in the class that wasn't going to the auditorium to have my picture taken. My teacher Mrs. Blackwell ended up telling me to go get my picture taken. She payed the $20. It was a small kind gesture, but that's something I don't forget.

There are teachers that don't give a ****, but many do.

 

[CBrown85]

Originally Posted by Hombre Secreto

I remember being like in first or second grade and forgetting my money at home for the class picture. It was like $20 bucks for a bunch of pictures, so I was kinda angry and sad, because I knew I was gonna get **** from my mom. I couldn't call her to get the money, because she was at work, so I was the only one in the class that wasn't going to the auditorium to have my picture taken. My teacher Mrs. Blackwell ended up telling me to go get my picture taken. She payed the $20. It was a small kind gesture, but that's something I don't forget.

There are teachers that don't give a ****, but many do.

WTF man wrong thread.

 

[dcg]

Originally Posted by bringusingoodale

"You don't have to think too hard when you talk to teachers." --Jerome David Salinger


What a douchebag.

 

[CBrown85]

Originally Posted by dcg

What a douchebag.

Weird considering one of the more positive characters in Rye was a teacher. Mind you, he takes a shot at Hemmingway, his favorite author, in the same book.

 

[Bentley]

Originally Posted by bringusingoodale

"I've never let my schooling interfere with my education" --Mark Twain

"Education is too important to be left solely to educators." --Francis Keppel

"You don't have to think too hard when you talk to teachers." --Jerome David Salinger

There is a long tradition in America that views formal education in less than praiseworthy terms. At best, critics of the educational process heap lackadaisical, ironic invectives against education; at worse, cynicism runs the risk of turning into complete disregard and repudiation for public education and educators.

This outlook is not exclusive to America, however. When one looks at accomplished figures in other countries, they seldom point to their "schooling" as the principal factor for their achievements.


When I read these quotes, I don't necessarily see them as criticisms of teachers per se. Rather, it seems to me that they were made at a time when higher education was simply not accessible to the vast majority of the population. The only citizens with access to higher education were those born into wealthy families who could afford it.

Hence, to me these quotes seem more an indictment of a system of social class that restricted access to education (and hence wealth) to an elite group. Those who made these quotes were perhaps suggesting that citizens from less wealthy families were equally capable of being successful and "intelligent" if these barriers were removed.

Thus, in America...a country founded upon the ideals of equality and social justice, it is not surprising that one might see more of these quotes than in other countries.

 

[giraffe lookout]

I feel sorry for the OP that he had such crummy teachers. Is that how I'm supposed to feel right now? Or was I supposed to be angry about public unions?

 

[bringusingoodale]

Originally Posted by Bentley

...
These are good points. The title of this thread is more sensational and plays off the other Teacher thread. I just started it because it sucks that teachers are getting such a bad rap now. I find it interesting that teaching and education is always given tons of lip service by our politicians, but really in the end no one cares. There is I think a tacit understanding that investing in a crummy infrastructure is obviously not worth it. No one seems to have the balls to admit that most teachers are failing our country and that it isn't feasible to spend more money on education until we do throw the baby out with the bath water. Another nagging question: Do people really think that if we started paying teachers $100,000 a year to start, would there suddenly be an influx of better teachers? I would love to see a county district do this just for kicks. Perhaps some wealthy philanthropists who aren't all lip service could underwrite such a scheme.

 

[Dinhilion]

Originally Posted by bringusingoodale

These are good points.

The title of this thread is more sensational and plays off the other Teacher thread. I just started it because it sucks that teachers are getting such a bad rap now. I find it interesting that teaching and education is always given tons of lip service by our politicians, but really in the end no one cares.

There is I think a tacit understanding that investing in a crummy infrastructure is obviously not worth it. No one seems to have the balls to admit that most teachers are failing our country and that it isn't feasible to spend more money on education until we do throw the baby out with the bath water.

Another nagging question: Do people really think that if we started paying teachers $100,000 a year to start, would there suddenly be an influx of better teachers? I would love to see a county district do this just for kicks. Perhaps some wealthy philanthropists who aren't all lip service could underwrite such a scheme.

Teach for america proved that recruiting great talent and intelligence could significantly improve results. I have no rian to believe that using high financial incentive would achieve different results.

Also,i believe something like this is being done bit I can't remember where