...And yet, I'm supposed to be teaching like it does. Before I rant on, I will reiterate that I adore my students. They are wickedly funny, smart, street savvy kids with hearts of gold (well, most of them anyway). Do they have the biggest book knowledge? No, but is that so very important - not really. Here's my bugaboo about my students:
Why, why, why am I told to prepare all of my students for college when it is abundantly clear that most of my students will not be successful in a collegiate academic setting. I currently have approximately 50 seniors. Out of those 50, I would say that perhaps 5 are prepared for the rigors of a 4-year college, possibly another 10 will be fine in a community college and yet, I am to teach all 50 like they are all ready for and will be successful in college. Since when does every high school student need to go to college? Let's face the facts - someone needs to be snaking drains, fixing heating and air conditioning, and repairing automobiles. Trade schools are perfectly respectful post-secondary educations. In fact, most tradespeople make a boatload more money than I do with my "fancy and expensive" college degree, which I will be paying for for the rest of my life.
My students have been at a severe disadvantage their whole lives due to a multitude of reasons: language issues, poverty, dysfunctional homes, teenage pregnancy, etc. Most of these issues are not their fault but we have to face the facts that these factors are a reality for them and giving them false hopes of attaining a college education where there is limited ability does more harm than good. Not everyone is meant to have a college education. Nor is college for everyone. I have a bunch of friends who are smart and successful professionals and have not gone to college. Does that make them any less intelligent? Of course not.
Additionally, can we stop blaming bad teaching/teachers for why these students are failing? These students from the moment they stepped into a school at the age of 5 were years behind their suburban counterparts. While I'm not saying the education system in the US is perfect, people should not be placing the blame solely on teachers. Most teachers I know are hard-working dedicated professionals who are up against a wall when it comes to low income students. Studies show children from disadvantaged households have a significantly smaller vocabulary bank than those children from middle and upper class households. Those gaps only get wider as these children get older. You cannot fix this problem in school. These problems exist from the time these children are toddlers. We need better pre-school programs in place for low income communities. You can read some statistics about student vocabulary here.
The last thing I will rant about is when did failure become a bad thing? I know failing is not good but does it make sense to let students "pass" classes at any cost? It would serve students well to actually fail their classes so that they are taught a lesson about the importance of their education. Here's the problem: every teacher at my school has been told that they need to have all assignments from the beginning of the school year through end of term 3 available so that students can make up all the work they didn't do over the course of the year so that they can pass our classes. Ummmm. What?? How is that teaching them anything? Not only is it ridiculous that these students who did nothing all year can now give me a boatload of crap to grade, but it's causing students who are doing the work to wonder why they are doing the work on time if they can just make it up whenever. This is not education or teaching! And it's not the reason that I took a nearly 40% pay cut!
Yeah, I'm having a hard time dealing with some of the issues that are being dictated to teachers by the powers that be. Oh well, it's spring break. Time to go do something fun for me! Oh wait... I have a pile of work to do first.
My students have been at a severe disadvantage their whole lives due to a multitude of reasons: language issues, poverty, dysfunctional homes, teenage pregnancy, etc. Most of these issues are not their fault but we have to face the facts that these factors are a reality for them and giving them false hopes of attaining a college education where there is limited ability does more harm than good. Not everyone is meant to have a college education. Nor is college for everyone. I have a bunch of friends who are smart and successful professionals and have not gone to college. Does that make them any less intelligent? Of course not.
Additionally, can we stop blaming bad teaching/teachers for why these students are failing? These students from the moment they stepped into a school at the age of 5 were years behind their suburban counterparts. While I'm not saying the education system in the US is perfect, people should not be placing the blame solely on teachers. Most teachers I know are hard-working dedicated professionals who are up against a wall when it comes to low income students. Studies show children from disadvantaged households have a significantly smaller vocabulary bank than those children from middle and upper class households. Those gaps only get wider as these children get older. You cannot fix this problem in school. These problems exist from the time these children are toddlers. We need better pre-school programs in place for low income communities. You can read some statistics about student vocabulary here.
The last thing I will rant about is when did failure become a bad thing? I know failing is not good but does it make sense to let students "pass" classes at any cost? It would serve students well to actually fail their classes so that they are taught a lesson about the importance of their education. Here's the problem: every teacher at my school has been told that they need to have all assignments from the beginning of the school year through end of term 3 available so that students can make up all the work they didn't do over the course of the year so that they can pass our classes. Ummmm. What?? How is that teaching them anything? Not only is it ridiculous that these students who did nothing all year can now give me a boatload of crap to grade, but it's causing students who are doing the work to wonder why they are doing the work on time if they can just make it up whenever. This is not education or teaching! And it's not the reason that I took a nearly 40% pay cut!
Yeah, I'm having a hard time dealing with some of the issues that are being dictated to teachers by the powers that be. Oh well, it's spring break. Time to go do something fun for me! Oh wait... I have a pile of work to do first.
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| This is the "small" pile of work that came home with me. Spring Break? |
1 comment:
Interesting read:
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2011/06/06/110606crat_atlarge_menand?currentPage=1
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