Randy Smith writes
> I am a former teacher, and my experience shows that the people who
> make the best teachers are those who are the least educated.
But it doesn't have to be that way! There are a lot of very
educated and intelligent people who'd love to teach, but the
system isn't set up for them. At least not anymore.
> The "smart" ones, the ones who are interested in science, usually
> leave the profession rather quickly (because they get tired of the abuse).
Yes! But you should be blaming the *abuse*, not anything else!
> In fact, the empirical evidence shows (at the empirical evidence to
> which *I* have access) that the halflife of a teacher's career is
> inversely proportional to his/her IQ. At least that was the case
> at both schools at which I taught. Of all the teachers who came
> into teaching when I did, the only ones still teaching are those
> who are the least academic. And I mean, they are not really
> academically inclined at *all*.
It's because of all the shit they had to put up with, from administrators,
from parents, and most of all from students.
> The main problem is that kids are even less rational than adults. Therefore
> in order to teach, one needs control. And the erosion of teacher authority
> means that personal relationships are the key even being *able* to do *any*
> teaching, never mind the science pipe dreams....
> BTW, status relationships are crucial in the classroom.
To a very large degree, this would get fixed by privatization. Good
teachers would not have to put up with a lot of crap, and students
who were ruining the experience for the other kids would be kicked
out.
(For example: Parent: "Johnny! That's the third school you've
got kicked out of this year! Now you are going to Drill Instructor
Deathwish's School on Monday, and if you can't make it there---it
will be military school in the mountains!! You are costing me a
fortune! WHY CAN'T YOU BEHAVE IN CLASS LIKE THE OTHER KIDS DO??")
When you write "one needs control", it is a comment on one hundred
years of socialized feel-good left-inspired public education. It
really DOESN'T have to be that way.
Lee Corbin
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 14:40:14 MDT