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You, as an educator ,”literally would not give the time of day” ???
Really? Shouldn’t that be figuratively?
You, as a know it all, how do you know that they didn’t ask for the time of day and it was not given?
maybe they confiscated the clock from his classroom too?
He plainly stated that he asked his superior for a meeting, thus the failure to give the time of day obviously was a reference to that superior’s refusal to respond.
Duh.
John, this would be a great resource for your book on education!
That about sums it up. Modern schools and prisons have a lot in common starting with regimentation. One size fits all. Everything is from the top down from people that don’t know a fraction of what they need to know to get it right. I can’t fix it and at this point in my life I’m not even interested in discussing it. There are still some highly competent teachers in the system so the game isn’t over yet but if you want a voucher to put your kid in a school that does things your way you should be able to get it.
Wow, surprising how similar your description is to working at ***~Mart
Gah – I hate video only posts (unless the medium is the message of course). Text please.
You must me a no good lawyer or something that prefers to live in a fantasy world and never look at the real world. Of course, you might instead/also be handicapped. (Sorry, but I don’t know the right politically correct term for a mental/physical impairment that prevents a person from interacting with society/others in the same way that other people typically interact.)
Then again, you might just be an idiot and not know how to use a speech to text program — assuming you really do like to read.
The video was citing verbatim text..get over yourself
be suspect, highly suspect of such, i think schools suck type of rhetoric. sounds more like a campaign run by gates and buffet felonious charities to union bust and take’em all private for profit anyone check this guys bank account.. see if any large sums of money bought him to say this?
A large sum of money would have hired a more forceful spokesman for whatever cause. This guy’s statement resembles the complaints from people in many types of professions being forced to comply with ignorant bean-counters hired to implement the bottom line philosophy of profiteering in places where profits should not be top priority. Schools, hospitals, recreation departments, ect. have all been forced into the “one size fits all” approach to “efficiency”.
Wow! Are you way off.
You’re right about the one size fits all philosophy. But you seem to be clueless about who’s imposing it.
So here’s a suggestion: Try and find out what “entity” is in charge of education for the State of Rhode Island and possibly for the Providence area – which is where this guy was teaching. (Pssst! If you listen a little more closely you may have picked up on some other key facts too.)
… Did anyone else say (progressive) “government”?! Or how about (liberal) teachers unions and “their” agenda? You know? The things we are all forced to consent to by MOB RULE!
Some of you may recognize this as just another form of “democracy” which is NOT the same thing as FREEDOM!
If the education establishment ever comes up with the right set of metrics for measuring the learning process and progress achieved, our schools and country will benefit greatly. Until then, we are broken.
You are still assuming that we can know in advance exactly what education each child needs to be ready for the future and that everybody in this nation wants the same outcomes. They don’t. That being the case why not allow people to have options?
That’s not my assumption. Finding a useful set of metrics to assess the efficiency of the journey doesn’t imply the same path or destination, and needn’t necessarily preclude individualization of the experience.
Except that we’ve been demonstrably _not broken in all the years – generations – prior to the emergence of the corporatist agenda. The society we live in – the creative marketplace and responsive civil infrastructure are testament to how well we’ve been able to educate ourselves. Declaring something ‘broke’ because you can’t quantify each and every tidbit of why something that’s proven to work is just lazy and gives cover to a pennywise, pound foolish approach.
Couldn’t student’s be tested for that…oh, yeah.
Sounds like he was an excellent teacher. I hope his resignation got some people to rethink some of their approaches.
I’ve been involved enough in my kids schools (both private and public) to know this is not an isolated situation. “No Child Left Behind” while well intentioned has had a disastrous impact that extends into the private schools.
My kids are in a small private school now. My son’s first years in public school went very well but fell apart when his class size crept up to 30 in 3rd grade. The class included 4 students who had severe behavior problems. The teacher simply wasn’t up to it. In fact she left the school for two months in the middle of the year for reasons that were never made clear.
It became obvious that the school district didn’t have the resources to keep this kind of thing from happening again so that was our last year there.
Unfortunately, the school day that the teacher in this video described is very much like the school day my kids have in their private school. Except that by 6th grade the kids have no recess at all. They never get outside. They get about 20 minutes to eat.
Imagine trying to run a business and treating your employees like that. My son is in a class with 12 boys and 5 girls. The class size is small which is a big plus. However, imagine trying to have 12 preteen and early teen boys pay attention at 2:00 in the afternoon after spending an entire day with virtually no opportunity to blow off any steam. There were tons of behavior problems in the afternoon last year.
We and other parents have complained but the general reaction of the leadership of the school is that there is only so much time in the day.
He’s only got one more year there. We will probably be looking for another school for our daughter once he’s done.
My opinion that the industrialization of the economy has spread into the schools. They’re not prisons as much as they’re assembly lines.
I haven’t seen the video, nor read the comments…. but let me guess: he can’t give each and every student the individual time and resources he would like to give. The school “system” doesn’t allow for it in the mass one size fits all bureaucratic prison system that doesn’t allow for his own magnificence.
Now, I’ll go view the clip/read the comments. Ha. ha. Who did say “No man is an island?” I have to look that up each time I think it. I do recall and about the third time post here what Dear Old Dad used to tell me: “Your job is to learn in spite of the school.” For that and other nuggets, we never got along but maybe I’m overly influenced by just watching the last half of “Being Flynn.” So glad I didn’t have an artist or a teacher as a parent.
But I digress.
One of my co-workers home schools his children. His wife has a degree in teaching so she stays at home. I helped recover one of her USB sticks that had some tests on it.
I tried taking one of the tests. From the material on the test I’m guessing here but I would say that there might be one person on this blog that could pass it. I have a fairly high IQ but couldn’t even come close to passing. It was on things I should know too.
His children are sharp, well educated and some of the most mannerly children you would ever want to meet. He won’t put them in public schools and who could blame him.
Public schools suck and colleges are not any better with their constant “progressive liberal” (not liberal in the true sense) indoctrination bullshit.
Had similar discussions and arguments with various school systems here in CA and CO when it came to my younger siblings level of education. You can’t possible assign someone to Algebra when he has already finished Calculus. What kind of asshole school does this shit; and I’m talking about the counselors, principles and just about everyone in the admin that vouched for this crap.
In some ways I feel the same way about students from K-12. I devoted my after work hours to tutoring at the library because I know some schools are just dickheads about these kinds of stuff. It’s strange though now that I’m in a new city. The library has no tutoring services in a city that is middle class to poor. It’s one of the best library that I’ve seen with tons of kids stuff but nothing to help them with education. I’m hoping to change that IF they ever respond to any of my contacts ><!
I think we are a society where things are done to us, and we do things to others, as if everyone does not exist as a person – but merely as a thing
The change is impossible as long as you, and I, are a thing.
Pink Floyd said it best:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U
I agree with the teacher.
Education should be all about giving the students the necessary tools to further their learning.
The fundamental tools of reading, writing, and arithmetic enable a student to explore a world that exists primarily as printed words.
A good teacher will instill a curiosity for learning in a student. The learning is what comes after the education.
I see too many adults in our society that have no interest in reading and/or learning.
There are many that are not familiar with the works of Mark Twain, Albert Einstein, Isaac Asimov, John Locke, Rene Descartes, Plato, Aristotle, and other classical and modern thinkers and philosophers.
Without an education, learning is impossible.
Public education has been reduced to the level of teaching students what to think, not how to think.
Finally got around to watching the video. Second Graders???? WTF???? He fantasizes a 7 year old needs to understand the relevance of the class room experience to real life?
BWHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
I was heartened to read in the thread that this is a good man, father, teacher- – – but give me a break. All a 7 year old needs is exercise, naps, and good nutrition. Structured time away from home and the allowance to do what they love.
Every precious snowflake.
This guy sucks as a teacher. Second graders should not be expected to be quiet in the classroom. Attention span = Age ( 8 here) times .66= About 5 minutes per task.
Second graders can’t sit still or be quiet for more than 5 minutes. Most jobs require people to talk with one another to succeed.
What was this guy doing until 1999? He seems pretty old to be getting on the floor with second graders.
I heard a quote from a famous serial killer who (let me paraphrase) said that if a child doesn’t know what’s right and wrong by the age of 7, they’re forever lost.
This man has a bitter Randall McMurphy type experience with the powers that be, who are only in it to feather their own nest and only pay lip service to child development.
Education is the most important to age 7 and parents should be a main provider. Instead we have have people up and down the heirarchy tossing needs and responsibility out the window in favor of some PC lip service. It isn’t working.
We have to get Michelle Obama on the case.
My favorite new word, Edu-crats! That word sums up the whole education problem perfectly. So when did schools start having Human Resource (HR) departments? This isn’t an office job.
Amen brother I just quit my teaching job after 10 years. It is awful and hostile environment to anything creative and inspiring. Critical thinking skills in our youth are disappearing.
This is what happens when you cram intelligent, creative, caring people into jobs where they can see what needs to be done and aren’t given the power to do anything.
Someone who was probably a great teacher (and we need more male teachers!) is now disenchanted and pissed off.
Please don’t give up. Students need people like you.
Why are teachers so mean?
It all is so feminised. Where are the men leaders?