Yet even those in lower classes in america are typically better off than the "middle classes" in much of Asia.
It's still funny though how even those that had high confidence in heir math skills performed average... Your link does nothing to dispute that American students have a high esteem about mediocrity.
Especially with the common core where 4*3=11 is just as valid if you can explain your answer. (they are still expected to get it right, but if they can explain their wrong answer they will still receive credit)
The damage done with cuts, scraps and bruises, especially on the Long term is more of a benefit than the damage caused by coddling kids and telling them they are special for being average.
No, I grew up with parents that gave me credit when it was earned, trust that even making my own mistakes that I could learn from them, how to learn from failures to build successes and most importantly to take responsibility for my actions. Oh also, I grew up in a time where not every trait of being young was a symptom to be treated with medication.
Ya, this school found a ridiculous reaction to circumstance... When there's any number of solutions that would allow these affected kids to still be kids.
Next will be bubble wrap and helmets for recess.
Sometimes you read a post so ridiculous you realize it's not even worth responding in a meaningful way. This is one of those times for me. Ignoring for a moment your seeming ignorance of math and common core, the fact you think it's ridiculous the school is conscientious of child safety during construction illustrates a mentality to me which suggests you have absolutely no business discussing this topic or any topic related to safety of children or education. Have a good day.
We live in the age of communication, and young people can't communicate.
They communicate just fine and their communication is no less now than it was 5 years ago. That's the point I'm trying to make.
They can use a computer, a mobile phone and other electronic devices, but they can't communicate effectively.
Or perhaps they are just not communicating in the traditional sense, the way which seems familiar to you. Because kids seem to understand each other just fine and have for a long time.
Reality is (in Australia at least) that students do not have to do any work, none - no class work, no homework, no assessment tasks, nothing - until they get to year 11, then they have to start working. Students are shoved through the system until they are old enough to leave, and that is not the fault of the teachers, it's department policy. No matter how much, or how little work a student does, promotion is automatic. Students know that there is nothing a teacher can do if they can't be bothered working. Psychologists and the powers that be have stripped all incentive to work from students and promote them because failing students and making them repeat a year might damage their ever so fragile self esteem and it's bloody criminal.
I cannot speak intelligently on education in Australia, but I get the sense you may be exaggerating a little.
You may think what you wish, but I am not the only teacher in the school who has seen the ability of students drop dramatically within the space of a decade.
Oh, geez...do you mean to tell me that other teachers who have been there while you've been there share your opinion as you get older? Color me shocked.
I guess the idea they are doing the same thing I'm saying you're doing just isn't possible. Because, as we all know, older generations have NEVER accused the next generations of being inferior. Never happened...ever.
If you are a teacher, then surely you must have seen it unless you are lucky enough to work at a private school where expectations are higher, and if you are not a teacher, then, with all due respect you do not have a clue about what it is really like.
I am a teacher and I've taught a variety of subjects in my several years at a smaller public school in rural America. And no, I have no seen anything to suggest your personal view is accurate. In fact, if anything, I've seen the opposite.
What I DO know is that as I've gotten older, and have taught longer, my understanding of the abilities of children has changed. It's not the students who have changed, it's me. As I've changed and I constantly re-adapt, I have to make changes in my lesson plans as well. That's what teachers do, we constantly review our lessons for maximum efficiency. It has much less to do with the ability of the students, but rather our perception of what's important and our understanding of what children can do.
If you think you can cart out a Powerpoint presentation from 5 years ago and never change it, then the problem exists more with you. Every year your children are different...they learn differently, they have different past experiences, etc. Furthermore, you've TAUGHT differently. You don't teach the same way every year, teaching the same material, the same way, using the same body language and voice inflection. Maybe it's not the students who have regressed, but your ability to teach them? Or, and this is more likely, you should quit expecting a 5 year old Powerpoint to work the same way your nostalgic memory believed it worked 5 years ago.
School is no longer about education.
School is all about education. What school is no longer about is simply teaching facts. I'd like to see some of the things schools are responsible for cut some, but we still provide education.
An ever expanding group of students don't come to school to learn, they come to socialise, meet and chat to their friends. Teachers don't feel like teachers, they feel like baby-sitters, keeping teenages off the streets during daylight hours.
Many times, this is true. That doesn't mean you are not (or at least, cannot) provide an education to the children. Teach the students about responsibility by being at work every day. Teach the students about kindness and compassion. Teach them the value of hard work. Even if you are not able to put content in their head, you can still educate them.
I want education to change; I want promotion based on merit, I want students to know that if they don't work they will fail and if they can't do the work then resources and extra help will be made available. The only person who should decide if a student is promoted to the next year, is the teacher, full stop. I want a combination of teaching from 50 years ago and today... rote learning times tables and spelling rules and the big ones....discipline, self-discipline, respect, self-respect, good manners, incentive to work hard and recognition when that leads to achievement. Combine those elements with what we have today....questioning a teacher if the student thinks the teacher is wrong without worrying about repercusions, use of technology, analysis and questioning of sources and information and not just remembering information and accepting it.
In other words...you want to change society. Yes, that would be great. Unfortunately, that's not education reform and societal reform is much more difficult.
Teaching can be an awesome experience when it works. When it works it's magic, when it doesn't, it's tragic! Teachers are well trained, competent and work exceptionally hard ( the teachers I know and work with do) and yet they are still blamed when a student causes trouble, won't work and can't read and write. I have no problems with students who are not academically bright, who struggle with the work, that's not what it is about. It's about attitude...the wanting to learn, no matter how hard it is, the wanting to achieve.
Totally agree. I think most teachers agree. Again, you're speaking of a societal problem, not an education problem.
I have been furiously typing away here and I have a feeling that I may have just waffled on and perhaps not even addressed your original statement.
You've definitely drifted off the topic.
It's okay though, I've enjoyed the discussion.
I like teaching, I want students to learn and achieve, but their ability level or their willingness to apply themselves and achieve has most definitately dropped in the last decade.
No, it has not. What's changed has been your perception. Your complaints are as old as time itself, regarding how older generations view younger generations. My dad's parents were teachers (and grandfather was an administrator). My dad is a retired high school teacher who now teaches a few courses at a university. His second wife is a retired teacher. My mother was a teacher, then a principal and is now a superintendent. I began "teaching" the moment I graduated high school in May 2003 when I helped coach a high school basketball team. I officially became a teacher in summer 2007. I've been teaching ever since and have not missed a single day of work since I was hired in 2007. I remember VERY well what education was like ten years ago from the student perspective. I remember younger teachers I had who possessed a visible enthusiasm for the job, an enthusiasm which has since waned and their complaining has increased as they've gotten older. I've been teaching for many years, but unlike many other people, I've always detested the "the younger generation doesn't have respect/motivation/intelligence/common sense/work ethic (take your pick) that we had when I was younger" mentality, which I think has allowed me the ability to see things a little more as they truly are. This is the mentality (older vs. younger) you're currently expressing.
As I said in the beginning, it's not the ability of the children who have changed, it's your perception of them. It's something I have to fight as well, because with each year passing, my next year's classes always seem younger to me. Obviously they are not, but it's just how I view them as I get older. When I teach, I constantly have to remind myself I have to lay the foundation for my lesson, because I think since I've taught it the last several years, these students should know it. I do many of the same things you claim to do (except I constantly review and revise my lessons, I don't expect lessons from 5 years ago to be perfect), but I realize the difference isn't in the students, but in myself.
Instead of automatically assigning blame to others, because it's much easier to assume the problem is someone else, really give careful analysis of what you're doing. Don't focus on all the bad, give equal credit to the good. Write things down in a journal, if that will help. What I think you'll find, if you are honest with yourself and your analysis and if you keep an open mind and don't give in to nostalgia, is that student ability really doesn't change that much. The problems you have today, you'll have ten years from now and you had 5 years ago. The students may change as culture changes, but their abilities to learn are no less than they were.
