NEWS: US Teachers Poorly Educated, New Study Contends

Education is perhaps the best indicator of a coutry's future preparedness for challenges and obstacles. This new report put out in part by the Ford Foundation, points the finger not at the teachers themselves, but at the colleges responsible for educating them. The report charges that classroom situations don't adequately reflect the changing real life situation. This study is the first part of a systematic, staged review of the education system in America.

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Education, in my opinion, is the single most important job a person can undertake. It is an enormous responsibility, and should never be taken lightly. Unfortunately, that's just what's happening, and the problem will not go away until it's confronted. Teachers are under-paid, unprepared, unappreciated, and unmotivated. Their training is often ignored when it comes budget time, the teachers would rather campaign for higher pay rather than fight to be better educated. Can you blame them?

This study was a major four-year effort, and more like it are needed to finally convince our nation's leaders to change their priorities. We need books, not bombs. Kids can't read, teachers can't teach (apparently), and the needs of the students are rarely met.

A wholly different problem, but perhaps one that is interwoven with the teacher shortage, is the increasing level of violence in schools. Children are going insane at a markedly accelarated rate, just like their parents. We need to identify the cause of the contagious madness that seems to be sweeping the country. It's affecting more than just our heads, it's actually destroying our future.

All true, but I fear that studies like this will be hijacked to justify dismantling the public education system. The trend seems to be leading towards 'vocational training' and starting the indenturing process early.








There IS something going on - and it's NOT purely moral, cultural or social degeneration. Time for authorities to fess up, I say. Else we're well and truly mucked.


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Hence the new SAT test.

Is it me or isn't the new SAT's now similar to the tests given for a Regents Diploma? I recall having to write an essay in order to get my Regents Diploma and even the GED requires an essay so what's the big deal about the SAT having a writing part? anyways sorry for going off on a tangent here

Great insight, sofi.....


I wasn't even out of high school when I first got a credit card....something about 'learning how to use credit' or 'get into debt now, cause when you hit college we're gonna want to used to it.'........

Never made it to college, Managed to make it into debt, Left the real world and now build Rennaissance Fairs for a living, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.......

Seriously, though......the system is set-up to encourage debt.......and the education of our youth is flawed.......imagine how the teachers of tomorrow will be........unless we do something now.......

Actually that's how it was in school back in my days, because the low rates of college graduates and not everybody could afford a higher education, schools used to have vocational training all through high school back home is only 3 years of it.

Then students where able to find a job fast.

The problems is that with the outsourcing our industries are moving out of the country to third world countries were students do not finish schools.

Now our students are force into getting a higher education and tried to find work in already saturated market.

Here in GA, we have a program that as long as you have a 4 year degree you can teach, they give you a crash course in education and alas!!! you are a teacher.

Why the state is doing this? because is not enought teachers, so now its another problem, a lot of "professionals" with masters and doctorates are getting in the school system because they get pay more for the degree they hold, but they are not educators.

We have now in our town a whole bunch of "Doctors" in schools is so many of them that they have them working in the schools media centers handling books.

Who is to blame? Now the new test, I am going to see a higer rate of drop out with that test, students that can't pass the test are not going to stay in school after eighteen they will get out of school, what a shame.

[edit on 15-3-2005 by marg6043]

The "public" education system needs to be dismantled. It has become little more that a social engineering "experiment" for the insanity of liberalism left over from the drug induced haze of the 60's.

All school taxes should be stopped. The property sold to private interest and a new system of "private" schools be started.

All education should be funded locally and not state mandated.

Sure Dr. and let the fundamentalist and fanatical religious views teach by the bible. Right?

You most be very fanatical, that is not good for a healthy mind, a person with your professionalism should be open minded.

And there you have it folks. The neo-con education agenda distilled to pure essence.


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That's a red herring if I ever saw one. The current crisis has more to do with lack of funds which were in turn due to politicians with your exact thinking. Have you ever heard of a thing called property taxes? Yeah, they're levied by state and local governments, not federal. Guess what they fund? Public education. The majority of the funds in public educations are from state and local governments, not federal. I'm sure you can figure out from this that state and local governments have vastly more control over public education than most people realize.

Also, do you have any idea why public education was created? Before public education, only a small part of the small middle class and the rich had any sort of education. If you've ever complained about the media's control over the general populace, it'd be even worse with a highly uneducated public.