reply to post by Xcathdra
I am saying that it is not the teachers' fault. It is a structural problem of the public school system, which is outmoded and underfunded. It isn't
up to snuff anymore because the educational needs of children are changing, because the demographics of the country are changing.
In my opinion, a lot of things would be improved if there were separate streams for science/math/whatever offered in multiple languages, so that
students who do not speak English as a first language or very well can still keep up with their peers, at least in terms of their conceptual
knowledge. Instead, we have students who are struggling to keep up with both an English education and a scientific/mathematical/whateverical education
offered in English, a language that they do not understand. The single, monolithic school boards ought to be broken up into smaller units and
specialized to suit the needs of the community, instead of forcing the community to conform to the system.
Teachers are generally good and hard working people, but the students are unable or unwilling to learn. I don't think that teachers should be
penalized because they have to use methods that, to modern students, are frankly ancient and backwards. How can children born in the digital age be
expected to sit still for hours on end in a classroom, silently reading a textbook and listening to teacher?
I for one do not think that private schools are inherently superior, but they are at least free to specialize and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, they have the
resources necessary to dedicate adequate time to each student. In the public system, monsters such as the ones in this thread continuously
demand that the standards of education be raised, but that the funding for teachers be decreased. At the same time, they demand more investment in
education - - do they really think that buying millions of dollars of textbooks will do any good when there is a shortage of teachers? Do they really
think that anyone will want to work in a school system that regularly abuses them and blames them for systemic failures? The life of a teacher is not
an easy one, despite what the critics say.
And, of course, I fully expect SOMEONE to come in and say 'hurp i know A teacher that lives well!' It's like the welfare queen argument. It's
exaggerating a rare case and applying it to the whole, and like the welfare queen argument, it is not something that people have actually observed. It
is a rhetorical tool that has been given to them by the ideologues who stand to benefit from some hidden motive (Rush, Beck, any media personality).