Damn
Jeremy Reimer
news:mmcirvin-230...@ppp0a018.std.com...
> In article <7fp0jd$1f1$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, fla...@my-dejanews.com
wrote:
<SNIPPAGE!!>
> I traditionally get nervous about people advocating "back to basics"
> curricula at the expense of Cuddly Seventies Garbage, since where I
come
> from, the definition of Cuddly Seventies Garbage usually included
> non-patriotic historical facts, evolutionary biology, and letting
girls
> into shop class.
Heh heh. Heh heh heh. Girlz are purdy. Girlz in mechanics' overalls
covering tight white t-shirts and with cute blonde ponytails are...
like... ahhhhh....<THUD> Sorry about that. I turned into Beavis for
a minute there. Heh heh Cool.
Did you really say that "evolutionary biology", that radical theory
that has only been in existence for more than 100 years, was actually
TAUGHT in American Schools??? I thought that none of you Yanks
actually believed in such heresy.
--
----
Jeremy Reimer
jrei...@home.com
http://members.home.net/jreimeris
Jeremy Reimer
news:372fd220...@news.earthlink.net...
<SNIPPAGE>
> But I digress.
>
> What I think what would be most likely to improve the situation
would
> be if by some miracle the teachers would actually start talking to
the
> students as if both groups were composed of real actual people whom
> you could actually talk to as opposed to at. And vice versa as
> appropriate. The idea being that the students could actually
approach
> their superior officers on terrain that, if not entirely level,
would
> at least no longer contain the interrogation lights and the trap
door
> over the shark pit.
Here's a Fun and Entertaining Project for you to try. Become a high
school teacher and try the exact approach you outlined above.
Watch in glee as about three of your students eyes' light up as if
they have just had a spiritual revelation.
Then cower in fear as the other 27 students laugh and ridicule you,
and proceed to dismantle your authority, your self-confidence, and
your ability to have rational thoughts.
(not that I would have any experience with the above... naaaaaaah.)
--
---
Pope Jeremy Patrick Reimer I
Church of Scooby Doo
Visit the Church of Scooby Doo Web Site at
http://members.home.net/jreimeris/misc/scoobychurch.html
Jeremy Reimer
news:3722a449...@news.earthlink.net...
<SNIPPAGE>
> All I can say is that both my parents were teachers. Now one is
dead,
> the other is seriously ill, and neither of them ever had any money.
>
> GET OUT NOW!! WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!
I second that remark. I got out after two and a half years of
teaching. It was enough. I knew that I didn't want to go through
hell every day just to "do my job". No one little thing was the
problem, it was the fact that every day was 10,000 different, new,
unique problems, and the fact that the "experienced" teachers all
looked twenty years older than they actually were, and most of them
had died before they reached retirement age. (In my second full year,
there was one heart attack, one fainting episode requiring
hospitalization, four cases of severe flu, and one nervous breakdown
among staff.. I didn't take notice because I was so sure it wouldn't
happen to me... nah... I'm just so superior to all those people, yeah,
right.)
Not for me, thanks.
Gary Williams
>
> AFFA MU <seas...@allergies.org> wrote in message
> news:3722a449...@news.earthlink.net...
> <SNIPPAGE>
> > All I can say is that both my parents were teachers. Now one is
> dead,
> > the other is seriously ill, and neither of them ever had any money.
> >
> > GET OUT NOW!! WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!
>
> I second that remark. I got out after two and a half years of
> teaching. It was enough. I knew that I didn't want to go through
> hell every day just to "do my job". No one little thing was the
> problem, it was the fact that every day was 10,000 different, new,
> unique problems, and the fact that the "experienced" teachers all
> looked twenty years older than they actually were, and most of them
> had died before they reached retirement age.
Hmmm...when I was a daily newspaper reporter I noticed that all
the older reporters and editors were drunks. Then I became a programmer
and noticed that all the older programmers were drunks. Hmmmm....
-- Gary
The Avocado Avenger
>AFFA MU <seas...@allergies.org> wrote in message
>news:3722a449...@news.earthlink.net...
><SNIPPAGE>
>> All I can say is that both my parents were teachers. Now one is dead,
>> the other is seriously ill, and neither of them ever had any money.
>>
>> GET OUT NOW!! WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!
>I second that remark. I got out after two and a half years of
>teaching. It was enough.
Affa was probably referring to me, and I guess I should assure him that
I'm not about to go into teaching.
My problem is that I live in a horrible little shithole where working at
a telemarketing chain is considered a "good job". I won't get my degree
so I'm hoping a couple of years as this teaching assistant thingie will
give me a boost on the resume so I can get a job that pays more than $6 an
hour.
Also, my dad [1] was a teacher, and I knew from the beginning that I
didn't want to go through that. It's not worth it.
>(In my second full year,
>there was one heart attack, one fainting episode requiring
>hospitalization, four cases of severe flu, and one nervous breakdown
>among staff.. I didn't take notice because I was so sure it wouldn't
>happen to me... nah... I'm just so superior to all those people, yeah,
>right.)
The nice man who works as the in school suspension guy had a stroke this
year. The one teacher over 60 who isn't dead is retiring two years before
his pension kicks in; he hopes to work at a real estate agency to get by
for the two years. There are, right now, a good 2-3 nervous breakdowns
happening as we speak, and there's certainly more in the other 75% of the
school I don't deal with.
>Not for me, thanks.
Ditto. I won't even work as a para in a room where I'm expected to do
more than, say, a janitor. Oh, and the janitors get paid more, too.
Stacia * The Avocado Avenger * Life is a tale told by an idiot;
http://www.io.com/~stacia/ * Full of sound and fury,
Remove the guacamole to reply! * Signifying nothing.
The Avocado Avenger
> Also, my dad [1]
[1] Obligatory superstitious anti-ark-death ray got-my-fingers crossed
footnote. [2]
[2] Why do I always forget my footnotes?
Nick S Bensema
The Avocado Avenger <sta...@io.com.guacamole> wrote:
> Affa was probably referring to me, and I guess I should assure him that
>I'm not about to go into teaching.
> My problem is that I live in a horrible little shithole where working at
>a telemarketing chain is considered a "good job".
The sad thing is it is these cities which will be least damaged by
a nuclear attack. And their school system won't get any better as
a result.
I'm thinking if I want to go into teaching, though, I'll probably
spend a little time volunteering in Albania teaching Esperanto to
refugees or something like that, because even though the Serbs
might attack at any minute, I imagine I won't have to deal with
the bureaucracy and requirements and politics of the American public
school system.
--
Nick Bensema <ni...@primenet.com> 98-KUPD Red Card #710563 UIN: 2135445
~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please click on the banners so this post can remain free!
Jeremy Reimer
news:3723DE...@spectra.net...
....
| Hmmm...when I was a daily newspaper reporter I noticed that all
| the older reporters and editors were drunks. Then I became a programmer
| and noticed that all the older programmers were drunks. Hmmmm....
Teachers of all ages are drunks. You only find that out once you actually
become a teacher. :)
Sarah Cherlin
wrote:
>Here's a Fun and Entertaining Project for you to try. Become a high
>school teacher and try the exact approach you outlined above.
>
>Watch in glee as about three of your students eyes' light up as if
>they have just had a spiritual revelation.
>
>Then cower in fear as the other 27 students laugh and ridicule you,
>and proceed to dismantle your authority, your self-confidence, and
>your ability to have rational thoughts.
Quite. I don't want to blame the teachers here for not making the
system work. The reason that what I was talking about is so difficult
is that it would pretty much require a complete and possibly recursive
overhaul of the entire educational system at once. And probably the
entire concept of the educational system. And likely the entire
segment of cultural attitudes as a whole. And failing that perhaps
switching to an entirely different species. The problem here is that
we have a system whose greatest effect is to turn the people subjected
to it, in terms of social dynamics, back into monkeys, and I don't
actually mean that metaphorically.
The thing is, we're trying to salvage a system here which is adapted
from one in which the controlling factor is the threat to beat up
anyone who doesn't want to do what they're told. So we've had enough
sense to move away from that, but trying to run a system that's more
or less the same, but without the methods that those in authority used
to keep things running to their satisfaction ends up with something
that's really pretty dreadful for the students and teachers both.
Instead of being really really dreadful, but for the students only.
Obviously, this isn't exactly something easy to fix, which is no doubt
why people are constantly casting about for smaller answers. The best
first step would be if a greater number of people were to realize that
there actually was a problem. I doubt there's any kind of perfect
alternative here, but there's got to be something better than this.
--
Today's word is: 'persnickety'
Nick S Bensema
Jeremy Reimer <jrei...@home.com> wrote:
>Sarah Cherlin <sche...@2cowherd.com> wrote in message
>news:372fd220...@news.earthlink.net...
>
><SNIPPAGE>
>
>> But I digress.
>>
>> What I think what would be most likely to improve the situation
>would
>> be if by some miracle the teachers would actually start talking to
>the
>> students as if both groups were composed of real actual people whom
>> you could actually talk to as opposed to at. And vice versa as
>> appropriate. The idea being that the students could actually
>approach
>> their superior officers on terrain that, if not entirely level,
>would
>> at least no longer contain the interrogation lights and the trap
>door
>> over the shark pit.
>
>school teacher and try the exact approach you outlined above.
>
>Watch in glee as about three of your students eyes' light up as if
>they have just had a spiritual revelation.
>
>Then cower in fear as the other 27 students laugh and ridicule you,
>and proceed to dismantle your authority, your self-confidence, and
>your ability to have rational thoughts.
Actually, I've had teachers like that in high school. Particularly
in the senior year of high school, when we had the government/economics
teacher who was on Nixon's enemies list, the white American teacher
with the Mexican husband who taught advanced-placement Spanish,
and the Xerox Queen teacher who, despite inundating us with packets
and worksheets all over the place, encouraged debate and deep
thought on English literature, including the origins of the works
of Shakespeare; in fact, she was starved for such debate since a
lot of the kids weren't much into reading.
In fact, between the government teacher and the English teacher,
we were taught more to question what we're told than one would
expect throughout high school, and between the government teacher
and the Spanish teacher we were taught more to ask questions if we
were curious than before. In contrast, there are rumors floating
around DeVry that our CICS teacher recently quit, and that the
provocation was one too many stupid questions from a student.
Probably not true but he was known to be rather loud and abrupt.
Actually, DeVry is now in worse trouble than my old high school
because all the really good teachers in the technologies courses
are quitting, and they're hard to replace effectively. But they're
easy to replace ineffectively.