good commentary on public school past and present

[BertBeagle]

article from todays Charlotte Disturber (should be posted in every grade school classroom). I would add that it needs to be preached to all - not just inner city pupils :

Want respect? Then earn it
Why should students expect what teachers should be given?
JACK CALAWAY
Special to the Observer

Of reasons why four Charlotte-Mecklenburg high schools can't muster passing grades on end-of-course tests, the most puzzling is one that blames teachers for disrespecting students.

Like many Charlotteans, I graduated from an integrated public school system that catered to a unified culture -- one that held teachers in highest esteem. Maybe that's why I'm perplexed about today's "dissing" hierarchy and how it leaves faculty holding the accountability bag.

Let me tell you how respect and accountability partnered to produce self-sufficiency in my day:

Elementary school teacher Edith Shaw once frog-marched me out of reading circle and into a dark storeroom for repeatedly talking out of turn. After securing my mouth with tape, she warned me to keep it shut, locked the door and left.

It would never have occurred to me that Mrs. Shaw's creative timeout was a "diss." Students didn't get respect. Educated, taxpaying adults got respect. How could I be disrespected?

I didn't sulk. I didn't rationalize that my embarrassment justified retaliation. Instead I spent a spooky half-hour pondering why I was there and how to avoid a return visit. The answer was obvious. I had disrupted class. I was the "disser," not Mrs. Shaw, who graciously helped me sort things out when she returned. Later that day my parents disciplined me more woodenly.

Take education seriously

The message they delivered in my childhood can be translated into adultese: "Getting a public education should be taken seriously. It's how you get real respect. A lot of folks are paying good tax money for your opportunity. Don't blow the chance."Mrs. Shaw's efforts and my accountability paid off later that year when I read the textbook to my family at one memorable sitting. Their beaming approval was an epiphany: Being respectful, paying attention and excelling at schoolwork -- heck, even accomplishing it only satisfactorily -- leads to good things.

Today Mrs. Shaw might have to wear a sack over her face for fear some pupils would interpret her occasional scowl as a sign of disrespect and rationalize that into turning their backs on education. That lack of student accountability might help pupils succeed in getting Mrs. Shaw fired. I doubt it will get them past exams.

Coddled too long by Dr. Spock

Maybe kids -- and parents -- have been coddled too long by Dr. Spock. Maybe it's time for Michael Corleone to explain obedience, discipline and self-sufficiency: "Don't take it personal, Jackie. It's just business. Community business. The community wants a return on its investment. Follow instructions, study hard, pass tests and earn a diploma. Then we'll talk about respect. Capice?"

Maybe it just takes a while for some of us to conclude that book learning is a great equalizer, something that can solve a lot of personal problems. It doesn't differentiate which side of town we're from, whether we're NBA material, or from which latitude our ancestors arrived. Climb aboard! Knowledge can fly you away from despair and over economic mountains that bar you from the mainstream.

I doff my hat to parents -- or, in their absence, to faculty, community leaders and ministers -- who are preaching that to inner-city pupils who might diss their chance for real respect. Turn street-smart into book-smart and you can forget about middle-class flight. The mainstream will flow to you.

In my day it took dedicated teachers, involved parents, friends who were helpful study partners as well as tough test competitors, and a respectful me to make the "equalizer" work. Forty-five years ago high school graduates were expected to become breadwinners capable of priming education's financial pump when their turn came.

That brings me back to the taxpaying aspect of education.

Students, prime the pump

Since my graduation in 1962, this nation and state have enacted major social programs and tax credits intended to give able-bodied folks a jump-start, not a perpetual free ride. Education -- virtually free in the case of a public one -- is how you keep your car rolling once you've been jump-started.

The old Kingston Trio song "Desert Pete," by Billy Edd Wheeler, tells the story of a thirsty cowboy who stumbles across a pump in the middle of the desert. He finds a jar of water and a note:

"You've got to prime the pump, you must have faith and believe. You've got to give of yourself 'fore you're worthy to receive. Drink all the water you can hold, wash your face, cool your feet. Leave the bottle full for others, thank you kindly," -- Desert Pete

Some might yell, "Show me the money!" Pete would answer, "Show me the grades!"

[pwd72s]

Yes!

[oldE]

My wife, who has taught for close to 3 decades, calls herself, "The Wicked Witch of the West Wing". There are classroom rules which will be followed. Misdeeds are followed with consequences. She says it takes most kids a half day to figure out what is expected. Others, who are used to testing the limits and getting away with whatever they want can take longer, sometimes half a year. A few never accept it. They have been taught for 11 years what they do makes no difference and they can do as they want. She feels sorry for those ones. Life will not be kind.
The best thing is, the kids appreciate a classroom where you are treated with respect becuse you have earned it and is quiet enough to promote learning.
I have heard my own kids come home from school and complain about their classmates who didn't care and teachers who didn't demand respect.

I don't condone taping a kid's mouth shut and shutting him/her in a closet, (I would think about it, though), but there have to be rules which are enforced. Those rules have to be accepted and practiced by the community (ie: parents).
When there are no expectations, one shouldn't be surprised if there is no achievement.

Les

[Jims5543]

You give respect to get respect. I am not saying a teacher has to lay down and get rolled over by bad kids. I am saying there are better ways to get a kid in line than taping their mouth shut and closing them in the closet.

That teacher was an ass! I had a teacher like that when I was in second grade, she used to jam a big ornamental ring into my back and make me cry because I was not able to sit still in class and keep quiet. She used to smack me around and tell me I would get it worse if I told my parents. Did I behave in her class? Hell no! I Acted out even more out of hatred for the b!tch.

I hate that woman to this day and she taught me that adults are evil.

If it was not for the really cute and enthusiastic 3rd grade teacher the next year my education would have been done in for. My 3rd grade teacher and I got along great and I behaved very well in her class, because she was nice to me and treated me with respect. Did I get in trouble in there? Yes I did, but she handled it with dignity and respect and then I felt really bad for upsetting her.

You teach kids to show respect by example, treating them like common stray dogs will not be productive.

We had a dog that would dig holes all the time, my dad was at his witts end with that dog so he tied its front paws together for an hour. I bet that made some of you more upset than a teacher taping a kids mouth shut and throwing him in a closet.

[nota]

to much effort now goes to teaching for the state tests

schools biggest problem is they are boring
to much work and little fun and zero effert to change that
more rules with zero tolerance or thought

if tv classes were done by people like robin williams or cris rock
I bet grades would go up and kids would pay attension
and would learn as a result
but no they use guys like ben stien mr boring

weed out bad boring teachers
and fire every ass princeable the most useless people get that job

teaching should be a short term job like 5 years and out
before they burn out

[wludavid]

My rule of thumb is to ignore any bit of advice or commentary that contains the words, "In my day...". The writer has some good points, but 10-year-olds are humans too, and they deserve a modicum of respect. Treat them more like adults, and many will rise to the challenge. Treat them like animals that should be caged, and they'll rise to that challenge too.

Originally posted by BertBeagle
The message they delivered in my childhood can be translated into adultese: "Getting a public education should be taken seriously. It's how you get real respect. A lot of folks are paying good tax money for your opportunity. Don't blow the chance."

20-year-old college students don't usually understand this, even when it's their (or their parents') money. There is absolutely no way you'll get a grade-schooler to internalize this idea.

[Superman]

One of my sisters teaches Special Education to jr. high-aged kids. They fall into two categories. There are kids who are mentally challenged. Handicapped, if you will. And then there are the kids who are simply chronic misbehavors. My sister appears to be the sweetest, calmest, most gentle human you ever met. A human fawn. And yet, her classroom has order. Expectations are clearly outlined. I am told that, once in a while, a student will seem determined to act out. In those instances, my sister takes them aside, leans in and whispers a message. After that, the kid behaves. Nobody knows what she says. Hmmmmm.......

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally posted by Superman
Nobody knows what she says. Hmmmmm.......

"Keep going like this and you'll grow up to be a Democrat..."

[legion]

Originally posted by Superman
Nobody knows what she says. Hmmmmm.......

"I'll send you to Chicago. CHOP!"

[Christien]

While I agree kids do need to earn respect, there's no excuse for taping a kid's mouth shut and locking them in a dark closet. That's abuse, and it's illegal, now and in the past. Period. Even a generation ago teachers were fired for less than that. Kids that are treated like that grow up to be mega-authoritarian, sometimes abusive towards their own kids, maybe even customs agents.

Good teachers know how to get kids to respect them and also how to deal with troublemakers without getting emotionally involved and losing their cool.