> Robert Probasco wrote:
> >
> > I've spoken with several persons who refuse to
> >enter the public school teaching market because of the working conditions,
> >esp. the lack of discipline rampant in too many schools.
I've seen remarkably talented students bail from the College of Ed because
its so lame. One woman Elementary Ed training and ended up with a PhD in
Physics because ED 101 was an insult, and if thats what teaching is about,
she didnt want no part of it.
> This is a topic of particular interest to me, since the "lack of discipline"
> in our society is certainly not limited to the hallways and classrooms of
> our public schools.
A huge part of the `discipline problem' is that so many parents look to
the schools as the state babysitter, having not the time, energy,
inclination or ability to be involved parents. Kids come to school
hungry, not because of poverty but neglect. Their role models are all on
television.
Public schools are dumping grounds for neglected kids. They take huge
amounts of teachers' energy, and thus are the lowest common denominator
that becomes the central focus. `Good' kids are bored, frustrated,
unchallenged and stuck.
I don't know what to do about it. Is it fair to the kids whose parents
are overbooked with achieving, self-actualizing, working against huge
debts, substance abuse or whatever to be abandoned in a garbage can of
public school?
I think public schools are a `Lord of the Flies' type subculture. By the
time they finish high school they've spent an awesome amount of time in
each other's company, their peers against the teacher, 25 to one, they've
adopted fantastic ways to subvert and manipulate the teachers. It takes
an iron will and a heart of gold to be an effective teacher in this
society.
What do I know? I have two junior high kids and have been an occasional
high school substitute for nine years. I've been whipped by high school
classes, and seen the `good' kids join in the feeding frenzy. It isn't
pretty. My kids bring home appalling stories of cruelty, TV
widsom and affectations (we don't have a tube) and all sorts of strange
playground values and curriculum. Even the school bus is a ride in hell.
An escape by a priviledged elite (however we choose to define that elite)
isn't the answer.
I don't know, I'm baffled, and thats one of the reasons I keep subbing.
dave
>
> As a nation we seem to be unable to resolve a number of crises begging us to
> discipline ourselves, as individuals and as a common people.
>
> So should we abandon our citizenship? Dismantle the Union and adopt a
> state, county or city that conforms to our ideals?
>
> Yes, our public schools are coming up short, but not as short as some, with
> what I suspect is an agenda beyond the obvious, would have us believe. I
> have two kids who are recent graduates and I've seen some of the problems up
> close. (And BY THE WAY (BTW) I graduated from a private high school many
> years ago that also had it's share of shortcomings.)
>
> But let us not, in haste, lay the blame at the feet of administrators or
> boards or anyone else without first looking into the mirror and asking "What
> else could I do to help fix it?"
>
>
> Greg Meyer
> Moscow
>