Job Discussion Forums

[johnslat]

Dear soapdodger,
Yikes - thirty years in classrooms ranging from Head Start through EFL/ESL
(25 years) to university, and NOW I find out I'm not a good teacher.
Guess I'll have to see if I can get fired from my present job.
Regards,
John

[soapdodger]

Yes John. I was being succinct not exact. In government schools, particularly in the UK and US, the trend is to make it nigh on impossible for teachers to impart anything of value to students. Those that do are likely to face the wrath of those who don't want that sort of thing going on. Those that try are condemned to beat their heads, metaphorically, off the wall until resignation is attractive. Good teachers tend to complain about bad practice and refuse to tolerate or emulate it. In EFL there is so much bad practice it is the norm, and many schools won't suffer criticism, not least because they know they can get compliant grist without difficulty.

[gaijinalways]

I would agree with soapdodger in a different sense, that good teachers are not suitably rewarded and often must partially cater to administrators who really don't know how to teach. I wouldn't say that they are necessarily forced to quit or be fired, but rather many feel frustrated by the constraints of budget on what they can do in the clasroom as well as some policies that limit where and when a subject could be taught.

One such issue is whether classes can be taught outside the classroom. Ideally, field trips and outside activities can be effectively used, but one of my current universites prohibits these kinds of classes unless they are authorized in advance by the school admin. Remember, these are not kids we are talking about, these are young university-aged adults. Of course some teachers may abuse this rule or activity and simply like to be free to do whatever during class time (like making snowmen), but I can't imagine that most teachers would do it very often (making snowmen, that is).

[denise]

Good teachers can get out of bad jobs.

d

[rusmeister]

I also agree with soapdodger (although I come at it from a different worldviw/cosmology).

I think C.S. Lewis put it wonderfully in "Screwtape Proposes a Toast", an addendum to "The Screwtape Letters" (for the uninitiated, Screwtape is a demon from hell, and the 'letters' are to a junior demon on earth that want to destroy a man's soul) in which he blasts the development of public education, ostensibly in England, but really targeting America's school system.

One of the important ideas there is about how a ruler, an autocrat (or an oligarchy) needs to prevent people from rising into excellence; that a nation is most easily controlled when the majority are kept at a mediocre level.

The obvious conclusion is that the schools are suceeding wildly - they are doing what they are designed to do; therefore, nothing will be 'fixed'. (But they can pretend to fix, and cry "Throw us more money!" forever.)

[arioch36]

Denise

[arioch36]

Lost

[arioch36]

Rusmeister

[soapdodger]

Not that long ago the Labour government in the UK publicly admitted that the purpose of the education system was to provide students with the absolute minimum standard necessary to get a job - and nothing more. It is even failing to do that.

[MELEE]

A good teacher knows that schooling does not equal education.

[thelmadatter]

Being a good teacher is a lot like being a good parent ... the good ones are modest about it and constantly questions themselves and the bad ones brag or are smug.