Principals and teachers to be fired

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

In the newspaper yesterday there was an article about schools with low achievement scores by the students in Oregon. Apparently Obama's education agenda includes firing the principals and all the teachers of those schools and replacing them in order for the schools to get government funding.

That makes me disgusted. Teachers and principals CANNOT make students study. Whatever happened to parents making sure that homework is done??? And you can't blame it on race or one parent homes either. The teachers can only do so much. Students need to stop being entertained and start being responsible for learning.

Sorry, I can't find the full story now.

[phkrause]

In the newspaper yesterday there was an article about schools with low achievement scores by the students in Oregon. Apparently Obama's education agenda includes firing the principals and all the teachers of those schools and replacing them in order for the schools to get government funding.

That makes me disgusted. Teachers and principals CANNOT make students study. Whatever happened to parents making sure that homework is done??? And you can't blame it on race or one parent homes either. The teachers can only do so much. Students need to stop being entertained and start being responsible for learning.

Sorry, I can't find the full story now.

I agree with you. When I went to school parents were usually behind/or supported the teachers. Now parents back there children and expect the teachers to still do there jobs without any backing from parents. But I also agree that there are many teachers and principals that don't even try.

pk

[GreatLakesGramma]

I've hear that the government also mandates a lot of non-academic stuff that the schools have to include, which takes a lot of time away from real education.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Now I'm REALLY disgusted. On ABC News tonight it showed a principal and teachers of a school in Rhode Island getting fired by the school board because the students' performance wasn't up to par. And standing behind the school board was the President of the United States agreeing with the school board. WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE THINKING???? I'm embarrassed that was even shown on TV.

Teachers cannot discipline students anymore because it might hurt their little psyches. I don't mean to say that there are not some bad teachers out there, because there are. But I think to fire the principal and all the teachers with the blessing of the almighty Obama was a bit much to stomach for me.

[Woody]

Are you speaking of President Obama?

Shameful. Just Shameful.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Are you speaking of President Obama?

Shameful. Just Shameful.

Yes. That's exactly what I thought, too.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

ewaye, my little omelet... LOL

[Dottie]

Here's a link to a story about the firings: http://www.projo.com/news/content/central_falls_labor_complaint_03-03-10_TEHKQU_v41.398650e.html

I heard about this a couple of weeks ago. Seems it only made national news when the unions got involved. Seems the administrators asked for a little more work from the teachers, and they, through their Union, refused.

What isn't mentioned, is the inequity between the teacher's pay, which averages about $75,000 per year, and the average income of the townspeople, which is about $25,000 per year, and the teachers weren't willing to give a little more to help their students, about which they always profess such concern.

[Woody]

I've also 'heard' from some prominent sources, forgot their names, that Obama is directly linked to the recent earthquakes! Why I have even 'read' that a person called Woody is a closet liberal and maybe even a democrat! Lost that article also....hmmmm...maybe I can find it...nope...well you never know, I'm just saying!

:smilewink: :smilewink: :smilewink:

Hey ... I've even been accused of being a Jesuit. And I heard that the earthquake was all about God's anger against them sinful people in South and Central America.

HA HA !! Very Funny CoA. You need to read and associate with more reliable people.

[abelisle]

Here's another take on this issue from today's NYTimes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/education/03ravitch.html?ref=todayspaper

As a former teacher I am very disheartened about the market-based focus education has taken with its concentration on test scores as verification of teaching effectiveness. "Test scores do not a good teacher make!"

Students are losing out on a lot of things that could enhance their lives.(except for the rich in elite prep schools who have neither the testing constraints nor the lack of parental involvement) Most are in public schools where the No Child Left Behind act dominates what is taught in the classroom. It's all about test preparation now.

As for firing all those teachers - do they really think they can easily find bright young minds who want to go into teaching for the mediocre salaries being offered? Even when I served as a mentor for the young bright prospects coming out of the Teach for America programs, they for the most part were interested in working their way into administration as quickly as possibl or simply doing their 3 - 5 year stints to pay off teaching grants they received in grad school. The concept of making teaching a lifelong career has vanished.

I've always said that poor teaching could be corrected with strong oversight and supervision. Ironically, most of the Assistant Principals were teachers who wanted to get out of the classroom and took the necessary coursed to get accreditation for academic supervision. So you ended up with lousy teachers telling other teachers how to teach.

Lastly, the discipline issues in urban public schools is reaching catastrophic proportions. When I served as a Dean for 10 years in addition to teaching A.P. (Advanced Placement) classes,I saw things you would normally expect to see on the street or in prison. I personally disarmed students who had guns, knives and other weapons. I broke up fights nearly on a daily basis, dealt with drugs, drinking, sexual harassment issues et al.

We have a long way to go in this country to improve our educational system. There are no easy fixes - surely firing the staff isn't going to do it. In some parts of this country, if the effort and dedication applied to sports were also applied to learning, we would see great leaps in learning.

I could go on . . .

Alex (happily retired)

[Gail]

Yes, Alex- I gotta hand it to teaching staff, especially those in high schools. God help them all!

[phkrause]

Some very good points Alex. But maybe if the teachers see that schools are getting serious about the teachers doing a better job than maybe they will start doing there jobs to the best of there abilities, like you did.

pk