we are no long allowed to learn or teach about this planet

[Refoogee]

with the general effect of slowing the entire class down to the rate of the worst student.

That would make sense from the naming scheme, but it really had little to do with that. While the goal indeed was to "bridge the gap" between student performance, in order to do this NCLB requires all public schools receiving federal funding to administer nationwide standardized testing. In order to receive Title I funding, schools would need to achieve "Adequate Yearly Progress" on the testing scores. The amount of funding you got was directly proportional to average student results on standardized testing, you could lose students and funding if your school performed poorly.

This has resulted in an education program that teaches a narrow skillset that's designed to increase test performance, rather than achieving any sort of understanding of the curriculum. For example, a teacher would teach you how to drill out answers (rote memorization skills), but not the theory as to why the methodology they're teaching works (logical thinking, abstract thinking, and creative thinking skills). Not because they wouldn't want to, per se, but doing so would be a waste of time that could be spent on testing skills.

[Jonnydread]

I taught high school for two years in the public sector during the era of “No child left behind”. I loved it, but between pressure from administration, low pay, and the fact that uninvolved parents love to jump on any opportunity to criticize you, it’s soul crushing.

Education is so hugely important, but similarly to politics, it will always be a business unless the influence of money can be removed from it.

I went to public and private school and have had some fantastic teachers and some awful ones that are clearly teaching their own agenda. The best teachers have helped me form the person I am, while the worst ones have taught me to avoid certain ideological sections, especially those that like to stick their heads in the sand.

Personally, I think the Montessori style of schools can be hugely successful as it teaches to a wide variety of learning styles. Not many kids, especially in this age of constant over-stimulation, can learn effectively from the Socratic experience. I have found that more and more younger people need kinesthetic learning to be successful, which I reckon has something to do with the general movement from “go out and play” to “don’t bother me for a while here’s an iPad”.

Like others are hinting towards, teachers and parents need to collaborate to be effective. This can be a big challenge if one party isn’t fully in. Kids need to be taught facts and meta-thought so they can form opinions that are truly their own, but they also need to be able to explore and express themselves- and this is a HUGE undertaking. Humans are a K-selected species and the more time we put into our young the more amazing adults they will become, and in this country our educational system by and large does not allow for many of them to flourish.

[flyweightnate]

Absolutely, kinesthetic learning is neglected. I like the classical method, or at least its structure. Laws (e.g. of physics), then logic, then rhetoric. Learn to reason, not to memorize.

My wife grew up in a communist nation, as it became a democracy. The method there was a statist as it comes. Memorize, verbatim, the book the state published, and quote it back. Great for cogs in the machine of the state, but not exactly a breeding ground for innovation.

As a teacher now, she strongly prefers her small, private school to the massive, bureaucratic public school and the "policies" it entailed.

[DocsMachine]

That would make sense from the naming scheme, but it really had little to do with that. While the goal indeed was to "bridge the gap" between student performance, in order to do this NCLB requires all public schools receiving federal funding to administer nationwide standardized testing. In order to receive Title I funding, schools would need to achieve "Adequate Yearly Progress" on the testing scores. The amount of funding you got was directly proportional to average student results on standardized testing, you could lose students and funding if your school performed poorly.

-Exactly. With the practical upshot being that the teacher(s) needed to spend extra time with the slower students in order to help them keep up, which in real terms meant less time for the brighter kids.

This has resulted in an education program that teaches a narrow skillset that's designed to increase test performance, rather than achieving any sort of understanding of the curriculum.

-That's exactly what I said in my first post The kids are being taught what to think, not how to think.

J-Dreads mentioned Montessori, and I quite agree there. My mom started out as a Montessori teacher, so I had the advantage of essentially several years of that. Looking back at it later, I have no doubt it helped me a great deal, and can easily recommend it. (Like any of these, it'll depend on the skill of the teacher, but I suspect there's less burnout dealing with 4 and 5 year olds. )

Doc.

[Grendel]

You all do realize that this whole diatribe was started by a linked image that is based on satirical quote not something actually said by the state secretary of education?

[minigscanada]

Somehow it found a bunch of retired teachers excited to exercise their grammar, they are clearly not interrested about the real issue, space butt jokes. They hacked this to showoff paper and expect to get A minus (urAminus)

[chrislognshot]

so your one found my 04-01-2023 joke

[flyweightnate]

That's the best part of MCB... we don't take tangents, we take secants!

... now we need to figure out how to tie this back to the meme or Uranus. Perhaps a joke about Mar while discussing education?

[DocsMachine]

I'll start: "I heard it rains mayonnaise on Uranus. Any truth to that?"



Doc.

[minigscanada]

humanity as better chance to see men step foot on uranus, then foot on myanus

[Tarsun2]

i thought they already changed the name to stop this foolishness.

nasa (not racing) was able to come to an agreement and finally change the name, i believe it now called urectum.


and as far as teaching, it was my major until i did a day of student teaching. nope, not for me. my father was in the field his whole working life.
he agreed, unless its something you really want to do, you probably wont be a "good" teacher.
i changed my major shortly after.

[cellophane]

All Hail the Hypnotoad!

[chrislognshot]

dude did you see date it was posted and somehow we had discussion on april fouls joke and day post. it was 04-01-2023 post to be funny. but board wanted to have discussion and debate on it

[bellicose]

My wife teaches 3rd grade, and my son is in her class. They are talking about the planets in class, and she tells the students the two different ways to say Uranus, anticipating giggles. Kids laugh of course, but my son was saying it was funny because Uranus sounds like urine. My wife tells him (at home) what an anus is to describe why people think it can be funny. He'd take two steps, say "your anus" and laugh. Take another two steps and repeat the process. Took him a while to cross the room.

[Redragoon]

-Exactly. With the practical upshot being that the teacher(s) needed to spend extra time with the slower students in order to help them keep up, which in real terms meant less time for the brighter kids.



-That's exactly what I said in my first post The kids are being taught what to think, not how to think.

J-Dreads mentioned Montessori, and I quite agree there. My mom started out as a Montessori teacher, so I had the advantage of essentially several years of that. Looking back at it later, I have no doubt it helped me a great deal, and can easily recommend it. (Like any of these, it'll depend on the skill of the teacher, but I suspect there's less burnout dealing with 4 and 5 year olds. )

Doc.

Doc is completely right on this for how the current system functions.

If your class has learned great concepts and enjoys class, but they fail their required assessment. Then the teacher is reprimanded for not adhering to the set curriculum. I know there are many public school teachers who have already retired from other positions and just want a continued paycheck and routine. A teacher who genuinely cares about the students gets told they cannot teach the class different from what is expected without proving they still meet the arbitrary standards.

The standards also do not work. They just create an environment where the teachers are awarded for a class that passes standardized tests, not how well they exhibit problem solving.
In SC, passing Algebra 2 was a requirement to graduate High School. A school with students who don't pass this, don't graduate. Then the school rating is bad. Therefore, they must ensure that the students pass even if they aren't understanding the material. Arriving at the university, there were so many students from in and out of state programs who were retaking arithmetic courses. I can understand that some may be at different levels of development, but how are they leaving HS without knowing algebra?

Most of the highest graded students were also known for cheating just to keep their GPAs high. Getting high marks was more important that knowing/learning the material. I won't claim that you shouldn't strive for the best grades, but if you always have the highest grades, then are you learning anything new?



HOWEVER, kids are awful. Teenagers are especially bad.
We have all seen this first hand at the paintball field. Doesn't listen to refs, argues, forgets basic rules.
That's why I shoot them in Uranus. lol
I could not imagine actually teaching classes at a school. I would not be able to manage or put forth the effort.

[flyweightnate]

That was a proper secant. Rant, then a paintball themed callback to the OP. Well done.

[chrislognshot]

not sure how it got this far. but remember this. it was post on day of 04-01-2023 so how did go this far discussion on topic. thought someone would caught that.

[minigscanada]

The teachers april fooled your april thread! got ya.
They teached you a lesson while sticking paper fish on your back only to laugh in the backroom around the coffee machine making jokes about uranus

[Grendel]

See post #20

[martix_agent]

Honestly with all the insane things happening in Florida, it shocks nobody for another insane thing to happen.

[DocsMachine]

Honestly with all the insane things happening in Florida, it shocks nobody for another insane thing to happen.

-It's worth noting that that "Statue of David" thing, which this Uranus bit is satirizing, was not in the least bit true. The lady did lose her job, but it was due to general incompetence- she'd been screwing up for months, and was going to get fired anyway. The media just tacked on the statue thing as a way to make it a viral political meme- which clearly worked.

Doc.

[chrislognshot]

but yet star of David can get past facebook code of conduct.

[Tarsun2]

theres always more to a story.

[chrislognshot]

theres always more to a story.

so april first joke there more to story, it was satire of joke

[Chuck E Ducky]

He was responding to a comment about how the news media is very selective on the parts of a story it tells. Big media is in the business of “making the news” not “reporting the news”. It’s the cable version of hive mind click bait today. What can we be baited into being outraged over today?

[Tarsun2]

lol
no, i meant theres always more to a story you hear on the news.
like the McDonalds coffee lawsuit.
or the bakery that refused to make the wedding cake to the way the couple wanted.

[DocsMachine]

The coffee lawsuit is a perfect example of how the media works today- and has for decades. It doesn't matter what the truth is, it matters what you can make people believe. To this day, some thirty years after the coffee thing, and despite plenty of debunking sites like Snopes, the vast majority of people still think the suit was frivolous.

Yeah, that 'statue of David' thing has been "debunked", but out of the millions who read the original story- and, by the way, want to believe it- only a fraction of those have read anything about it being debunked. So yeah, a story might get retracted, 'corrected' or debunked later, but it's too late- a million people already read the headline and believe it.

Nobody reads the actual story- getting the headline out, and 'going viral', regardless of how true it might be, especially if it makes your political opponents look bad, is the important part.

Doc.