The Get It Out Of Your System Education Thread

[bigheadfred]

@Smokin Joe @verga @geronl

I am a product of public education. Growing up in small town America has/had its advantages. I graduated from high school in 1979. With a huge academic scholarship. I had some fantastic teachers. I had some lame asses. Those mostly were coaches pretending to be teachers. Like the wrestling coach/Biology I & II teacher. He hated my guts. Acing every test plus the extra credit questions made him angry.

Hats off to my sophomore English teacher. Top notch. It was she that taught me how to mangulate the language with exemplipetal force.

And my Calculus prof in college. He told us he didn't care if we learned calculus. He told us he was trying to teach us how to THINK.

Now it is yours all turn. Edumacate me.

[Cripplecreek]

@Smokin Joe @verga @geronl

I am a product of public education. Growing up in small town America has/had its advantages. I graduated from high school in 1979. With a huge academic scholarship. I had some fantastic teachers. I had some lame asses. Those mostly were coaches pretending to be teachers. Like the wrestling coach/Biology I & II teacher. He hated my guts. Acing every test plus the extra credit questions made him angry.

Hats off to my sophomore English teacher. Top notch. It was she that taught me how to mangulate the language with exemplipetal force.

And my Calculus prof in college. He told us he didn't care if we learned calculus. He told us he was trying to teach us how to THINK.

Now it is yours all turn. Edumacate me.

I flunked kindergarten

[bigheadfred]

I flunked kindergarten

The school year barely started and you're done? I guess you'll have to eat your lunch all by yourself.

Which reminds me of this guy I used to work with. Every day at noon he would look  in his lunchbox and bitch, "Peanut butter and jelly again". I asked him one day why he didn't have his wife make him something else? He said "My wife? I make my own lunch...".

[goodwithagun]

I teach ELA and social studies in an urban high school. It's not easy, but I've come to look at it as my ministry. My kids attend our local private Catholic school and I get crap from both sides. I don't care! I'm staying in the public system because I work with "teachers" who literally sit on their butts and do nothing but collect pay checks. I stick around for the students that want to learn and the students that don't know they want to learn. It's frustrating, heartbreaking, and rewarding at the same time. I work from within to make a mockery of the union, our progressive discipline policy, and Ohio's state mandated cooperative learning groups. Pray for conservative public school teachers. We're fighting the good fight even though we're surrounded on all sides.

[goodwithagun]

I flunked kindergarten

Trump voter?

[Cripplecreek]

Trump voter?

Hardly

[goodwithagun]

Hardly

I know CC, I just couldn't resist! I've been prepping all day for the next two days and now that the kiddos are tucked in, I might be nipping at a cheep bottle of red 

[mountaineer]

I teach ELA and social studies in an urban high school. It's not easy, but I've come to look at it as my ministry. ..

My hat's off to you, gwag. 

[goodwithagun]

My hat's off to you, gwag. 

 

[Bigun]

@Smokin Joe @verga @geronl

I am a product of public education. Growing up in small town America has/had its advantages. I graduated from high school in 1979. With a huge academic scholarship. I had some fantastic teachers. I had some lame asses. Those mostly were coaches pretending to be teachers. Like the wrestling coach/Biology I & II teacher. He hated my guts. Acing every test plus the extra credit questions made him angry.

Hats off to my sophomore English teacher. Top notch. It was she that taught me how to mangulate the language with exemplipetal force.

And my Calculus prof in college. He told us he didn't care if we learned calculus. He told us he was trying to teach us how to THINK.

Now it is yours all turn. Edumacate me.

I am also a public school product albeit LONG before you (1966, Went to my 50 year reunion this year) and from what I can see public schools today bear very little resemblance to what they were when I was in them. 

BTW:   I absolutely HATED diagraming sentences and it probably shows!

[Bigun]

I teach ELA and social studies in an urban high school. It's not easy, but I've come to look at it as my ministry. My kids attend our local private Catholic school and I get crap from both sides. I don't care! I'm staying in the public system because I work with "teachers" who literally sit on their butts and do nothing but collect pay checks. I stick around for the students that want to learn and the students that don't know they want to learn. It's frustrating, heartbreaking, and rewarding at the same time. I work from within to make a mockery of the union, our progressive discipline policy, and Ohio's state mandated cooperative learning groups. Pray for conservative public school teachers. We're fighting the good fight even though we're surrounded on all sides.

I salute you!   

We need many more just like you!

[bigheadfred]

I teach ELA and social studies in an urban high school. It's not easy, but I've come to look at it as my ministry. My kids attend our local private Catholic school and I get crap from both sides. I don't care! I'm staying in the public system because I work with "teachers" who literally sit on their butts and do nothing but collect pay checks. I stick around for the students that want to learn and the students that don't know they want to learn. It's frustrating, heartbreaking, and rewarding at the same time. I work from within to make a mockery of the union, our progressive discipline policy, and Ohio's state mandated cooperative learning groups. Pray for conservative public school teachers. We're fighting the good fight even though we're surrounded on all sides.

I work with people who are only there to collect a paycheck. My craft is my art and my art is my craft. It is very frustrating trying to teach people who don't want to learn. My boss says it may be a language barrier sometimes. Bullllsh... We do work in the Jackson Hole market. The boss marched a new customer/contractor back yesterday to introduce me to him. The guy has seen my work and came to where he could get it.

The finisher/painter showed up this morning and asked me what I was so POed about. He says you are the only one here. Fixing this messed up crap from yesterday...

[Sanguine]

Yes, I'm a product of public ed too and an ex-teacher.  I'm not very complimentary of the process overall.  I had and worked with some very good, very dedicated teachers.  They are not the majority, but then above average is never the majority.

I really feel like I educated myself, with a few pushes and prods from the occasional good teacher.  School doesn't really accommodate kids on either end of the Bell curve. Modified:  that sounds wrong.  "Normal", non-quirky kids do ok.  Others...not so much.

When teaching, keeping up with the bureaucracy made actual teaching a secondary priority.  The kids always needed more than I could give them. 

And, that's my 10 cents worth.

[goodwithagun]

I work with people who are only there to collect a paycheck. My craft is my art and my art is my craft. It is very frustrating trying to teach people who don't want to learn. My boss says it may be a language barrier sometimes. Bullllsh... We do work in the Jackson Hole market. The boss marched a new customer/contractor back yesterday to introduce me to him. The guy has seen my work and came to where he could get it.

The finisher/painter showed up this morning and asked me what I was so POed about. He says you are the only one here. Fixing this messed up crap from yesterday...

It's everywhere. I'm 37, and 16 years ago I managed our city's pool. At 21 I struggled to find 16-20 year olds with a work ethic. It was really strange, but that trend has continued.

[goodwithagun]

Yes, I'm a product of public ed too and an ex-teacher.  I'm not very complimentary of the process overall.  I had and worked with some very good, very dedicated teachers.  They are not the majority, but then above average is never the majority.

I really feel like I educated myself, with a few pushes and prods from the occasional good teacher.  School doesn't really accommodate kids on either end of the Bell curve.

When teaching, keeping up with the bureaucracy made actual teaching a secondary priority.  The kids always needed more than I could give them. 

And, that's my 10 cents worth.

The new teacher evaluation system in Ohio is a perfect example of that. I spend hours creating redundant paperwork! It puts the evaluation at the local level. Great, right? Well the system in which I teach has so much nepotism it's practically incestuous. The superintendent's daughter, for example, became an administrator at the ripe age of 24. So the bad teachers that don't teach but coach (football is state champ bound again) get a pass.

[DB]

I flunked kindergarten

Hey, I had three years of kindergarten... Top that...

[Bigun]

Yes, I'm a product of public ed too and an ex-teacher.  I'm not very complimentary of the process overall.  I had and worked with some very good, very dedicated teachers.  They are not the majority, but then above average is never the majority.

I really feel like I educated myself, with a few pushes and prods from the occasional good teacher.  School doesn't really accommodate kids on either end of the Bell curve. Modified:  that sounds wrong.  "Normal", non-quirky kids do ok.  Others...not so much.

When teaching, keeping up with the bureaucracy made actual teaching a secondary priority.  The kids always needed more than I could give them. 

And, that's my 10 cents worth.

@Sanguine When I made my one and only foray into the political arena as a candidate (ran for state rep back in 1994) one of my campaign themes was that "Teachers in our public schools could do with a little less "help" from people in agencies who's only purpose in life is to justify their existence ."   Can you see why I wasn't elected?

[Sanguine]

@Sanguine When I made my one and only foray into the political arena as a candidate (ran for state rep back in 1994) one of my campaign themes was that "Teaches in our public schools could do with a little less "help" from people in agencies who's only purpose in life is to justify their existence ."   Can you see why I wasn't elected?

Well, you should have been, @Bigun!

[Bigun]

Well, you should have been, @Bigun!

Glad to know I was on the right track!

[goodwithagun]

@Sanguine When I made my one and only foray into the political arena as a candidate (ran for state rep back in 1994) one of my campaign themes was that "Teachers in our public schools could do with a little less "help" from people in agencies who's only purpose in life is to justify their existence ."   Can you see why I wasn't elected?

I'd have voted for you 

[Bigun]

I'd have voted for you 

TYVM!!! 

[Elderberry]

I'm also a product of public schools in the Houston suburbs. Elementary school is where my teachers really excelled. In elementary school we performed live frog dissections and number base conversions. I did not understand having to take a Spanish language class in the 5th grade though.That was when they expected you to put the effort in and apply yourself. The rest of my schools, not so much. I did have one college electronics instructor that taught us just like in elementary. He really ground it into us and he had so many problems on his tests that if you weren't in robot replay mode, you didn't have the time to make it thru. My Calc4 class was with a new book that the book store didn't have and there were none in the library. Try taking a math class with no book.

So I dropped out and joined the Navy. I loved the work. I loved the comradery. I hated the governmental bullshit.

A few years after I got out, I'm back in school some part time, some full time, while  working full time. I changed my major from organic chemistry to computer hardware. Eleven years after I started college, I graduated and off to work as a NASA subcontractor. I loved the work. I loved the comradery. I hated the governmental bullshit. 

I've always hated being told what to do. Just let me know what it is that you think you want.

[montanajoe]

I have a couple of kids in the public elementary system and they are doing very well, mostly get  A's and are learning stuff I didn't see until junior hi, or high school. They take the common core tests a couple of times a year and I find it interesting to see how they compare nationally. We uniformly have good teachers up  here and from my observation of the teachers and the kids a good teacher can teach no matter what the curriculum and if students have a good teacher they learn no matter what the curriculum.

For some common core is just political code for way to much government involvement in education. I get that, but if you have kids you have to be involved in their education on a daily basis if you want them to succeed.....

[bigheadfred]

Somewhere I was reading some comments about how the public schools of today are only there to prove up  and consolidate how crappy parents are today.

I admit I don't know much about Common corpse or whatever it is. I know when I was in school, up through high school, they didn't have a problem applying the board of education across the rear. And people failed.

There were winners and there were losers.

I probably should pay more attention but since I am a grandparent I don't. I care about the progress of the g kids. I helped my grandson, the first grader, with a project. He needed a "fall' leaf and a short write up about it. The neighbors have a nice maple that had some good big leaves. We selected a few and pressed them flat between some books and then put the one he wanted in a photo album page. Behind the plastic. My son told us J was the only kid that had such a great presentation and the teacher appreciated that someone had taken the time with the kid to try a little harder.

I dislike half-assed crap. And I had a discussion about that subject with the grandson.

Other than that my grandson said his teacher said we should vote for Trump because he had a nice family and Hillary killed babies.

[Smokin Joe]

I've always hated being told what to do. Just let me know what it is that you think you want.

Oh, I don't mind specs, but I really want to know the objective. Just what is it you want to accomplish?

I ran into that in industry, too, with some oil companies willing to test every zone that showed promise (an absolute joy to work for, and companies I found a lot of oil for, because they let me) and others who dogmatically insisted that there couldn't be any oil where we found it, but it HAD  to be where we didn't. (Their computer told them so).

Loved the work, worked with some absolutely wonderful people, a rare few jerks, but hated megacorp BS when and where I encountered it.