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Harryk

wrote:
On Thu, 17 Mar 2011 23:16:00 -0700, wrote:

On Thu, 17 Mar 2011 22:23:32 -0400, wrote:

On Thu, 17 Mar 2011 15:22:01 -0700, wrote:

He is right about merit pay for teachers too so that is 2 things in a
couple months. If a politician gets one big thing right a month I will
be happy with them.
What does he say about merit pay? Seems like a good idea to me.

I just saw a tivo of 60 minutes...$125K for charter school teachers.
Apparently, it hasn't made a difference in kids' performance, at least
not so far.

I saw that show and it is significant that these were "at risk" kids.
I believe it will take time to turn them around.

I do believe that teachers should be paid by their performance and not
just time in grade, particularly since you can't really get rid of a
bad teacher.

One problem is that "performance" is too closely linked to the results
of "standardized testing," and all those tests really test is whether
the kids memorized those parts of their lessons that appear on the
tests. The test results do not tell you if the kids are learning
anything significant or, just as important, how to think.

Then there are all the other pressures we've placed on teachers in the
last 50 years. These days, teachers are expected to socialize kids,
teach them manners, not hurt their feelings, wipe their noses, and deal
with substance abuse and a plethora of other issues that should be the
responsibility of the parents of the kids.

My father had two rules in the household that had to be obeyed: respect
your mother at all times and don't ever talk back to your teachers or
misbehave in school. I wonder how many kids have those rules impressed
upon them these days.

We weren't angels in school, but the sort of mischief we got into was
pretty innocent compared to what I see these days. Our sole security
officer at the high school wasn't worried about kids with guns or knives
or kids on serious drugs. His biggest issue was the kids who left the
campus and school property at lunchtime to run down to the nearby
Italian deli and get a lunch more to their liking than what was being
served in the cafeteria. It didn't help his cause when he chased us back
to school and then lingered to order and pickup a cold cut sub
at the deli.

I recall one time some kid brought a knife to school. He was permanently
expelled.