The Vicious Cycle of Ineptitude in Education

on March 3, 2011 at 9:06 AM

blackboard Our education system is a mess, and there is no one thing to blame. Which makes things difficult, because fixing something with several broken parts is more difficult than fixing something with only one or two breaks.

Teachers in Wisconsin have abandoned their classrooms to protest paying a small portion of their medical and retirement benefits to fix the state budget. In New York, teachers guilty of “excessive lateness or absence, sexual misconduct with a student, physical abuse, incompetence, or use of drugs or alcohol” are kept away from the students in rubber rooms, but kept on the payroll. Los Angeles teachers fight to keep their ratings from being publicized. Half the schools in Detroit are shutting down, putting the high school student to teacher ratio at sixty-to-one.

Meanwhile, our kids aren’t getting any smarter. The majority of our kids don’t have a solid grasp on science, have trouble with history and social studies, and don’t have the math skills to compete on an international level.

And parents? Parents all want to believe their little darlings are the brightest, bestest, and prettiest of all, and any teacher that fails to recognize that must be incompetent. It seems that self-esteem is more important these days than an actual education.

What is going on? Who’s to blame for all this fail in our schools: The teachers, the students, the parents, or Sarah Palin? If we have to lay blame somewhere, I propose we point the finger at an elitist entitlement society that places more importance on kids’ feelings than on academics or respect for others.

We have kids that have no respect for authority, parents that would rather be friends with their progeny than parents, and teachers that are increasingly frustrated with ever-increasing class sizes full of the little monsters. Teachers that simply give up on trying to do a good job are nearly impossible to fire, and outrageous pension plans and too many administrators create a financial strain on the system and make it impossible to hire better teachers.

Parents and teachers need to work together to educate our kids. Bad teachers need to be replaced. Kids need to be taught the value of learning and to respect authority figures. If we can achieve that, we can achieve academic excellence.

Image via woodleywonderworks/Flickr

Filed Under: economy, in the news, politics, taxes, middle school, behavior, education, elementary school

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Comments (12)

purpleducky

on Mar 3, 2011 at 9:15 AM

I agree to an extent. The problems do reside in things like keeping misfit teachers who are not allowed to teach on the payroll just because they have tenure. But that only fixes some of the financial mess. The main problem is the material being taught. The material isn't really covered in depth anymore because of things like the No Child Left Behind Act. Children just need to know how to pass tests but not necessarily understand the material. We need to stop accepting this as good enough.

I disagree about respect for authority though. Respect has to be earned in my opinion. I think children need to be taught to be civil to everyone but not necessarily respectful. And children are coddled nowadays and given whatever they want and are not taught the proper rules of life.

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Stephensmom1214

on Mar 3, 2011 at 9:29 AM

For the record, the teachers in Wisconsin are not protesting paying extra for their benefits - they are protesting the loss of collective bargaining for their union, which is COMPLETELY different. Other than that, I agree with your article. Our children do not have a firm grasp on science, math, and literature because they are too busy hiding behind facebook and texting their friends. Perhaps without the instant gratifcation of the internet and cell phones/texting, kids might have to learn how to actually WORK.

Nonmember comment from Mike M

on Mar 3, 2011 at 9:55 AM

I personally am more tempted to suspect that our economy is largely to blame. Parents are often struggling to get by themselves so they have less time and money to spend on ensuring that their children are prepared and motivated towards succeeding. (How many families can live comfortably on a single income now vs. 3-4 decades ago?) And adults often vote against bills that are meant to improve their schools (or for bills that reduce taxes at the expense of our education system) - making the selfishness of the voting public part of the reason that our education system is the way it is. Also, as there are all kinds of activities that kids can choose from these days that they enjoy doing instead of school work they have to work harder towards motivating themselves to do the boring work they're given than someone from the previous generation who didn't have so many enjoyable things that they can distract themselves with after school (with cell phones and the Internet being significant distractors as they allow people to communicate with anyone, anywhere, and at any time - a privilege that the older generations went without and thus they don't fully appreciate the difficulties that today's youth are facing in terms of acquiring the motivation to do the kinds of menial work that are required by members of the workforce).

ProudSingleMum

on Mar 3, 2011 at 12:25 PM

I think it's funny that you say ". It seems that self-esteem is more important these days than an actual education." Because from what I can tell, there is a MAJOR lack of self-esteem going around these days. See, getting a trophy all because you particpated doesn't actually HELP self esteem. You're just like everyone else. It doesn't help you see the special things about yourself that can give you a boost in self esteem. Plus, the 'mean girl' attitude runs across the board. Which again, isn't about self esteem, but rather about finding the faults of others so you can feel superior. True self esteem doesn't have anything to do with other people. You don't need them to like who you are.

Maybe if more kids HAD self esteem they'd take pride in their work. They'd strive to get better grades because of how wonderful it would make them feel. As it stands now, they are and always will be on the same level as everyone else, 'becuase they participated'. It's sad.

starrsitter

on Mar 3, 2011 at 12:39 PM

In addition to the WI teachers having made concessions on salary and benefits, the NYC district has eliminated the "rubber rooms" you talk about, too. LA teachers fought to keep their ratings out of the NEWSPAPER, which is unfair anyways considering the amount of information on public employees that is already public record and, as such, available to anyone who puts forth enough effort to obtain it. And, well...Detroit is practically a wasteland. May all the gods bless anyone who is willing to remain there to teach.

Perhaps if students (and the families and communities) took even the slightest bit of responsibility for their education, we could stop blaming he teachers for all the world's ills.

cmarie452

on Mar 3, 2011 at 12:57 PM

Exactly starsitter!! I went to a small school in an economically depressed part of PA. We didn't have the best school materials, books, etc but our teachers cared and did the best they could with what they had. Of course our science scores were low, our book still said that the earth was flat! Although I think parents sometimes need more leeway. Parents are already overwhelmed with raising and supporting kids and if they're anything like the parents in my hometown, working to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads took precedence over helping with homework. It's a vicious cycle that won't get any better until things change. Teachers deserve and need their rights, they are doing a saint's work in some schools. Parents need to teach their kids about hard work and responsiblity. The government needs to realize that families need tax breaks more than billionaires. It just keeps going around because nothing changes.

HistoryMamaX3

on Mar 3, 2011 at 3:36 PM

The US spends more on education than any other country... and we still rank lower. It isn't about money- we can throw as much as we want on the problem and it isn't going to fix the system.

We don't hold our children to the standards they need to be, we coddle them and try to comfort them in their journey. We hold their hands and try to teach them that the world is a fair and happy place. It isn't. They are not prepared for the real world and we are only creating generations of selfish and spoiled underachievers.

Parents and Students MUST be held accountable. The good teachers can't keep working in a system that is against them- only the bad will remain because they are getting something else out of it.

We're afraid of change and we're afraid to face the facts that not all of our wonderful children are created equal or are little angels... until we can accept these facts, we're never going to change.

kiri8

on Mar 3, 2011 at 4:09 PM

"Teachers in Wisconsin have abandoned their classrooms to protest paying a small portion of their medical and retirement benefits to fix the state budget"

This is out and out incorrect. Teachers are used to having their medical and retirement benefits cut; that happens every year or two. The teachers in Wisconsin were protesting the governor's plan to eliminate collective bargaining and kneecap the unions.

The "rubber room" in NYC was real, and extremely shameful. However, I believe it has been closed by the NYC school district, so you are out of date on your information there. Los Angeles teachers fought to have their inaccurate ratings publicized. They were publicized anyway, even though they contained huge factual errors.

Nonmember comment from Anon

on Mar 3, 2011 at 4:22 PM

Can anyone name one way in which unions have improved education from the child's perspective? I mean something you can prove, not some crap about "happier teachers mean bla bla bla." Not that I've ever seen a group of unionized teachers acting happy. Unions are all about negativity and the results show it. If I were a teacher I would vote them out ASAP.

purplepolkadots

on Mar 3, 2011 at 6:38 PM

Speaking of poorly educated and not up to standard, how about this article? As several have already mentioned, it contains inaccuracies. The most glaring is "Teachers in Wisconsin have abandoned their classrooms..." Yes, collective bargaining is the issue, and besides that, it was only a handful of 400+ school districts who staged sickouts (when the sickouts were happening, which they no longer are). Not defending the sickouts, but you can't paint all WI teachers with such a broad brush.

As to what unions do for children, a lot. Unions advocate for teacher quality/qualifications, proper and appropriate class sizes, and classroom conditions, including the ability of a teacher to remove a disruptive student from the classroom so that others may learn.

I have to ask, Jenny, what's the point of you printing these generalized and finger-pointing posts? You're entitled to your opinion, but let's at least try to have a substantive debate based on facts!