Charlie Steel's Blog - Posts Tagged "high-school"
PUNISHMENT OF TEACHERS
TEACHERS IN AMERICA
PUNISHMENT FOR TEACHERS AND THE ELIMINATION OF PROFESSIONALISM---TEACHING TO THE TEST
(THIS ARTICLE IS DIRECTED TO ALL AMERICANS. It was prompted by a Native American, Shawn Wright, and his project dealing with INDIAN STUDIES and TRUTH in the CLASSROOM. An earlier form of this article was posted some time ago, but received very little reaction, so it is being posted again.)
To Everyone,
Teachers and most parents want the truth taught in classrooms across the country. When it comes to Indian Studies many inaccurate books have been written and unfortunately, are still being used. Prejudices prevail and people can be misled. Thus, activists like Shawn Wright have come forward to clarify wrongs and direct teachers and school systems to accurate information.
However, there is a wrench to throw into the mix. Specifically, the truth about American Indians, Black History, or any other subject associated with American History is now more difficult and at times impossible to teach. Currently teachers have very little autonomy. Why? Because teachers are now controlled and have very little freedom to expound on other relevant subjects.
THIS SHORT ARTICLE IS ABOUT HOW ALL CONTROL HAS BEEN TAKEN AWAY FROM TEACHERS. Specifically, they can’t teach the truth about any subject, if they are NOT ALLOWED TO DO SO.
All across this land politics has entered the classroom, forcing teachers to teach to a test. The rest of the time teachers are forced (at home and late into the night) to write lesson plans they won't use AND TO DOCUMENT MEANINGLESS STATISTICS. Teaching is changing---and---not for the better.
Majorities of teachers are very dedicated and spend countless hours at home working on lesson plans, grading papers, recording grades, and filling out unnecessary and burdensome forms required by administration. (This extra work can involve 20-40 more additional hours of work outside the classroom, each week.) Most teachers average a thousand dollars or more per year purchasing paper, pencils, and school supplies for their students that administration refuses to purchase or have on hand.
The autonomy, professionalism, and standards good teachers once had are being stripped away by school boards, administrators, and politicians. They call it accountability, but what it really is, is direct subjugation of teachers. Administrators now follow ridiculous guidelines: "DO AS WE SAY, OR IN YOUR TEACHER EVALUATIONS WE WILL GIVE YOU POOR PERFORMANCE NUMBERS AND FIRE YOU." Worse, teaching to a test has all kinds of anti-intellectual reasoning behind it. Children are now being taught only what standards an OUTSIDE SOURCE DICTATES.
Other factors are societal and these issues also need to be addressed: Children can't learn if English is not their first language. Kids have a hard time getting ahead if they move a lot, are homeless, and hungry. In American Society this is becoming an alarming standard in the lives of children all across our country. It is these societal issues that go unaddressed.
Other factors are schools and classrooms that are substandard and falling apart. Heaters and air conditioning doesn't work, ceilings are sagging or falling, floors and stairways are in disrepair, pipes leak, and black mold affects the health of students and teachers alike.
Our social structure in America is falling apart due to economic deprivation, pervasive to so many parents and children. This has to do more with student poor performance than any other aspect of student learning. Teachers have become a societal scapegoat when the real culprits are American Citizens and POLITICIANS who refuse to provide proper funding for schools.
To phrase it another way, Politicians, School boards, and weak minded administrators are blaming teachers for children not learning, when the primary factors are societal.
For teachers to actually teach children ANYTHING---they first must have the freedom to do so. THIS ALSO MEANS THEY NEED THE TIME AND FREEDOM TO TEACH INDIAN STUDIES AND A MORE TRUTHFUL HISTORY---something they do not have.
For those teachers who are controlled (the majority across this land) you might consider this point: Teaching children a wide variety of information has been abandoned. Instead, across the United States of America, nearly every movement a teacher makes is now dictated to by administration. Teachers are NOT ALLOWED to be professionals and to teach what they know to be relevant. To a great extent in many classrooms across the country, TEACHERS ARE CONTROLLED and are forced to teach to a VERY ARBITRARY and IRRELEVANT TEST, or be fired.
THUS, THE CONTINUED DUMBING DOWN OF AMERICA!
(The teachers I interviewed are a very unhappy group, indeed.)
Charlie Steel's photos
1
PUNISHMENT FOR TEACHERS AND THE ELIMINATION OF PROFESSIONALISM---TEACHING TO THE TEST
(THIS ARTICLE IS DIRECTED TO ALL AMERICANS. It was prompted by a Native American, Shawn Wright, and his project dealing with INDIAN STUDIES and TRUTH in the CLASSROOM. An earlier form of this article was posted some time ago, but received very little reaction, so it is being posted again.)
To Everyone,
Teachers and most parents want the truth taught in classrooms across the country. When it comes to Indian Studies many inaccurate books have been written and unfortunately, are still being used. Prejudices prevail and people can be misled. Thus, activists like Shawn Wright have come forward to clarify wrongs and direct teachers and school systems to accurate information.
However, there is a wrench to throw into the mix. Specifically, the truth about American Indians, Black History, or any other subject associated with American History is now more difficult and at times impossible to teach. Currently teachers have very little autonomy. Why? Because teachers are now controlled and have very little freedom to expound on other relevant subjects.
THIS SHORT ARTICLE IS ABOUT HOW ALL CONTROL HAS BEEN TAKEN AWAY FROM TEACHERS. Specifically, they can’t teach the truth about any subject, if they are NOT ALLOWED TO DO SO.
All across this land politics has entered the classroom, forcing teachers to teach to a test. The rest of the time teachers are forced (at home and late into the night) to write lesson plans they won't use AND TO DOCUMENT MEANINGLESS STATISTICS. Teaching is changing---and---not for the better.
Majorities of teachers are very dedicated and spend countless hours at home working on lesson plans, grading papers, recording grades, and filling out unnecessary and burdensome forms required by administration. (This extra work can involve 20-40 more additional hours of work outside the classroom, each week.) Most teachers average a thousand dollars or more per year purchasing paper, pencils, and school supplies for their students that administration refuses to purchase or have on hand.
The autonomy, professionalism, and standards good teachers once had are being stripped away by school boards, administrators, and politicians. They call it accountability, but what it really is, is direct subjugation of teachers. Administrators now follow ridiculous guidelines: "DO AS WE SAY, OR IN YOUR TEACHER EVALUATIONS WE WILL GIVE YOU POOR PERFORMANCE NUMBERS AND FIRE YOU." Worse, teaching to a test has all kinds of anti-intellectual reasoning behind it. Children are now being taught only what standards an OUTSIDE SOURCE DICTATES.
Other factors are societal and these issues also need to be addressed: Children can't learn if English is not their first language. Kids have a hard time getting ahead if they move a lot, are homeless, and hungry. In American Society this is becoming an alarming standard in the lives of children all across our country. It is these societal issues that go unaddressed.
Other factors are schools and classrooms that are substandard and falling apart. Heaters and air conditioning doesn't work, ceilings are sagging or falling, floors and stairways are in disrepair, pipes leak, and black mold affects the health of students and teachers alike.
Our social structure in America is falling apart due to economic deprivation, pervasive to so many parents and children. This has to do more with student poor performance than any other aspect of student learning. Teachers have become a societal scapegoat when the real culprits are American Citizens and POLITICIANS who refuse to provide proper funding for schools.
To phrase it another way, Politicians, School boards, and weak minded administrators are blaming teachers for children not learning, when the primary factors are societal.
For teachers to actually teach children ANYTHING---they first must have the freedom to do so. THIS ALSO MEANS THEY NEED THE TIME AND FREEDOM TO TEACH INDIAN STUDIES AND A MORE TRUTHFUL HISTORY---something they do not have.
For those teachers who are controlled (the majority across this land) you might consider this point: Teaching children a wide variety of information has been abandoned. Instead, across the United States of America, nearly every movement a teacher makes is now dictated to by administration. Teachers are NOT ALLOWED to be professionals and to teach what they know to be relevant. To a great extent in many classrooms across the country, TEACHERS ARE CONTROLLED and are forced to teach to a VERY ARBITRARY and IRRELEVANT TEST, or be fired.
THUS, THE CONTINUED DUMBING DOWN OF AMERICA!
(The teachers I interviewed are a very unhappy group, indeed.)
Charlie Steel's photos
1
