Where the foxes caper unmolested, the government packs your school lunch, and by the way, does the tone of instruction met with your approval, Jimmy?
Regulations detailing what schools must ask pupils about have yet to be drawn up but ministers hinted in Parliament they would be wide-ranging.
In the House of Lords, Children’s Minister Baroness Morgan said: ‘As a minimum, schools should seek and take account of pupils’ views on policies on the delivery of the curriculum, behaviour, the uniform, school food, health and safety, equalities and sustainability, not simply on what colour to paint the walls.’
Ministers have already issued guidance to schools saying pupils can have a role in recruiting staff and observe lessons to give feedback on how well they believe they are being taught.
What the heck is wrong with these people?
Is the air there that deprived of oxygen or something?
Good grief.
Now this is a slow motion train wreck.
“Fox and chicken coop” may be a good starting point for this debate. No regrets in leaving this hopeless situation 40 years ago.
First of all, I hope my opinion won’t be lost in the white noise of liberal-bashing that usually dominates these threads.
That said, the left does seem to often be either willingly or blindly ignorant of human nature itself. Their absurd revulsion to punishing criminals is ample evidence of that.
And watch almost any parent in public with an unruly child and chances are you’ll witness them NEGOTIATING with the kid. One of the key responsibilities of any parent is to teach their kids to accept the directive “NO”. It helps reenforce character traits ranging from patience to self-confidence to self-reliance.
As much as we like to claim to be free, answering to higher authorities is an important part of a functioning society.
To fool children into believing they are entering a world where they are always empowered is stupid and dangerous. IMO, they are ‘breeding’ a generation of citizens who will expect things are due to them. No sacrifices, no need to compete.
A generation of followers.
My daughters will slaughter them in the real world.
Well, there goes “the neighbourhood.”
When you get to this point–or the point, as we have here, of putting police officers in our schools–it’s a complete capitulation to and admission of abject failure.
When the adults refuse to be adults–which means making difficult decisions and being accountable–and ask children to make adult decisions, it’s game over.
Good Lord, deliver us.
Canadian Observer, I appreciate what you’ve said. You’re right. However, as for your statement “My daughters will slaughter them in the real world,” I’m afraid you don’t quite get it: There won’t be a “real world.” There already isn’t a real world.
The entitled brats are, as I write, on the rampage: just try to get ANY kind of service ANYWHERE. If you make any criticism at all of the way you’re NOT being served (SERVED?? What’s THAT?), these spoiled autonomons who’ve been pandered to and empowered to be brats begin to drip with contempt and become petulent and “offended.”
It’s time to head for the hills, the only problem being: Where would they be?
Let me be a little more specific, Canadian Observer, about what I mean.
When your daughters discover that their boss is one of the spoiled, entitled, me-only, empowered to do what s/he wants, when s/he wants type, their common sense and their being responsible and accountable will not be appreciated. In fact, when they expect accountability from their boss or anyone in that work environment, they will be deeply resented.
If you are an adult in a work environment which has been infantalized, you find that you are a complete fish out of water–and, as Leonard Cohen has so succinctly put it, things begin to slide in all directions … because … there’s nothing you can measure anymore … (The Future)
Being an adult in a playpen is tough.
The inmates are being empowered to critique and run the asylum.
It will be interesting to see which group wins in the end, the student’s union or the teacher’s union.
Did we try this in the late 60s or early 70s? I don’t seem to remember hearing of any success stories from those experiments.
“Did we try this in the late 60s or early 70s?”
I remember trying this on with teachers and administration in those days. Fortunately, adults were in charge and they gave respect and consideration for our opinions, but didn’t yield on anything important, thankfully. Unfortunately, the adults aren’t in charge now; just put your trust in the baroness, who likely doesn’t have any kids in those schools.
oz, it would seem we are not in kansas anymore.
“Meanwhile Dr John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, representing thousands of secondary heads, said: ‘This is crazy.
“’I’m a strong supporter of pupil voice but schools are increasingly consulting pupils because they think it is the right thing, not because Government tells them to.
“’I am furious that yet another in this continual stream of legal and educational duties is being placed on schools.
“’They all bring unintended [but not unforeseen] consequences.’”
I altogether agree with Dr. Dunford, batb, and the other commenters here. The public education system in this country has already dumbed down about as much as possible. The responsible, professional teacher is treated like a serf (the less responsible one, too, but this kind of teacher is complicit in the dirty game): the students and their parents—usually the worst of the lot—already have the upper hand. To cover the mess, schools pile on more and more anti-bullying programs and behaviour codes: the only problem is that there are almost never any serious consequences for the kids. The inmates are truly running the asylum.
The teachers? Try disciplining an unruly, rude, entitled student: he complains to Mom. Mom complains to administration. Administration hauls in the teacher and gives him/her the third degree. Teachers are cowed and humiliated—the better they do their job, the more likely they are to be targeted. Really. Over the past 15 years, I can count only one teacher I know who’s stayed on until 65 (with optimum pension): most get out as soon as they can. The ones still in the system, for self-preservation—why put oneself in humiliation’s way, to what end?—often turn a blind eye to student insubordination and entitlement—or just deal with it themselves as best they can. (When push comes to shove, the students win far too often.)
What about the unions? Big problems here. First of all, the unions are full of lefties whose deficient and unintelligent brains are in magic thinking mode. Also, I’ve found that most union reps want to become administrators: conflict of interest here: they altogether soft pedal teacher complaints against bullying administrators (who might, later on, be interviewing them for an admin. position)—and “bullying” is what they’re now required to be.
Principals and VPs, who make huge salaries and are generally left wing apparatchiks, a few bricks short of a load in the conscience department, are “agents” (more like enforcers) of the ministry and boards: they are now middle management, whose job it is to turn policy into practice—no matter how looney toon and counter productive: think Dunford’s “unintended consequences”. Parents and students are considered “clients” and are pandered to at every turn. No requirement of the teacher is considered too much. As a result, the burden on teachers has expanded exponentially in the last decade or so. (They go to endless meetings, complete endless amounts of paperwork, deal with changing curriculum and technology requirements at a dizzying speed, and get no respect.)
No one in the ministry, board, or administration appears to inventory all the demands: once the bucket of water (teacher responsibility and workload) is full, one cannot keep throwing in boulders—without letting out some of the water already there. The unions have barely addressed this huge problem. Teachers are burned out and exhausted—also dispirited, knowing they’ll be thrown to the dogs at the first sign of a teacher/pupil conflict. The politics of teaching these days pretty well guarantee that the teacher CANNOT do his/her best. The system punishes those who try.
batb describes the consequences for our society very well. We’re rearing angry, spoiled brats in adult bodies: a very dangerous combination. Imagine one of them being your boss, financial advisor, doctor, lawyer, caregiver, etc. Excellence in performance and personal responsibility are not their strong suit. Entitlement is. Help.
You don’t ask children to deal with adult issues. There is a reason why. Children do not have the maturity or life experience to make sound judgements. These new age, touchy-feely ideas are nuts.
“If you are an adult in a work environment which has been infantalized, ”
As someone who works a lot in the post secondary school system with professors, I know what you mean.
Dear Luftwaffe: come back, all is forgiven
Excellent posts BATB and lookout from the trenches where you see the resulting disaster of our lefty, feel-good policies.
This week’s Macleans on universities has their critique on what type of student they are receiving and it is not good. The universities are having to implement remedial math, science and English courses as the students are so poor in those subjects. University is the first time for a great percentage of students that they are faced with failure, something unknown to them. As we have seen in earlier threads students expect a B just for making an effort!
Macleans also pointed out that skewed results for Canada’s position on educational achievement is at the 15 year old level and not at the end of high school where these standards blatently fail. Kids can and do drop the hard subjects like maths and science just to obtain a high average for university entrance requirements. Chinese or Indian students expect and receive maths and science all through high school and work hard at them as just part of the school curriculm.
Universities here as well as the UK are complaining they can’t trust the high school marking system as it is far too easy resulting in students having averages in the 80% and falling on their faces and failing in university. Being part of the educational food chain if universities weaken their standards as it appears they might we will be in serious trouble with the global challenge for future industry.
Again as many of you have noted before these graduates in the soft subjects become the growing lefty government bureaucrats that perpetuate this downward slide of interference and further weakening of our schools and the society that receives these students. Isn’t the bail-out plans for CAW and other sectors just part of this its-not-your-fault-if-you-fail scenerio?
Well Canadian Observer – welcom to the white noise world of liberal bashing. Now wasn’t that fun? We bash liberals with good reason. This is just one of them. Liberal bashing could be a full-time job because there are so many reasons to bash them. In fact it is a full-time job for some.
You menioned their aversion to punish criminals. Our society is often unnecessarily put at great risk because of decisions by bleeding hearts. Just look at the release to a half-way house of the child killer/rapist Smeltzer. Social architects pervade the Human Rights commissions of our country. I could go on and on but I do have a day job. Suffice to say that sitting in a circle with a bunch of liberals and singing Cum-ba-ya is not about to happen with me. I care way too much about my children and grandchildren.
Dave
My father is a Biology prof at UWO who is convinced that High Schools are sending him illiterates. He estimates that at least 2/3rds of students he gets (and remember, he’s in the SCIENCES, not humanities) have no business being in university.
The best provincial high school results are in AB where they axed the school boards. I’ll never forgive Mike Harris for folding when it came to keeping his promise to do the same here in Ontario. First off, having two boards in every village (public and catholic) is like the bank having a head office in every village. They’d be bankrupt. There is no reason why there should be countless educrats with nothing better to do than dream up new schemes to “improve” education – at vast public expense. These are the twits who come up with the foolishness we’re discussing here. They cost a fortune at a time when the schools can’t afford textbooks (although finding money fore “smart boards” is apparently not an issue – nice priorities these educrats have…) Every useless, highly paid, clock-watching deadbeat at the board is money taken out of the classroom where the funding is supposed to go.
We also have to give disciplinary power back to the teachers (which also means axing bad teachers – union be damned) and ensuring the principals back them up. My wife is a teacher who has two main issues with the system: Bad teachers who are unorganized, lazy and stupid, and bad principals who are too cowardly to stand up to bad parents.
Children need consequences to behave. Period. They also need to learn how to fail. They need to be able to fall on their arse, accept that they need to get back up and try again and get on with it. Otherwise, we’re training lazy, whiny and useless twits who will have no chance at success outside of menial government work (or prison.) Children REQUIRE direction, restraint and boundaries. Children are happy and well adjusted when they know their limits and have authority figures who care enough to ensure their taken care of.
As for the UK, when the hell do they have to call and election again?
I kinda feel sorry for teachers since they have to deal with students, parents, the union, supervisors, bureaucrats and education experts. Middle management is always the worst place to be in any workplace. You couldn’t pay most people enough to put up with the nonsense they endure.
OTOH, teachers were active participants in the decay of their profession. They allowed the union to become political. They voted in leadership that sold the teachers to the left. It is a little rich for the teachers to now quibble over the price. They certainly were more than happy to accommodate their masters when they were getting more days off and increased pay.
The only real victims are the students. I assume that all of this consultation business will be taken away from real learning time. These initiatives are just disruptive distractions created by bored meeting-aholics.
This somewhat reminds me of one of our workplace programs designed to empower the employees. Endless questionnaires, meetings and updates that accomplished nothing for the workers. It only justified the hiring of a legion of extra head office staff and “borrowing” of workers from operation/maintenance departments. HR departments and unions are a curse to any organization.
And we have busybodies like CSPI and PCRM and others of the food police who want to do the same here in ameerica just contact the CENTER of CONSUMER FREEDOM and find out
These observations and input are to follow completion of “Social Responsibility” and Marxism 101????
lynh,
“They voted in leadership that sold the teachers to the left.’
We all on this board voted in elections where the liberals won. Does that make it our fault? Or do you think that the fact that many teachers voted against a lot of that union crap should be taken into account? If ALL teachers are responsible for their union, than ALL voters are responsible every time the liberals or ndp come to power. Do you want to eat that?
Warwick,
In the political elections we hear dissenting voices. We see the divisions on the electoral map. We hear opposition and protest over government programs.
Yet rarely, if ever, have I heard the teachers publicly voicing concern over what is happening in the schools. The votes for union leadership and strike action are also much higher than what you find in elections. There does not seem to be much robust opposition among their ranks. As I said they are willing participants, even if it is through their silence. To me this is evidence of their complicity.
lynnh
The lack of dissention is a reflection of the jack-booted thuggery of the unions – not agreement. Do you know what happens in a union shop if you go against the union?
Then I guess they only have their own cowardice to blame.
BTW, I did belong to a militant union in a government owned workplace. I was also a bit of a sh*t disturber. I had no problem making my concerns known to both the union head honcho and upper management all the way to the CEO. I fully understand the risks of going against the grain. But in my mind it is necessary if you want maintain your personal integrity and professional credibility.
lynnh
where do you work now? exactly.
Since no one believes an 8 year old has anything useful to say on any subject other than possibly Lego, one must assume an ulterior motive for this policy.
Frantic effort to hide abject failure of the entire government education system with smoke and mirrors? Retarded Leftists scrambling to change the subject before they get punted out of their comfy sinecures? Talentless hacks desperate to save their miserable public sector jobs because they know they’ll never work outside the sheltered workshop of Big Education? Big f-ing cracks appearing in the facade of Labour Party education policy under the strain of total economic meltdown?
All of the above?
Inquiring minds wanna know.
Think of the al-gories, izzy mays and lord of the fruit flies types and their effects on these little soon to be juvenile thugs, er self appointed minor aged social judges.
Children ruling over adults in school. *|*
They do treat their pets better, it’s true. I suspect that Rx companies will be doing well over there in the coming years, as the children chant ‘drug the unbelievers’.
Warwick
I choose to leave to raise my kids…but whatever makes you feel better dude.
lynnh
Good on you for raising your kids. That obviously wasn’t where I was going with my comment.
I’ll put it another way: for all of your self-described sh*t disturbing, what did that get you? What did you change? What did you accomplish with that?
You fault good teachers for not banging their heads against the wall to fight an unwinnable fight instead of putting their heads down and doing the best they can with what they have to work with. I don’t think your point is reasonable.
Blame the bad teachers for doing what they do. Blame the unions. Blame the government. Blame the boards. Blame the educrats. But don’t blame those that didn’t support them just because they lost the votes.
I think too many people are putting their heads down and that’s the problem. Can you imagine what would happen if everyone took your advice?
According to your world view people like Ezra Levant or anyone else that bucks the system are also foolhardy. Sure you win some and you lose some but cowering under your desk with tape over your mouth is a cop out.
What I accomplished was to not sit there like a doormat and then complain about being victimized. I forced HO to be aware of the problems in the field. I also hoped I made it easier for other people to come forward and express their concerns. Most of all, I can look at myself in the mirror without feeling like a coward. A few teachers doing the same may find that they have more support than they think they do.
So many have spoken eloquently on this topic, it hardly seems necessary for me to add my view. Yet, being verbose and finding myself channeling Abe Simpson in my 6th decade, I just can’t resist.
I was a high school math teacher and retired 2 years ago (Saskatchewan). I went through the major curriculum changes of the 80’s where, among other reforms, we were introduced to the “adaptive dimension”. This was basically a carte blanche to modify the curriculum (dumb it down) to serve those students who couldn’t succeed with the regular curriculum. Don’t get me wrong. I believe we should make efforts to meet the students needs and modify the course if it’s a helpful thing to do. However, it often proved to be a lazy escape for both teachers and students. (You can’t solve an equation? Poor you. Oh well. Just write a poem about it instead.) Instead of assisting, insisting, coaxing, and devoting resources towards student success, we invented cover-ups and lies so that we never had to admit that a student was not achieving very much. I went to my admin and stated that when I went into teaching, I had never thought I would be sanctioned to lie to my students–in fact that I would be REQUIRED to lie to my students. But according to the curriculum-makers at the Dept of Ed (now the Dept. of Learning in some 1984-ish Speak) that was now part of my job description.
Over the years it became obvious that the only way to cover up the colossal failure of these curriculum reforms was to fudge the results even more. So I’m not surprised that the universities are stunned when they find illiterates at their doors. We became so afraid to hurt a kid’s feelings or even worse, harm his self-esteem that we became complicit in a tissue of lies. In reality what is worse for a kid’s self-esteem than to lie to him about his achievements and have him discover years later, when it’s too late to remediate anything, that he has nothing to offer the world except whining, incompetence and self-entitlement? What is there left to do except to enlarge that cloudy veil of protectionism and deceit and continue to carry this infantile, undeveloped being all the way to the grave telling him all the while that he’s empowered and wonderful? Or what is sadder than a kid with a great deal of ability and potential, who has learned to be satisfied with mediocrity because that’s all that was ever asked of him? Yes, I was part of that lousy system. You may criticize me for not changing it but in truth, there is nothing more unwieldy than a large, self-entrenched institution. The teachers are part of the tug-of-war between the politicians, educrats, parents, employers…in fact just about anybody has an opinion on the subject whether they know anything about it or not. If you’re going to do the job at all, you have to ignore most of it or go mad. I held my ground where I could. I was as honest as it was possible to be but no, I never became an activist and I don’t kid myself about what I accomplished and didn’t accomplish.
Reverting to the topic, I would often consult my students about my class–asking them what was most helpful to them and how I could help them learn better. But I never defaulted on my role as the responsible person in my classroom. If I was responsible, I also needed the authority to carry out my duties. My job was to help them learn and to make the decisions that would make this possible. That was my expertise–that’s what I had to offer. I’m not going to understate that teaching is a metier that requires a vast amount of expertise. I respected my work and I wanted to give the best I had–and that meant I didn’t accept being treated like crap by anybody. I also respected my students and tried to treat them fairly and decently. Their job was to learn and to assist me and the other students to create the best possible conditions for learning for everyone. To their credit, most students fulfilled this partnership admirably.
Somebody has to be in charge. It’s ridiculous to blur the boundaries to the extent that no-one understands what’s going on. Depending on the age and maturity level of the student, she can be asked to participate in her own education and offer feedback and suggestions. That is beneficial to both parties. But to set schools up as some kind of Scholastic Idol, where teachers pander to the crowd is totally ridiculous.
I’m not trying to put myself on a pedestal as teacher of the year. In fact, I was more of a drudge than an inspired educator, but the profession mattered to me. The kids mattered to me. And in so many ways, I feel as if we have all let them down very badly. And the kind of woolly-thinking espoused in this article just makes it worse.
So many have spoken eloquently on this topic, it hardly seems necessary for me to add my view. Yet, being verbose and finding myself channeling Abe Simpson in my 6th decade, I just can’t resist.
I was a high school math teacher and retired 2 years ago (Saskatchewan). I went through the major curriculum changes of the 80’s where, among other reforms, we were introduced to the “adaptive dimension”. This was basically a carte blanche to modify the curriculum (dumb it down) to serve those students who couldn’t succeed with the regular curriculum. Don’t get me wrong. I believe we should make efforts to meet the students needs and modify the course if it’s a helpful thing to do. However, it often proved to be a lazy escape for both teachers and students. (You can’t solve an equation? Poor you. Oh well. Just write a poem about it instead.) Instead of assisting, insisting, coaxing, and devoting resources towards student success, we invented cover-ups and lies so that we never had to admit that a student was not achieving very much. I went to my admin and stated that when I went into teaching, I had never thought I would be sanctioned to lie to my students–in fact that I would be REQUIRED to lie to my students. But according to the curriculum-makers at the Dept of Ed (now the Dept. of Learning in some 1984-ish Speak) that was now part of my job description.
Over the years it became obvious that the only way to cover up the colossal failure of these curriculum reforms was to fudge the results even more. So I’m not surprised that the universities are stunned when they find illiterates at their doors. We became so afraid to hurt a kid’s feelings or even worse, harm his self-esteem that we became complicit in a tissue of lies. In reality what is worse for a kid’s self-esteem than to lie to him about his achievements and have him discover years later, when it’s too late to remediate anything, that he has nothing to offer the world except whining, incompetence and self-entitlement? What is there left to do except to enlarge that cloudy veil of protectionism and deceit and continue to carry this infantile, undeveloped being all the way to the grave telling him all the while that he’s empowered and wonderful? Or what is sadder than a kid with a great deal of ability and potential, who has learned to be satisfied with mediocrity because that’s all that was ever asked of him? Yes, I was part of that lousy system. You may criticize me for not changing it but in truth, there is nothing more unwieldy than a large, self-entrenched institution. The teachers are part of the tug-of-war between the politicians, educrats, parents, employers…in fact just about anybody has an opinion on the subject whether they know anything about it or not. If you’re going to do the job at all, you have to ignore most of it or go mad. I held my ground where I could. I was as honest as it was possible to be but no, I never became an activist and I don’t kid myself about what I accomplished and didn’t accomplish.
Reverting to the topic, I would often consult my students about my class–asking them what was most helpful to them and how I could help them learn better. But I never defaulted on my role as the responsible person in my classroom. If I was responsible, I also needed the authority to carry out my duties. My job was to help them learn and to make the decisions that would make this possible. That was my expertise–that’s what I had to offer. I’m not going to understate that teaching is a metier that requires a vast amount of expertise. I respected my work and I wanted to give the best I had–and that meant I didn’t accept being treated like crap by anybody. I also respected my students and tried to treat them fairly and decently. Their job was to learn and to assist me and the other students to create the best possible conditions for learning for everyone. To their credit, most students fulfilled this partnership admirably.
Somebody has to be in charge. It’s ridiculous to blur the boundaries to the extent that no-one understands what’s going on. Depending on the age and maturity level of the student, she can be asked to participate in her own education and offer feedback and suggestions. That is beneficial to both parties. But to set schools up as some kind of Scholastic Idol, where teachers pander to the crowd is totally ridiculous.
I’m not trying to put myself on a pedestal as teacher of the year. In fact, I was more of a drudge than an inspired educator, but the profession mattered to me. The kids mattered to me. And in so many ways, I feel as if we have all let them down very badly. And the kind of woolly-thinking espoused in this article just makes it worse.
So many have spoken eloquently on this topic, it hardly seems necessary for me to add my view. Yet, being verbose and finding myself channeling Abe Simpson in my 6th decade, I just can’t resist.
I was a high school math teacher and retired 2 years ago (Saskatchewan). I went through the major curriculum changes of the 80’s where, among other reforms, we were introduced to the “adaptive dimension”. This was basically a carte blanche to modify the curriculum (dumb it down) to serve those students who couldn’t succeed with the regular curriculum. Don’t get me wrong. I believe we should make efforts to meet the students needs and modify the course if it’s a helpful thing to do. However, it often proved to be a lazy escape for both teachers and students. (You can’t solve an equation? Poor you. Oh well. Just write a poem about it instead.) Instead of assisting, insisting, coaxing, and devoting resources towards student success, we invented cover-ups and lies so that we never had to admit that a student was not achieving very much. I went to my admin and stated that when I went into teaching, I had never thought I would be sanctioned to lie to my students–in fact that I would be REQUIRED to lie to my students. But according to the curriculum-makers at the Dept of Ed (now the Dept. of Learning in some 1984-ish Speak) that was now part of my job description.
Over the years it became obvious that the only way to cover up the colossal failure of these curriculum reforms was to fudge the results even more. So I’m not surprised that the universities are stunned when they find illiterates at their doors. We became so afraid to hurt a kid’s feelings or even worse, harm his self-esteem that we became complicit in a tissue of lies. In reality what is worse for a kid’s self-esteem than to lie to him about his achievements and have him discover years later, when it’s too late to remediate anything, that he has nothing to offer the world except whining, incompetence and self-entitlement? What is there left to do except to enlarge that cloudy veil of protectionism and deceit and continue to carry this infantile, undeveloped being all the way to the grave telling him all the while that he’s empowered and wonderful? Or what is sadder than a kid with a great deal of ability and potential, who has learned to be satisfied with mediocrity because that’s all that was ever asked of him? Yes, I was part of that lousy system. You may criticize me for not changing it but in truth, there is nothing more unwieldy than a large, self-entrenched institution. The teachers are part of the tug-of-war between the politicians, educrats, parents, employers…in fact just about anybody has an opinion on the subject whether they know anything about it or not. If you’re going to do the job at all, you have to ignore most of it or go mad. I held my ground where I could. I was as honest as it was possible to be but no, I never became an activist and I don’t kid myself about what I accomplished and didn’t accomplish.
Reverting to the topic, I would often consult my students about my class–asking them what was most helpful to them and how I could help them learn better. But I never defaulted on my role as the responsible person in my classroom. If I was responsible, I also needed the authority to carry out my duties. My job was to help them learn and to make the decisions that would make this possible. That was my expertise–that’s what I had to offer. I’m not going to understate that teaching is a metier that requires a vast amount of expertise. I respected my work and I wanted to give the best I had–and that meant I didn’t accept being treated like crap by anybody. I also respected my students and tried to treat them fairly and decently. Their job was to learn and to assist me and the other students to create the best possible conditions for learning for everyone. To their credit, most students fulfilled this partnership admirably.
Somebody has to be in charge. It’s ridiculous to blur the boundaries to the extent that no-one understands what’s going on. Depending on the age and maturity level of the student, she can be asked to participate in her own education and offer feedback and suggestions. That is beneficial to both parties. But to set schools up as some kind of Scholastic Idol, where teachers pander to the crowd is totally ridiculous.
I’m not trying to put myself on a pedestal as teacher of the year. In fact, I was more of a drudge than an inspired educator, but the profession mattered to me. The kids mattered to me. And in so many ways, I feel as if we have all let them down very badly. And the kind of woolly-thinking espoused in this article just makes it worse.
I think too many people are putting their heads down and that’s the problem. Can you imagine what would happen if everyone took your advice?
According to your world view people like Ezra Levant or anyone else that bucks the system are also foolhardy. Sure you win some and you lose some but cowering under your desk with tape over your mouth is a cop out. Losing the vote does not mean losing your voice.
What I accomplished was to not sit there like a doormat and then complain about being victimized. I forced HO to be aware of the problems in the field. I also hoped I made it easier for other people to come forward and express their concerns. Most of all, I can look at myself in the mirror without feeling like a coward. A few teachers doing the same may find that they have more support than they think they do.
In any case, I doubt Kate will be pleased with this little war of words. Since she is currently packing firearms, I vote for a cease fire.
So many have spoken eloquently on this topic, it hardly seems necessary for me to add my view. Yet, being verbose and finding myself channeling Abe Simpson in my 6th decade, I just can’t resist.
I was a high school math teacher and retired 2 years ago (Saskatchewan). I went through the major curriculum changes of the 80’s where, among other reforms, we were introduced to the “adaptive dimension”. This was basically a carte blanche to modify the curriculum (dumb it down) to serve those students who couldn’t succeed with the regular curriculum. Don’t get me wrong. I believe we should make efforts to meet the students needs and modify the course if it’s a helpful thing to do. However, it often proved to be a lazy escape for both teachers and students. (You can’t solve an equation? Poor you. Oh well. Just write a poem about it instead.) Instead of assisting, insisting, coaxing, and devoting resources towards student success, we invented cover-ups and lies so that we never had to admit that a student was not achieving very much. I went to my admin and stated that when I went into teaching, I had never thought I would be sanctioned to lie to my students–in fact that I would be REQUIRED to lie to my students. But according to the curriculum-makers at the Dept of Ed (now the Dept. of Learning in some 1984-ish Speak) that was now part of my job description.
Over the years it became obvious that the only way to cover up the colossal failure of these curriculum reforms was to fudge the results even more. So I’m not surprised that the universities are stunned when they find illiterates at their doors. We became so afraid to hurt a kid’s feelings or even worse, harm his self-esteem that we became complicit in a tissue of lies. In reality what is worse for a kid’s self-esteem than to lie to him about his achievements and have him discover years later, when it’s too late to remediate anything, that he has nothing to offer the world except whining, incompetence and self-entitlement? What is there left to do except to enlarge that cloudy veil of protectionism and deceit and continue to carry this infantile, undeveloped being all the way to the grave telling him all the while that he’s empowered and wonderful? Or what is sadder than a kid with a great deal of ability and potential, who has learned to be satisfied with mediocrity because that’s all that was ever asked of him? Yes, I was part of that lousy system. You may criticize me for not changing it but in truth, there is nothing more unwieldy than a large, self-entrenched institution. The teachers are part of the tug-of-war between the politicians, educrats, parents, employers…in fact just about anybody has an opinion on the subject whether they know anything about it or not. If you’re going to do the job at all, you have to ignore most of it or go mad. I held my ground where I could. I was as honest as it was possible to be but no, I never became an activist and I don’t kid myself about what I accomplished and didn’t accomplish.
Reverting to the topic, I would often consult my students about my class–asking them what was most helpful to them and how I could help them learn better. But I never defaulted on my role as the responsible person in my classroom. If I was responsible, I also needed the authority to carry out my duties. My job was to help them learn and to make the decisions that would make this possible. That was my expertise–that’s what I had to offer. I’m not going to understate that teaching is a metier that requires a vast amount of expertise. I respected my work and I wanted to give the best I had–and that meant I didn’t accept being treated like crap by anybody. I also respected my students and tried to treat them fairly and decently. Their job was to learn and to assist me and the other students to create the best possible conditions for learning for everyone. To their credit, most students fulfilled this partnership admirably.
Somebody has to be in charge. It’s ridiculous to blur the boundaries to the extent that no-one understands what’s going on. Depending on the age and maturity level of the student, she can be asked to participate in her own education and offer feedback and suggestions. That is beneficial to both parties. But to set schools up as some kind of Scholastic Idol, where teachers pander to the crowd is totally ridiculous.
I’m not trying to put myself on a pedestal as teacher of the year. In fact, I was more of a drudge than an inspired educator, but the profession mattered to me. The kids mattered to me. And in so many ways, I feel as if we have all let them down very badly. And the kind of woolly-thinking espoused in this article just makes it worse.
So many have spoken eloquently on this topic, it hardly seems necessary for me to add my view. Yet, being verbose and finding myself channeling Abe Simpson in my 6th decade, I just can’t resist.
I was a high school math teacher and retired 2 years ago (Saskatchewan). I went through the major curriculum changes of the 80’s where, among other reforms, we were introduced to the “adaptive dimension”. This was basically a carte blanche to modify the curriculum (dumb it down) to serve those students who couldn’t succeed with the regular curriculum. Don’t get me wrong. I believe we should make efforts to meet the students needs and modify the course if it’s a helpful thing to do. However, it often proved to be a lazy escape for both teachers and students. (You can’t solve an equation? Poor you. Oh well. Just write a poem about it instead.) Instead of assisting, insisting, coaxing, and devoting resources towards student success, we invented cover-ups and lies so that we never had to admit that a student was not achieving very much. I went to my admin and stated that when I went into teaching, I had never thought I would be sanctioned to lie to my students–in fact that I would be REQUIRED to lie to my students. But according to the curriculum-makers at the Dept of Ed (now the Dept. of Learning in some 1984-ish Speak) that was now part of my job description.
Over the years it became obvious that the only way to cover up the colossal failure of these curriculum reforms was to fudge the results even more. So I’m not surprised that the universities are stunned when they find illiterates at their doors. We became so afraid to hurt a kid’s feelings or even worse, harm his self-esteem that we became complicit in a tissue of lies. In reality what is worse for a kid’s self-esteem than to lie to him about his achievements and have him discover years later, when it’s too late to remediate anything, that he has nothing to offer the world except whining, incompetence and self-entitlement? What is there left to do except to enlarge that cloudy veil of protectionism and deceit and continue to carry this infantile, undeveloped being all the way to the grave telling him all the while that he’s empowered and wonderful? Or what is sadder than a kid with a great deal of ability and potential, who has learned to be satisfied with mediocrity because that’s all that was ever asked of him? Yes, I was part of that lousy system. You may criticize me for not changing it but in truth, there is nothing more unwieldy than a large, self-entrenched institution. The teachers are part of the tug-of-war between the politicians, educrats, parents, employers…in fact just about anybody has an opinion on the subject whether they know anything about it or not. If you’re going to do the job at all, you have to ignore most of it or go mad. I held my ground where I could. I was as honest as it was possible to be but no, I never became an activist and I don’t kid myself about what I accomplished and didn’t accomplish.
Reverting to the topic, I would often consult my students about my class–asking them what was most helpful to them and how I could help them learn better. But I never defaulted on my role as the responsible person in my classroom. If I was responsible, I also needed the authority to carry out my duties. My job was to help them learn and to make the decisions that would make this possible. That was my expertise–that’s what I had to offer. I’m not going to understate that teaching is a metier that requires a vast amount of expertise. I respected my work and I wanted to give the best I had–and that meant I didn’t accept being treated like crap by anybody. I also respected my students and tried to treat them fairly and decently. Their job was to learn and to assist me and the other students to create the best possible conditions for learning for everyone. To their credit, most students fulfilled this partnership admirably.
Somebody has to be in charge. It’s ridiculous to blur the boundaries to the extent that no-one understands what’s going on. Depending on the age and maturity level of the student, she can be asked to participate in her own education and offer feedback and suggestions. That is beneficial to both parties. But to set schools up as some kind of Scholastic Idol, where teachers pander to the crowd is totally ridiculous.
I’m not trying to put myself on a pedestal as teacher of the year. In fact, I was more of a drudge than an inspired educator, but the profession mattered to me. The kids mattered to me. And in so many ways, I feel as if we have all let them down very badly. And the kind of woolly-thinking espoused in this article just makes it worse.
Right on the money Phantom. The current Secretary of State for children, schools and families is the delightfully named Ed “so what” Balls. He is a horses arse not to put too fine a point on it. There are children who leave school in Britain with good A level passes who can barely read and write. My brother was a teacher in the UK and witnessed first hand how they manipulate exam results to make the schools look good. a rotten system that is like everything else in Britain swirling round the pan.
Rita – WOW. You must hold the record for hitting the “post” button more than once. Hit it just one time and wait. Gotta go thru the filter.
So many have spoken eloquently on this topic, it hardly seems necessary for me to add my view. Yet, being verbose and finding myself channeling Abe Simpson in my 6th decade, I just can’t resist.
I was a high school math teacher and retired 2 years ago (Saskatchewan). I went through the major curriculum changes of the 80’s where, among other reforms, we were introduced to the “adaptive dimension”. This was basically a carte blanche to modify the curriculum (dumb it down) to serve those students who couldn’t succeed with the regular curriculum. Don’t get me wrong. I believe we should make efforts to meet the students needs and modify the course if it’s a helpful thing to do. However, it often proved to be a lazy escape for both teachers and students. (You can’t solve an equation? Poor you. Oh well. Just write a poem about it instead.) Instead of assisting, insisting, coaxing, and devoting resources towards student success, we invented cover-ups and lies so that we never had to admit that a student was not achieving very much. I went to my admin and stated that when I went into teaching, I had never thought I would be sanctioned to lie to my students–in fact that I would be REQUIRED to lie to my students. But according to the curriculum-makers at the Dept of Ed (now the Dept. of Learning in some 1984-ish Speak) that was now part of my job description.
Over the years it became obvious that the only way to cover up the colossal failure of these curriculum reforms was to fudge the results even more. So I’m not surprised that the universities are stunned when they find illiterates at their doors. We became so afraid to hurt a kid’s feelings or even worse, harm his self-esteem that we became complicit in a tissue of lies. In reality what is worse for a kid’s self-esteem than to lie to him about his achievements and have him discover years later, when it’s too late to remediate anything, that he has nothing to offer the world except whining, incompetence and self-entitlement? What is there left to do except to enlarge that cloudy veil of protectionism and deceit and continue to carry this infantile, undeveloped being all the way to the grave telling him all the while that he’s empowered and wonderful? Or what is sadder than a kid with a great deal of ability and potential, who has learned to be satisfied with mediocrity because that’s all that was ever asked of him? Yes, I was part of that lousy system. You may criticize me for not changing it but in truth, there is nothing more unwieldy than a large, self-entrenched institution. The teachers are part of the tug-of-war between the politicians, educrats, parents, employers…in fact just about anybody has an opinion on the subject whether they know anything about it or not. If you’re going to do the job at all, you have to ignore most of it or go mad. I held my ground where I could. I was as honest as it was possible to be but no, I never became an activist and I don’t kid myself about what I accomplished and didn’t accomplish.
Reverting to the topic, I would often consult my students about my class–asking them what was most helpful to them and how I could help them learn better. But I never defaulted on my role as the responsible person in my classroom. If I was responsible, I also needed the authority to carry out my duties. My job was to help them learn and to make the decisions that would make this possible. That was my expertise–that’s what I had to offer. I’m not going to understate that teaching is a metier that requires a vast amount of expertise. I respected my work and I wanted to give the best I had–and that meant I didn’t accept being treated like crap by anybody. I also respected my students and tried to treat them fairly and decently. Their job was to learn and to assist me and the other students to create the best possible conditions for learning for everyone. To their credit, most students fulfilled this partnership admirably.
Somebody has to be in charge. It’s ridiculous to blur the boundaries to the extent that no-one understands what’s going on. Depending on the age and maturity level of the student, she can be asked to participate in her own education and offer feedback and suggestions. That is beneficial to both parties. But to set schools up as some kind of Scholastic Idol, where teachers pander to the crowd is totally ridiculous.
I’m not trying to put myself on a pedestal as teacher of the year. In fact, I was more of a drudge than an inspired educator, but the profession mattered to me. The kids mattered to me. And in so many ways, I feel as if we have all let them down very badly. And the kind of woolly-thinking espoused in this article just makes it worse.
I’m truly sorry for the multiple posts. It seemed to me as if my message wasn’t uploading and I kept trying. I don’t know what happened.
Sorry.
Thanks, rita, I really appreciate your comments. My experience mirrors yours very closely. lynnh, I hear you. I’ve called the public education systems “gulags”, which they’ve become in the last two decades: you know what happens to those who step out of line in places like that. I used to speak out, but I had to stay on the job as main wage earner of my family. The consequences for speaking out–besides not changing anything–began to be quite serious and, as the job was more onerous by the second, no one had/has the stomach for making matters for themselves much worse.
Re the union: most teachers have no clue who the activists–all on the left: a conservative wouldn’t last a minute–are who run for office. Remember, teaching is a very solitary profession: an adult in a room in one school with a group of kids most of the day, exhausted at the end of the day with–at least in the olden days–a family to care for. This culture doesn’t lend itself well to teachers being politically active, except for no-family lefties, who fill the teacher union ranks. (However, I wondered why my friends, married to big wage earners, didn’t risk speaking out: most of them retired early–and silently.) Honestly, teachers are a pretty conformist lot.
What I did do was teach well, respecting my students by setting a high standard and holding them to it. As the years went by, believe me, I had to be subversive to keep my standards high. By the end of my career, I was not ALLOWED to teach the program my kids needed: I was required to conform to the new—over and over again—unimproved curriculum. (I gave that administrator a very serious piece of my mind—and nearly failed my teacher appraisal, which I had to appeal, and lost my classroom. I “won”.) There were so many battles to fight and ridiculous rubrics to follow, teaching well got shoved into a corner. The teachers I know, who are still in the trenches, feel overwhelmed and underappreciated. They’re exhausted and dispirited. I’ve done some supply teaching. Their rooms are often unkempt and disorganized—and they’re working many times harder, to what end—than teachers used to. It’s really a bloody mess. Meanwhile, the administrators and other camp followers smile and cover up. I couldn’t stand being humiliated and trodden upon any more. I got out. Most teachers I know can’t wait to.
A decade ago, Melanie Phillips wrote a fine book about the wreck of the UK education system, called All Must Have Prizes. Read it and weep.
It’s a pleasure and privilege to read posts by rita, lookout, and Warwick, who make it quite clear what good and dedicated teachers are having to deal with.
We need a critical mass of good folk to speak out, but it’s not happening. I often share my views (I’m a recent teacher) with other teachers–usually in “a closet” somewhere–and discover that they feel the same way but seem to have no clue about how to address all the problems teachers and students face.
Parents who have never grown up are a HUGE part of the problem. And most of these parents are the first, second, or third wave of the spoiled, entitled, know-nothing-but-you-get-passed-anyway-so-as-not-to-ruffle-your-(unearned)-self-esteem generation.
The other part of the problem is the paid-extremely-well administrators who treat these parents as “clients” (right on, lookout). Now that Ontario has two school boards, public and Catholic, principals are loathe to have students pulled and sent to a school in the other board and so pander to the infantile, me-first, who-my-kid? parents.
Teachers are caught in the crossfire–and, yes, I agree, there are far too many teachers, lynnh, who simply put their heads down and keep collecting their pay cheque with benefits. Unfortunately, teachers who don’t do this and speak up are punished in subtle and not-so-subtle ways and are often hung out to dry.
The unions are absolutely useless, as lookout points out. They’re full of childless left-wing apparatchiks who have no idea of what children really need–like boundaries, clear expectations, high standards, NOT UN Rights of the Child sensibilities–and who continue to want to swath challenged kids in cotton batten so life won’t be “so difficult” for them.
‘Only problem is, when we wrap students from difficult home situations (often chosen by mothers who haven’t bothered to marry their child’s/children’s father) in protective gear in the form of dumbed-down curriculum and expectations, we ghettoize them twice. When they have to function in the real world, they can’t.
Then we all suffer.
We’re in a crisis situation and, as per usual, too many Canadians are asleep at the wheel and are wimping out: Who me, dissent or stand up for what I REALLY believe?
Meh …
I guess this discussion pretty much states that the public education system is broken beyond recovery. If it really can not be improved then maybe the best remedy is to accelerate its decline to the point where it is put out of its misery.
Another eccentric aristocrat letting the tail wag the dog. This is a complete recipe for disaster. Aunt Mamie squared. Only a brain dead Liberal or Socialist would think this sane or rational.
Its like Kate allowing her dogs a say if they could talk.
Where is the British backbone or even the marginally sane to stop this in its tracks?
England has become a human factory of sheep fleecing for users & mooches no matter the rank . Next the State will be processing them to death. People are food.
Watchiing what’s happening in Britain these days is like watching your grandmother slowly go senile.
Pretty sad.
I think I need a drink…
lynnh, “broken beyond recovery” seems a pretty good description.
Someone once observed that one cannot turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse. The system’s so full of sow’s ears–and turning out more by the minute–that, short of a miracle, I don’t really see another conclusion from the one you’re suggesting.
An outright invitation for the inmates to run the institution.
“Well Canadian Observer – welcom to the white noise world of liberal bashing. Now wasn’t that fun? We bash liberals with good reason. This is just one of them. Liberal bashing could be a full-time job because there are so many reasons to bash them. In fact it is a full-time job for some.”
Yes, I am sure. Almost at least half as many reasons to bash illogical dogmatists. Every opinion is up for debate…. Mine certainly has been transformed with a bit of cohesive logic.
You?
Aye, there’s the rub. Both sides can be wrong, but who is amenable to common sense?
Answer: My side, whatever side I am.
82% of people think they are above average in smarts, talent, understanding….
The other 18% are NDP and wise men.
Why the Eff is there a “Minister of Children”?
I grew up in the UK quite happily without my very own government department.
How about a …
Minister of Good Things?
Minister of Happiness?
Minister of Sleep?
Minister of Climate Change? … oh, silly me, they already have that one as well.
Different Bob @9.36,
I agree. This is my take:
I am often accused, as are most conservatives, of being selfish, interested only in money and NOT CARING!!!
Well, I am of a Conservative outlook (of the Libertarian variety, personally) precisely because I Do Care about society. Otherwise, I would just take the money and run.
The prophet Roger Water predicted this one. “The Wall” has certainly been torn down.