Rob T,
Exactly why I am not teaching anymore!
I kind of wish you were still teaching TPM, I don't think you would let the schools get away with what they are doing now. Everything is so automated that the actual teachers aren't even aware of what the questions are on the assignments are any more.
My first gig, second grade, a student brought me a present, marijuana, she found it on the counter at home. I did work in a very depressed part of a town in NJ, what happens to first time teachers, usually.
When I moved to FL, the same offer, so after I had my first child I decided to teach in private school. I refused to enter into a system that was so behind every one else in the country, really. I had a great group of kids, during that time there was little tolerance for children in publi cschools that were hard to handle, they all had some issues most with minor LD and I taught a combined 3-5 grade and it was fun, but the parents were over the top. Eventually they learned that they had to take a step back and stop making excuses for their children's behavior. Get help. I think they became better parents because of it. That was always my biggest beef, the parents. Too involved or not enough involved. In my household the teacher was ALWAYS right (even if wrong I wouldn't allow my kids to have a negative attitude towards them).
In HS my son got into a ego match with his chemistry teacher. Phone call. That was that, no teacher ever had to talk make a call here again. He learned real fast about being accountable. Thats how it should be. Unless of course you have harmed my child, then you are just an unfit human to begin with.
Anyway, I became real involved with the school board after that and that seemed to work for me.
Caco,
Thaks for that. I feel that this countries educational system has been so poorly run over the years and glad to see that they are making states, towns, and administrations as well as teachers accountable. Failing schools here are now B schools and C schools are A schools. While I realize that is based on test scores, that is a measure that there is some good stuff going on. And most teachers do complain that they don't really teach anymore, but have to teach whats on the tests, and I am not so sure that is a bad thing because most of them really don't know how to teach anyway. Just such a shortage of really good teachers in this country because of lack of salary and cut benefits.
As far as PG's comments, I happen to live in a very diverse area of south florida with lots of money and lots of the opposite as well. Trust me, money doesn't bring happiness. Just a bunch of spoiled troubled teens driving their Mercedes, Lexus and Range Rovers to school and doing drugs on the weekends. This isnt new, my cousin was a heroine addict in HS as were some adults that I know from HS, and that isn't uncommon in a certain neighborhood close by. She died this year, very sad even after the best care possible.
But this isnt about that, this is about being the best parent you can be while teaching your children to be accountable when they become adults. FWIW, the first thing that college coach teach is just that, being accountable for what you do on the field yeilds positive results for you and your team, so much of this really ties into being a better sport parent as well.
I always havent been a good parent i am sure in my kids eyes. In fact my daughter hated me until she was an adult. Its not easy to watch your kids have a lot of heart ache and failure, but they are good kids and they are accountable for themselves as adults and who they are because of what they have learned along the way. I have so many friends whose kids are struggling as adults, they just never let them fail when they were younger and always there to pick up the pieces after the fall. Not that I still dont freak out occasionally but its all good.
If people don't want to hear what others have to offer from experience, then what are we really here for? I have grown kids but I am still learning about being a better parent everyday!
JMO