Thank you for this Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner. As a veteran teacher I urge you to report on the social impact bond investing & tech emphasis in the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015). It is another bipartisan behind-the-curtain, legal, but unethical deal that hurts kids and teachers. I am a Villanova University Teacher of Courage and Conscience speaking out to educate the public. With Gratitude, Danielle Schwartz https://whattheheckinpubliced.blogspot.com/2021/12/this-is-innovation.html
Our daughter just quit her math teaching skills of 12 years in Orlando high schools. She had just enough of students, their parents and some of the schools leadership. Sad, as she was the best math teacher in her last school. Other math teachers attended her classes to learn.
Thank you Dan your words of concern about the struggles & challenges that public education and teachers of today and of future face due to decisive politics are well said, but I especially applaud you for your heartfelt appreciation of teachers past and present. Your teachers would be proud of your contribution to the world with your eloquence. Thank you. Brad from Victoria BC
And, thank YOU for putting together an article such as this. I only spent about 30 years teaching, but I wouldn't do it now. The 'American Business Major' has taken over (particularly school administration). The 'Community of Scholars' is no more. Sad.
When reading the stories of successful people I am always struck by how often a teacher played a key part of their success. Teachers that went the extra mile to light a flame in a student that might otherwise have been uninspired.
Yes...well, talk is cheap, Dan...at any Texas used car lot, you will be told pointedly that "money talks, and BS walks."...and you're walking on this one, Dan.
---We don't pay teachers well because, first of all, the results of their labor are always intangible, and this society only pays for tangible outcomes that can be measured. Teachers cannot guarantee that the little darlings will all grow up to be Einstein or Helen Keller. Actually, as a former teacher, I can tell you that a child either wants to learn during childhood, or else just wants to learn later. We can encourage good development, but we cannot MAKE them want to learn, no matter what the new strategy de jour may be.
---Teachers are implicitly looked upon as glorified baby sitters, and they are paid accordingly by a hypocritical society that today expects parenting as well as child care from teachers.
I now favor remote learning for academic subjects, administered by well-paid professionals who are held accountable by written contracts, and parents who are also accountable by those same contracts, with the teacher given the absolute power of suspension or removal of a child from his or her learning group. Community activities for children need to be put in place to fill the social slack that at-home learning causes.
The warehousing of heterogenous children together has been an overall failure at the cost of learning. Different cultures learn in different ways, and for our society to force its largely white learning system on ALL children is implicit racism at its worst.
Finally, a no-BS question for you and others who want to pay teachers off with a back-to-school compliment once a year:
"If teachers are so vital, why didn't YOU become a teacher?"
I heartily agree. I mark the moment that I became confident in myself to a 7th grade teacher who encouraged me to continue, while being terribly bullied.
Thank you for articulating the essence of the Republican party's incessant engagement in culture wars, in lieu of rational discussion concerning gravely important issues. Their desire to be constantly outraged, whether it be about fictitious conspiracies such as CRT, or through their blind hatred of Democratic leaders such as President Biden, Vice-President Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Adam Schiff, Barack Obama, or even Hillary Clinton, are crippling our country and, ironically, doing the exact opposite of making us great.
My husband and I were both educators, and one of our 3 sons is as well. Just as I was inspired by a 5th grade English teacher who read Homer’s entire Odyssey to her class and diagrammed complex sentences three blackboard spaces long, our son was clearly inspired by his History teachers. Teaching was hard work but deeply gratifying. Thank you Dan for reminding us to use positive messaging recognizing the good our teachers do every day; they need to hear from us more now than ever.
I loved being in most of my teachers classes especially the English and music teachers. Most teachers go above and beyond every day and make it a joy to come to school every day I think teachers should have extra money to help every student achieve their potential. Thank you to all the people who become teachers and enjoy their work every day. I hope everyone has a good school year with no problems this year.
I just want to thank all the teachers for remaining on the job....and say that I understand why so many are leaving. It breaks my heart to see our schools these days. Teachers having to spend so much of their own money on supplies...endless hours on papers, now you want them to carry a gun! I am so sorry for the bs that has been laid on you. I wish i could fight/vote for higher wages for teachers...much love and respect.
I was just talking with a grandson about the space shuttle I made out of a refrigerator box, the alphabet with different people of color, the cooking lessons to teach math concepts. I loved my work and didn’t care that I was spending money every week to take care of the kids. But the creative things we did would not fly today, and the kids are the ones suffering. I’m relieved that I’m retired. And that’s just sad.
Thank you for this Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner. As a veteran teacher I urge you to report on the social impact bond investing & tech emphasis in the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015). It is another bipartisan behind-the-curtain, legal, but unethical deal that hurts kids and teachers. I am a Villanova University Teacher of Courage and Conscience speaking out to educate the public. With Gratitude, Danielle Schwartz https://whattheheckinpubliced.blogspot.com/2021/12/this-is-innovation.html
Our daughter just quit her math teaching skills of 12 years in Orlando high schools. She had just enough of students, their parents and some of the schools leadership. Sad, as she was the best math teacher in her last school. Other math teachers attended her classes to learn.
Thank you Dan your words of concern about the struggles & challenges that public education and teachers of today and of future face due to decisive politics are well said, but I especially applaud you for your heartfelt appreciation of teachers past and present. Your teachers would be proud of your contribution to the world with your eloquence. Thank you. Brad from Victoria BC
And, thank YOU for putting together an article such as this. I only spent about 30 years teaching, but I wouldn't do it now. The 'American Business Major' has taken over (particularly school administration). The 'Community of Scholars' is no more. Sad.
When reading the stories of successful people I am always struck by how often a teacher played a key part of their success. Teachers that went the extra mile to light a flame in a student that might otherwise have been uninspired.
Yes...well, talk is cheap, Dan...at any Texas used car lot, you will be told pointedly that "money talks, and BS walks."...and you're walking on this one, Dan.
---We don't pay teachers well because, first of all, the results of their labor are always intangible, and this society only pays for tangible outcomes that can be measured. Teachers cannot guarantee that the little darlings will all grow up to be Einstein or Helen Keller. Actually, as a former teacher, I can tell you that a child either wants to learn during childhood, or else just wants to learn later. We can encourage good development, but we cannot MAKE them want to learn, no matter what the new strategy de jour may be.
---Teachers are implicitly looked upon as glorified baby sitters, and they are paid accordingly by a hypocritical society that today expects parenting as well as child care from teachers.
I now favor remote learning for academic subjects, administered by well-paid professionals who are held accountable by written contracts, and parents who are also accountable by those same contracts, with the teacher given the absolute power of suspension or removal of a child from his or her learning group. Community activities for children need to be put in place to fill the social slack that at-home learning causes.
The warehousing of heterogenous children together has been an overall failure at the cost of learning. Different cultures learn in different ways, and for our society to force its largely white learning system on ALL children is implicit racism at its worst.
Finally, a no-BS question for you and others who want to pay teachers off with a back-to-school compliment once a year:
"If teachers are so vital, why didn't YOU become a teacher?"
That's 30.
"I now favor remote learning for academic subjects, administered by well-paid professionals who are held accountable by written contracts"
I agree on this one.
So important!
I heartily agree. I mark the moment that I became confident in myself to a 7th grade teacher who encouraged me to continue, while being terribly bullied.
Thank you for articulating the essence of the Republican party's incessant engagement in culture wars, in lieu of rational discussion concerning gravely important issues. Their desire to be constantly outraged, whether it be about fictitious conspiracies such as CRT, or through their blind hatred of Democratic leaders such as President Biden, Vice-President Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Adam Schiff, Barack Obama, or even Hillary Clinton, are crippling our country and, ironically, doing the exact opposite of making us great.
Thank you!
My husband and I were both educators, and one of our 3 sons is as well. Just as I was inspired by a 5th grade English teacher who read Homer’s entire Odyssey to her class and diagrammed complex sentences three blackboard spaces long, our son was clearly inspired by his History teachers. Teaching was hard work but deeply gratifying. Thank you Dan for reminding us to use positive messaging recognizing the good our teachers do every day; they need to hear from us more now than ever.
I loved being in most of my teachers classes especially the English and music teachers. Most teachers go above and beyond every day and make it a joy to come to school every day I think teachers should have extra money to help every student achieve their potential. Thank you to all the people who become teachers and enjoy their work every day. I hope everyone has a good school year with no problems this year.
I just want to thank all the teachers for remaining on the job....and say that I understand why so many are leaving. It breaks my heart to see our schools these days. Teachers having to spend so much of their own money on supplies...endless hours on papers, now you want them to carry a gun! I am so sorry for the bs that has been laid on you. I wish i could fight/vote for higher wages for teachers...much love and respect.
God Bless you all.
History:
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133/
I was just talking with a grandson about the space shuttle I made out of a refrigerator box, the alphabet with different people of color, the cooking lessons to teach math concepts. I loved my work and didn’t care that I was spending money every week to take care of the kids. But the creative things we did would not fly today, and the kids are the ones suffering. I’m relieved that I’m retired. And that’s just sad.
The Hitlerjungend indoctrinated scores of German youth within their school. All the more reason to stand behind our teachers and keep fanatics out.