steph72276
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2005
- Messages
- 4,212
Re: I accept Saras challenge andm want to discuss that schoo
Seriously, teachers are not super-human! Probably TMI, but I know of several teachers that suffer from chronic UTIs due to not even having time to go to the restroom some days. I know in our school system, Kindergarten teachers have to share assistants and they may come in to help for 20 minutes a day or something. They rely heavily on parent volunteers and luckily, our school is full of willing parents. I hate to think about the poor teachers in schools where parent involvement is zip.ksinger said:FL Steph said:Just FYI as a former Kindergarten teacher, I kind of take offense at saying you are paying teacher's salaries for nap time. Well, we only had about a 15 minute rest time for the first few weeks of school and I can assure you I was never sitting on my bum. I was using that time to write parent's notes, get homework graded/ready to go out for the day, preparing plans for the next day, etc. There was actually NEVER a time in the 9 hours I worked a day to sit on my bum, even lunchtime was monitored by the teachers. I do agree with you about the tests though. It is too much pressure for these little ones. I worked at a private school, so I didn't have to go through as much red tape, but my son is in public K now and I can see how it is affecting the workload. It's too much for these little ones...we have some sort of homework every night.House Cat said:My youngest started kindergarten this year, full day kindergarten, mind you, and before the school year even began, I received two lists in the mail. The first list was supplies each student would need. The second list was for classroom supplies. After buying everything on each of these lists, I spent over $200.
First thing I would cut? The full day kindergarten. I would prefer that my son only go for half a day. I don't have that option in my school district. A full day is far too long for these little guys. You wouldn't believe how many of them are crying by the end of the day. They give them a nap time, btw...so we're paying 4 kindergarten teacher's salaries for nap time.
Here's the problem though, lately we've put so much into STAR testing and school ratings and how they tie into funding that it has literally trickled down to the lowest grade possible, kindergarten. Now, we've piled so much work onto the kindergartener that a half day isn't long enough to cram in all of the subject matter they need to learn in order to test well. There have been complaints that kindergarten lacked a proper amount of playtime and statistics showed that kindergarten expulsions were up 300%. So, what do we do? We don't review our practices in education and maybe let up on the poor little kids, no, we give them a longer day! This is so sad to me. I know in 5 years, they will probably review this practice and change it. Unfortunately, my son is in school now.
Well, there's my rant.
I don't believe these people truly look at their education practices and try to radically change anything. This is why our system is failing. Cut teacher pensions? I don't agree with that. But I believe real change is needed for the entire system if they really want to change the end product.
I'm tellin' ya, it's a Madonna/Whore complex. Big time.
HouseCat, do you honestly think your child's kindergarten teacher sets policy? Secures funding? WANTS their kids to be tested to death? I don't know ANY teacher who thinks the testing environment as it exists now, is a good thing. They think it SUCKS. For the kids and for them. But they aren't paying their own meager salaries. They do what the admin and society demands they do. And for every parent like you who thinks it's too much, there is another parent on the other side of the table. And the school must try to satisfy ALL of you, while adhering to federal mandate, and obtaining funding and.....
Believe me, "these people" DO look at their education practices, but they aren't calling the shots. Your child's teacher is just trying to get through the day. For god's sake, let them HAVE that 15 minutes to rest and get some other stuff done. What's so wrong with giving a person a break? Every job I've ever worked on gave ME paid breaks. Jeez, why do we act like teachers are some other species, or out to take us to the cleaners?