During last week’s class we had a guest speaker that was a part of the teachers union. He discussed several of the points I was wondering about charter schools. Such as how most charter schools can fire teachers at will based on performance. After seeing the movie I thought this was a good idea but then he explained to us, what criteria do we go off of? You can’t really make criteria that everyone can follow. You may make a certain percentage of kids having to pass. But this in no way reflects the kids who are not going to pass. Usually because they do not want to be in school. I met plenty of kids that were like this. They were smart enough to pass their classes but they didn’t want to be there. They only tried in automotive and P.E.
The other one is taking a bonus and getting paid more in return they have to abide by this system and they can be fired almost at will. Doing this would coincide with the earlier example. How can you analyze all the teachers the exact same and have their separate teaching styles be evaluated the same? It is simple, you can’t.
So the question is being a modern country with money why do we not value education like other countries? Is there anything we can do that would be able to change our system that most people would agree with? The main group we have to please would be the teachers meaning we have to please the union. This is never easy to do; they usually want the extreme side of one end of the contract. Not that this is wrong but they usually threaten strike. Most unions do this at times, such as the construction union last year. Can anyone think of a compromise that they could agree on?
John, you make a great point in calling to mind the students who "do not want to be there." I must say that vocational programs could be very advantageous to these students. Not everyone is cut-out for college, and there is nothing wrong with that. I do, however, believe that school should offer these individuals some skill set, though.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Dave on this one. Not everyone is cut out for certain subjects. Each person's mind works differently. Right now, we are trying to judge a fish's ability to climb a tree. Testing students on all subjects skews our vision of what their true potential is, as everyone is good at different things. Vocational programs are a good suggestion to, at the very least, provide students with skill sets that will not leave them jobless in the future. There is always a need for someone, somewhere. We simply need to provide our students with the right tools to get there - we just haven't figured out what they are yet.
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