Teachers...

[mobertol]

Originally Posted by Roadhousezamora

I'm a teacher, just wondered what peoples views on them were? Too many holidays? finish too early? Should be happy they have a job and not whinge about pensions???

What do we reckon?

Teachers are all saints.
You can never have too many holidays.
The end of the working day can never come too soon.
These days probably yes - I don't know anybody who doesn't.

You could always apply for a teaching job in Dubai - great pay apparently, i know a couple of teachers who've just moved out there with their family, they're mid-40's and reckon they can retire in 5 yrs time -oh, and they get a free private education for their kids there too at an International school!

Downside - local laws are a bit different to here - don't even think of holding your wife's hand in public!

(NB the correct use of there, their and they're all in one sentence - Miss Bailey would be proud of me!)

[Gordon Booth]

Originally Posted by mobertol

Teachers are all saints.
You can never have too many holidays.
The end of the working day can never come too soon.
These days probably yes - I don't know anybody who doesn't.


(NB the correct use of there, their and they're all in one sentence - Miss Bailey would be proud of me!)

Spoken like a true teacher- which I'm sure you said you were! Teaching English in Italy?
If so-1. Your opinion isn't allowed.
2. If you ARE an English teacher, I would hope you CAN use there,their and they're correctly. Otherwise heaven help the Italians.
If you're not a teacher then I apologise. However your vote still doesn't count because you didn't agree with me!

[Roadhousezamora]

Originally Posted by Gordon Booth

We never really answered Roadhousezamora's questions in the opening post.

My answers are 'mainly poor', 'yes', 'yes', 'yes' and 'not a lot'.

No teachers or ex teachers/academics are allowed to express an opinion.They're biased and their opinion doesn't matter.

I posted the thread cos I get grief off some people I know about basically not doing any work and how much of an easy lark teaching is. I disagree with this but yeah its probably not right to ask teachers if they get enough holidays or not...

[garinda]

Question for teachers.

Concerning the annual increase of students' qualifications, and grades.

Have standards of education risen, or have examinations become easier, over the last thirty or so years?

[garinda]

Originally Posted by garinda

Question for teachers.

Concerning the annual increase of students' qualifications, and grades.

Have standards of education risen, or have examinations become easier, over the last thirty or so years?

On second thought, after seeing how many trainee teachers have to retake the numeracy/literacy tests, whilst training, perhaps they aren't qualified to answer this.

The question is therefore opened up to everyone.

[DaveinGermany]

Originally Posted by garinda

Have standards of education risen, or have examinations become easier?

They have standards ???

My mate asked if I'd help his youngest with some of her school work a while back, as he's not that academical himself & he's fine with it, after looking at a few odds & ends I couldn't see any consistency with the marking. The teacher would pick up some errors, yet in the same paragraph there were other glaring mistakes which went unchallenged. I asked about why they'd not been pointed out & corrected, "Oh, miss so&so, isn't bothered by that !" Come again ?

So the nippers in this class are heading out into the wider World, already at a disadvantage due to the lack of correction (ability ?) of teaching staff & the longer it goes on the more ingrained the mistakes become & it's then harder for the child to rectify their ways.

[Gordon Booth]

It's astonishing, isn't it, how Darwins Theory of Evolution has gone into overdrive over the last 30 years? The exam results show that our teenagers brainpower, mental capacity and ability to learn have increased more in the last 30 years than they did in the last 100,000.
Yet the universities and employers still complain that far too many of them can't read,write or do maths properly. How can that be?
It's not fair to our children to encourage them to think they are academically gifted far above the reality when gifts they genuinely have are ignored.
Our education system, from the teachers up to the govermnent are guilty of deception on a massive scale.

[garinda]

I've posted before that I think they've become easier.

Evidenced by doing both an O-level, then a G.C.S.E. in mathematics, separated by a twenty odd year gap.

I firmly believe that a pass in the old eleven-plus test equates to a lower class degree award today.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Gordon Booth

It's astonishing, isn't it, how Darwins Theory of Evolution has gone into overdrive over the last 30 years? The exam results show that our teenagers brainpower, mental capacity and ability to learn have increased more in the last 30 years than they did in the last 100,000.
Yet the universities and employers still complain that far too many of them can't read,write or do maths properly. How can that be?
It's not fair to our children to encourage them to think they are academically gifted far above the reality when gifts they genuinely have are ignored.
Our education system, from the teachers up to the govermnent are guilty of deception on a massive scale.

Equal opportunities again.

Starts at sports day, with 'everyone's a winner'.

Ends when final examinations are awarded, and suprise, everyone's a genius.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by garinda

Question for teachers.

Concerning the annual increase of students' qualifications, and grades.

Have standards of education risen, or have examinations become easier, over the last thirty or so years?

An interesting question. I haven't been involved in the public school system ... ("public school" doesn't mean what it does in the UK ... it refers to the government funded elementary, junior high, and high schools, grades kindergarten to 12) ... for several years now, but I do have some knowledge of the kind of student who is now arriving at university. Once again (and I know I have a bug up my ass about it), political correctness seems to be a culprit in the deterioration of standards of the kids who enter university. Kids are passed on from one grade to the next even if they don't pass. One doesn't want to hurt their feelings by making them feel inadequate ... making examinations easier is one way that the system deals with failure. So, what do we get in first year university? Semi-literates who will be allowed to struggle through university, and end up with a meaningless **** - poor degree.

Several years ago, when I allowed myself to be talked into teaching English 110 (entry level ... Beowulf to Virginia Woolfe) the irate parent of a failing idiot airhead bimbo (now that's a little politically incorrect) phoned me and told me that her daughter had to pass because she (the mother) had forked over thousands of dollars so that her daughter could go to university. I politely informed her that if her daughter wished to pass the course, she might try attending classes, doing the required assignments, and passing the mid-term exams. Neither mother nor daughter got the point.

Failure is always an option. Ironically, it is what makes us successful as a species ... failure and taking risks is what we are about. It's how we learn. Chasing a mammoth off the edge of a cliff is no doubt risky; but it sure beats the hell out of starving to extinction. Let's face the bitter truth; some folks are just not cut out for the academic route. Doesn't mean that they don't have opportunities: they could have a good life as a teacher or a tory politician.

[Roadhousezamora]

Originally Posted by garinda

Question for teachers.

Concerning the annual increase of students' qualifications, and grades.

Have standards of education risen, or have examinations become easier, over the last thirty or so years?

I'm only starting my 5th year of teaching so can't comment brilliantly on the situation but from my experience there seems to be more pressure on teachers from the leadership teams at schools. Schools are desperate to do well in the league tables as well producing a score over 1000 for their value added. This has in my opinion forced teachers to focus completely on making sure the pupils pass the exam and to ignore what the teacher feels may benefit said pupil in the real world. This may also explain universities and employers complaining of pupils who are unable to think for themselves. Pupils are trained to pass exams and nothing more.

I will also say that the introduction of modular exams with sections of multiple choice answers makes it easy for me as a teacher to guarantee marks for my pupils along with coursework which is left to the classroom teachers to oversee, mark and submit.

I'm not sure what the emphasis was 30 years ago, if others could let me know i'd be interested to listen.

[Gordon Booth]

Originally Posted by Roadhousezamora

Schools are desperate to do well in the league tables as well producing a score over 1000 for their value added.
I'm not sure what the emphasis was 30 years ago, if others could let me know i'd be interested to listen.

See what you've done, Roadhouse. You've got us all worked up and we're all going to have to have an extra pill(or whatever our fancy).

A score of over 1000 for VALUE ADDED? You mean we can sell these kids? Is that £'s or euros?Dollars would be better, please. This is where it goes wrong, you say that as if it was part of the true purpose of education. You also are now a product of the system.(Not meant in a rude way).
30 years ago it was 'Those who can do, those who can't quickly and forcefully get told so and moved on'.Those who only JUST could(like me) were pushed, pursued,concentrated on to do their best and NOTHING was done to delude them or make it all seem easy.

[Gordon Booth]

Hey, Eric, you're not bad for a colonial(i.e. I think you agree with me).
Your post' coming from an (ex?)academic, has more weight than that of we non-academics. But surely you're not saying even Canada has gone down the same road we have? I thought Canadians were realists with their feet firmly on the ground?

[garinda]

I was recently asked to speak to an old lecturer's current students.

She said teaching now was awfully depressing, and she was glad to be retiring this year.

I was told that compared to when she taught me, and was able to nurture creativity and free thinking, her hands were tied by red tape and bureauracy.

It all seemed very sad.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by Roadhousezamora

I'm only starting my 5th year of teaching so can't comment brilliantly on the situation but from my experience there seems to be more pressure on teachers from the leadership teams at schools. Schools are desperate to do well in the league tables as well producing a score over 1000 for their value added. This has in my opinion forced teachers to focus completely on making sure the pupils pass the exam and to ignore what the teacher feels may benefit said pupil in the real world. This may also explain universities and employers complaining of pupils who are unable to think for themselves. Pupils are trained to pass exams and nothing more.

I will also say that the introduction of modular exams with sections of multiple choice answers makes it easy for me as a teacher to guarantee marks for my pupils along with coursework which is left to the classroom teachers to oversee, mark and submit.

I'm not sure what the emphasis was 30 years ago, if others could let me know i'd be interested to listen.

Well, here we go: "leadership teams", "league tables", "modular exams", "emphasis" ... just a bunch of jargon As Hamlet says: "Words, words, words." I realize that a lot of us olde fartes are into the ubi sunt thing, yearning for the golden years that probably weren't all that golden; but the education system we went through did its job ok. All you old Accy Grammar lads remember "Ben" Johnson, "Sam" Wignall, "Pug" Portno, "Jock" Bentley ... old fashioned doesn't come close to describing them. And they were more than a tad politically incorrect. But look what came out of that bastion of beatings and clips round the ear ... was poor John Wallwork terrified into failure? Did "Jock" Bentley brutally destroy John Virtue's creativity. We knew that it was up to us to succeed or fail. We were given both opportunities. I could have done a lot better at school. But I was, and still am, lazy. I like to take the easy route. I know that, and I knew it then. I didn't blame E. J. "Gobbin" Owen for my poor showing in Algebra ... I blame myself, took resposibility for my actions, or inaction.

But even though I consider much of my life to be a catalogue of missed and wasted opportunity, I still managed to struggle through to be Dr. Eric, B.Ed, B.A. (Hons., magnis cum honoribus), (Sask.), M.A., Ph.D (Queen's), Bar Tender, Cab Driver.