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  • LOTD

    Filed at 6:55 am under by dcobranchi

    From Tim’s neck of the woods:

    Diverse opinions heard in schools

    I read the Story Chat on homeschooling (“Lessons best learned at home,” Feb. 8). Not one person mentioned that in a school setting the child would have the opportunity to hear other children’s opinions.

    For example, in a class on causes of the American Revolution, the teacher could say that eight months after his “Give me liberty or give me death” speech, Patrick Henry organized a posse to round up runaway slaves. The teacher could then go around the room and ask the students if this changes their opinion of Henry. Many different ideas would come out and the children could mull them over.

    This setting is not available in homeschooling.

    Michael I. Frischberg

    ABERDEEN

    Are we really supposed to believe that schools are these bastions of free thought and debate? Riiiiight. From what I remember, it was all pretty much seeing who could best parrot back what the teacher thought. The nonconformists, the real free thinkers, the “different” were bullied and ostracized. Given the many tales I’ve blogged the last 6 years, I don’t think things have changed a whole lot.

    7 Responses to “LOTD”


    Comment by
    Alasandra
    February 26th, 2008
    at 7:17 am

    I had a few teachers in public schools where the exchanges Michael I. Frischberg envisions did occur, once I was in High School

    But he is wrong to state they aren’t available to homeschool students. By using the Internet my children are free to exchange ideas with many different people on a wide variety of topics. Not to mention the peers they interact with on a daily basis in real life.


    Comment by
    Nance Confer
    February 26th, 2008
    at 7:38 am

    LOL — I will always remember the 7th grade social studies teacher who came out of her chair and flung herself at me when I ventured that something (I forget what the topic was) would “go to pot” soon.

    My remark was completely innocent of any drug reference but the teacher became unhinged at the idea that I would even name a drug in her classroom.

    It was quite the memorable sight.

    Lesson learned: Mrs. X has some sort of drug history. Do not speak up in her class.

    Nance


    Comment by
    Nance Confer
    February 26th, 2008
    at 7:39 am

    And I think this was the same teacher who was so concerned about my “short shorts.” Hmmm. . . 🙂

    Nance


    Comment by
    NJRoadie
    February 26th, 2008
    at 10:23 am

    In all my 13 years in public school, I had ONE teacher with whom we had open debates. He was a fantastic teacher, and able to disguise his personal opinions and point out many sides of different issues. He was also the teacher I walked out of class on, because he was forcing us all to retake a test he had allowed a substitute to give. Some students cheated, and since no one fessed up, he was punishing all of us. I thought that was wrong, since I hadn’t cheated and didn’t know who did. I refused to re-take the test. In the end, he congratulated me on my self confidence, I got an A and student of year year award, a Mark Twain compilation book whiich I still own 🙂

    Maybe this is something our kids miss out on, but since it was such a tiny portion of my total education, I’m not really worried. She’ll also miss out on the horrible math and science teachers I had, bordering on incompetent drunk 6th grade teacher and some other “fond” memories.

    What I’d love to see is an article about what the qualfications are for teacher certification. It is something I hear often “Teacher’s are CERTIFIED”. What does that mean exactly? In NJ (who touts that they have the “highest standards in the country”) it means you graduate college with a 2.75 GPA (lowerering to 2.5 soon, because the new teachers are having a hard time hitting the higher bar) and pass the Praxis exam. No scores for that exam seem to be available to clarify just what a ‘passing” score is.

    In AZ there is no minimum GPA requirement, and the pass score is 240 (test range 100-200). Not sure about the rest of the states.


    Comment by
    Spotter
    February 26th, 2008
    at 11:20 pm

    Students interact like the are used to interacting. The school has a chat room, luminate sessions and e-mail. Last I checked there wasn’t time or patients for interaction in class. To many questions go unasked. Good article in sunday cue. Doyle is nothing but a small time mobster. If you take a wiff you can smell racketeering.


    Comment by
    Alasandra
    February 27th, 2008
    at 8:07 am

    I could tell horror stories about some of the public school teachers I had.

    The Honors English Teacher who replaced the Great Teacher I had who got sick. The first day of class she said, “We is here to learn and youse is going to learn and I ain’t putting up with no misbehavin”. Not only could she NOT speak proper English, her spelling was atrocious and her grammar was worse.

    Or the year my Honors English Teacher quit after two weeks (her husband was military and they relocated) and we got disbursed throughout the school because they couldn’t find another teacher. The five honors students who wound up with Mr. H were told that we could sit in his office and do whatever we wanted (including ordering pizza and watching movies) as long as we left him alone. Back then it sound like a good deal. But I missed out on 10th grade English, except for what me and the other 4 students taught ourselves.


    Comment by
    Crimson Wife
    February 28th, 2008
    at 1:33 am

    As smart-aleck teenagers, one of my friends and I would play a game to see the dumbest statement that we could get our teachers to make. The one I remember in particular was my 10th grade Honors English class where my friend got the teacher to claim that the Mark Antony in “Julius Caesar” was different from the Mark Antony in “Antony and Cleopatra”.