My brother told me I needed to read this thread. (He knew it was one subject that would
cause an immediate reaction from me.)
I taught high school math for 8 years (along with coaching soccer and volleyball). The
past tense is due to the many points Larry has brought up. I got to the point of not being
able to fight the “dumbing down” of schools any more. Students are handed calculators in
third grade and so much common sense flys out the window. The ability to look at
answers to see if they make sense doesn’t occur to many students (i.e. 20% of 80 - get
responses of 1600 to 4 to .016). They are so reliant on calculators, they don’t begin to
understand what they are actually calculating. The ability to approximate answers is a
vague and faraway concept.
Before I go any further, I need to clarify something. I absolutely loved teaching. I would
still be in the classroom today if I could of gone in and been allowed to have high
expectations without worrying about the ramifications.
One of the examples that sticks is the year that 7 football players on the varsity team failed
my class. (Remember at the high school it is not uncommon to teach 150 different
students each day.) I was at school every morning for tutoring... many times the first adult
to arrive on campus. If a student failed a test, I required them to come to 3 tutoring
sessions and then allowed them to take a modified “make-up” test. Not one of those
students had ever come to tutoring. I was called to the principal’s office and told to bring
my grade book. My grade book was gone over with a fine tooth comb and I was asked if
I could find a little room to move on the grades. I had to bring a copy of all the progress
reports that had been signed by parents mid-term and my log of phone calls home to
parents. I refused to budge and the parents took it to the school board. Fortunately, the
school board stood behind me but what is this saying to the kids? The bright side of all
this is that every one of those 7 students passed the next term (one even had a 98 average)
and they all passed at the end of the year. I still have letters from students and parents
from after the fact. Many apologetic and all thankful that I held my ground. My question
is how many teachers cave in under that kind of pressure, or don’t have the paperwork to
back up parental contact. What happens when those same students hit college or the work
place and have to stand on their own two feet?
Then there is the disheartening talk in the teachers lounge. I still remember a conversation
at the beginning of one school year with the head of the math department saying “we are
going to have to start eliminating some of the subject matter because these kids are just
not prepared to handle it.” She went on to rant and rave about how the junior high
teachers were not doing their job - how are we supposed to teach anything when they
don’t have the basics. My response was that our job is to take them from the point they
are at when they walk into the classroom and bring them up to the level they are supposed
to be at - without cutting corners. This was not the popular response. It is so much easier
to blame others - and teaching is a huge responsibility if done correctly.
A broad misconception is that students don’t care and don’t want to learn anymore. One
of the most frustrating problems was lack of expectations in the classroom - by the
teachers, parents, and students themselves. Students don’t feel good about themselves
when they are passed because of their age (the whole self esteem thing). They feel good
when they have truly achieved something - received an “A” on a test - one they worked
hard to get. What makes you feel better about yourself; something that came easy to you
- that was given to you, or something that you had to work hard to achieve - that you
could look back on and say I did that through my own efforts? It is a double-edged
sword. The kids sitting in the classroom want to know limits. They want to know
consequences. Human nature always tests those limits and if they can get by doing less
than what is expected, we are on the way to the situation many school systems are in.
(Requiring less-lowering standards-to gain the same results - i.e. “dumbing down”.)
I’m sure my background plays a role in my attitude. When I went to college, my parents
told me education is a privilege, not a right - if I wanted it bad enough, I would figure out
how to accomplish my goals. They had both graduated from college - both with high
honors - and both had bore the burden of paying for it themselves. I worked two jobs
through college and just finished paying off my student loans this past year. You can bet I
appreciated my education a little bit more than many of my peers.
So what am I doing now? I’m the parts manager at the Kubota dealership my parents
began 25 years ago. I do miss teaching but got out when I realized that I was tired of
having to defend high expectations... found myself thinking it might be easier to flow
along with the status quo... and decided I would no longer be serving those I was
entrusted with if I continued. I can only hope that I made a difference when I was there.
Just my two cents
Marie
