In a message dated 11/28/2000 12:48:17 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> Betty, what happens when our educators don't know the subjects they are
> educating
>  our children on? Case in point, a friend of mine teaches english, and yet
> she
>  didn't know who John Milton was. IMO, we have made the mistake of
preparing
> the
>  teachers by teaching theories of education, not science, math, english, and
>  history.  I think teachers should be required to take a double major,
> education,
>  and the subject they want to teach; and to be paid accordingly. I respect
>  teachers,. but I think they ought to KNOW their subjects

There are people in every profession who shouldn't be there.  The short
answer is "yes."  Teachers should know the subjects they profess to be able
to teach.

The problem is complex and multifaceted.  I am aware that there are people on
this list who are more qualified to discuss this, but I can comment on what I
have read, and can share my own observations.  I acknowledge in advance that
my opinions are subject to debate.  I don't mind.  You can only kill me once.

Teacher's issues
Teachers are sometimes called upon to teach subjects outside of their field
of study.  When their hands are forced in this way, we can hardly blame them
for being somewhat ill-prepared.

I cannot speak about Milton.  I do not believe that it is better to rule in
hell than serve in heaven (all right, I got it from Star Trek.  Sue me).

As I mentioned earlier, teachers must often function with limited resources
of one kind or another.  More than one educator here has already responded to
confirm my earlier statement about this.  They made clear their general
frustrations, and wasted no time in doing so.

It seems to me that every teacher I've talked with during the course of my
adult life has expressed the feeling of having been "beaten and bloodied" to
some degree.  I would not be surprised to find out that some have sought
counseling.  I can't believe that they are all just whining without just
cause.  If one out of a thousand complained, I might be more inclined to say
that the problem existed solely within that person.

When someone is psychologically affected in this way, I can only imagine what
mental work he has to do every day -- just to go to work with a decent
attitude.  Haven't most of us had experiences like that?  Disillusionment
with one's chosen field isn't a minor problem.  I do not know how it would
not affect his performance.

Perception by the community (not everyone) and parents (not every parent)
When things go wrong in any workplace, the search for the guilty is not far
behind.  The point-of-delivery person is the most visible to the consumer,
and therefore the easiest person to blame.  Never mind that the guy who made
the pizza screwed up, we'll take it out on the guy who brings it to our door.


Why don't we ever call the pizza joint and yell at the dork cook?

If the majority of educators are saying the same thing, perhaps we need to
start listening to them instead of laying blame.  Not only are they feeling
battered, but they are invisible as well.  I say that this is a serious and
wide spread problem.

Parents and home life
Children are often in families of two parent incomes.  This is the age of the
working Mom (not to be misconstrued to mean that stay-at-home Moms don't
work).  We have a large population of latch key children.  Incidentally, I
think of teenagers -- as I have said in the past -- as older children, not
young adults.

In many cases, parents don't have the time required to reinforce what is
taught in the classroom.  I believe that it is imperative that they do so,
but our economy is such that both parents are often required to work outside
the home, and are unable to help their children in this necessary way.  I do
not fault the parents.  Families have to eat and have a place to sleep.

What are kids doing in the afternoon -- after school -- when both parents are
working?  Do they as children truly understand the need to move that which
they have been taught into long term memory?  Do they recognize the
importance of proper study habits?  Is that being instilled in them at home?
Is that how they pass tests, or do they cram at the last minute, only to lose
most of the information in the long run?

I am an old fashioned gal in some ways.  I believe that when a child is
allowed to address adults by their first name, there is something lost in the
lesson to respect elders.  It does not seem that children have the respect in
general for adults as they should and once did.  I feel also that this
attitude is displayed in the classroom.  What's the problem with expecting a
child to say "yes sir"?  This is the second lesson a child learns about
respecting authority.  The first lesson is taught when the child is told that
he is expected to obey his parents.

The general attitude might be different in other parts of the US and the
world, but here in the DC area, children often behave like impudent brats
itching for a trip to the woodshed.

Pardon me, I just channeled my Mother.  What a rush!

How does a teacher instill any lesson of importance in a child who has little
respect for authority?  That is a topic of discussion unto it's own.  If they
behave in the classroom the way I often see them behave in public, God help
the teachers!

Educational resources, specifically: History text books I have a major beef
about this subject.

Teachers have been bound by texts offering only the official version of
reality.  Textbook content is defined by the state.  Like it or nuts, the
state is controlled by the elite class.  Stratification is best protected by
instilling in the lower layers a sense of inherent inferiority.  It's like
non violent lynching.

Search your memory of the high school history text books you were given to
use.  What were you taught about Native Americans?  Were you taught that
Lincoln considered the black man to be his brother, as Douglas humorously
stated?  Was there any mention of Lincoln's racist views?  He had them.  What
did your text say about the reconstruction period?  Was the flavor of
reconstruction presented as a takeover by the black man who couldn't handle
the task at hand?  Did your text mention anything at all about the violence
during that period brought on by confederate whites?  I doubt it.

On the whole, minorities have been depicted as the problem.  We haven't been
depicted at all.  Our true struggle is entirely invisible in history
textbooks.  I think that constitutes, albeit unwittingly, a good deal of the
mortar in the wall that was build to keep us out.

What we gwanna do bout dat (she asked, hoping that her question would be
noticed)?

I don't even want to talk about Christopher Columbus.  I am appalled that
there is a day dedicated to his memory.  I would be shocked to learn that any
text book reflected the horribly oppressive and brutal events he allowed and
encouraged during his journey to "discover" America.  Discover?  Please!
That's the joke I was cracking the other day when I said I was going to
discover Maryland and plant my flag.

Of course, I'm not going to rape, enslave, pillage, and plunder my way there.


Where -- in any high school text -- is the disability rights movement
discussed in such detail that the student walks away knowing about the forced
warehousing of so many of us, and at significant cost to the taxpayer?  The
disability community is not even on that map, my little cherubs.  These kids
are, no doubt, leaving the classroom thinking that the ADA fixed everything.
They don't even know about those of us who are "behind bars."  We are a
subset of appreciable number.  We have disability culture, and we are a
community of note unto ourselves.  We are also invisible.

The history that these kids do learn is little more than an altered and
mundane version of reality. History texts have not been written to provoke
thought or encourage reflection.  These texts did not teach us to analyze the
past so that we could apply it to our future.

Either by current design or disinterest, the racist and eurocentric views of
the late 1800s and early 1900s are still being instilled in our children.
The insidious nature of this indoctrination lies in it's benign presentation.


I pray that this is due to the latter, but rest assured in the knowledge that
I am not paranoid.

I can site additional examples, but it's better that I stop here.  Ain'tcha
glad?

For all of the above reasons and more (my not so humble opinions), I think
teachers should be regarded with the utmost respect and gentleness.  They've
been through hell.

Betty (Bo Bo, my evil twin, wrote some of this)