Obamacation meets reality: NYC school system.

[Smarmie Doofus]

Middle-aged corporate guy takes up teaching career. Or tries to. Yikes.

Must read for DUers who are still interested in reality



>>It was almost magic. It was really fun. And I often could squeeze in some spelling, even punctuation. But we weren't always quiet.

And, according to my personnel file at the New York City Department of Education, I was "unprofessional," "insubordinate" and "culturally insensitive."

In other words, I was a bad teacher.

From Michael Bloomberg to Bill Gates to hedge-fund-enriched charter school backers, the problem with our schools is bad teachers. With salaries sometimes surpassing $100,000, summers off and "job for life" tenure, it's easy to believe that our schools are facing a bed-bug-caliber infestation of bad teachers.

Amid all of this, I thought I could do some good. I am a middle-aged white guy from the suburbs, but I'm not lazy. I'm not crazy. I'm good with kids, and I love literature.

During a three-decade career as a writer, editor and corporate executive, I traveled to more than 100 countries, met heads of state, and picked up wisdom that I thought was worth sharing. When I left publishing, I was senior vice president/group editorial director at Hachette Filipacchi Media (the bulk of which was recently sold to Hearst Magazines). Now, I was determined to make an impact directly with kids in the classroom, and I set out for the South Bronx.>>>

http://www.salon.com/life/education/index.html

[NYC_SKP]

1. I read that article, it's a good article and I can relate to it as a career changer, but Obama isn't

even remotely a part of it, isn't in the title of the article (as you have it in your subject line) and, in fact, Obama isn't mentioned at all in the article.

Odd.

Anyway, the story is one that happens in lots of schools, larger urban crowded top-heavy, underfunded schools in particular.

Inadequate ed services for students with identified learning or emotional disabilities, inadequate professional development, and many many more problems.

I salute the man who wanted to go in and make a difference.

It didn't work out for him.

Teaching takes a special set of skills and gifts, it's an art and a science.

It's not that hard to get a job in the classroom, but teaching is really hard and not every one can do it well.

:patriot:

[Smarmie Doofus]

6. Interesting POV. Can you cite an instance in which Obama....

>>>>>From Michael Bloomberg to Bill Gates to hedge-fund-enriched charter school backers, the problem with our schools is bad teachers.>>>>>
... has publicly *differed* from the expressed education ideas of Gates and Bloomberg?




This is all Obama-era stuff:
>>>Little did I know I was entering a system where all teachers are considered bad until proven otherwise. Also, from what I saw, each school's principal has so much leeway that it's easy for good management and honest evaluation to be crushed under the weight of Crazy Boss Syndrome. And, in my experience, the much-vaunted "data" and other measurements of student progress and teacher efficacy are far more arbitrary and manipulated than taxpayers and parents have been led to believe.


The system was bad before he took office. But the above did not exist. Now it's much WORSE. The system retains everything bad that preceded Obama and has -- since inauguration day--- grown the above nightmarishly dysfunctional bureaucratic,"data"-ridden swamp.

No offense, I'm not sure you took away from the article all that you could have.

It's a lot more complicated than "teaching's not for everyone".

[bbgrunt]

2. wonderful write up on dealing with what teaching entails these days.

thanks for posting this.

[Smarmie Doofus]

7. Backatcha. nt

[LetTimmySmoke]

3. The charter fad is losing its wax.

[Starry Messenger]

4. k&r

[glowing]

5. And the kids get it. They know they can run around and no one really cares.

The people at the very top want to make a buck, the Superintendents and Principals need the numbers for their higher salaries, and sadly, many are more than at burn out mode, 1/2 nazi acting, and care about the numbers for the people at the top who dictate their jobs, livelihood, and continuation of a position for the number game hostage money situation. The teachers are stuck in a terrible situation. Lack of support from administration, students, and parents. They are in charge of teaching the future generation of Americans, yet are given nothing but grief. Sadly, even these children's parents barely know what to do with their own children's behavior. Teachers are supposed to teach and manage the class, but there is no incentive for the kids to learn; especially if they live in impoverished neighborhoods. Its not like they have a lot of positive images and further hopes from the atmosphere around their daily lives.

How many times do the statistics have to point out that poverty breeds low testing scores and high drop out rates? How many times do the stats have to prove that a child who is hungry is less able to focus on their classwork. AND now that the stimulus is pretty well wiped out, and states are still hemorrhaging money, the kids are expected to pay for more of their own materials, pay for their way to get to the school, and pay for extracurricular activities after school.. Along with that regular after school programs that target at risk youth, are being cut back or closed completely. And now even better off children in the burbs who get good grades, go to college, and graduate have very few job opportunities; especially one's that pay enough to be independent and pay the loans back that they took for their higher education. What kind of future are we creating for the next generation of Americans?