Sorry to continue this off-topic thread but I think the subject is important
to us as compilers and bearers of computer history.
Most teens regard the majority of people older (or younger) as idiots. A
measure of their own self-assurance that vanishes when they hit thirty.
It stands to reason that they would regard the teachers of the prevailing
standards as incompetants.
I can nevertheless concur with what these kids are saying . I have 4 sons and
2 grandchildren and having (long ago) gone thru the educational system myself,.
and dealt with it extensively since, I can see the deficiencies
Unfortunately despite a few dedicated individuals like your mate seems to be ,
most have long ago given up their ideals and it is simply a job in which you
attempt to supply what the businesss community wants and the curriculum
demands. "Growing Up Absurd" by Paul Goodman contains most of the arguments.
It should be up to us as individuals to be mentors for the newer generations.
The educational system will generally not supply it with the skills needed
to survive meaningfully or knowledgeably in the 21st century.
I can only counterpose a friends wife who is a school pricipal and
acknowledges that she can't stand children but likes the expected pension
benefits on the one hand and an indigenous couple , one a former teacher and
devout exponent of the need for education to advance native peoples
welfare, who have pulled their children out of the Ed- sys and with some other
like-minded parents are teaching their children old skills and folklore in
order to give them the mental capabilities to deal with the major societal
changes that are happening and will contrinue to happen at an accellerated rate
much like computer development. Takes a lot of guts to have that kind of
courage of convictions. Will my kids and grandchildren be adequately equipped.?
I doubt it. A society of casualties discarded by development.
But , of course, the simple-minded diparagement of the system and ignoring the
many well-meaning and dedicated educators is not fair.
On 11 Nov 98 at 15:47, Uncle Roger wrote:
> At 12:36 PM 11/11/98 PST, you wrote:
> >Word processing is best. I really don't recommend giving computers to
> >schools because the teachers are often incompetent, and the computers
> >will often sit doing nothing. A better solution is to give them to
>
> Not incompetent. Untrained. You try getting 30 kids to sit quietly, let
> alone teach them to read, and see how well you do. Try managing a class so
> that the kids don't go wild when one of the kids pukes or wets his pants,
> and so that a kid with a speech impediment or burn scars isn't made fun of.
> Try teaching kids that violence is not a solution and selling drugs is not
> a viable career path, when they routinely see people killed and their whole
> family lives in a one room apartment.
>
> I've tried it, I've seen it done, and believe you me, anything you can do
> with a computer is a *piece of cake* compared to teaching.
>
> Teachers are not incompetent. They may be untrained in the use of older
> computers, but they are not incompetent. Why not take some time and teach
> them how to use them? Dig up some software that will run on them that they
> can use in the classroom. Volunteer to help set up their classrooms or
> type up lesson plans, so they have the *time* to learn how to work an
> antiquated computer. Show up at 7am and leave at 6pm like they do and see
> how much energy you have for playing with computers.
>
> For the last 8 or 9 years, I have been dating a woman who is probably the
> best educator in the bay area, if not the state. I have seen the hoops
> teachers have to go through, the work they do, and the abuse they take so
> that they can help the kids that are entrusted to them. I have seen
> parents who beat their kids, who write, in big red letters on the kid's
> homework, that they are not the kid's teacher and that the work is too hard
> for their kid, who don't bother showing up to care for their kids, let
> alone get them to school.
>
> Teachers are not incompetent. They may be overworked, underpaid, looked
> down upon, subject to ridiculous expectations, forced to conform to a rigid
> system when dealing with individual children with separate and distinct
> needs, but they are not incompetent.
>
> Max, I hate to put it this way, but you're a kid. You don't know what
> you're talking about. Generally, it's not a problem, but in this case,
> you've said something that is not only blatently untrue, but very hurtful
> as well.
>
> Perhaps you have had problems with your teachers -- How much of that was
> your fault? Perhaps the teachers haven't been able to focus solely on what
> you want to learn -- you're not the only kid in the class, and the other
> kids have just as much right to be there as you do. Perhaps you think the
> teachers haven't done enough for you -- but have you stopped to see how
> much they really do? (Including the hours they put in at school and
> elsewhere, and how much of their personal money they spend on you?)
>
> Sorry for the EduRant, but too often, teachers are blamed for the problems
> we as a society create, and it pisses me off.
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
>
> Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
> roger_at_sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
> Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
> San Francisco, California http://www.sinasohn.com/
>
>
>
lwalker_at_interlog.com
Received on Thu Nov 12 1998 - 00:03:22 GMT