"Merit-ize" This

[DemocracyInaction]

Which of the following is the best teacher>:

The teacher of a classroom of gifted, bright children who are motivated from something other than the "classroom", are creative, inventive and will fill the school day with all sorts of educational adventures and curiosity even if the teacher is a "stuffed" toy sitting in the corner.

OR

The teacher who is given the biggest collection of assholes this side of the Pecos whose combined IQ is 10 and who can manage to finally get them to sit in a seat and write their name without misspelling it and not kill anyone during the day??

Ohhhh..let's give a test or have a "principal" judge that one. It's just so obvious, isn't it? Both my husband I are were in education for about 40 years (and thank God are retired) He in the classroom and I in administration. (By the way, you men wouldn't exist long because the "principals" try to give the shit jobs to the men so that they can keep law and order. Want a little more insight??

Our family is filled with administrators and educators and about 70% of our friends were administrators. Administrators got to be the single most drag on the school systems, pocketing tremendous salaries at the expense of the schools as the students were given "crumbs" to live on. Most of them got their education degree, became the worst goddamn teachers imaginable (couldn't do squat in a classroom), picked up another degree and became administration. They don't give a flying fuck about your "kiddie". They are in it for the money..and they get their money by giving school boards small budgets. If you had merit pay, it would be rediculous for a kid to go off to college and become a teacher. Why? Because you would last about 5 years and then be replaced by a cheaper teacher so that they could present a low budget and GET THEMSELVES a raise.......that's how the system works, honey, stop bullshiting yourself. As administrators they drive out of their ranks anyone who doesn't play that game with them.

This isn't as simple as sitting in your stupid cubicle and firing people 'cause they didn't sell enough insurance policies last year. Sadly, Obama doesn't get it either..or he's trying to eventually go to corporate owned schools; and we know how well "corporations" have worked out lately.

[Midlodemocrat]

1. Anyone who refers to a student as an 'asshole' doesn't belong within 100 feet of a school.

It's disgusting. You should be ashamed.

[BlooInBloo]

2. Depends on what age they are.

[Midlodemocrat]

3. No, it doesn't.

It speaks volumes about a person if this is how they think about their students. It's vile.

[BlooInBloo]

8. Yah, it does....

k-12, I'm in complete agreement with you.

College, I'm not - they can be assholes just like anyone else can.

My favorite memory along these lines is the idiot baseball player, who thought that he could skip all quarter, do no homework, fail every test, then come up to me on the day of the final and tell me to give him a passing grade, else he wouldn't be able to play minor league ball.

I think that asshole is at a Burger King somewhere flipping flame-broiled patties. :rofl:

[DemocracyInaction]

13. Then there was the asshole

..who went around demanding an A from teachers when he never attended 90% of the classes and didn't pass one test. He had a gun in his backpack to back up his demand. My husband, THE TEACHER, talked him out of the gun. The administrator knew he was in the building and HID. Yep, time to get out of fairytale land and realize how many of the little darlings are "assholes"--but not in their mom and pop's eyes. Course, when they can't do squat in life, mom and dad are stuck with them.

[Midlodemocrat]

14. OMG! I think we had the same student.

:rofl:

Kid flat out told me that he didn't my AP Government class because he was going straight into the army when he graduated. So, of course, he failed. A week before the end of the semester he realized that he needed the credit to get his diploma.

It was, um, interesting. :rofl:

[DemocracyInaction]

9. Yes I am ashamed

I was the ADMINISTRATOR.....so now can you get the picture?? Go volunteer at a high school for awhile. Better still, go volunteer to shadow an administrator (or be a mouse in the corner) and maybe you will figure out who are teaching your kids and who are making a bundle off the unsuspecting public. We administrators were always soooo smooth at BSing the public. It's a political job like non you can imagine. And it is profitable. Beware of Administrators pushing for "merit pay". It means "more for me".

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

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[DemocracyInaction]

15. Funny - I was administrator of the year

my god you live in la-la land. Good thing you went on to teach college before you got a clue......

[Midlodemocrat]

17. No, sweetie, YOU live in LaLa Land.

But they know you there, so it's all good.

[Fresh_Start]

4. I'm very thankful

that you are retired

[Midlodemocrat]

6. .

:applause:

[fed_up_mother]

5. Merit pay for the first. Hazard pay for the second.

I say "hazard" pay because some folks would be dangerously close to losing it in that second teacher's classroom. :)

[AlCzervik]

7. So i guess we won't hear any Oscar winners thanking you in their acceptance speeches then.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Amen

Especially on the administrators. I could write a novel full of bad administrator stories. And my dad was a principal, so until I became a teacher I had no idea how bad so many principals were.

And every single one I ever asked became a principal to make more money. Not because they thought they could help the kids or even the teachers, but to make more money.

If I wanted money, I wouldn't have become a teacher. We aren't in it for that. We also don't want to compete with each other. So merit pay will never work. It's one of the worst ideas yet.

Here's my favorite bad administrator story - the admin in charge of testing was passing out test booklets. They were in cellophane packets of 25. She got 3 clerical employees to open the packages and count the tests into stacks of 10. It took them an entire day to count out those books. When she was asked why she opened the packages and passed them out like that she said 'because it is easier to count by 10s'.

An entire day. Because it was easier to count by 10s. I guess the concept of 4 quarters in a dollar escaped her.

[nini]

11. The best teacher is the one who gets the most of the type of students they have

Not all teachers of the gifted are going above and beyond what they need to, and not all teachers of troubled kids give a shit about them to even try.

Nice broad brush there.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

19. This is exactly right.

It's a distortion to say that we'd wind up rewarding teachers of the best students. Rather, if a proper system is put into place, we absolutely can measure the value added to a student by a teacher by measuring a student's performance before and after the student enters that classroom.

[Mother Of Four]

16. I'm not a teacher-

I'm a parent.

And as a parent, I have to say first that Merit pay based on test scores is crap. I went into why on another thread.

That being said, I would imagine that both teachers would have a challenge. The first trying to think of new and creative ways to engage the class to keep them from being bored. The second due to the stress of emotionally investing in a hard to engage class with learning difficulties.

I have to say I'm appalled at you calling kids "assholes". I'm flabbergasted really. Why on earth would you insult children? If I heard a teacher saying that about my kids, I don't even know how I would react but it wouldn't be pleasant.

Shouldn't you address the BEHAVIOR instead of tearing down the child? I get the point you're trying to make, I'm just a little weired out at how you made it.

[Midlodemocrat]

18. She was administrator of the YEAR!!!! Have some respect.

And, c'mon don't you think we should all refer to other people's children as assholes?

Come here, let's hug.


:rofl: