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Life as a public school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2021

adamcadre.ac

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Re: Life as a public school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2021

#101

Post by analog31 »

jimbokun wrote: post #97
6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing is going to work while everything is paced by year. In 7th grade, in the fall you are taught X, so if you miss it the only solution is to take it next time: next fall with the next year’s 7th graders. In an ideal infinitely funded world, if you took 20% longer to learn X, you’d just go slower, not be left behind.

How does a teacher instruct a class where every single student is learning something different at a given time, based on their progress up to that point?

This is a good point, but it highlights the fact that classroom education is a compromise -- economic and social -- and not a moral standard. Thus I think we should at least be conscious of its limitations, even if we can't immediately do anything about them.

Re: Life as a public school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2021

#102

Post by rcpt »

P0l83q4p1Hw3Ul wrote: post #18
astrange wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California can't fund any of its public schools properly because of Prop 13. None of the wealthy homeowners care about this, because they're all too old to have kids in school.

It's not clear to me how funding plays a leading role in policies such as "let everyone pass".

Well, if you're an HJTA fanboy then you can justify any sickening anti education policy you want by pointing to "let everyone pass"

Re: Life as a public school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2021

#103

Post by throwaway17_17 »

newbie2020 wrote: post #54
linuxftw wrote: post #10

Wow, lot's to unravel in this one. First, the kids are trying to skip out on mindless work like book reports. Most of the students aren't bright enough to fool the teacher in the anecdotes, but probably there are some that do. Next, there's the discipline issue. Yes, they stopped suspending kids in a lot of places because they realized those kids would just be left alone at home all day, and the only reason those kid…

You think homework is useless? That’s the main way to learn…

I don’t particularly agree with GP’s comment, but homework is not the main way everyone learns. Maybe some individuals do learn that way, but others absolutely do not. I personally did not do a single homework assignment other than a senior term paper throughout all of high school and still learned the material presented. I think it’s too broad to just assert that homework == ‘way to learn’.

Re: Life as a public school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2021

#104

Post by yaitsyaboi »

refurb wrote: post #83
yaitsyaboi wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the 50% rule is okay. I get that it's annoying for the students who tried and got a 55%. But I suspect that the kids who would get score much less than a 50 are probably the least engaged and most disruptive. If a 50 can keep them statistically in the game, with a chance of turning it around and passing, that might be worth it. It's similar logic to not giving life sentences. People with no hope of a good out…

You’re cheating that kid. They’re going to get pushed into the next grade and fall further behind until they graduate and can’t do basic math.

I don't think theres a school district in the country that will advance a kid with a 50% average to the next grade. Idk if there's some arcane No Child Left Behind provision about kids who have been stuck for 3 years, but in general a 50% is a no go.

And it's not like you can get 50s all year and get a few 80s and average it out. It takes a lot of really sustained effort to come back from that. Most kids won't. But at least it's mathematically possible for more of the year.

Re: Life as a public school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2021

#105

Post by dehrmann »

lordnacho wrote: post #68

This school sounds like some sort of weird Kafkaesque punishment for kids. Everyone is trying to game it: kids who don't want to write essays, administrators who don't want kids to fail. Teachers who want kids to both learn stuff and pass. Motivate the kids. Show them stuff about the world, and show them how to find out things for themselves. If you're going to test them, do it in a way that doesn't destroy all enjoy…

No one's gaming anything; it's education theater.

Re: Life as a public school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2021

#106

Post by jimbokun »

nerdponx wrote: post #32
fallingknife wrote: post #25

> Another initiative headed for mandate status is a school policy that no assignment can receive a grade of less than 50% > And my direct supervisor repeatedly demanded that I pace my classes for the benefit of the single student in each section who was struggling the most I don't understand school. Why do they do things like this? Who actually thinks this is a good idea? I've never met anyone who does. How have we g…

I don't get it either. People have learning and thinking differences, we know that and have known it for years. Accommodating those differences is important. Living out a real-life version of Harrison Bergeron is not the only way to do it.

> Harrison Bergeron

Wow, I had never read that before:

http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html

This really captures so much of the current thinking around "equity".

Re: Life as a public school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2021

#107

Post by mindvirus »

rcpt wrote: post #100
mindvirus wrote: post #64

One of the most radical beliefs I have is we should get rid of private schools, because it lets the people most capable of forcing change to opt out of an increasingly broken system, and so it doesn't get fixed. Of course I say this as I seriously consider sending my kids to a private school because of articles like this.

> lets the people most capable of forcing change to opt out of an increasingly broken system, and so it doesn't get fixed. I don't think voting homeowner retirees sitting on fat Prop 13 tax cuts are going to change their tune because their grandkids can't go to private school.

I doubt that these problems are from a lack of funding.

From a systems point of view though - why would businesses move to SF if it meant bad schools? The answer right now is because the leadership can opt out and go into the private system, but if that wasn't the case, I think there would be a lot of incentive on the city to fix these problems.

Re: Life as a public school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2021

#108

Post by jimbokun »

treis wrote: post #71
nerdponx wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get it either. People have learning and thinking differences, we know that and have known it for years. Accommodating those differences is important. Living out a real-life version of Harrison Bergeron is not the only way to do it.

It's not mandating everyone be equal. It's allocating resources to those that need them most. Which is how I think we all do our jobs. You spend your time on the systems that perform poorly, not the ones that are working fine.

Or do you invest the most resources on the products, customers, and markets giving you the greatest return?

Investing in the most talented can give society outsize returns in terms of innovation, skilled and talented public servants, captivating art, and scientific discoveries.

Re: Life as a public school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2021

#109

Post by tastyfreeze »

pmichaud wrote: post #15

This is terrifying. How representative is this actually?

Im afraid it is widespread. My highschool in Alaska implemented a graduation competency exam around 2000. Less than half my class passed what I thought was an easy test. So... they made next years test easier to meet the desired pass target.
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