So, okay, if I break my no cross-posting rule once, I may as well break it twice in succession. This was my reply to a post by a friend on the daily "Writer's Block" challenge on LJ
( Read more... )
In my state they are considering expanding achievement tests to college level. As a prof, I have no control over whether Jenny or Johnny read, study or get wasted... no parents around either. I can hold 3 hour reviews before exams on Saturdays (which I do for no pay) but if the reviews come to pass I could lose my gig because I don't teach to someone else test...
I feel for my pre college/uni sisters and brothers... I can tell you if the university level "tests" pass, the huge sucking sound you hear is all the faculty leaving the state
Oh, Christ! Is THAT ever a terrible idea! May I ask, sweetie, which state we're contemplating here? And, please, what field are you in?
Is it even possible to fuck up American education any worse than it already IS ?
My "favorite" pernicious influence in the past decade on so-called "higher" education was the Dept. of So-Called Homeland Security screwing down the visas for foreign students in the wake of 9/11. Fewer "furriners" worsened university finances here; simultaneously the less impressive schools deterred not a few OTHER international students -- a vicious circle!
schools couldn't afford citizen grad students, much less furriners... Texas is contemplating it, as is Florida ( no shock, the Bush family, and friends are getting paid handsomely by testing companies)
I do Government/ Political Science/ Political Economics
Actually, 'tis said that foreign students are a big "earner" for both public & private higher eddevifemmeMarch 5 2011, 14:48:35 UTC
Yeah, I'd heard about the FL thing. I wonder about Jeb Bush's role; he seems too intelligent to fall into that trap. (Though money talks, evidently.)
PolySci, eh? What're you going to do when you grow up? (That's only a self-doubting jab at my own minimal academics; ironically, I have stayed profitably employed in that field, though never teaching it.)
First, no, morningdozer is a friend, and she was referring to Phillips. Her own post on the subject of shit-for-souled teachers made me cry early this morning. I mean, how do you become a teacher and then make decisions such as which of your students you're going to throw to the wolves? Like people who viciously abuse their children, these sort of teachers pass beyond my understanding. Not my rage, mind you . . . ;)
Second, thanks. I had a good mother, who reared up like a spitting cobra when Phillips unloaded his "advice" about vocational training, and informed him that I was going to college, and I would earn a degree. Now this was a huge hope for her, as no one in my family had earned a high school diploma, let alone taken college courses. My brothers had both dropped out of high school and earned GEDs; so did Mom. But with the help of all three of them, I got over my fear of math; thanks to the love of writing and reading that Mom encouraged, I went to college on partial scholarships in English
( ... )
'Dozers and Governors -- slow, fat, and mindless!devifemmeMarch 6 2011, 02:17:48 UTC
Sorry, yeah, NOW I see how I forgot the "dozer" connection (BTW does she mean oversleeping or massive Caterpillar rigs?). I like YOUR coinage "shit-for-souled teachers"...
Oh, it did occur to me some hours ago, as this post has burgeoned, that I ought to put in a word for the many good teachers who labor sincerely for little recompense. This seems worth mentioning, if only in the current Wisconsin/Ohio union-busting context; "The Daily Show" marvelously ridiculed the respective Republican govs for putting down the profession so mindlessly as a shameless political ploy.
I swear my "guidance counselors" thrived on pissing all over my self-esteem. They did that from the time I entered elementary school until I was expelled from the Catholic high school. I could count the number of teachers on one hand who tried to make their classrooms a "safe haven" for me. But since I was a scholarship student (nice way of saying my family was poor and couldn't afford full tuition), teachers were told NOT to alienate the children from families who paid full tuition so LET the other kids pick on me. My 3rd grade social studies teacher told me this as an adult and said how much she hated that rule and said all her students would be treated the same- if they did wrong, she'd call them out on it
( ... )
Thank you, Anna! I'd largely forgot the two jerks who made my junior-high years less than pleasant, especially the bullying! (And I was talking to someone who graduated not that long ago -- and he said junior-high teasing was still god-awful!) Your testimony here just confirms what screams out for massive changes -- I suggest mandatory corporal punishment for bullies, and I DO mean paddlings IN PUBLIC.
Comments 13
I feel for my pre college/uni sisters and brothers... I can tell you if the university level "tests" pass, the huge sucking sound you hear is all the faculty leaving the state
Reply
Is it even possible to fuck up American education any worse than it already IS ?
My "favorite" pernicious influence in the past decade on so-called "higher" education was the Dept. of So-Called Homeland Security screwing down the visas for foreign students in the wake of 9/11. Fewer "furriners" worsened university finances here; simultaneously the less impressive schools deterred not a few OTHER international students -- a vicious circle!
Sorry, sweetie, bad news all over!
Hugz,
J
Reply
I do Government/ Political Science/ Political Economics
Reply
PolySci, eh? What're you going to do when you grow up? (That's only a self-doubting jab at my own minimal academics; ironically, I have stayed profitably employed in that field, though never teaching it.)
Hugz, J
Reply
First, no, morningdozer is a friend, and she was referring to Phillips. Her own post on the subject of shit-for-souled teachers made me cry early this morning. I mean, how do you become a teacher and then make decisions such as which of your students you're going to throw to the wolves? Like people who viciously abuse their children, these sort of teachers pass beyond my understanding. Not my rage, mind you . . . ;)
Second, thanks. I had a good mother, who reared up like a spitting cobra when Phillips unloaded his "advice" about vocational training, and informed him that I was going to college, and I would earn a degree. Now this was a huge hope for her, as no one in my family had earned a high school diploma, let alone taken college courses. My brothers had both dropped out of high school and earned GEDs; so did Mom. But with the help of all three of them, I got over my fear of math; thanks to the love of writing and reading that Mom encouraged, I went to college on partial scholarships in English ( ... )
Reply
Oh, it did occur to me some hours ago, as this post has burgeoned, that I ought to put in a word for the many good teachers who labor sincerely for little recompense. This seems worth mentioning, if only in the current Wisconsin/Ohio union-busting context; "The Daily Show" marvelously ridiculed the respective Republican govs for putting down the profession so mindlessly as a shameless political ploy.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment