On Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:01:12 -0800 in rec.travel.usa-canada,
"Larry (Scratch)" wrote:
> Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs lambasted teacher unions today,
> claiming no amount of technology in the classroom would improve public
> schools until principals could fire bad teachers.
jobs doesn't know diddly about education, except to sell
computers to schools.
in my observation, when kids aren't learning, about 95% of the
time it's NOT due to the teacher. the causes i observed most
often were
1. parents are not doing *their* duty by having the kids at
school on time, fully fed, and ready to learn, which means having
kids that are disciplined and pay attention, so teachers can
teach instead of spending all their time dealing with behavior
problems.
2. parents don't read with their kids, help them with homework,
attend parent conferences, or take any interest in their children
or their education. if no one cares, why should the kids?
3. when kids have problems, parents blame it on anyone other
than themselves or the child. they try to get them off the hook,
claim that their child would never do (whatever the problem
behavior is), and if he does, it's not the kid's or the parents'
fault.
4. the kids have disabilities or mental health or emotional
problems, and are not adequately supported/treated by parents,
the school system, or the health care system. let's face it,
kids born with fetal alcohol syndrome or crack babies are not
going to be able to keep up with the normal and bright kids, but
the school system and bu$h's idiotic unfunded "no child left
behind" insists that these kids should be able to learn as well
as kids without disabilities.
steve jobs should try teaching those kids, like most teachers
have to do every day, and see if he can keep the class in order
and focused on the work at hand. i'll bet that if he did, he's
be running screaming out of the classroom before the day was
over.
i am not a teacher, not married to one, don't have any as
relatives or close friends. this is just my opinion based on
observing my local school system since i was in kindergarten.
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