Forced Schooling in America

[libertyminded]

What is it about America that makes the rest of the world view us with general disdain?
Why do America's students consistantly rank 14th-16th in the world despite the fact that we spend almost 3 times more per student (about $12,000 a yer) than our closest competitor ($4300 per year, Japan)?

The answer to these and many other questions can be found in the genesis of our forced public education system. The Purpose Behind Forced Education

The education system we have in the United States is not designed to teach, well at least not to diseminate knowledge and understanding anyhow. No indeed the goal of our system is quite the opposite. Our system is designed to instill in our nation's youth an understanding that they are merely cogs in a machine to be controlled and manipulated by those that are deemed "experts".

This system was originally designed by (not directly but at the behest of) industrialists like Carnegie, Ford, JP Morgan and Rockefeller with a few goals in mind.

Goal 1) To create a massive underclass so zombified that it could more easily tolerate the tedious and maddening jobs that the industrial revolution needed filled. When Henry Ford first opened his assembly-line manufacturing facility, he had a turnover rate of 83%. So borring and tedious was this occupation that simple dirt farmers could not stand the monotony.

Goal 2) To instill an understanding in you that you are nothing more than a subordinate within a massive pecking order. That your personal value comes from your willingness and ability to complete appointed tasks to the exact specifications of your "teacher"

Goal 3) To break down the natural sense of curiosity that all humans are born with.

If at this point you're still adversarial, and do not relate to what I'm saying then please consider the following.

68% of college freshman cannot name the three branches of government that rule them.
74% cannot name 3 freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.
62% are not able to lable 7 countries on a map with no names printed on it.
79% cannot tell you how much a jar of peanut butter that costs $1.99 would cost if you were getting 20% off.
A staggering 86% have never read a novel of their own accord.
92% have no idea who invented the telephone, and about the same number can't tell you who was the first to achieve heavier than air flight.

With numbers like this, can anyone, with a straight face, say that we have an "education" system at all?

Our system is designed to keep us constantly in need of something entertaining from one moment to the next. It is designed to keep us purchasing goods and services we don't really need to validate our existance and sustain the economy.

In 19th Century America, with a population of just over 20 million, authors like Oliver Wendell Holms could count on selling 8 million copies of their books. At this golden age in Americas history after the Civil War there was a literacy rate of nearly 98%. When WWII started the Armed Services gave all recruits a basic literacy test to see if the recruit could read basic things such as maps, street signs, saftey instructions etc. deemed necessary for survival. 98% of these men passed. By the time the Vietnam War rolled around, 72% of whites passed and only 54% of blacks did. When the general in charge decided that these men must have been faking it to avoid service he dispatched a commision to investigate, the commision found that indeed these men were illeterate.

It's been said that you can find statistics to paint whatever picture you like so let me draw this out another way. Can you deny that America is utterly obsessed with nice cars, fancy clothes and shoes, slick nic-nacs, and mind-mumbingly simplistic television? Can anyone deny that our culture is virtually devoid of highly intellectual debate and critical thinking?

Wake up America. You have been trapped in what amounts to a version of "The Matrix". Mere battery cells fuling the agenda of a powerful elite that is taking away liberties from all of us becasue we are too ignorant and docile to see it happening.

An Orwellian nightmare is truely in the works. From the Socialist left wing we get the "thought police" ready to get you fired and sue you for everything you're worth for so much as uttering someting that's not PC in a public place. Attempting to remove arms from the hands of the citizens to ensure that there can never be a popular uprising against the powerful elite again. Taking more and more of your sweat and toil from you to support the idea that we must all be the same androgenous citizen. Supplanting the rights of the property owners in the name of "environmentalism" in what is really yet another way to show the little man that the government is boss.
From the Facist right wing we get an arbitrary moral code that has imprisoned millions of innocent people in a unwinnable war against drugs. Humiliated and imprisoned people for participating in the oldest business exchange in human history, prostitution. Hampered the progress of science and understanding in a blind fear that they will loose their religious stranglehold on so many of the laws of this secular nation.

As for me my friends, I will not accept the destruction of freedom no matter what banner it flies under. The complete dismantlement of the public school system is the only choice we have for stopping Orwell's nightmare from becoming a reality.

"Any man that would trade liberty away for security deserves neither." -Thomas Jefferson

[evillally]

America's newer generation (born after 1975) is doomed because of the lack of interest in education. Many of today's youth view education as "uncool" or "for nerds".

The real attention grabbers for today's youth are : Brittney and Justin, MTV, pop music, the latest fashions, cellphones and accessories, and other ridiculous pop culture idols that steer attention away from their futures.

I can testify, as a current college student, that's todays generation are aflicted with a severe case of ignorace and retardation. Some of the people I attend school with cannot spell, use a computer program, read at their level, or tell you one good fact about government, politics, people, or the world.

Today's public school is like Sunday church; it's a place that people gather to listen to bullshit and compare clothing...nothing more. School today is a fashion show- who has the cool stuff, and who doesn't. Who is cool and who is not? What are you doing after school?

Perhaps a solution is to inform the sheep known as "Generation Y" that it is cool to think your own thoughts, to learn, to acquire knowledge of the most obscure facts, that it is cool to tell the "in crowd" or "popular crowd" to go and fuck themselves...

[Impenitent]

which leaves one to ask, what will we get when the x'ers and y'ers are older? do you really think they will pay for the boomers' medicaid and social security when they know they won't have any for themselves? will they even care? education in school is nothing more than being programmed to serve the societal machine... happy slaves...

what are YOU going to do about it? nothing...

[libertyminded]

Why doesn't it matter to Americans that they are the stupidest people in the industrialized world? How is it that you can get Congressional Hearings and immediate action on Janet Jackson's breast, but the abysmal failure of our public schools is just something that needs to have more of the same failed mold layered on top of what we already have.

We've had standardized tests for a hundred years, and teachers have always "taught" kids to pass them. The NEA and AFT say that it's just that were not funding it well enough even though we have increased the public school budget by 450% since the end of WWII and people have gotten exponentialy dumber.

Public Schools are failing for the same reason Communism did. There's no accountability. Soviet Forign Minister Vachlav Molotov once said, "It takes the Soviet Union 3 times the amount of time and 5 times the amount of money to produce something similar in quality to what you produce in America." If you have competitors working on the same job you are working on you have an incentive to make your finnished product, cheaper, higher quality and faster than the next guy. The public schools hold a virtual monopoly on education in this country and just like the Soviets, it takes them more money and a longer amount of time to come up with a shittier product than any other system in the world.

[damnrad]

</span><blockquote><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><hr size="1" />Originally Posted by (libertyminded,)
What is it about America that makes the rest of the world view us with general disdain?
Why do America's students consistantly rank 14th-16th in the world despite the fact that we spend almost 3 times more per student (about $12,000 a yer) than our closest competitor ($4300 per year, Japan)?

The answer to these and many other questions can be found in the genesis of our forced public education system. The Purpose Behind Forced Education <hr size="1" /></blockquote><span class='postcolor'>

Then why do educational systems in the rest of the world turn out a better product, even though they also feature mandatory attendance at school?

By the way, I would not tout the system of Japan, which induces horrible stress in students, while allowing little leeway for creative learning.

[libertyminded]

</span><blockquote><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><hr size="1" />Originally Posted by
damnrad

Then why do educational systems in the rest of the world turn out a better product, even though they also feature mandatory attendance at school?

By the way, I would not tout the system of Japan, which induces horrible stress in students, while allowing little leeway for creative learning.
<hr size="1" /></blockquote><span class='postcolor'>

I wasn't necessarily touting Japan as a success story as much as I was using it as an example where mass education is accomplished with much less money per student.

Educational systems in the rest of the industrialized world are not really better systems but the juxtaposition of most other industrialized countries lends them greater exposure to other cultures and countries. Also most other industrialized nations do things like start teaching a forign language as soon as kids enter school as well as things other that we view as superfolous in America.

I don't point to other countries forced education systems as a bright and shinning light but rather my point is that foced education at all is a tool of social control. The ideal would be like things were in early America where people were largely self educated and learning was it's own reward. I can already hear the groans of those that say it's not possible in today's world, but it's not possible only because no one's willing to pull the breaks on this freight train of ignorance we are barraling along in.

The Government is in the business of meading out tiny bits of information, but is inevitably interested in keeping the people in the dark on what's really going on. If everyone in this country were well educated and self reliant the current design of our economy would fall apart. Politicians could no longer get away with blowing the sweat and toil of the nation on pork and sweetheart contracts. They couldn't get away with constantly taking away our liberties bit by bit.

Indeed the last thing the government wants is an country full of people that know what's going on and how to change it.

[libertyminded]

Also, I think it's important to remember that other countries have more socialist systems, which gives them access to more secular (and therefore reliable) curiculum.

[libertyminded]

Virtually every social problem in this country can be traced back to the destructive "education" system. America has been enslaved by an ingenious marriage of socialism and capitalism. I don't think people realize how anti-education the system we have in this country is. I urge everyone to go and discover for your selves the origins of forced schooloing in America. I gurantee you that, once you do, your entire perspective on society will be drastically changed.

[Red_Emma]

For anyone who is truly interested in this subject and has extra time on their hands James W. Loewen - "Lies My Teacher Told Me" Not only points out the flaws and lies that our textbooks teach..but also on how it basically ommits any radical thinking and true education...I had thought one time..you graduate from college...in the graduating speech they might say something about you being educated..your grandparents might say there glad your educated now...and so on even to your nextdoor neighbor..but how true is this cliche statement? Yes if your an accountant or C.P.A. Im sure you could add or subtract numbers in my head but could you tell me that there had accidently been 2 atomic bombs (unexploded) dropped in the Carolina's..(btw:1 recovered and the second the government bought all the land in a proximity around it and its about 150 feet down last i heard). Just because you go to college doesnt mean you are educated..I would be surprised to find anyone on Wallstreet who could quote anything that Sir Thomas Moore said in "Utopia". Having an education is not only knowing how to make it through everyday life but also knowing a vast ammount of the past and being able to draw logical conclusions about the future. This simply isnt taught in our schools anymore. If anyone does make it through the 12-step brainwashing program that is practically mandatory to fit into or be successeful in society and is a freethinker I applaud they and would love to shake their hands..Im only 15 and now homeschooled as of this year (10th grade)..all i do all day is read arundhati roy essays, zinn, chomsky, and so on and so on...Do you think this makes for a better education or less of one? I would say it depends on the society.. what are your thoughts?

[james?]

Fantastic post lm. My views exactly, even down to the Orwellian state allusion.

[m5lange1]

The biggest difference I see in schooling today and schooling of the 50s and early 60s when I was enrolled is this whole accountability thing.

Today the TEACHER is the one to be accountable. It is a logical statement and how do you argue with it? That teachers should NOT be accountable?

I will tell you that in the 50s and 60s the STUDENTS were accountable. The PARENTS were accountable.

Today when a parent comes to school the teachers quake in their boots that they are going to get dressed down for being incompetent and not teaching "Somekid" well enough. The students chuckle up their sleeves. Back then the student was scared stiff and the parents nervous if the teacher called them in.

Teachers were almost above reproach unless they were really out of line. If a students test scores were bad he/she actually had to shoulder some of the blame.

There were exceptions then and there are exceptions now, but by and large BLAME THE TEACHER has become the cry of the day.

While it was not always good that teachers were so seldom questioned in the old days, there were surely some bad teachers, but let us take a look at the effect that all this emphasis on TEACHER ACCOUNTABILITY has.

1. It enables some hard case and lazy students to pass off their sloth as the teacher's fault. And they are reinforced by all the blather about the horrible system that they are taught in instead of being told to apply themselves.
:Note I have actually heard Middle school and High school students laughing aobut how they are going to screw up the (standardized) tests to get even with the teachers. They know who is being tested with those things.

2. There are some (not most but some) lazy parents out there. Constantly reassuring them that it is the teacher's fault that their students are failing enables them ot pass off their share of the blame and be even less involved with their child's education. (After all since the system is so poor anyway why should they take a hand in it?)

3. Teaching our nations children should be something we really want good and qualified people doing. Probably a lower expectation than for our surgeons but certainly more important to us than someone writng comercials for patio furnature. So....
a) We pay the teachers a low to moderate wage for the education they are required to have.
b) We criticize them for their one perk (summers off) or take it away completely with year round schools.
c) We make sure eveyone knows we expect teachers to be accountable for the whole child. No lame excuses like so many of their student's parents are addicted to alchahol or drugs. Teachers are supposed to be accountable for the environment too I guess. ("Just cause your field has rocks and ruts is no reason you can't grow as much as that guy overthere with the rich tilled bottomland.")
d)We call supplying them with the buildings and equipment they need "Throwing money at it" wich we all know "won't help".
d) We totally strip the profession of "teaching" of the respect it once had.

Why in the name of common sence do we think we are going to get bright energetic minds to be ready to start a career in this profession?

There is also the fact of self-fulfilling prophesy. Tell the teachers they are in a failed system and tell the students they are in a failed system and tell the parents their children are in a failed system. Beat it down some more. That always helps.

If we totally eliminate the public schools then there will be all private schools.

Hmmmm but where to get the buildings for all these new students? I know, we can use the buildings just closed by the dissolution of the public school system.

Hmmmm what to do for administrators for all of these new buildings. I know, we can hire all those recently unemployed administrators that were just layed off from the public shcool system.

Hmmmm what to do for teachers for all of these new students. I know!! There are all sorts of out of work teachers from the closing of the public schools.

There will however be one major difference. All those hard cases that were refused by private schools now move in and OH NO!!!!! there go the test scores dropping like a rock. Must be all those public school teachers we hired.

And those people who had their children in private schools to avoid that "hard case" element? Too bad, so sad.... no place to run anymore.

Yes teachers should be more accountable than they were in the past but how about a little support along with the accountability? How about a little less bad mouthing? How about some public rehtoric on the accountablity of the student and the parents?

[libertyminded]

m5ange1

You need to realize that you were brought up in the same broken system only with different problems. Your post completely ignored the fact that the whole system is designed to subordinate not to educate. If you had read the first post then you would have noticed the statistics I gave regarding the literacy level of people throughout century. If you're not interested in going back and reading the facts, then let me just summerize for you that the picture is bleak.

Also you act as if the only option outside of public schools is private ones. This certainly fits in with the lazy American attitude regarding who's responsible for what. There was a time when America was the most literate intellectual country in the world BEFORE we had a compulsory education system. In those days you got taught the basics by your family and after that you had enough knowledge to self-educate, to seek out experts to teach you, to find the authors with the information you desired. Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Eddison were in fact, kicked out of formal schools for being too unruley.

Would dismantling the public schools be difficult? Yes at first it would, but charter schools could pick up a lot of the slack while we are revamping out economy so we can become a nation of self suffecint individuals instead of whordes of uneducated proletariate like masses.

[Matthew Cromer]

Libertyminded, I agree with you.

2 kids, homeschooled.

[Old Blue Light]

It is essential that the upcoming generation return to an appreciation for learning. Unfortunately, my generation has become ill-prepared to guide their children to this understanding. We will be swamped by ignorance, and a belief that that very ignorance is really a solid education. I myself was truant for most of my high school years and I quit as soon as it was legal (and my father allowed for it). However, I have always maintained a strict personal duty of constant knowledge gathering. Obviously, I am on this site for that very reason. What else can I learn? Is there someone out there who can give me insight into that which I have none? Often, I find a dearth of educated people, even when a degree has been earned. And we, as a country, will suffer detrimentally from this dearth. Those people will be our leaders, elected by others who have no power to think for themselves and who will always follow the path of 'political correctness'. It is simple enough to understand and requires no inspiration or free thought. Unless we open our eyes soon and force the issue, that issue will be forced on us, by an uneducated, defiant chaos that even now may be too late to mend. For how can you force anything on the American public without stirring up constitutional problems. How ironic that our constitution is seen as the inalienable law protecting our right to be unimaginative and ignorant. The world will be different soon.

[m5lange1]

I did read your post Liberty. And I have read those statistics before, along with counter statistics. That we are way down on the literacy level from WWII I doubt not.

That we are down on the literacy level from the 1800s I am seriously suspicious of. Their ability to do scientific sampleing in those days was pretty limited. For instance:
How many blacks from a slave backround were figured into that literacy study? How many women from a society that did not support women doing much more than keeping a home in shape were figured in to that study?
How many farmers (born and raised) in a VERY acgrilcultural society put any priority on learning their letters were figured into that study? If a statistic sounds suspicious it usually is.

All that aside, I am not arguing that the education of our children is suffering under the current system. Our differences, as I see them are these.

1. The motive of the education system. (forgive me if I misinterpret you) You appear to believe that someone or some group is trying to use our system to brainwash our students. I do not believe that there is any such dramatic conspiracy going on nor has there ever been. I believe we are dealing with a more complex world and culture so the job is becomming difficult and I think our society as a whole is abandoning the system rather than trying to fix it.

2. The solution. You seem to want to dismantle and reconstruct. For the sake of argument let us assume that you have all of the answers and could set up a system that would work. Well friend I am on your side. The difference is your way is not likely to happen. At least not now and not overnight. It is too radical for our society to swallow. I am not saying you are wrong, but perhaps a bit unrealistic.

We agree the problem exists. I say we can take steps to improve what we have, which is within our power to do, rather than blasting away at what we have, which is unlikely to destroy it but will contribute to its slow deterioration.

Now lets look at the alternatives. You said private schools are not the only alternative then mentioned charter schools. To me that is splitting hairs. Charter schools are not religiously affiliated but they are priveately run. They are private schools and the same need for teachers buildings and administrators would exist for them if all the public school students were suddenly in need of that service.

Home schooling. I have great respect for those who do it and do it well. Here is my concern. How many of us trust all the parents out there to home school their children? If we look at it realistically. Do you think some parents may just say "fine no school" and let their children have the run of the streets full time?

The argument of "I did it and my kids are doing great." is valid on a case by case basis. Grats. I am sure it was a lot of dedication and work on your part and I am happy you have produced citizens that will probably contribute to society. When we open it up and say "You can all just home school your kids because we do not have any public school for them." it is not going to be you who is schooling all of our young people. Its not that I do not trust you (present reader whoever you are) and I to home school our children, It's that couple standing over there that worry me.

So until we are prepared (economically, politicly, personel wise etc.) to put a whole new system into place lets at least stop kicking what we have so hard and try to improve it instead of adding to its deterioration. If we just start supporting education again it may actually get better (sort of like a sick uncle who we actually decide to medicate rather than thowing a bucket of water on him every morning.)

[libertyminded]

5lange1

a) I gather that you don't think there's a conspiracy to brainwash children but I can only assume you think that because you don't know who was responsible for the creation of forced schooling in this country and how they went about creating the system and with what goals in mind. If you have the patience you can go to the website linked to my first post History of Cumpolsory Education also you should get a book called An Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto. After you've done this, if you still want to claim that there are not subversive goals in the education system, I'll leave it at that.

b) I specifically mentioned in my first post that I fully understand that statistics can be made to say pretty much anything, I learned that lesson in my Political Science courses very well. That's why I alluded to what we have in this country as far as culture is concerned. Statistics might lie but you need only flip on the television to our 80 channels and see what passes for a valid use of peoples time. The average American spends 36 hours a week vegatatively engrossed in some of the most base entertainment ever concieved.
Millions of people are totaly emersed in the world of proffesional sports as if there were actually some tangible value to them. Can you reasonably deny that the vast majority of Americans are completely emersed in a level of materialism that goes far beyond simple drive for comfortable living conditions? What possible reason could there be for judging the value of a person by what kind of car they drive, whether their curtains match their carpets, how flashy their clothes are, how many electronic gizmos they have managed to accumulate. These are things that Americans have become accustomed to judging eachother by. I'm not sure where you got the impression that I have children but I do not. I am a young man in college and it is next to impossible for me to meet people that I can hold a conversation with about anything accept for the crapy popular music out these days, the progress or faiure of some stupid sports team, the drivel of simplistic films or the upcoming availibility of yet another slightly altered automobiel. These people don't change all that much with age either. If you think my statistics about how many college freshman can't answer simple questions or do simple equations is wrong then you havn't gone to the parties I have or spoken with the college freshman I have. I really do go around asking these people these same questions and they really can't answer them. When I first read those numbers I was in just as much disbelief as you, but then I went around and did some asking. Easily 70-75% of the people I talked to couldn't even tell me who the vice president is.

c) If you think that giving more money to the system is going to help then I have a rude awakening for you. When I was in the 10th grade (I attended public school for some subjects like music and forign language) I decided to find out exactly where the money in my school district went. Two thirds of every dollar given to my school district never even made it into an actual school. Administrators are paid insanely high salaries and administrative secrataries usually made more money then actual teachers. Absurd amounts of money were wasted on books and materials that were never used and ended up in dumpsters. All this and much much more.

d) I disagree that charter schools would be the same as public schools for 2 reasons. First of all, the charter schools we have, have already proven their superiority, with the kids in them outperforming public school kids by leaps and bounds. I can hear your cantankering already saying that it's because these schools have kids in them that come from better social backrounds or something like it but you're wrong. Public School teachers don't have to worry about performing effectively, their jobs are secure no matter how well they do their job. Charter School teachers are held to a standard. If kids aren't learning the stuff, the teachers are reviewed. All this is really besides the point though because it is my assertion that the idea that herding a bunch of restelss kids into a room and making them sit still, shut-up and pay attention is probably the worst possible way to get them to learn.

At any rate. I advise you to do some research on the origins of the education system. There you will find some very interesting facts about what that system is really supposed to be for.

[m5lange1]

You are correct. I do not think there is a conspiracy to brainwash our youth. I checked out your link to the web site you posted. I have not read the books you mentioned. I cannot promise I will read them as I have dealt with many "doomsayers" telling me if I just read (fill in the blank) I would know their beliefs are facts. More often than not I get a bit of twisted propeganda that is a lot more like a conspiracy than anything they are attacking. But I will try to locate one and at least skim it.
It would appear to me that, as with most conspiracy theroists, you have burried yourself in literature that you belive is enligtened truth and all who have not read it are simply ignorant and in good need of waking up.

Sort of like "You don't believe aliens are here?" Read "Chariots of the Gods" and you shall learn.

"You dont believe there is a great Jewish conspiracy?" Read "Mien Kamph."

"You dont think the right wing is full of people out to get you?" Read "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (a fair and balanced look at the right)".

Yes I am being facicious. There are all kinds of tabloid conspiracy books out there. I do still remain unconvinced that some dark force such as "Illuminati" runs our education system and has been doing so for a century.

I still maintain that it is the mudslingers who recognize that law enforcement has become more difficult, who recognize that every year there is more and more to be learned, who recognize the growing degeneration of our culture but still think only our education system should shoulder any responsibility, that do the most damage to education.

In other words people who would rather throw stones at an their car because it is not running right than fix the damned thing.

[Just The Facts]

I think the teachers have gotten lazier in their duties and instead of working harder, they want to dope up our kids with ridilin. Our kids aren't there to accomodate the teacher's needs, the teachers are their to do that for the students.. lets dope them up on caffeine to boost them up to do their jobs.

[Anniee]

One need only read the writings of the founders of compulsory government education to know what the true purpose was. They weren't SHY about it, M5Lange. They quite openly stated their case. Try Horace Mann and John Dewey. Also there was a shift during the earlier days of Catholic immigration to the US - they tended to have large families and be rather poor, and that didn't sit well. So it became a form of subjugation.

No, no one need be paranoid or of a conspiracy theory mindset to understand that the Prussian model of compulsory government schooling, that pride of Cuba and the U.S.S.R., has a distinct purpose which is not consistent with true liberty or truly free human beings. How do you raise someone into a socialist system and expect them to develop a mind for freedom? Why are the overwhelming majority of those who come out of these systems dedicated so singularly to statism of one form or another? Why do they all feel so good about accomplishing so little (20% illiteracy rate.) Pfft. I think to be a conspiracy something has to have an element of secrecy - we don't have that here.

It's a disgusting and dismal failure and needs to be scrapped. It's 100% unconstitutional at the federal level and it's time to not fund it to unprecedented symphonies of dollars but to end it already.

Libertyminded, I have quite enjoyed Gatto's work, though I disagree with him in quite a few particulars (esp as to his solutions). I think I enjoy HSLDA Counsellor Klicka's "The Right Choice" best though. Heh being one who's immersed myself in literature (they used to call that studying rather than thinking of it as paranoia, didn't they?) I could probably talk all day on this one. You wouldn't believe the crap one NJ senator is trying to pull right now because of DYFS' failure in the case with the four starving foster boys...oy vey!

[m5lange1]

I stnd alone here it seems and I have been made to see the light.

I am not a teacher. I am a speech pathologist who has worked in the schools (I serve 5 different ones in my city) since 1979.

In my particular city there are schools doing very well and schools on the watch list. All of the ones doing very well are in nicer ends of town with more two parent families and from a higher income base. The ones in lower socio-economic areas, with more minorities, with less two parent families, are not doing as well. Here I thought that there might be a correlation but I guess it is just lazy teachers at those 'poor' schools.

I do know they must be much better at looking busy since the ones at the 'watch' schools are now monitored constantly and show up at 6:00 each morning and often do not go home till 5:00 or 6:00 each night whereas the ones at the schools doing well come in at 8:00 and go home at 4:00. They must be LOTS better teachers because it could not be that tired old argument of different student populations.

I can tell you, your conversations with people at parties and the books you read sure have opend my eyes about those lazy teachers who hand in complete lesson-plans every day and are often watched to make sure they are implementing what they say they are doing. I see them every day just sitting.... no they can't do that anymore... their in work prep time is taken up now with daily meetings and mandated collaberative time. But you should see them at lunch...... well not really, most stay in there rooms doing prep work since they do not have prep time anymore instead of taking lunch... but once that bell rings they don't carry more than one armload (some just a briefcase worth) of work home.

And teaching students today is such a breeze while they are in class. If a teacher disciplines them they are on the carpet and the kids know it but hey.... they are just lazy, no account teachers and it is their fault anyway.

Yep I see those teachers every day but hell, thant can't be compared to what you learn in your Poly-Sci classes, or those people you talk to at collage, or what those books and articles say. Not to mention the great wisdom of the "over the michrophone" education bashers. Here they have looked so busy but you have shown me what lazy slobs they really are.

Not only that, but now I know that when they have those meetings and school improvement sessions and after hours collaberations they just switch to sounding like they want to improve their students and when I walk in. They are not really constantly trying to reach certain pupils or try new methods to improve reading and math skills. Its all a sham. They probably cannot wait till I leave so they can get back to their brainwashing strategies.

And I personally know of 5 who have retired early because they just could not take the hard work with nothing but criticism anymore. HAHA the suckers did not know how cushy they had it.

You still have to admit that if you were doing a job, any job, and you had to spend about one hour out of 10 proving to someone else that you were doing your job, and you had to hand in a daily plan of what you were going to do all day and then had someone there watching you to make sure you stuck to what you said for about one third of the time, and then had to listen to how lazy people in your profession were it may put you off your feed a bit too but hey..... that is why they get the big bucks.... right?

But now that you have made me stop and think about it it all makes sense....
What kind of evil twisted plot monger would ever take and dedicate their professional life to teaching our children?
They have to either be doing it because:
1. They are evil and want to program young minds MUWAHAHAHAHA
2. They are lazy and it is such an easy job. Minimal work and maximum rewards.
3. They love children and are dedicated to educating them. (Now I know better)
4. They are so stupid that they are unable to do anything else. (I know you love that one). Guess they have not read those books of yours.

That last one may have some merit now that I think about it. I mean since the private schools and charter schools (since you have taught me that charter schools are somehow other than private even though they are privately owned and run) have such better performance records that must be where all the smart teachers go..... yea......
Here I thought almost all potential teachers graduated with their degrees in education, got their certificates, and then looked for work. Some finding jobs in public schools, some in private schools and (evidently) some in the somewhat less private realm of charter schools. Now I know better.
There are separate collages or universities that I was unaware of, where the smart teachers are trained and they are the ones hired by the private (and charter) schools.

All I can do in my own defense is beg pardon for my ignorance over the last quarter of a century. I swear to you I never knew I was supposed to be programming kids. I have just been skipping blissfully along correcting stuttering and trying to catch up language delayed children and teaching sounds to those with delayed phonology skills. I was totally hoodwinked by those masters of looking busy who call themselves teachers.

I hope you can forgive me.