[oclug] teachers (part 2)

[David F. Skoll]

On Sun, 3 Mar 2002, Mike Roy wrote:

> 	Well, it seems not everyone agrees with Mr. Shaw. No surprise there as
> he, like everyone else, can't be right all the time.

I think Francis would take issue with that. :-)

> The real problem with today's education system isn't that there's stupid
> teachers or stupid professors - the real problem is that there's no way
> of getting rid of these people.

Yeah, but that applies to many professions.  I don't see why you're
picking on teachers in particular.

> But, there are also a lot of teachers who, as someone suggested, don't
> teach (or lead) but simply parrot the thoughts of others.

There are a lot of lousy computer programmers.  And lawyers.  And doctors.
Yet no-one is up in arms about that.

> But, week after week this jerk in on TV showing
> people how to maim themselves. The problem with this jerk, and
> incompetent teachers, is that someone else pays the price for their
> stupidity.

I don't see how you can extrapolate from a TV show to the education
system.

> 	An increased population, reduced funding, poor leadership and laxity
> have all contributed to the mess our education system is in. But until
> there's an efficient flushing system to week out stupid teachers, and
> keep them out, then we stuck.

I think teachers have been scapegoated and are getting fed up, which
is why they resist competency testing.  I think it's absurd that
computer programmers get paid more than teachers, for example.  And
teachers are constrained by local and provincial politics.  I'm sure
most decent teachers think it's ridiculous to introduce computers into
elementary schools, for example, but the high-tech agenda being pushed
by corporations and politicians cows them into silence.  And the money
spent on computers is wasted; it could be much better spent on other
things like school libraries, playgrounds and teacher salaries.

Donning my flame-proof suit,

David.