Comments on: Quote of the Day

By: Mike Alexakis

Mike Alexakis — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:40:56 +0000

Mr. Miller: Actually more teachers these days carry advanced degrees than ever before, so I question your information sources. The ACLU is not a factor in any of this, but since you mentioned them I can now see where you are coming from. I’m sure you would love to take that paddle out of mothballs…

By: David Miller

David Miller — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 00:08:11 +0000

Mike Alexakis- Having laws on the books accomplishes nothing unless enforced. They are not being equally enforced within the schools and throughout the country. I am not demonizing teachers- I am just stating the truth. Today’s teachers are less educated and and are not doing the job. I admit their hands are tied by the asinine ACLU rulings that allow students to rule the classrooms, while tying teachers hands when they try to maintain discipline in the classroom. People like yourself need to quit making excuses and settling for less from our schools.

By: Peter Machon

Peter Machon — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 19:05:48 +0000

Mr. Alexakis,

Thank you for your measured and rational response. I wish people like you were featured on the news, instead of the extremists.

By: Mike Alexakis

Mike Alexakis — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:00:58 +0000

Mr. Miller: All your suggestions except for the cell phone one are already law. Where did you get the idea that schools tolerate weapons and thugs? A 2.0 GPA is required for any sport participant, and Alegbra is required for graduation. It seems you want more from teachers, thats a nobel sentiment, but we sure are not going to attract more qualified teachers if we demonize and scapegoat them IMHO.

By: David Miller

David Miller — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 21:31:43 +0000

When I went to school the onus for grades was placed upon me – not the teacher/s. The teachers were educated and learned. Today many of the so-called teachers are a product of the watered down educational system and can’t compare to the teachers I had. All most schools are concerned about is putting bodies in school so that they will receive funding. Whether the students learn is not important- just their presence in school. The majority of public schools have become day care centers for students and not learning centers. If the schools are to ever become the learning centers they once were several things need to happen. 1).expel the thugs, drug dealers, extortion artists. 2)Do not pass failing students to the next grade until they qualify. 3). institute “no pass- no play” for the student athletes. 4).Take away the cell phones – we had none and needed none when I attended school. If a student needs to use a phone they would go to the office and get permission. 6).Zero tolerance for guns or any weapons – send them to jail. and 7). Get qualified teacher who can teach. Implementing these changes will go a long wat to correct our school and allow the schools to do what they are meant to do – teach.

By: Mike Alexakis

Mike Alexakis — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 16:32:14 +0000

Hugh: Schools are not businesses, they are vehicles for learning. It is a terrible shame IMHO that the new boogeyman for the right wingers are teachers. All Americans until recently supported teachers in their difficult jobs 100%, but now we get corporate interests pulling the levers of conservative activism to demonize teachers because they bargain collectively. It would not be fair to judge teachers solely on standardized testing, and it would lead to cheating. Parents are the main driving force of student achievement, not teachers. David made some great points, I want my kids learning the world, not how to fill in a blank. Sure, there are some bad apples, I have 2 kids in public schools and have seen it all, but the way to improve things is not to hire Gordon Gekko…

By: David McKee

David McKee — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:59:51 +0000

When I was going to grade school back in the Pleistocene Era (translation: 1967-79), standardized testing bore so little relation to what was being taught in class that I would strongly hesitate to use it as a metric of teacher performance. But that gets into my whole rant about how public schools don’t teach people to think but crank out drones to man the assembly lines of our once-industrialized society, not to mention reinforcing a Darwinian social order … and so on and so forth. (Catholic school looks like Berkeley by comparison.)

Personally, I’m more concerned with the amount of *student* time wasted on standardized tests. If we’re using them as guinea pigs to measure teacher performance, then we’ve got it topsy-turvy, IMO. As regards pay-for-performance, I’ll all for it … and wish I’d received more of it from the private sector.

By: Hugh

Hugh — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:51:32 +0000

When did pay for performance become an evil system? Just how should we measure teacher performance? Well dressed? How often they run field trips to the museum or Hollywood movies? Would Matt Daman hire teachers for his kids based on seniority? I’m getting a bit sick of the hypocrisy from these wealthy leftwing ideologues that insist on supporting the teachers union line on this (word for word no less) and then turn around and send their kids to private schools where they certainly do measure teacher performance largely based on testing. Unreal.