abrand - 13 February 2009 12:46 AM
This is all bull. The teachers union has pushed all this off time so that the teachers can “plan”
Teachers are not supposed to plan, they are supposed to teach.
In my day (OK I’m old) we started the school year two days after Labor Day and were done by Memorial Day (barring snow days) In other words we were in school! Our day started at 7:45. A 15 Minute homeroom and the class at 8. 1/2 hour for lunch and we got done at 3:30 and guess what, we had only 4 teacher work days all year, no spring break, one week off for Christmas, etc.
In other words we didn’t have time to forget what we had learned.
As has been said here, kids have a short attention span today. IF that is true than WHY give them all this time off to forget what they have learned????
I think the problem is we give them too much time off and they remember that too and that is what they expect in the real world.
The teachers get good pay for their work. Most are very good at what they do. Their pay is guarnteed(along with the union extras). This is not a country club.
I say forget about all those 1/2 days. Let them teach and do their planning in the summer when they have 9 weeks(with pay) to do it.
I also believe the school day should be at least 8 hours so kids at least get a taste of the real world.
Maybe Japan has it right and we should have all year school with only a 2-3 week summer vacation---not sure but it’s a thought.
I hope I’m permitted to disagree with you abrand.
This is not the old days, and this is not Japan. These are the days when; kids have crack whores for mom’s, no daddy at home, many never even met their daddy, drugs are sold out of the back door by the mothers boy friend, etc. When teachers go to “Back To School Night”, on their own time, to meet parents, and show what their children are doing in class, few, if any parents bother to show up. BTW the teacher decorates the classroom each year to make it appealing for BTSN. Guess who buys the material and does the work to put it up. I won’t even mention dysfunctional families, pot heads, alcoholic’s, and daddy in prison, because I don’t want to start another war.
Obviously you don’t associate with many public school teachers. or you would know, there’s no country club involved. The ones I know, work many hours beyond their work day, to prepare lessons, materials, grading papers, and other time consuming functions beyond the time they spend actually teaching. Some that I know scrape out a living by doing part time work, such as after hours tutoring. 60 hours a week is a short week for many. The teachers I know spend hundreds, if not a thousand dollars a year out of their own pocket to provide supplies, and materials and even furniture for their students. My daughter goes shopping at various close out stores and dollar stores several times a year so that her kids, your kids) can have pencil and paper, along with many other items. There are a couple of elementary teachers in my family that spend upward to a thousand dollars a year on their students. They often buy their own copy paper for crying out loud. I know for a fact that they put in hours planning, that are way beyond what is considered their normal work day. I’ve seen them working on school related stuff on many a Saturday. I’ve seen them with material scattered all over the dining room table late in the evening, organizing lessons and hand out material for YOUR kids. This is what I see Yeah I see it with my own eyes. I guess that’s one of the reasons, I step up to defend public school teachers.
I could go on, but I won’t. Let me just close by saying this. Why would a bright young person elect to attend 4 years of college to become a teacher, pay back a huge student loan for the next 10 years, work for near poverty salary, put up with undisciplined kids, and their parents. Then have to be maligned by uninformed remarks about country clubs, by the very same folks that send their kids to them to raise? BTW teachers do not get paid during the summer. They either teach summer school, or work at a private sector job, if they can find one. Many work in summer camps, which are kinda like country clubs for kids who’s family can afford it.
I apologise to teachers everywhere for having to be the one to defend them.
Thank you for letting me have my say.
