A couple news stories had me wondering if maybe we're not screening teachers closely enough. This story from South Florida tells of a 5 year old autistic boy who was "voted out of his kindergarten" after the teacher, Wendy Portillo, first asked the children to discuss what they didn't like about him, then had them vote on whether he should be kicked out of the class.And this story from Mississippi is about a twelve year old honor student who was voted by her class as the most likely to be pregnant by age 19. Another was voted most likely to contract HIV and another most likely to get murdered.
These "assignments" came from teachers; adults who should know better, or at least adults who should have a clue how hard it is being a kid without an authority figure stepping in and deliberately making it worse.
To the credit of the 12 year olds, they didn't want to participate at first. The students initially refused to vote, but the teacher overruled them. The 6th-graders then were horrified to see their names listed on the chalkboard, ranked in lists for everyone to see.
It's sad that our educational system is in such a state that we allow teachers like this access to our youth. Do they just slip through the cracks? Are they generally good teachers until they just snap one day and make such a bad judgement call that we're all left scratching our heads?
Of course, in some of these instances, the school systems circle the wagons and protect their own, shutting out the parents and insisting that they have their own internal processes that will resolve the situation.
It's exactly then that I think the parents should assume the role of Tribal Council and vote these teachers out of their children's lives.
2 comments:
When my son was in preschool, a cooperative nursery school, some of the uber-parents worked behind the scenes with one teacher to oust the other teacher (my son's) because she was too loving. Swear to god! She didn't adhere to a strict enough curriculum (uber parents use the word 'curriculum' in nursery school). The uber parents complained because this teacher allowed the 3 and 4 years olds to take off their shoes during class. Can you imagine? The nerve of 4 year olds to act like 4 year olds. These parents were already concerned about their preschooler's chances of getting into the best college. But the real shame is the other teacher's involvement. My wife and I got involved to expose the plot but we ultimately lost and the teacher was forced to quit.
Now my son is in first grade at a progressive private school and we had some concerns about his teacher. We talked with her and were disatisfied, so we talked to the principal. And we began to hear the complaints of other disgrungled parents, mainly that the teacher was too tied to a curriculum, too tied to a conventional public school approach to education. And if that's the case, why are we paying $12,000 a year? Well, the teacher's contract was not renewed. Imagine our gratitude to know that we (and the others who complained) have a voice that is heard.
We can't afford private school. They give us a generous financial aid package and we scrimp and save every month to meet our end of the bargain. But the more I hear of stories like these, SavageWit, the more I realize we CAN'T NOT afford to send our kids to private school.
--gravity at work
Let's see, I work with people everyday who do not want to learn, talk back, swear at me and in general are disrepectful. I work with an administration who is more worried about their community image than standing by my decisions or backing me up. They removed God (so they have little sense of morality) they removed paddling, (so they have no sense of fear) the removed truth ( everybody's a winner!) so they have no real honest measuring stick of their ability and then my budget is cut every year. Many parents send their kids wacked out on sugar and then wonder why they can't be controlled.
Why the hell would I retaliate?
What's the larger picture?
ANON
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