For the things that never make any sense! XD

[catshem]

What Treth said. A friend of the family whose 8 year old son we consider our nephew is a teacher, and a damn good one too, but there's all those outside factors causing a problem. :/ She told us about this one elementary school teacher who barely did her job at all- the aid did her work- but she had tenure and couldn't be fired. The school ended up putting the teacher with pre-schoolers where "she could do the least amount of damage." My sister-in-law is a teacher for mentally challenged students, but I don't believe she has tenure yet.. so that makes her job stability all kinds of iffy.

[victoriavictrix]

What Treth said. A friend of the family whose 8 year old son we consider our nephew is a teacher, and a damn good one too, but there's all those outside factors causing a problem. :/ She told us about this one elementary school teacher who barely did her job at all- the aid did her work- but she had tenure and couldn't be fired.

Actually that statement is completely untrue. A teacher with tenure CAN be fired. They just cannot be fired for no cause. You must show good cause before firing and the teacher is entitled to hearings first. A teacher without tenure can be fired at any time for no cause at all, and many HAVE been for things like exercising their rights of free speech with a bumper sticker the principal didn't like on their car, for standing up for a student's rights, for protesting unsafe conditions in the school, even for allowing students to "friend" them on Facebook.

Please read this:

http://www.alternet.org/6-reasons-teachers-unions-are-good-kids?page=0%2C0&akid=9237.296510.jk7F5W&rd=1&src=newsletter694902&t=8

[catshem]

I don't know a lot about what happened but apparently the school really couldn't get a good cause to fire her. Apparently not teaching children isn't a good enough reason. :/

[knittnkitten]

we had a few teachers with serious drinking problems. one did get fired because she was drinking during class, the other had charges dropped and is still teaching.

[Vetinari]

let's see - teacher in a relationship with a student, fired. One who couldn't speak english well enough to control a class of unruly teenagers, one who couldn't actually control a class (Ever, it was a combination of an unfortunate name, and softly spoken nature, distinct memory of a couple of lads putting a table through a wall in his class... ) and another who's idea of teaching was to talk continously about their life during/before and after the war, enjoyable, just not very informative.

Damn when put like that my old school sounds terrible!

[catshem]

All the bad stories of the not-so-great teachers are way too high-lighted. Makes all the goods ones look bad Really wish we stood up for our [good] teachers more than the majority does already. I had a great Italian teacher who really tried with me; I unfortunately just could not understand the grammar. I swear she only gave me a barely passing D grade just so I could move on with my life and not have to repeat. End of the year I gave her a card as a way to apologize for my crappy studentness.

[knittnkitten]

my highschool was a rough place, and I'm sure it drove most of them to drink. most of the smart kids went to the university for post secondary credits in highschool because that was the only place they could really learn anything.

[yarwel]

I'm so glad I went to private school! Public schools in Chicago are horrible. School funding is distributed according to the property tax evaluations in the district, so the only decently funded public schools in Chicago are in wealthy neighborhoods. Many teachers in Chicago use their own not very large salaries to buy supplies for their students. Also if a school falls below a certain test score threshold that school enters the "turn-around school" program in which case the entire staff of the school is fired even when the teachers have really been doing a good job with basically no funding to get teaching tools. The only reason the program "works" is that the turn-around schools are given more funding than they had before.

[catshem]

God that sounds like a terribly inefficient way to do things.

[Kirahfaye]

Yes, I had my share of bad teachers, but I had other teachers who more than made up for it. My first grade teacher (right out of college without any real experience) used to hold up my work as an example to the class of what not to do and constantly degraded me to my parents on my report cards. My 4th grade teacher, who was tall and obese, would hover over students in their chairs and scream at them, called everyone stupid and other derogatory names, was bigoted against the Cuban kids (we didn't have any black students then) and stuffed a couple of boys in the supply cabinets at the back of the class. I didn't see that one, but was told about it. I did see him push boys around often.

On the other hand, my 8th grade English teacher was the one who determined I had dyslexia and spent 45 minutes a day, 2 days a week after school to help me deal with my learning disability. She's the one who instilled in me a sense of self worth and made me believe I could learn. She changed my life. I don't know what would have happened to me if not for Mrs. Hammond. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

And there was Mr. Weiss, my 10th grade history teacher. He inspired me to push myself. He used encouragement as a way to get kids interested in learning boring dates, names and events. He continued to be involved in my progress even after the 10th grade. He prodded me to join the Honor Society. He nominated me for "Who's Who in American High School Students" for my senior year. (I have that monstrosity of a book packed away somewhere.) He encouraged me to try drama class, drill team, yearbook staff and even run for Sweetheart Queen.

There were other teachers throughout my school life that gave me what I needed to get by academically, and a few who were a waste of my time and energy, but for the most part my teachers cared and tried, within their abilities and understanding, to work with my limitations both before and after I learned I had dyslexia. I'm glad for my years in school and for the teachers who loved their job and their students - each one of us.