Controversial Opinions: School & Education edition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a Virginia teacher. We are only allowed to suggest that parents consult their pediatrician. We are not allowed to make any kind of determination regarding these things.

More often, from my experience, it is the parents who want the label and the meds, and usually it’s the case that they feel guilty for working too much and not being around their own kid enough to know what’s normal.

At the risk of being flamed, which I certainly will be, we didn’t have these issues when SAHM was the norm.

Back in the day when less than 10% of men and 5% of women graduated from college? These are the days you want to go back to?

Oh, yeah. We push waaaay too many kids into college who have absolutely no business attending college.

-NP

True that too many go onto college and then quit, but it wasn't like the SAH parents back in the day were graduating stellar students in behavior or grades. We've made huge inroads in both areas and I wouldn't want to go back. Less kids need to go to college now, but more than 10% do.

Fewer.


-an English teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: elementary school teachers are (still) mostly just women who are too poor to be stay at home moms.

I teach 2nd grade and have a Master’s degree. I’m a highly trained professional who had to complete student teaching experiences (basically full-time teaching for free) and pass a handful of standardized tests to earn -and pay for- my professional license.

I’m required to keep up with the latest buzzwords and fads in education while fighting to keep doing the stuff the actually works. I manage amd education a room of 28 kids of varying temperaments, abilities, social and economic backgrounds - AND their know-it-all parents, quite often. I also am trained in emergency procedures to protect all these kids.

You can’t even manage your only child. Put a sock in it.

[Anonymous]

*manage and educate

Even spellcheck doesn’t respect me. Oh well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: elementary school teachers are (still) mostly just women who are too poor to be stay at home moms.

I teach 2nd grade and have a Master’s degree. I’m a highly trained professional who had to complete student teaching experiences (basically full-time teaching for free) and pass a handful of standardized tests to earn -and pay for- my professional license.

I’m required to keep up with the latest buzzwords and fads in education while fighting to keep doing the stuff the actually works. I manage amd education a room of 28 kids of varying temperaments, abilities, social and economic backgrounds - AND their know-it-all parents, quite often. I also am trained in emergency procedures to protect all these kids.

You can’t even manage your only child. Put a sock in it.

It’s so unfortunate that so many people have such a negative opinion of teachers. Yes, there have been a few teachers that my children have had that I wasn’t a fan of, but mostly I have found the teachers at our public schools to be very good to fantastic.
People who think teaching is easy have never actually done it. When I was in college (an Ivy) I volunteered as a tutor in an after school reading program for local elementary students. It wasn’t easy.

[Anonymous]

"More often, from my experience, it is the parents who want the label and the meds, and usually it’s the case that they feel guilty for working too much and not being around their own kid enough to know what’s normal.

At the risk of being flamed, which I certainly will be, we didn’t have these issues when SAHM was the norm."

You should quit/retire. You have no business teaching/influencing young minds, as you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. I am a SAHM, and have a child who was diagnosed with ADHD. And, as I have said before, his world, my world, his two siblings worlds, his fathers world, every single one of his classmates worlds and every one of his teachers worlds is so much better with him on medication. He will continue the meds next year at college. And probably for the rest of his life. ADHD is not a disease of choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Successful white people from UMC backgrounds just worked a lot harder to get where they are.

However, whites don't work as hard as Asians from UMC backgrounds. We run circles around you.

Step your game up!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"More often, from my experience, it is the parents who want the label and the meds, and usually it’s the case that they feel guilty for working too much and not being around their own kid enough to know what’s normal.

At the risk of being flamed, which I certainly will be, we didn’t have these issues when SAHM was the norm."

You should quit/retire. You have no business teaching/influencing young minds, as you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. I am a SAHM, and have a child who was diagnosed with ADHD. And, as I have said before, his world, my world, his two siblings worlds, his fathers world, every single one of his classmates worlds and every one of his teachers worlds is so much better with him on medication. He will continue the meds next year at college. And probably for the rest of his life. ADHD is not a disease of choice.

Well, maybe he'll continue meds for the rest of his life. But maybe he won't. It'll be his choice. Not yours.

[Anonymous]

retired teacher here:

There is no question that some teachers and parents are too quick to put the kids on meds. That doesn't mean that some kids don't benefit from them. I've seen both parents and teachers jump at it because of simple behavior issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:retired teacher here:

There is no question that some teachers and parents are too quick to put the kids on meds. That doesn't mean that some kids don't benefit from them. I've seen both parents and teachers jump at it because of simple behavior issues.

Teachers can’t put kids on meds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:retired teacher here:

There is no question that some teachers and parents are too quick to put the kids on meds. That doesn't mean that some kids don't benefit from them. I've seen both parents and teachers jump at it because of simple behavior issues.

Teachers can’t put kids on meds.

In theory, no. In practice, almost. If the parents are uneducated and the type who will do whatever the teacher tells them, probably because they are from a country where that is the norm, it's pretty easy for a teacher to make meds happen just by "suggesting" things. And even if they don't say meds, they'll say take your child to the pediatrician, they'll give a list of behaviors they should ask the doctor about (knowing he/she will probably say ADHD), and so on. I've seen many teachers in high poverty schools do this. Then when the side effects kick in and the kid is still at the bottom of the class, they'll start telling the parents that it isn't a good time to make any changes. These are not parents who are really capable of standing up to teachers and schools, and they aren't getting regular medical care a lot of the time, so this is what happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:retired teacher here:

There is no question that some teachers and parents are too quick to put the kids on meds. That doesn't mean that some kids don't benefit from them. I've seen both parents and teachers jump at it because of simple behavior issues.

Teachers can’t put kids on meds.

In theory, no. In practice, almost. If the parents are uneducated and the type who will do whatever the teacher tells them, probably because they are from a country where that is the norm, it's pretty easy for a teacher to make meds happen just by "suggesting" things. And even if they don't say meds, they'll say take your child to the pediatrician, they'll give a list of behaviors they should ask the doctor about (knowing he/she will probably say ADHD), and so on. I've seen many teachers in high poverty schools do this. Then when the side effects kick in and the kid is still at the bottom of the class, they'll start telling the parents that it isn't a good time to make any changes. These are not parents who are really capable of standing up to teachers and schools, and they aren't getting regular medical care a lot of the time, so this is what happens.

While this is aggregious, shouldn't you really blame the pediatrician for not doing their due diligence to determine if this child actual needs medication? Anyone can google symptoms to tell a doctor for specific meds at this point. Teachers can't prescribe medication.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:retired teacher here:

There is no question that some teachers and parents are too quick to put the kids on meds. That doesn't mean that some kids don't benefit from them. I've seen both parents and teachers jump at it because of simple behavior issues.

Teachers can’t put kids on meds.

In theory, no. In practice, almost. If the parents are uneducated and the type who will do whatever the teacher tells them, probably because they are from a country where that is the norm, it's pretty easy for a teacher to make meds happen just by "suggesting" things. And even if they don't say meds, they'll say take your child to the pediatrician, they'll give a list of behaviors they should ask the doctor about (knowing he/she will probably say ADHD), and so on. I've seen many teachers in high poverty schools do this. Then when the side effects kick in and the kid is still at the bottom of the class, they'll start telling the parents that it isn't a good time to make any changes. These are not parents who are really capable of standing up to teachers and schools, and they aren't getting regular medical care a lot of the time, so this is what happens.

While this is aggregious, shouldn't you really blame the pediatrician for not doing their due diligence to determine if this child actual needs medication? Anyone can google symptoms to tell a doctor for specific meds at this point. Teachers can't prescribe medication.

So. The doctor is going to tell the parents that he/she thinks they are lying? There's no bloodtest for this. He has to depend on their honesty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:retired teacher here:

There is no question that some teachers and parents are too quick to put the kids on meds. That doesn't mean that some kids don't benefit from them. I've seen both parents and teachers jump at it because of simple behavior issues.

Teachers can’t put kids on meds.

In theory, no. In practice, almost. If the parents are uneducated and the type who will do whatever the teacher tells them, probably because they are from a country where that is the norm, it's pretty easy for a teacher to make meds happen just by "suggesting" things. And even if they don't say meds, they'll say take your child to the pediatrician, they'll give a list of behaviors they should ask the doctor about (knowing he/she will probably say ADHD), and so on. I've seen many teachers in high poverty schools do this. Then when the side effects kick in and the kid is still at the bottom of the class, they'll start telling the parents that it isn't a good time to make any changes. These are not parents who are really capable of standing up to teachers and schools, and they aren't getting regular medical care a lot of the time, so this is what happens.

While this is aggregious, shouldn't you really blame the pediatrician for not doing their due diligence to determine if this child actual needs medication? Anyone can google symptoms to tell a doctor for specific meds at this point. Teachers can't prescribe medication.

So. The doctor is going to tell the parents that he/she thinks they are lying? There's no bloodtest for this. He has to depend on their honesty.

And parents have to depend on teachers honesty and professionalism. We are highly educated parents who aren't afraid to stand up for our kids, but when DS's 3rd grade teacher started complaining about certain behaviors that we don't see at home, we just had to assume that he acted differently in school and that she wasn't lying. Turns out she wasn't lying per se, but was really just a horrible teacher who told all parents of boys, and several girls, that their kids probably had ADHD and couldn't handle the "increased expectations" in 3rd grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:retired teacher here:

There is no question that some teachers and parents are too quick to put the kids on meds. That doesn't mean that some kids don't benefit from them. I've seen both parents and teachers jump at it because of simple behavior issues.

Teachers can’t put kids on meds.

In theory, no. In practice, almost. If the parents are uneducated and the type who will do whatever the teacher tells them, probably because they are from a country where that is the norm, it's pretty easy for a teacher to make meds happen just by "suggesting" things. And even if they don't say meds, they'll say take your child to the pediatrician, they'll give a list of behaviors they should ask the doctor about (knowing he/she will probably say ADHD), and so on. I've seen many teachers in high poverty schools do this. Then when the side effects kick in and the kid is still at the bottom of the class, they'll start telling the parents that it isn't a good time to make any changes. These are not parents who are really capable of standing up to teachers and schools, and they aren't getting regular medical care a lot of the time, so this is what happens.

While this is aggregious, shouldn't you really blame the pediatrician for not doing their due diligence to determine if this child actual needs medication? Anyone can google symptoms to tell a doctor for specific meds at this point. Teachers can't prescribe medication.

A good doctor who is looking at symptoms wants to see the symptoms in ALL settings - not just the classroom, or at home, or in certain social situations. If it's just one place, then there is likely something else going on.

So. The doctor is going to tell the parents that he/she thinks they are lying? There's no bloodtest for this. He has to depend on their honesty.

And parents have to depend on teachers honesty and professionalism. We are highly educated parents who aren't afraid to stand up for our kids, but when DS's 3rd grade teacher started complaining about certain behaviors that we don't see at home, we just had to assume that he acted differently in school and that she wasn't lying. Turns out she wasn't lying per se, but was really just a horrible teacher who told all parents of boys, and several girls, that their kids probably had ADHD and couldn't handle the "increased expectations" in 3rd grade.

[LarryJohnson]

Teachers work together with the students encouraging them to improve their grades in school. They act as a source of motivation for improving students grades in the classroom.