My students are dumb...just completely and utterly dumb

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why have so many people turned this back against op? What is that about? Can't you take what op says? Often when people can't deal with it, they lash out. Dcum seems to prove that point on this thread

Op, hang in there.

Most people have a negative reaction to authority figures who use their authority to bully and belittle children.

Hahaha. Is this a joke? Where does OP bully anyone? Where does OP "belittle" children? Get a grip you bleeding heart. How can you even play the victim card without a victim? Or is OP a victum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why have so many people turned this back against op? What is that about? Can't you take what op says? Often when people can't deal with it, they lash out. Dcum seems to prove that point on this thread

Op, hang in there.

Most people have a negative reaction to authority figures who use their authority to bully and belittle children.

Hahaha. Is this a joke? Where does OP bully anyone? Where does OP "belittle" children? Get a grip you bleeding heart. How can you even play the victim card without a victim? Or is OP a victum?

Oh my you DO sound smart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why have so many people turned this back against op? What is that about? Can't you take what op says? Often when people can't deal with it, they lash out. Dcum seems to prove that point on this thread

Op, hang in there.

Most people have a negative reaction to authority figures who use their authority to bully and belittle children.

Hahaha. Is this a joke? Where does OP bully anyone? Where does OP "belittle" children? Get a grip you bleeding heart. How can you even play the victim card without a victim? Or is OP a victum?

Oh my you DO sound smart.

Well that was a nonresponsive answer. You better look that up in the dictionary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why have so many people turned this back against op? What is that about? Can't you take what op says? Often when people can't deal with it, they lash out. Dcum seems to prove that point on this thread

Op, hang in there.

Most people have a negative reaction to authority figures who use their authority to bully and belittle children.

Hahaha. Is this a joke? Where does OP bully anyone? Where does OP "belittle" children? Get a grip you bleeding heart. How can you even play the victim card without a victim? Or is OP a victum?

Oh my you DO sound smart.

Well that was a nonresponsive answer. You better look that up in the dictionary.

If you want a real answer, of course the OP is a victim. She is victimized by her own ignorance and prejudice. Its no-one's fault but her own that she is unable to do the job for which she is paid. If you are going to complain about spelling and grammar, you should edit becore you post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work as a teacher in a Southern Maryland High School and I have to say 80% to 90% of the children are dumber than dirt. They lack the intellectual capacity to even spell simple words like "though" or "their". I'm not trying to talk against them but I wish they weren't so damn dumb. All they care about is Facebook, Twitter and other stupid stuff.

I am a college instructor in developmental skills classes (read remediation for people who didn't study in high school or who went to lousy high schools). Lots of dummies in September. Good news is that they can actually change and learn to think and many do really improve and turn out not to be so dumb after all. Don't lose hope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work as a teacher in a Southern Maryland High School and I have to say 80% to 90% of the children are dumber than dirt. They lack the intellectual capacity to even spell simple words like "though" or "their". I'm not trying to talk against them but I wish they weren't so damn dumb. All they care about is Facebook, Twitter and other stupid stuff.

I am a college instructor in developmental skills classes (read remediation for people who didn't study in high school or who went to lousy high schools). Lots of dummies in September. Good news is that they can actually change and learn to think and many do really improve and turn out not to be so dumb after all. Don't lose hope.

Those kids aren't dumb, they are ill-prepared. The OP and the rest of the lazy ineffective 'teachers' who take jobs in low-performing elementary/middle schools and don't even try because its so much easier to just blame the kids are responsible for that. Thanks for not giving up on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work as a teacher in a Southern Maryland High School and I have to say 80% to 90% of the children are dumber than dirt. They lack the intellectual capacity to even spell simple words like "though" or "their". I'm not trying to talk against them but I wish they weren't so damn dumb. All they care about is Facebook, Twitter and other stupid stuff.

I am a college instructor in developmental skills classes (read remediation for people who didn't study in high school or who went to lousy high schools). Lots of dummies in September. Good news is that they can actually change and learn to think and many do really improve and turn out not to be so dumb after all. Don't lose hope.

Those kids aren't dumb, they are ill-prepared. The OP and the rest of the lazy ineffective 'teachers' who take jobs in low-performing elementary/middle schools and don't even try because its so much easier to just blame the kids are responsible for that. Thanks for not giving up on them.

Nobody is in a low-performing school and not trying. Those are the most highly trained, over-worked, and stressed out teachers around. But after trying so hard and working so hard, their kids still will not pass those stupid tests because no one can beat their demographics, at least not for long. Not a single school ever has. And after a while they get tired of being blamed for what's not their fault, and called failures by the people who are the real failures - a bunch of petty bureaucrats who have never set foot in a classroom but make rules to suit their political agendas without caring about the harm it does to children and schools. Then sometimes those same teachers start to blame the students. You can only mistreat people for so long before they break down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach in Fairfax County, and it's the same deal here. I don't think they're stupid, I think there is a lack of motivation/effort/experience that contributes to no background knowledge.

My students thought Mount Vernon was a mountain, and Chile was in Europe. They are 8th graders.

This. Same in MCPS.

There are some motivated, hard-working students. But I would agree that about 75% of students are just completely not motivated.

Yes, teachers can improve motivation, but it also rests on the students' shoulders.

are the kids happy? honestly, with the way the labor market is going what public schools should stress in the long term is good citizenship. being a good person, high character, emotional happiness and stability.

there aren't going to be enough jobs for everyone so let the 25% or so be striving gunners. the rest should be molded into good citizens.

i have a kid in my class who is one of my favorites to teach. she is extremely well behaved, courteous, happy, a great kid, nice to everyone no matter what their social standing is. She's a terrible speller and not great student but I am confident she'll be fine in life compared to my more stressed out higher achieving kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are in mcps. My second grader has grammar homework every week, and my older one did too (it's usually sentences that they have to correct).
And they do learn a lot of "substance,". The 5th and 6th grace social studies curriculum covers American history pretty comprehensively. And the earlier years now use a lot of non-fiction in the reading classes as a way of getting more "content" into the curriculum--for example, the second graders are reading biographies of famous Americans then presenting to the class.
The problem is that there is just a LOT to teach nowadays. And if kids aren't exposed to stuff outside school through reading, visiting museums/local historical sites/national and state parks, and watching educational programming, they are just going to have gaps in their knowledge. For instance, I'm not sure that the American history curriculum would explicitly mention mount Vernon, since it's mostly just Washington's retirement home....but kids whose parents have the means and desire to do weekend outings would know about it and would have visited it.

Which school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Surprise! People are not all equally brilliant blank slates, only to be affected by SES, quality of teaching, impact of community, blah blah blah. Some of them really are dumb as bricks.

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!!!!!

You are familiar with the way a bell curve looks, yes? Its really hard to believe that all of the OP's students are on the lower 1/4. She just doesnt like them and bitching on the interent about it is really unprofessional. But hey, I guess it makes you feel smart to call children 'dumb as bricks'. Proves you are so much better, right?

You have no idea what you are talking about. You make too many assumptions. You have no idea what population Op is working with. I have a relative who teaches in a small school district in another state and says the kids are stupid and their parents are stupid. This cycle will continue if the people in her district keep marrying each other. The stupidity will go on ad infinitum. The fact is there are towns of stupid people and they have stupid children. It is sad but true. I don't know if OP teaches families like these, but if she does, she is merely stating a truth.

Good luck with that prejudice.

You're being asinine. I don't understand what it is with being politically correct. It is not an f-ing mystery to the average person anywhere that there are people of varying intelligence levels and that to a large extent, it is determined at birth. Or, for that matter, that perhaps intelligence levels vary based on what neighborhoods you teach for.

Which part of this requires mental gymnastics???

This is why the Right calls the Left mentally ill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Surprise! People are not all equally brilliant blank slates, only to be affected by SES, quality of teaching, impact of community, blah blah blah. Some of them really are dumb as bricks.

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!!!!!

You are familiar with the way a bell curve looks, yes? Its really hard to believe that all of the OP's students are on the lower 1/4. She just doesnt like them and bitching on the interent about it is really unprofessional. But hey, I guess it makes you feel smart to call children 'dumb as bricks'. Proves you are so much better, right?

You have no idea what you are talking about. You make too many assumptions. You have no idea what population Op is working with. I have a relative who teaches in a small school district in another state and says the kids are stupid and their parents are stupid. This cycle will continue if the people in her district keep marrying each other. The stupidity will go on ad infinitum. The fact is there are towns of stupid people and they have stupid children. It is sad but true. I don't know if OP teaches families like these, but if she does, she is merely stating a truth.

Good luck with that prejudice.

You're being asinine. I don't understand what it is with being politically correct. It is not an f-ing mystery to the average person anywhere that there are people of varying intelligence levels and that to a large extent, it is determined at birth. Or, for that matter, that perhaps intelligence levels vary based on what neighborhoods you teach for.

Which part of this requires mental gymnastics???

This is why the Right calls the Left mentally ill.

Actually, what research shows us is that intelligence level is NOT determined at birth, and can actually change over the course of one's life.

[Anonymous]

OP do you teach mostly white or black children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Surprise! People are not all equally brilliant blank slates, only to be affected by SES, quality of teaching, impact of community, blah blah blah. Some of them really are dumb as bricks.

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!!!!!

You are familiar with the way a bell curve looks, yes? Its really hard to believe that all of the OP's students are on the lower 1/4. She just doesnt like them and bitching on the interent about it is really unprofessional. But hey, I guess it makes you feel smart to call children 'dumb as bricks'. Proves you are so much better, right?

You have no idea what you are talking about. You make too many assumptions. You have no idea what population Op is working with. I have a relative who teaches in a small school district in another state and says the kids are stupid and their parents are stupid. This cycle will continue if the people in her district keep marrying each other. The stupidity will go on ad infinitum. The fact is there are towns of stupid people and they have stupid children. It is sad but true. I don't know if OP teaches families like these, but if she does, she is merely stating a truth.

Good luck with that prejudice.

What prejudice? This is a fact-- not a belief. These children are mostly White, by the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Surprise! People are not all equally brilliant blank slates, only to be affected by SES, quality of teaching, impact of community, blah blah blah. Some of them really are dumb as bricks.

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!!!!!

You are familiar with the way a bell curve looks, yes? Its really hard to believe that all of the OP's students are on the lower 1/4. She just doesnt like them and bitching on the interent about it is really unprofessional. But hey, I guess it makes you feel smart to call children 'dumb as bricks'. Proves you are so much better, right?

You have no idea what you are talking about. You make too many assumptions. You have no idea what population Op is working with. I have a relative who teaches in a small school district in another state and says the kids are stupid and their parents are stupid. This cycle will continue if the people in her district keep marrying each other. The stupidity will go on ad infinitum. The fact is there are towns of stupid people and they have stupid children. It is sad but true. I don't know if OP teaches families like these, but if she does, she is merely stating a truth.

Good luck with that prejudice.

What prejudice? This is a fact-- not a belief. These children are mostly White, by the way.

Prejudice is not necessarily racial. Interesting that you would assume that though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are in mcps. My second grader has grammar homework every week, and my older one did too (it's usually sentences that they have to correct).
And they do learn a lot of "substance,". The 5th and 6th grace social studies curriculum covers American history pretty comprehensively. And the earlier years now use a lot of non-fiction in the reading classes as a way of getting more "content" into the curriculum--for example, the second graders are reading biographies of famous Americans then presenting to the class.
The problem is that there is just a LOT to teach nowadays. And if kids aren't exposed to stuff outside school through reading, visiting museums/local historical sites/national and state parks, and watching educational programming, they are just going to have gaps in their knowledge. For instance, I'm not sure that the American history curriculum would explicitly mention mount Vernon, since it's mostly just Washington's retirement home....but kids whose parents have the means and desire to do weekend outings would know about it and would have visited it.

Which school?

DP.. same as that ^^PP. Non W cluster; FARMS rate around 20%. And yes, we've been to Mt. Vernon. I have volunteered from K to 3rd grade, and they do indeed read non fiction books. There is one kid in my DC's class who is very behind. I'm not sure if this kid has SN but the kid is an URM, and I think is from a low income background (kid told me what parents do for work - menial job). I don't think this kid is dumb, but I can see how this kid probably doesn't get much attention at home as far as academics is concerned (parents have four kids). When I work this kid one on one, this kid seems to get it. But the kid needs *lots* of individualized attention; gets easily distracted, but not sure if it's because kid is bored or has ADHD or something. I feel bad for the kid and teacher.