Anonymous wrote:Until more kids from Whitman and Blair choose to become teachers, how will the very best students end up teaching the next generation?
When will more Harvard grads become teachers instead of finance professionals?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teaching is no longer a respectable profession - frankly, I think people put it on par with waiting tables, as something to do until you get your "real" job. My grandfather was a teacher and was both very strict and used a lot of creativity in the way he taught (he taught drama and French) - I don't think his style or expectations would be allowable in today's schools. Furthermore, he wouldn't be able to support a family of six children now, as he was able to do then, on a teacher's salary.

When we start valuing teachers, and trusting them, maybe the system will improve.

I wouldn't go so far as to compare it to waiting tables, teachers do have college degrees, but it is not an impressive job. Having volunteered in my child's school, I do wonder what would posses a person to teach, it's such a crappy, demanding job. I think some just really love children and want to make a difference and others chose teaching because they aren't bright enough or motivated enough to complete a more challenging degree.

Until these attitudes go away, how can we expect education to improve?

Anonymous wrote:How long are you going to be hiding behind that "homogenous population" excuse?
I also truly believe that you can take your advantaged white kids and they will not test as well as their counterparts abroad. I went to high school abroad and college here so I'm speaking from my experience.
Besides all millions national tests, I wish they'd drop the multiple choice for awhile. My kids moves right to left, up and down on the page and still misses to fill in some circles. Doesn't even read all of them, just runs through them. Can't retell a story coherently (2nd grade,WoTP great school), hasn't had to memorize a poem. What do they do in school for 6 hours?! 6 hours is a long time to learn nothing...

Anonymous wrote:Not at all.
If education was on par with the top developed countries, there would be less job shortage in America.

I'm reading a lot on education quality around the world. Read The Smartest Kids in the World, by Amanda Ripley.
She followed three American high school students who went on exchange to South Korea, Poland and Finland, and lived through those education systems for one school year.

America ranks lower than the average of developed countries in most academic achievement tests, including the very interesting PISA test, which was developed to test, not knowledge, but critical thinking, a good way of measuring future financial success. This despite the fact that the USA spends more per student than most other countries!

Research has found that the usual causes cited for such an astonishing discrepancy are NOT economic inequality and immigration, as many people are fond of saying. If these variables are eliminated from the data, the US still comes up behind most developed countries. The real causes are a lack of rigor and clear standards, a curriculum that's too simplified, conflict between local and national standards (local curriculums and standardized tests don't match up) and an unwillingness to treat students honestly (giving the grades they earned, instead of inflated grades).

Anonymous wrote:

You missed my point. If you think that trades are for dummies, then you don't know much about trades. You actually want the guy who does the wiring in a building or who works on plumbing to be smart because you want that stuff to work right. It's a misconception that a trade is an alternative for a non-smart person. And that misconception is a problem.

In yesteryear, smart people went into trades. It was physical labor or menial jobs that people saw as alternatives for people who were "not the brightest." But even still, those jobs should provide a living wage (and they don't nowadays). But college or university was really something "back then" that people went into for specific things that required a college education (or if they were wealthy). It was never the case that all smart students were expected to go to a 4-year university. There were perfectly respectful pathways to employment aside from university that didn't carry a stigma of "that's for people who can't get into college." That was my point.

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. It's not overblown.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that the vast majority of our children lack critical thinking and problem solving skills. This is what happens when principals, teachers, and students are all judged primarily on test scores.

Anonymous wrote:When you have 100+ qualified applicants for job after job on LinkedIn, surely the whole BS about there being an education crisis in this country is overblown. The supply/demand doesn't reflect that.

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Anonymous wrote:I actually think that focusing too much on traditional 4-year college education is the wrong approach as a country. We should actually be doing more to bring back apprenticeships and training in trades. And beyond that, we should change how we view those fields so that it isn't seen as "well, Johnny isn't smart enough for college, so he's going to go to trade school." That's the wrong outlook.

I talked about this with my mother a while ago, and she mentioned that during her childhood, it was okay for parents to say things like "my Johnny's not the brightest." It sounds terrible now, but back then it was fine, in part because there were enough opportunities for everyone that you didn't HAVE to be the smartest and the best in order to achieve a comfortable life. Now we act like anyone who isn't in the 99th percentile is destined to live in a squalor, and even worse, we act like they deserve it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sort of agree.

I actually think that there are plenty of educated Americans, but there aren't enough Americans trained in trades (hard skills). And that is where we are going to see a deficit. I also think there aren't enough engineers, but the surprising thing is that engineering jobs don't seem to pay a salary that reflects that.

I think there is a disconnect. The salaries don't match the value of the skill. There are bloated salaries for amorphous, undefined management-esque jobs. But the salaries for actual hard skills are very low.

For example, I know a skilled electrician who works in DC at a place that has some prestige. He makes under 40k. He has to live out in the exurbs. And yet he tells me that they complained the last time they tried to hire a new electrician because they had trouble finding someone who was skilled and experienced and reliable. But they were unwilling to set the salary higher, even though they employ lots of white-collar employees who do a lot of paper pushing for significantly higher salaries. But they are stuck in the mindset that electrician is blue collar/labor.

My view is there is a disconnect. It isn't even just salary, but level of respect. So lots of people flock to certain fields (think law or even policy), and then there are hundreds of applicants for each position.

I actually think that focusing too much on traditional 4-year college education is the wrong approach as a country. We should actually be doing more to bring back apprenticeships and training in trades. And beyond that, we should change how we view those fields so that it isn't seen as "well, Johnny isn't smart enough for college, so he's going to go to trade school." That's the wrong outlook.

Blue collars are replaced by immigrants who actually will work a full 8 hour day.

Anonymous wrote:I actually think that focusing too much on traditional 4-year college education is the wrong approach as a country. We should actually be doing more to bring back apprenticeships and training in trades. And beyond that, we should change how we view those fields so that it isn't seen as "well, Johnny isn't smart enough for college, so he's going to go to trade school." That's the wrong outlook.