We have generally high-rated schools here in the county (2nd highest test
scores in the State of Maryland); but of course, we too, teach to the
tests. I guess we just do it better.
But the administrative mind-set is mindless. Witness in the last few weeks
of school, a five-year-old student being hauled to the principals office,
so scared he wet his pants, and then - hours later - still in soggy jeans,
being told he was suspended from school. The offense? Getting on the school
bus with a child's toy pistol.
Oh yes, then they notified the parents.
On Mon, Jul 1, 2013 at 4:20 PM, Andrew Fildes <afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> The emphasis these days (here at least) is on 'classroom management'.
> Knowledge of and passion for one's subject is almost a handicap - it gets i
> the way of the administration giving you classes that might be only vaguely
> in your area of competence, sort of, perhaps. When objecting, I was once
> admonished by a principal with the fatuous comment - implied threat - that
> 'we're teachers of children, not subjects'. I think I replied that I could
> then expect to get a senior maths class the next year? That didn't bounce
> very high as a response.
> I had the joy of sitting in a staffroom the other day and having a
> genuinely intellectual conversation with three other teachers - on the
> possibility of introducing Philosophy as an integrated study at middle
> level (14-16yo). A very passionate group. I commented that it was the first
> time I'd had such a high level conversation in a staff room for ten years
> and wasn't it brilliant?. Others at the table actually looked nervous
> because topics like religion were broached. (One was, two weren't - I was
> pointing out that it's no problem if 'goodwill' is maintained).
>
> What cowards we have become
>
> Andrew Fildes
> afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> www.soultheft.com
> Author/Publisher: The SLR Compendium - http://www.blurb.com/books/3732813
>
>
>
> On 02/07/2013, at 1:03 AM, Ken Norton wrote:
>
> > We know there are a number of teachers with inadequate
> > knowledge of the subject being taught.
>
> --
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