When I reached into my mailbox and pulled out the November 3rd issue of Time Magazine my usual delight quickly vanished. ROTTEN APPLES. IT’S NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO FIRE A BAD TEACHER. SOME TECH MILLIONAIRES MAY HAVE FOUND A WAY TO CHANGE THAT. Aside from taking this sensationalized, narrow-in-scope, attack on teachers personally, I was dumbfounded by the subtitle. Tech millionaires will solve our nation’s problem of bad teachers…wealthy one-percenters will control societal perspectives of the nation’s education system by putting a spotlight on teachers so major issues like poverty and racism will go unnoticed. As a teacher in a level 4 school in a district deemed so “chronically underperforming” that the state of Massachusetts had to take it …show more content…
Taking on Teacher Tenure By Haley Sweetland Edwards details the June 2014 ruling in Vergara v. California. A decision which established that “Tenure and other job protections make it harder to fire teachers and therefore effectively work to keep bad ones in the classroom” (Sweetland, 2014, p. 36). According to Sweetland 2014, Judge Rolf M. Treu wrote in his decision that tenure “violates the students’ right to a basic equality of educational opportunity” thus violating California’s constitution (p. …show more content…
Among these challenges is “The decline of leisure time and the breakdown of civil society” (Collins and Yeskel, 2013, p. 157). They explain that people “have less time available to care for children and elders, less time to be involved in schools and education, and less time to volunteer to help others” (Collins and Yeskel, 2013, p. 157) As I read these words, I nod my head in agreement. The parents of my students are unable to meet with teachers because of demanding hourly jobs that often require them to work irregular hours. Schools are unable to keep accurate addresses and phone numbers for families who are constantly changing apartments because of the rising costs of living and underpaying jobs. Students often go home to empty apartments where they are responsible for feeding themselves and siblings (if there is food in the fridge). There is no additional help with homework— never mind extra money to obtain tutoring for things like SAT
Board of Regents (1967). The teacher’s interest as a citizen in making public comment must be balanced against the State’s interest in promoting the efficiency of its employees’ public services. The court found the statements of the appellant were substantially correct, regarded matters of public concern, and presented no questions of faculty discipline or harmony. The statements offered no proper basis for the school board’s action in dismissing the appellant (Oyez, n.d.).
A short clip of a Milwaukee high school classroom displays students playing games, sleeping, and teachers lounging at their desks reading newspapers. The response in Howard Fuller interview displays the aggravation, disappointment, and ferocity against the actions of these teachers. Fuller fired those teachers but then forced “to rehire them with a year’s back-pay because of a provision in the teachers' contract called “tenure””, a specification by teacher unions. (Tenure is a status granted to an employee indicating that the position o...
Back in 2001, before the No Child Left Behind Act was proposed, the United State’s rank in educational performance was 16th. After the act was put into action, that rank moved up to where we now stand at 17th in the nation. Statistics also showed that because of America’s dropping education level, many teachers began to get discouraged in their professions. Although, America has not ever been able to hold the title ...
Teacher tenure is a highly debatable topic- Should it be kept or banned forever in all schools? However, there is clearly only one explanation to this problem: We simply cannot continue with teacher tenure. It has passed it’s expiration date
The education system has been changing in recent years and the same problems that existed continue to get worse as years pass. Problems that were seen as minor at first have now grown. How to change the public higher education system has been a major topic of discussion but there has still been no major action taken. We struggle to figure out how much funding is needed for higher education and where it should come from. Our people continue to suffer from an underfunded high cost system. The wealthy minority of people continue to be the only ones accounted for and it is time to change this. We need to adapt to the changes and the costs that continue to rise. It is time to help the struggling middle and lower classes. I believe that the best
Tenure is a policy that has been designed to protect teachers from false accusations and various injustices that may take place throughout ones career. For example, one of the rights afforded a tenured teacher is they cannot be discriminated against based on their personal views or belief systems outside of the educational arena. Also, they cannot be terminated without full due process. Tenure will not, however, protect educators who are incapable, ineffective, or are in violation of school board rules (Essex, 2012).
After viewing the panel discussion about how our local school districts have implemented English Language Learning in their school, I am very intrigued. From what I gathered the field of ELL is a growing industry in education, especially in Colorado Springs. We have ELL’s students coming from all over the world. Here in Colorado Springs alone, school districts have to accommodate for over fifty different languages spoken by ELL’s. I can only imagine the challenge that comes with such a diverse group of non- English speakers in our community schools.
The United States is a never-ending battleground for issues to fester. We as a group of people seem to only be happy when we are unhappy, and everything is open for conversation of improvement. Others can classify our society’s constant need for change and enhancement, as a curse or a blessing. Nonetheless, the education system in the United States is always a hot topic for people to discuss, as it has not been a success with all of its parties. Yet we strive for perfection as a society and as we do, we look at the groups of people that control the decisions made that influence the masses of students that progress through the system. Who can we blame? Is it the teachers union? Or, are the administrators failing these children? How about the school board? Well if it’s not any of these groups it has to be the government, right?
Education has been a hot topic in every political campaign, top news headline, and teacher’s first thought when they head to their classroom to teach America’s future. The education system is the most vulnerable aspect of a nation. It is the building block for creating successful individuals who dare to dream of changing the world and have the power of doing things people only dream of. A country is only as strong as the weakest link and for America it’s the uneducated. For as long as anyone can remember there has been one thing that the majority of the news headlines, workers strikes, and state questions have revolved around, education reform. Three highly educated authors provide three common overlapping issues that harshly impact the education system in the United States. In the article “Why the United States is destroying
The youth of the nation are both the backbone and living representation of what the future will hold. A teacher once told me, that the reason why she teaches is because the knowledge she gives us will greatly affect the world and she hopes it is for a positive effect. Education is essential for a nation to survive and thrive. What that education consists of is determined by what society views as important for the future. Therefore, why is it that the government is more concerned about funding and the other nation 's views than on the young 's people is education. Terrell Bell said the reason for A Nation at Risk, was to convince the Regan administration that the Department of Education is necessary. A Nation at Risk was a masterpiece of propaganda
Proper school funding is one of the keys to having a successful school. Americans believe that funding is the biggest problem in public schools. School improvements revolve around funding. There needs to be funding not only in the successful schools but also the schools that aren’t doing as well. In documentary, Waiting for Superman, it talks about how smaller class sizes will help students. Funding is what will help the smaller class sizes. State funding mechanisms are subject to intense political and economic scrutiny (Leonard). Studies have shown that funding is inversely related to accreditation levels (Leonard). School funding needs to be increased, but there must be accountability as well.
What is a teacher? A teacher is someone who students rely on for further knowledge and comprehension. Often, a teacher is viewed as a role model towards their students. In many times, teachers can help guide students into a better future. Characteristics like preparation, compassion, having and showing respect to students can make a teacher more effective.
Many people on this earth grow up saying they would like to make a difference in this world. However, half of those people do not feel like putting in the work in order to do so. As an elementary education major, making a difference is one of the main goals. There are many benefits of becoming a teacher, and students benefit as well. In order to have many students successfully graduate from one grade to the next a teacher should be willing to put in as much work that is needed. Elementary school is where children are set up for the rest of their education. It is important to understand how to go into this career field, becoming a teacher has its own benefits, and the children are able to benefit from teachers.
“What makes a child gifted and talented may not always be good grades in school, but a different way of looking at the world and learning.” That’s what the senior United States Senator from Iowa Chuck Grassley once said. When students get a “F” on their exam, that does not necessary means they are stupid, or they do not know the material. It could only mean they have a different way of learning, or a different way of explaining the material which the teacher is not aware of. There are different ways of learning that students have, and there are different ways they apply their knowledge into real life. Therefore, grades are not the best way to judge the students’ standing in their classes, nor is it the best way to judge their learning process. In addition,
Because some teachers become lousy after receiving the tenure - Howard Fuller, former superintendent of Milwaukee, said “… I’m going to fire these people…” Phillip Davis Guggenheim said, “He fired them but was forced to rehire them with a years back pay because of a provision in the teachers’ contract which guaranteed their job for life called tenure…” Some teachers become useless after receiving the tenure and no one can do anything about it because they can’t fire them. Therefore, some schools uses the “lemon dance”, which tend to exchange bad teachers with other schools bad teachers and the cycle goes on and on. As Fuller explained, “…but for public school teacher tenure has become automatic you can get tenure basically if you continue to breathe for two years whether or not you help children is irrelevant once you get it, we cannot get rid of you… you are there for life, even if we can prove you are a lousy teacher” Once they get their job secure they forget about providing the students’ a good education. Some argue that it is not the teachers fault for students not learning, but the students themselves not wanting to learn. However, the teachers should motivate the students desire to succeed but they