Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
As I reflect on last night's speech by Chris Christie, I cannot help but feel a bit unsettled in terms of his points about modern education. I have no disagreement with Christie over the need to take on the teacher unions or to raise expectations across the board. Do we need to identify underperforming and incompetent teachers in our schools and remove them from the system? Absolutely.
However, there are probably 10 good teachers for every poor teacher, and the good teachers are often unable to perform at their optimum level as a result of students who are the victim of poor parenting. Parents who fail to teach their children right from wrong, parents who fail to instill values in their children, and parents who fail to educate their children about respect make it impossible for teachers to teach.
Poor parenting is a far more significant problem in our schools than poor teaching. Too many parents think of public education as day care, and they drop off their children every morning without giving any thought as to whether or not they have truly provided them with the values necessary for the system to work. I find this to be true in both public and private institutions. Simply ridding our schools of bad teachers who don't belong in the classroom will overlook other more serious issues (such as the indoctrination of teachers-to-be at progressive teacher colleges.)
I know it has become fashionable in this country to mock teachers and to think of them as obstacles to the dreams parents have for their children, but my experience in education (public, private, elementary, middle, high school, and college) has revealed that the vast majority of teachers are good people who want to better prepare our children for a successful life. True, many of your children's teachers have been inculcated with progressive teaching methods, but even the robots who are produced by the progressive teacher colleges are competent and have the best interests of your children in their hearts and minds.
And so the rallying cry has been, "Fire the teachers!," but this is an oversimplification of the problem and ignores other causes of students who graduate from high school unable to write a complete sentence or solve a basic math equation. Both Democrats and Republicans are deflecting attention from the root cause of our country's education woes (as they tend to do with most issues that require tough solutions.) And American parents are contributing to the failure of our schools by not providing their children with a solid foundation of basic values.
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May '12
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
Amen!
Dec '10
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
"And so the rallying cry has been, "fire the teachers!," but this is an oversimplification of the problem and ignores other reasons for students who graduate from high school unable to write a complete sentence or solve a basic math equation. "
But one of the clearest things we can do to improve student performance is to fire the bad teachers. If you fired the one out of ten teachers who are awful, we would save money and improve student performance.
Bad parenting we cannot do a darned thing about.
Sep '10
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
Amen +2!
I tell my wife all the time that the problem with kids today is their parents.
May '12
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
If the bad teacher cannot be fired, a good parent can counteract them, if only by introducing their children to the Library and the Used Book Shop, and a good Church or Synagogue or Mosque (they do exist) or even Ethical Society (they may even exist), where Bible study comes closer to Talmud than usually happens. That means choosing a good place to gather and study on the Day of Rest, of course.
You know what I do when I get a Cold or Flu? I drink plenty of fluids, take Aspirin as needed, and sweat it out. You know who taught me that? My parents. I am certain that I only get sick once a year because I cannot remember the last time I took Antibiotics. Because my parents taught me to trust my body's natural defenses.
Bad Teachers will come and go, but Good Parents are as Forever as you get.
You can't get there from here. Powerful words. If you understand that you can get to Other Places from Here, from whence you can get to There.
Edited on August 29, 2012 at 5:31pmMar '11
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
Edward, great points. I know some people will take my words out of context and claim that I am defending bad teachers. I am not; however, teachers should not be responsible for taking on the added role of raising kids. Kids should come into the classroom with basic manners and respect for teachers and education. Thanks for sharing your views.
Mar '11
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
I respectfully disagree. Bad teaching is not preventing our kids from learning, except in numbers that are insignificant compared to the system as a whole. I've had bad teachers in high school and college, but I still learned the material because I respected my elders and respected the opportunity to receive an education. Unruly students are not going to suddenly embrace learning the day after their bad teacher is fired. They are going to make it difficult for the new teacher to be a good teacher. Yes, by all means rid the system of bad teachers whenever possible, but the problems we face will remain.
KarlUB: "And so the rallying cry has been, "fire the teachers!," but this is an oversimplification of the problem and ignores other reasons for students who graduate from high school unable to write a complete sentence or solve a basic math equation. "
But one of the clearest things we can do to improve student performance is to fire the bad teachers. If you fired the one out of ten teachers who are awful, we would save money and improve student performance.
Bad parenting we cannot do a darned thing about. · 48 minutes ago
Feb '12
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
Therr is no one place to start, so jump in start fixing the problems. Let teachers teach, let parents teach morals and feed their children. The vast majority of parents want both for their children so that they can thrive. Put it all on teachers and both aducation of the young and the teaching of moral values suffer. Life is not fair and kids needs need help to survive life's challenges. It does take both parents and teacchers to make it successful. I speak from my own experience. When I was young, my parents taught me right from wrong and, although, on occassion, I dismissed what they said, I never doubted that they had my best interest in hand. Teachers tought me the 3 r's and more. They also, on occasion, reinforces (but did not teach me) morals I learned from my parents. The biggest problem, I believe, that teachers have is their unions. The second problem for many is their sschoolo adminstrations. Many administrator think they know best, more than parents, perhaps because so many have advanced degrees.
Mar '12
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
If this is an issue with teachers, okay.
If this is an issue with parents, okay.
If this is an issue where bad teachers are fighting good parents, ??
If this is an issue where good teachers are at odds with bad parents, ??
We home schooled. It permitted us to have the person who loved our kids the best teaching them. It worked out very well. It also permitted us to avoid the poor or problematic teachers,
the current philosophies or fads of teaching / learning making their way through the public schools,
and the social pathologies running through the local public schools (and to a lesser degree through the parochial and private schools).
I also wonder what the current culture does to both family life and parochial/private/public education. I think it does less to the parochial and private school student than to the public school student because the parents who send their kids to parochial and private schools are paying twice. They are paying for public schools through taxation.
We might do better by parents and school children by attaching the tax money to the child and allowing the parent to pick the school, not necessarily the public school.
Edited on August 29, 2012 at 6:05pmFeb '12
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
Life is not fair. If we agree that bad teachers are no more than 10%, then fire them all. If we agree that for every bad teacher we fire, we may fire a good teacher also, what are we left with? 100% good teacherss to teach our kids. I feel sorry for the good teachers that got fired. Life is not fair, because everyone's experiences are different. Wouldn't life be boring if everyone experienced the same. They can still go out and start over. We may, in the longrun of life, be helping the bad teacher by getting them out of a job situation for which they are ill suited.
Oct '10
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
Absolutely. One of my friends, an elementary school teacher has told me that just one or two kids with chronic behavior issues will mean that much of his time and effort are directed to maintaining classroom control as opposed to teaching. He's also mentioned that the parent who most need to show up for parent teacher meeting almost never do.
Schools need to develop a "rubber room" policy whereby chronically disruptive kid are removed from the classroom and placed in a strictly controlled environment. Preferably one with few distractions or amusements.
And, parents of disruptive kid who do not actively respond to a school's request for intervention should face fines or other civil penalties.
Edited on August 29, 2012 at 9:09pmMar '11
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
I truly believe that if parents of public school students were asked to contribute a nominal amount of money to their child's education each year, they would take a more serious interest in the issue. Also, I have always argued that education is not a right, but a privilege and that 10% of public school students should be removed from public schools and provided with some type of vocational training as an alternative. A tenth of the student population prevents the other 90% from learning.
Donald Todd: II also wonder what the current culture does to both family life and parochial/private/public education. I think it does less to the parochial and private school student than to the public school student because the parents who send their kids to parochial and private schools are paying twice. They are paying for public schools through taxation.
We might do better by parents and school children by attaching the tax money to the child and allowing the parent to pick the school, not necessarily the public school. · 1 hour ago
Edited 58 minutes ago
Mar '11
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
I agree. Unfortunately, parents today do not want to accept the fact that their child is being disrespectful or disruptive in the classroom. If a teacher calls home, the parents are more likely to blame the teacher or the school rather than questioning their child. This is a dramatic shift from years ago when parents supported the teachers and worked with them to ensure that their child was receiving a quality education and a proper upbringing.
Limestone Cowboy
Absolutely. One of my friends, an elementary school teacher has told me that just one or two kids with chronic behavior issues will mean that much of his time an effort are directed to maintaining classroom control as opposed to teaching. He's also mentioned that the parent who most need to show up for parent teacher meeting almost never do.
Schools need to develop a "rubber room" policy whereby chronically disruptive kid are removed from the classroom and placed in a strictly controlled environment. Preferably one with few distractions or amusements.
And, parents of disruptive kid who do not actively respond to a school's request for intervention should face fines or other civil penalties. · 11 minutes ago
Mar '11
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
Lenny, you are correct. School administrators have become a huge problem. They are more interested in social engineering and feel superior to parents and teachers because they have advanced degrees; they believe that they hold the key to education.
May '11
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
There's another wrinkle. Teachers I have known are scared to death of getting sued. Teachers have to be sooooo careful in how they discipline, how they reward, whether or not they should let a student touch them (let alone ever touching a student!), whether they can even mention such taboo topics as the theory of evolution or the cultural contributions of dead white Europeans.
Maybe not as bad as the medical profession, but our litigiousness makes education a very treacherous career.
Jan '11
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
We have a pandemic of PDD: "parental deficit disorder."
Apr '11
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
Our horrible test scores are almost entirely a function of our racial diversity. Take black and hispanic students out of the stats and our scores are outstanding compared to other countries.
Mar '11
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
Paul, good point that I had not considered. It is true. Teachers are given a tremendous amount of responsibility to be involved in the lives of students, but must be wary of lawsuits.
Paul Erickson: There's another wrinkle. Teachers I have known are scared to death of getting sued. Teachers have to be sooooo careful in how they discipline, how they reward, whether or not they should let a student touch them (let alone ever touching a student!), whether they can even mention such taboo topics as thetheory of evolution or the cultural contributions of dead white Europeans.
Maybe not as bad as the medical profession, but our litigiousness makes education a very treacherous career. · 47 minutes ago
Mar '11
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
Yes. And we cannot fix PDD without looking at other factors beyond the classroom.
Jun '11
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
I just saw this on Drudge:
http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2012/08/28/school-teacher-helps-students-cheat-because-she-says-theyre-dumb-as-hell/
I am not sure what the answer is, but it seems that parents also play a role in the success of students. It's a shame the administration is opposed to vouchers, etc.
Edited on August 29, 2012 at 9:01pmMar '11
Re: Reflecting on Christie's Speech: Bad Teachers and Bad Parents
Well, this is an entirely different discussion. Are low test scores for blacks and hispanic students a result of racism? The current thinking is that racism is the ONLY reason why these students are underperforming. I think not.