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Just to Stir the Pot Even More...
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Tuesday, July 07, 2009
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A while ago I wrote a column on "Teaching Disabilities", which got quite a few teachers mad at me.
I commented on that phenomenon here.
And now I've got further proof that my thesis is correct! Apparently in California, it is extremely rare for a teacher to be fired for classroom behaviour. It's other stuff. They can teach horribly, and they still get a pass.
Here's an example of one guy who obviously needs to be fired:
The eighth-grade boy held out his wrists for teacher Carlos Polanco to see.
He had just explained to Polanco and his history classmates at Virgil Middle School in Koreatown why he had been absent: He had been in the hospital after an attempt at suicide.
Polanco looked at the cuts and said they "were weak," according to witness accounts in documents filed with the state. "Carve deeper next time," he was said to have told the boy.
"Look," Polanco allegedly said, "you can't even kill yourself."
The boy's classmates joined in, with one advising how to cut a main artery, according to the witnesses.
"See," Polanco was quoted as saying, "even he knows how to commit suicide better than you."
Initially the guy was fired, but a review board overturned that decision.
Apparently in my home province of Ontario it's easy to get fired--but I think that's only in the first two years. After that, the union thing kicks in and your job is pretty much protected. And I still think that's a crying shame.
If we truly value children, and truly value their education, why don't we demand the best possible teachers for them? Why is it so hard to fire them?
There are some areas of our society where unions have done an incredible amount of damage, and I truly believe this is one of them. Many marvelous, gifted teachers I know have left the teaching profession because they get no reward for standing out from the crowd. It is really heartbreaking.
We homeschool, so I don't deal directly with this. But many of my friends have spent an entire year grappling with bad teachers, bad principals, bad everything. And often it seems like nothing can be done. And the kids are the ones who suffer.
Labels: public schools, teaching |
posted @ 7:00 AM
 
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My kids are in catholic School in Belleville, and there is no way on earth I'd ever put them into a Public school. If (as happened in Quebec and Newfoundland) Catholic and other confessional schools were abolished, I'd either homeschool or move heaven and earth to get them into a Christian private school.
As important as it is to pray for their wisdom as well as their safety, It is equally important that they spend their days in a place-home or school- where the values and worldview they learn are re-inforced, rather than attacked, or worse subtly chipped away at.
Thank you for this article and others similar to it, Ifpeople really knew that the kids are getting more than reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic, and not in a good sense, maybe there's be an outcry that could lead to some corrections for those who cannot homeschool, or can't afford private schools. keep stirring the pot! We need more Rosa Parks out there, not politically correct Uncle Toms.