Yuku free message boards

sylveena wrote:

---

I find it interesting how he shifts the blame to the educational system... I guess the parents don't have anything to do with the rearing of their children these days?

Those in the education bureaucracy are quick to blame parents for any shortcomings, quick to claim credit for any success -- the same old, same old. As for him "shifting" the blame to the educational system, I think he's putting plenty of it where it belongs.

A teacher can't control what happens in a kid's home, but he can control what goes on in the classroom. If a kid enters college and hasn't figured out the basics of classroom etiquette after 12 years of being immersed in classrooms, who the hell ya gonna blame? When a kid enters college with a strong high school GPA and still needs remedial classes because he can't handle college freshman level work, you gonna call that poor rearing by the parents? There's my favorite: the kid who complains that a college teacher "doesn't seem to care" when he skips class and makes no effort, as if it's the teacher's job to make the stupid brat learn (the HS teachers bent over backwards to encourage him).

I was in my 30's when I finally graduated from college, and I'm not exaggerating about the things above. Most of the burnouts and human debris that I went to high school with weren't as bad as a sizeable amount of the people I was sitting with in class. Granted, the teachers I had in high school didn't mess around. If nothing else, you graduated knowing what was expected of you in an academic setting and how to behave in a classroom.

There's a lot that can be blamed on parents, and probably a lot more that should be, but what happens at school is squarely the responsibility of the teachers and administrators.

MASONICELVIS wrote:

---

parents fault ? teachers fault ? what about placing some responsabiltiy and accountability upon the child ?

perhaps you could pass the buck back in the one room school days with parents who were uneducated but not now. a parent and teacher can only do so much and the child must have some level of self motivation.

It's the kids' fault that the teachers can't teach!!

Gator wrote:

---

At one time I would put more blame on the parents and children but at this point I'm seeing way too many politically correct rules in the schools. There are a lot of good teachers and administrators out there who are being forced to conform to rules that wind up hurting the students. One size fits all and zero tolerance just doesn't work in the real world.

The baby boomers (and their kids) now make up a likely majority of the people running the schools. As a whole there hasn't been a more selfish, self-indulgent, and shallow generation. They want credit for everything and blame for nothing. Zero-tolerance/one size fits all works perfectly in the sense that faculty/staff don't have to think. If you don't have to think, you don't have to make tough decisions; if you don't have to make tough decisions, you don't have to worry about making the wrong one.

If you don't make the wrong one, you don't look bad or have to take the blame.

Thankfully, they're starting to retire.