"Waiting for Superman" - not a comic movie

[Dr Mordrid]

No, not a comic movie - a documentary. An incendiary one on the US education system that comes out September 24th in wide release. Teachers unions are already in a royal panic and school reformers are hoping it lights a fire under the issue. It's already won an award at the Sundance Film Festival. This is gonna get ugly.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKTfaro96dg

[Belwarrior]

if its this bad, i'll get very depressed

[Dr Mordrid]

My teacher wife's been preaching this for >30 years.

The old saw goes "those who cannot do, teach," and it never has been so true as today. We have had several generations of elementary, middle and high school teachers who took up teaching because they couldn't pass the muster for entry into other professions, or were just too lazy to try. That's fact - my wife works with these people and that's what they say in the break room where parents can't hear them.

And guess what else? A growing percentage of school principals can't teach a class, even if they wanted too. Teacher union rules? Nope - it's because they aren't even teachers. Becoming popular is an MSA - Masters in School Administration - an MBA for school admins. Some are teachers too, but large numbers are not and have zero classroom time. Where is a young teacher to go for advice or support, especially if few good, senior teachers aren't around?

My wife showed me one of her teaching journals a number of years ago and an article in it shook me to the core - a university study (Carnegie Mellon IIRC) documented a 'functional illiteracy' rate of over 25% among the teachers they tested. Yup, you read that right. And just a few years ago Massachusetts documented that 1/3 of teachers couldn't pass the same proficiency tests that 11 year olds were expected to pass.

Then there is how we pay teachers: we give them tenure, making them nearly un-fireable, then they get paid the same no matter how good a teacher they are

In the Middle Ages knowledge was seen as a gift from God, and it was wrong to charge for it. As a result teachers were often not paid at all, but had to rely on money gifts or food from their students families or former students - which is where the apple tradition comes from. AKA merit pay. Maybe today teacher's pay should have merit pay elements. What we're doing now, increased pay just for longevity along with guaranteed employment (tenure), certainly isn't working.

As to how this affects the kids - they get so bored and disillusioned because of bad administrators and bad teachers, and corrupted or intimidated by student elements that are allowed to exist because of poor/no discipline, they drop out as soon as the law permits (more than half of big city kids.) Poorly prepared (in everything but self esteem) elementary students get to middle or high school only to discover that they have been royally screwed.

Angry, illiterate and on a path to nowhere they look for their now absent self esteem elsewhere: gangs, drugs, alcohol, sex, or often all of the above.

Welcome to American Education 2010.