tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705078887057341738.post6219555675224409548..comments2024-03-19T07:30:55.288-04:00Comments on Curmudgeon: Education Nation is Full of Narcissistic FoolsCurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04323026187622872114noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705078887057341738.post-71293601563617279662011-11-10T12:44:49.509-05:002011-11-10T12:44:49.509-05:00This is a great post and nails many issues with th...This is a great post and nails many issues with the student-teacher relationship. However, there is one thing that bothers me:<br /><br />"Bring the electives that we are actually interested in back to school. Things like drama, art, cooking, music.<br /><br />Those things should never have left. Don't blame me for the morons in the community who made that decision. HOWEVER, student interest should never drive their education decisions ... they have no idea what they'll need and waste the limited time they have on things that are easy and un-challenging rather than on things they will later wish they'd done."<br /><br />I don't agree that student interest should never drive their education decisions. What if the student wants to be an actor? An artist? A musician? It's true that you still need to know math, reading, and writing, but that shouldn't discourage you from taking classes in something else that you might want to do more seriously later, if they are available.Zhana Sandevahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05864972640855664533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705078887057341738.post-84248261353966715432011-10-18T18:40:08.716-04:002011-10-18T18:40:08.716-04:00I frankly am shocked that you didn't get one &...I frankly am shocked that you didn't get one "you're being disrespectful to students" comment like I did when I posted my own response to the Innovative Educator: http://uninspiredteacher.blogspot.com/2011/10/20-things-teacher-wants-nation-to-know.html<br /><br />Some of what was in that EN forum was worth reading and listening to, but some of it was way out of touch. I think you really did a great job skewering it.<br /><br />This was a great post and made me laugh out loud. Thanks.Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15379096331960338241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705078887057341738.post-63929102629199996762011-10-13T21:37:44.754-04:002011-10-13T21:37:44.754-04:00I love your technology bit. I'm teach technol...I love your technology bit. I'm teach technology classes in middle school and CS in high school. In MS, I'm constantly amazed by kids who don't know the difference between Word and a browser. Really. I hope I'm helping them with that because I want them to be able to follow that series of instructions you gave without even being asked to.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10766222493968363248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705078887057341738.post-33733881985371864332011-10-13T07:24:12.200-04:002011-10-13T07:24:12.200-04:00I think I love you.
It's interesting that the...I think I love you.<br /><br />It's interesting that the teachers who tell it like it is and don't take this kind of crap are usually math and science teachers. <br /><br />-Former inner city high school science teacherAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705078887057341738.post-52198113733031926922011-10-12T18:14:25.966-04:002011-10-12T18:14:25.966-04:00Well, David, it seems that like the rest of this n...Well, David, it seems that like the rest of this new crop of students you can't read for content.<br /><br />I am very pro-technology IF the technology is useful. I do not use technology as an end in itself, I don't toss in Excel just because the computers have it installed and I don't just thrust the students onto WolframAlpha simply because it exists.<br /><br />These are tools, tools that the students are woefully ignorant of. This generation of "Digital Natives" is wedded to Facebook and Twitter and hasn't got a clue about any kind of productivity software. That's what I have a problem with and that's why I wrote the opinion. The students want the glitzen-bullshit but none of the actual work and very little of the real technology.<br /><br />As for the Crimson Wife: TESTS don't teach diddly-squat and my tests are like college tests in that I ask for some very high-level thinking ... after I ask for some basic, low-level thinking. I insist that students be capable of rote memorization of facts so that they CAN turn around and think critically using those facts. A content-light, touchy-feely, "connect at an emotional level" curriculum is exactly why so many students are having such a tough time in college ... they don't KNOW anything.<br /><br />You don't have to take my word for it, you could ask the professors, as I have.Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04323026187622872114noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705078887057341738.post-10276917577674225102011-10-12T15:25:16.310-04:002011-10-12T15:25:16.310-04:00It seems you are against the use of technology in ...It seems you are against the use of technology in teaching. <br /><br />In which case, I recommend you stop using your photocopier, and all of those books that came off of a printing press.<br /><br />At some point, you have to recognize that some technologies impact how and what we teach, and to be completely ignorant of how they work is to be failing in your duty as an educator. It doesn't mean that you have to use them (plenty of excellent instruction happens without either a photocopier or books) but to not have a clue (and clearly you do not) how these technologies are useful in education is pretty close-minded.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08098221991466148258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705078887057341738.post-38308148675712320922011-10-12T15:11:10.650-04:002011-10-12T15:11:10.650-04:00"'I have to critically think in college, ...<b><i>"'I have to critically think in college, but your tests don't teach me that.'</i></b><br /><br />They're not supposed to teach you that. They're supposed to help form and guide your learning and measure it, give that college some idea of what you can do." <br /><br />I think it would've been very helpful had my high school teachers made their tests more like the exams I took in college. My high school tests were all rote memorization & regurgitation. Memorize the algorithm, then plug-n-chug on the test. My college exams, by contrast, required application, and yes, "critical thinking". It took a big adjustment my freshman year of college to make that switch and my GPA took a hit because of that. <br /><br />There's no reason why my high school math & science teachers couldn't have made their tests less rote plug-n-chug and more application & critical thinking. The Singapore Math books that we are using in our homeschool do that. It would just take a change in mindset from teachers like you.Crimson Wifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03254830856234479999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705078887057341738.post-45393120286719440432011-10-10T13:39:58.268-04:002011-10-10T13:39:58.268-04:00I love that I'm not the only one who thinks th...I love that I'm not the only one who thinks this! Thank you!Jill G>noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8705078887057341738.post-37741411704104154892011-10-03T05:55:00.272-04:002011-10-03T05:55:00.272-04:00LOL Right on the money.LOL Right on the money.Ricochethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12594506449363717006noreply@blogger.com