Tuesday, January 19, 2010
January 19, 2010
I guess it's my time to be defensive!!! When Professor Hlynka brought up the 4 issues about education in the media I had to take a tiny bit of offense, not toward our professor, but the fact that these issues point the finger at teachers. The four issues he brought up were all negative media about education and the frustrating thing is that we never hear the good or positive media. It makes me think about how teachers really need to have tough skin to be in this profession because we always end up as the scapegoat. Secondly, other industries and professions are also taken to the guillotine, such as the RCMP or the Police and also doctors. As soon as someone doesn't take care of their health, someone asks why their doctor never advised them or when someone leaves their house unlocked and they get robbed, it is because the cops weren't patrolling the neighbourhood. Perhaps during his school career, Michael Phelps was an underachieving student for whatever reason or the comment the teacher made has been taken out of context. I'd be willing to bet that Michael Phelps had some GREAT experiences and teachers at school. However, naturally, it's always the teacher's fault.
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Lana,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your take on this. It made me think of these issues in a different light. When Professor Hlynka mentioned the statement by Michael Phelps, I thought, "What kind of awful teacher would say that to a student?". But you're right - we don't know what kind of student he was, or if the statement was taken out of context. Perhaps Phelps WAS an underachieving student, maybe he didn't care at all about school and didn't complete assignments, or work to his full potential. Maybe the actual statement was more along the lines of "If you CONTINUE in this way you will never amount to anything"... you never know!
I agree, teachers definitely need to have tough skin. Aside from dealing with so many different kinds of students, each with completely different needs on a daily basis, we are constantly in the public eye. But the problem is that half of what we do is not by choice. What we teach is dictated to us. How many holidays we have and when they are is already made for us. Inservices are pre-planned by the division. And yet teachers bear the brunt of the complaints. (I'm remembering a recent radio call-in complaining about how teachers hardly ever TEACH because we have so many holidays and so many inservices!).
And your right that the same thing transfers to other professions who are responsible for other people too, such as RCMP, Police and Doctors! I think one of the main problems today is that nobody is able to take responsibility for themselves anymore. We (as in society) have made it too easy to blame everyone else but ourselves, and get what we want by doing so. And I think this happens in the schools a lot as well. Students don't necessarily have to be responsible for their behaviour or work. Of course this is not all-encompassing - some people are conscious of taking responsibility for their own actions.
just a test
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