"No Child Left Behind Legislation

[Charles]

Originally Posted by soundhound

grumpy, believe me when i say that i feel your pain. but understand that this is, for the most part, NOT the fault of the teachers. the system is just totally screwed. teachers are under tremendous pressure to pass the children, whether or not they have mastered the skills. i know, because i have been fired from a teaching position because i had too many students failing my class, and because i told their parents the true reasons why. the reasons the children were failing were irrelevant to the school administration. they just want you to get the children on through the system without making any fuss. ask any of your school board members why your child has a high school diploma, but a 5th grade reading level, and see what kind of bullshit you get. they'll blow so much smoke up your ass your eyes will turn grey.

i taught geometry last year. over half of my students came to me without first passing the state algebra test. you can't do the work in geometry without algebra skills. i had students who did not know their times tables, could not add, subtract, multiply, or divide without a calculator, and not very well with one. i've actually had a student who could not tell me what 2 plus 2 was! my students will not even attempt to solve a problem that involves fractions or decimals. a lot of them can't even read an analog clock. at the midterm mark, i had approximately 80% of my students failing. i had to pad their grades. if i had not done so, i would have been swamped with endless superflous paperwork, placed on a teacher improvement program (which only creates more superflous paperwork), and if i had reached the end of the school year with so high a failure rate, i would not have recommended for contract renewal. i hated it, but i have bills to pay, so i did what i had to do.

that, combined with other such woes, has me on the verge of leaving the field, as do MOST other new teachers in their first five years of service. i honestly feel that i am getting paid to babysit, there is nothing i can do about it, and it is driving me nuts.

this year, i am teaching ACT/SAT prep. my classes are loaded with around 30 9th graders who are not performing at grade level, read on a first grade level, and for the most part, don't care to improve. in order for these kids to successfully complete my course, i would have to teach them all the skills they are lacking when they arrive (about 9 years worth), algebra I, geometry, algebra II, biology, chemisty, biology II, English I, II, III, and IV, and all in a half year. it's just not possible. yet i will go to work each day giving the best effort i can muster, and come home each day to work another 2-3 hours planning and grading. that is if i don't have a nervous breakdown and quit before the term is over.

most of the teachers who are in the classrooms now are veterans with only a few years left until retirement. almost all of them hate their jobs, but they are NOT going to make waves. they can't afford to. 9 out of 10 of the young teachers will leave teaching soon, that is as soon as they figure out that there is nothing they can do about it.

if my school district figures out that i wrote this, i will be fired.

A most candid post, and I do appreciate your honesty. And there is no doubt in my mind that you would be handed your walking papers if your views were to be known. Which is sad, unless you address the problem in a realistic manner, it cannot be solved.

Like my old buddy used to say, "No one wants to hear the truth."

I never have understood the value of a diploma if you're too ignorant to read it. It's a hard world, and people fail. Tell them straight up that they're a failure, perhaps it will inspire them to do better. And a ban on teevee sets wouldn't hurt a thing either, IMHO.

Perhaps it's so simple that our society is failing the kids.

Chas