Amy Re..That's why I think the school system needs to do nothing short of drastic measures to improve. Why should we offshore because of them?
The school system doesn't produce enough skilled people, at recovery levels, for people to hire. Why should we offshore because of them?
I don't completely follow your logic. In one sense, I can, but think about it. I presume you want to offshore our teachers, in order to improve the quality of our teachers; and that it is the teachers fault our school system is failing so badly. While it is true the teachers are partly to blame, what about the rest of the problems with the middle and high school systems, caused by influences other than the teachers. Frankly, if the parents want to see who is primarily to blame, they should look into the mirror, and then look at the politicians and lawyers, then the teachers.
Why do I say that. Look at the difference between our lower schools and colleges. OUr college system is the best in the world, while our middle and high schools rank in the lower half. Why is that? Certainly most of the methods used by college professors are also used the lower schools, and if you want to blame the lower schools inability to fire non productive teachers, well, the colleges can't fire them either. So what is the problem.
To me the problem is mainly a lack of motivation. More and more, the kids in the lower schools hate going to school, and as the old saying goes; " You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." The same in schools. You can force the kids to go, but if they don't want to go and learn, you can't force learning into their brains, no matter how good the teacher is. The main difference between the lower schools and college, is that in college they can have fun, away from their parents meddling, A place where they are free from outside influence, a place where they make the choices of all types of classes and who will teach them, and most importantly, a place where, if they don't put in an effort, they have nobody to blame but themselves; and that would mean they can't have fun anymore.
So, the solution is for the society to look at , colleges,and copy the good things the colleges do which make the college system one of the worlds best, and instill them in the lower schools. In other words, make it so the kids can look forward to, and want to go to middle and high schools, so they have the desire to learn, and viola, most of your problems will be solved.
I put parents on the top of the list, because they are the prime motivators and enabliers for their kids. How many parents blame the teachers for not doing their job. The kids attitude comes mainly from the parents, so if your kid isn't motivated, we all should ask first, what we need to do, not what is wrong with the teacher. You see this in games, where the parents now are screaming at the refs and coaches and blaming them because Johnny made an error, or isn't good enough to play. Practice, effort, athletic skills, determination, perserverence; and in team sports, discipline and working together as a team usually determine a winner. And just what are we teaching our kids when we yell at the ref, that hard work etc, doesn't matter anymore, blaming someone else is easier, and that games aren't fun anymore. That same attitude is going on in the classroom. And to top it off, if Johnny gets in trouble in school, then blame his friends, and make sure he can't hang around them anymore. Turn him into a loner, that should solve his problems.
You can bet that lower school teachers in India, don't have to contend as much with unruly, undisciplined, unmotivated pupils, as our teachers do. Plus, in most other countries, teachers are given more respect, and are paid percentage wise, more money. If you want better motivated teachers, then give them respect, more money and the ability to control the kids in their class; and in return for that money and respect, they should be accountable.
The politicians also have a lot of the blame, because they have treated the schools as the dumping grounds for their social experiments. Having problems with racism in your community, well, lets bus the kids all over the county, that will make it better. Having trouble with the lower IQ students keeping up, hey, lets dumb down the class, or lets give them quotas, so now it isn't necessary to learn anymore, just bribe or pester your local politician until Johnny gets the grade you think he deserves; much easier than actually making Johnny do his homework.
And we need to get the lawyers out of classrooms, and back into the courtrooms. The legal system is nothing but a big blame the other guy system, where the biggest liar wins the most. How often and how much the lawyers, and expert witnesses lie, determine the winners in court, not honesty and justice. Thats exactly what we don't need to teach our kids. |
