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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Michael M who wrote (35880)	10/29/2001 1:30:04 PM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

It is scandalous, how many incompetents are allowed to teach.......

To: Michael M who wrote (35880)	10/29/2001 2:53:34 PM
From: J. C. Dithers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Education -You hit the nail squarely on the head, Michael. So many diverse things contribute to the dumbing down, kindergarten through Ph.D. I can tell you that even in MBA core classes, many students come woefully ill-prepared. It's a domino effect, as students who should never be passed are advanced up from one level to the next. It never ends. Harvard is now graduating something on the order of 90 percent of its undergraduates with honors (cum laude, etc.). I believe the average grade standing of Harvard undergrads in an A-minus. Business profs have to fight grade inflation in their universities in order to hold their program's B-school accreditation. It's a constant fight, because students are long conditioned to the idea that average work should be rewarded with an "A." I can't tell you how many times I had a student say, "I did what you told me, how come I didn't get an "A"? Then I would have to tell them, "Do what I told you and you get a "C", bud -- do it with distinction or with honors and then will talk about it." They would look at me with a blank stare -- "Whaaaats that mean?" Spelling, writing skills, plain arithmetic ability, bad and getting worse. Our whole education system is a sinking ship. JC

To: Michael M who wrote (35880)	10/29/2001 6:46:06 PM
From: epicure	Respond to of 82486

The long term solution to our education problem is to pay teachers as if they did a really important job, so we attract people who might other wise go to perceived "power" professions. My parents thought I was far too smart to be a teacher, and I was diverted from the profession when I was younger. People STILL tell me I am wasting my time in teaching- but I am old enough now to know that I am not, and that it is the most important job I could be doing. My father thought "good" professions were law and medicine. Until most of our society perceives teaching to be a "good" profession, where the best and the brightest should go, most people entering it will be mediocre, unless they have an idealistic reason for entering the profession. And how many idealists are there?