are teachers teaching kids less?

Answer 1

As a teacher for 14 years, take it from someone who knows: we are teaching more than ever, and getting less respect overall, because as usual, parents and the general public are clueless. There are many facets here. A lot depends on what state you live in; what school district within that state; how much property tax/school funding each individual school gets; what the standardized scores are; and what other amenities the school has, such as being a magnet school, special funding, etc.

Personally speaking, I get and demand respect from everyone, and if everyone did what I did, the profession would be respected as it should be. In fact, every single teacher I know gets and demands respect, and no one in the profession in my entire 14 years of teaching ever tolerates getting disrespected. Of course, if more parents were tuned in, came to parent-teacher conferences, there'd be less cluelessness too.

And having been a reporter, I can tell you with absolute certainty that BAD NEWS SELLS. School shootings, riots, walk-outs, teachers on strike? SEXY! Print it! Go into any classroom where learning is taking place and what do you see? Maybe some talking, but you also see a lot of quiet concentration and focus. Wow, talk about not "sexy" news. Quiet, focus, concentration, internal thought processes -- how boring is that! How un-newsworthy! HO HUM!

Let's turn the question around: how much teaching are PARENTS doing at home? How tuned in are parents to making sure kids get their homework done? How tuned in are parents to helping kids solve problems -- like ethics, bullying, etc.?

How many parents actually come to parent-teacher conferences? In 14 years of teaching, I can tell you with utter conviction: we only ever see the kids at conferences that WE DO NOT NEED TO SEE, because they are already making good grades, are already internally motivated, and already have pro-active parents.

Every single year, I see MAYBE one or two students who are having problems. What does that tell me about the parents? It tells me that a lot are working hard, but it also tells me that a lot of parents just can't be bothered to keep up with their kid's schoolwork after primary grades. There are a LOT of parents who start to drop back and drop out of their child's academic/intellectual life starting in middle school and high school.

Pardon my cynicism, but this crap makes my blood boil. Given the fact that teachers today have to use standards, give standardized tests, have a curriculum to cover, we are teaching more than ever. Before you go blaming teachers, first of all, TUNE IN TO WHAT YOUR CHILD IS BEING ASKED TO DO IN THE CLASSROOM. Spend a day with your child; go to every class. Dare I say it -- take off from work to tend to your child's academic/intellectual needs! What a revolutionary thought.

Every good teacher worth his/her salt ABSOLUTELY will have a weekly agenda posted or lesson plans turned in. (How could it be otherwise? There are accountability issues galore!) Most schools these days even have home pages where teachers can post lesson plans days, weeks, months in advance if they choose to.

What America still has not answered is, do we teach for breadth (widely) or do we teach for depth? If for depth, then no, a child is not going to be taught "as much" but the child has a much greater chance of absorbing deeply that which is taught. Most teachers cover widely and go into a few things in depth. In courses such as English and History this is de rigeur.

I'd urge you before you go blaming teachers to do a little investigative work first. Compare your school with others in the same district, in the same state, in the same geographic region, then nationwide. I'd also urge you to talk to your child's teachers! Talk to the principal, too. Talk to the superintendent and your school board.

But whatever you do, do not -- repeat, do not -- come on Yahoo! Answers and start throwing around questions without having done your homework, literally and figuratively.

And by the way, you should always start your sentences with a capital letter. It's basic grammar for those who are literate.

Cheers, K

Answer 2

Teachers are having to teach even more than ever. Teachers are teaching things that used to be taught by the parents, such as respect, communicating with others, how to accept 'no', and that the world does not revolve around the child. Teachers are also ending up teaching some parents how to be parents!

So, between teaching values and such that were taught at home, teachers are also teaching the materials required at an earlier and earlier age because of the type of world we live in. Teachers also have to teach the material that is on the standardized tests that will determine if a student passes or not and also the material that makes the students into contributing members of society.

So no, teachers are not teaching less. They are teaching more than ever and being treated worse than ever.

Answer 3

I've spent a total of 14 years observing the school systems with my own two children -- and I can state with DEFINITE CONVICTION -- YES!!!!


The Teachers don't even put a lesson plan or syllabus together to hand out to the students, don't follow it if they do, don't like to stay even 30 seconds after the bell rings (you have to STAND in FRONT of their Vehicle's Door to EVEN Get them to ACKNOWLEDGE that a PARENT wants to talk about the classroom work), and with so little time being put in (and all the complaints -- I mean -- why can't a teacher grade a few papers, when Military Officers (and I am a Retired One) have several hundred Evaluations to track, and can get them done not just on time, but BEFORE the due date?

Then the Teachers are teaching to the standardized test -- a couple of weeks dedicated to just the competency tests before they are given -- so that is more class time lost.

Answer 4

To MarynewB - Um...like...obviously they did not teach much when you were in school either. Your spelling is bad, your grammar is bad, your sentence structure is bad.

Mmmm. Teachers sure teach less then they did when I was a kid. The homework that my kid use to hand it would have come back to us with a do over.

Answer 5

No. They are teach too much useless crap the NEA forces on the schools and teachers through the Federal Department of Education. If the schools don't teach it, they lose Federal funds.

Answer 6

No, teachers are actually required to teach more then they used to. So now it's quantity rather than quality, and since the kids don't actually learn it they forget the information.

Answer 7

some are teaching less and others are teaching more. i asked my brothers kid whos 10 what hes done at school like half hour after school and hes like ummm nothing we added and then tells me about resecse and that school is very short.

Answer 8

it appears os, since most public schools teach to the slowest kid in theclass, and everybody gets a pass even if they did nothing. I haveone grand son who is continually passed in Math, even though he has to use a calculator to add more than 2 numbers . And another who only gets a pass because his cousin is in the grade below him and it wouldn't be "fair" for him to have to be in the same class( small school)

Answer 9

I think so. My son sent me an art project that he made at school and the teacher had written the word treasure on it- twice- and misspelled the word both times (tresure).

Answer 10

Some of those who answered this question need to go back to school themselves. The spelling, typing, grammar, etc. are just atrocious.