mel jacobson on mon 11 aug 03
when i left hopkins high, a very respected
and diligent place to work, sophisticated
community....53% percent of our children
came from a one parent home.
the phrase `talk to your mom and dad etc.` was
not deemed appropriate. it was redundant.
anyone see a trend, a social disease, a concept?
`hey, martha, those teachers sure have it easy...
long vacations, time off...and they want
$40,000 a year. damn greedy bastards`.
(this guy talking to martha makes 55K as the school grounds keeper
for the football field.)
anyone out there want to test the market?
just get a pass at the guarded front door of the school,
walk to the principals office, get a big sign
to wear around your neck (visitor), and wander the
halls during kid passing time. visit a few classes.
boys with their pants around their butts, snarling at you.
girls with halter tops on with breasts hanging out.
listen to the language..the f enhimer is used in almost
every sentence.
for many of you out there in clayart land have an impression
of high school that was `yours` in 1968. things have
changed a great deal.
see those kids in the mall, hangin out with cell phones
at their ears...think of taking 30 of them home with you.
have them all day...and make learning happen.
just try it.
your mouth would clamp shut like vice.
never again would you smack teachers down.
just try it for a month. you would be screaming back
to your studio....peace and quiet and npr.
mel
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: my.pclink.com/~melpots
or try: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
new/ http://www.rid-a-tick.com
Donn Buchfinck on mon 11 aug 03
You know mel, I did just what youy said, I went and taught high school, and
just not any high school kids either,
East oakland kids, and summer school at that. " Kids at risk"
And you know what, It wasn't that bad.
Oh it was hard. and stressfull, but as I look back on it it was well worth it,
here is the trick about those kids, they acted just like they were supposed
to,
they acted out, they pushed the limit.
they didn't count on running up against an imovable object in me, or that I
might be backed up by and even stronger willed 5'6 female principal.
Kids aren't any diffrent than they were when I was in school.
I mean it, I was not the easiest person to deal with, but what we have in
public schools is the kids of my generation.
The kids of the latchkey generation, the "hey no one diciplined me so how can
I dicipline them"
and parenting is not easy, kids didn't go bad and this crop is harder than
the last.
What is happening is that I think people have not taken on the experience of
parenting and helping their children grow to be adults.
They feel they want their lives,
You can't be friends.
As to teaching these kids, I told them I could not teach them anything, this
realy shocked some, I told them that they had to learn how to learn, and some
did, I feel I did reach some.
Now college is a different beast, I remember a lot of graduate students
teaching courses and not giving the information out in a way I could grasp it.
I remember being a grad student and seeing the class of the the other grad
student not get the attention they needed because as class would start he would
go in his studio and shut the door. I was there 24/7 and my class learned,
they learned because someone was there to help them through the little things.
No matter what anyone says, College is something you pay for, you get
something for it.
And there are succesful programs out there.
You have to look beyond the name of the program.
Some super fantastic program with a long history in ceramics, a program that
has lots of grad students and undergrads, say in a north east state of this
country might not be the best place to develop your work.
they have a great reputation, but what do they produce?
Is the message they are teaching valid?
Do their students go out and make a life for themselves in art, in clay?
are they disinfrachizesd because they don't have a teaching job that will
support thier "research"
Is the program DEAD, and dosen't know it, just running on reputation/fumes?
then they cycle goes again, teachers walking into their studios and closing
the doors on their students because they need time for themselves. Leaving it
up to the grads to hack out the curriculum.
I will say this now, there needs to be a reworking of how ceramics is taught
in our country.
We need a differnt way to do it,
We need the curriculum changed in schools.
People need to get their moneys worth,
they need to leave with something tangible.
How about we give students the feeling they CAN do it.
Donn Buchfinck
Earl Brunner on mon 11 aug 03
Just once in 13 years of teaching have I had a parent do that, showed
up at my kindergarten class one morning with a pass. (I always tell
them they are welcome, don't get many takers)
From her attitude, I knew she was there to find out what on earth I was
doing with/to her precious child. (I had no problems with her child, and
I often told parents that I would make a deal with them, I wouldn't
believe half of what their kid told me about home if they wouldn't
believe half of what their kid told them about school).
Anyway, one kindergarten class, 30 plus students, no teacher's aide or
other help, one teacher (me). After about 45 minutes she got up to
leave and said to me as she left, "I don't know HOW you do it!" Now that
was nice.
I teach in one of the fastest growing school systems in the nation, and
one of the biggest. I think we've gone from 12th to 6th largest in about
10 years. Free, public education isn't perfect, in fact, for many of our
kids the system isn't much help. It either tries to go to fast or too
slow, focuses on the wrong modalities, or in some other way fails to
meet the needs of the child. The best and the worst fall through the
cracks. In some ways things aren't much different then in the past,
we've always had these problems, it's just that in the past the kids
dropped out or were kicked out or never showed up in the first place.
The politics of education are such that things aren't going to change
anytime soon. It's a government institution, manipulated by a bunch of
special interest groups. Parents should never abdicate their roles as
advocates for their children. They have to be involved with their
children's educations. Many on this list are that kind of parent and
your children are the better for it. But many, many parents are not.
They expect the school to do their job. Instead of programs to help
parents be better parents, we have programs to take over the
responsibilities of the parents. Before school programs, breakfast,
lunch, after school programs. We have a washing machine at school and a
shower, and clothes for the kids that need them.
-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of mel
jacobson
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2003 3:58 AM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: teacher bashing/a reason to listen
anyone out there want to test the market?
just get a pass at the guarded front door of the school,
walk to the principals office, get a big sign
to wear around your neck (visitor), and wander the
halls during kid passing time. visit a few classes.
boys with their pants around their butts, snarling at you.
girls with halter tops on with breasts hanging out.
listen to the language..the f enhimer is used in almost
every sentence.
for many of you out there in clayart land have an impression
of high school that was `yours` in 1968. things have
changed a great deal.
see those kids in the mall, hangin out with cell phones
at their ears...think of taking 30 of them home with you.
have them all day...and make learning happen.
just try it.
your mouth would clamp shut like vice.
never again would you smack teachers down.
just try it for a month. you would be screaming back
to your studio....peace and quiet and npr.
mel
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