Reading. Writing. A, um, BIG WASTE OF TIME ???
At one time in our history, teachers actually had to be experts in something. (If you’re going to teach chemistry, you need a chemistry degree.)
Teachers could speak from personal experience and knowledge. Most contemporary teachers thrive and survive thanks to a “teacher’s edition” textbook.
Nowadays, all you need to get a captive audience in a public school classroom is an “education” degree from the four-year college of one’s choice. “Education” degrees are obtained from “Schools of Education” within universities which are pretty much re-education camps akin to what Mao and Ho Chi Minh foisted on their people. You’ll “learn” America AND white men AND capitalism are all BAD. You’ll get all the prep you need to turn around and indoctrinate a new generation.
The arrogance of the so-called “education” experts is something else. Dare to question their tactics, and you will be shouted down. and dismissed as a know-nothing fool.
I know people who have retired from the heights of their professions and sought to teach in a local public school. They were all rejected because they did not get indoctrinated in a state-run college “School of Education.”
Here in Moore County, the school board recently approved a measure requiring students to read and report on FOUR books in one year in order to move on to the next grade. In response, all hell broke loose among the edu-crats and professional left. The superintendent even sneered about how he had nothing to do with the proposal.
Here’s a letter to the editor of Pravda-on-Pennsylvania, written by a veteran “educator”, decrying the act of forcing kids to read and write:
I taught at the college level, and have witnessed many examples of the K-12 end-product first-hand. I can remember getting exasperated about repeated questions from students that were clearly answered in the textbook chapter we were discussing.
It increasingly became clear that many students made it through K-12 without ever learning how to read books, analyze their content, and extract the relevant information – a skill vitally important for success in college.
Their brains are instead being turned to mush with nonsense like critical race theory and DEI.
So, there are more options for this generation of K-12 students to utilize for cheating. Does the fact that websites offering term papers for sale exist mean reports should no longer be assigned?
NO. Most of my tests featured short answer or essay questions. I got familiar with the writing styles of individual students. If someone suddenly turned in a paper that read like a MIT doctoral thesis or a NY Times op-ed, I ran it through Google. If I got a hit, the student got HIT with an F and a stern warning. It only took a few times before all of the kids got the hint and started submitting their own work.
I’ve talked many times about a CEO who presented to faculty at one institution where I worked. He spoke of a real shortfall in employees who have the capability to read or examine something, determine whether a problem exists, and then write up a report for his or her supervisor recommending a solution or response.
Book reports offer great training for scenarios like that. *Of course, CEOs and other businesspeople know NOTHING. So sayeth the “education degree” holders.*
Reading builds character and expands minds. It’s alarming to see how many K-12 students and alums aren’t interested in — or are discouraged from — reading anything that takes longer than a 30 second glance at a device screen.
I was “made” to read stuff I initially did not want to read, but went on to really enjoy reading books.
It’s perfectly healthy for parents and other societal stakeholders in American society to look over the shoulders of the Marxist “education school” alums who have an iron grip on our kids 8 to 9 hours a day each week. It’s so sad that an alleged 43-year veteran of teaching has such a bad attitude about reading and writing in the classroom.
It’s important for our country that future generations get the training they NEED to succeed from our public education venues.
Thank goodness old Phil’s budget calls for yet another pay increase for North Carolina’s ‘finest.’ Just as no good deed goes unpunished, mediocrity pays exceedingly well.
Once again, where is Labor candidate Higher Ed Chair Jon Hardister? Has he ever asked the whack job head of UNC’s School of Education to testify in Raleigh about exactly what horse manure qualifies as a teaching degree? Yet another example of Jon’s feckless leadership which has allowed CRT/DEI to infect every aspect of our UNC system and by extension our public schools.
Maybe now that Medicaid expansion (never asked for) and the abortion fight are over, Tim/Phil/John/Jim can get started on the sh$tstorm in Chapel Hill. One can dream, right?
This commentary is so important. Reading, and writing essays analyzing the works takes time and repetition. Good English/Literature teachers know this and spend a significant amount of effort teaching kids how to analyze literature and write about it. This should be the emphasis of primary school lit classes. Instead they have turned into activist classes filled with social-emotional surveys.
For most it takes time to learn how to read critically and then write a legitimate essay. This skillset cannot be underestimated. And it should be a non-partisan issue. Yes, tell kids they have to read books and write about them. This should be THE FOCUS of primary education in the humanities.