As someone who recently graduated high school, I can say it is very much like this. Even at a 'top' school in my county.
It is very much a job for most and a passion for a very few. On the extreme apathetic realm was reading long long slides verbatim and playing youtube videos in class while we were on our phones doing whatever. Exams were open internet. The other extreme was incompetence. Rigid structures and complete disregard for any of the students. Often times completly wrong - but, they went to college so who am I to know better.
There needs to be major reform not just for students, but parents, teachers, and policy.
Well, the good news is that you made it out alive.
And hey, there's always what I like to call the Rogan Rationale. When Joe Rogan's daughter asked him what was the point of school (she felt much the same as you), he said, "The most important thing you learn at school is that the people in charge are idiots."
This is one of the saddest things I've read this year. It also affirms we were right to pull our kid from public school (which is 100% on screens in every subject starting grade 6), and send her to a small classical education school. A lot of the families there do hybrid homeschool/ private school. There is absolutely no tech. No phones. Oral exams, Socratic method discussions. Consequence for ChatGPT cheating is expulsion. She loves it. I want it for every kid in America. It's what they deserve.
I am so glad I retired from community college teaching in 2003! My first 10 years I taught Emergency Medical Technology…standardized curriculum, but I taught way beyond it. Lots of my students couldn’t read, so getting them to integrate a great deal of information was often frustrated. I routinely lost 1/3 to 1/2 of my class during the semester. After teaching the advanced Paramedic course at the University was a blast, but being on soft-money (I had to bring in my salary plus) I returned to the community college where I switched to teaching human anatomy and physiology and loved it. I did it for 20 years and loved it. I did a career-stupid” by accepting an offer to be a Counselor. I knew our colleges offerings and the aptitudes needed for each program, and when dealing with returning adults, I was loved and loved what I did. With the 18-20 years olds…not so much. I taught Student Development classes like “How to Study”, “note taking” and my favorite “Critical Thinking Skills”…I am being facetious. I found a way to purchase some military time from the State and retired…or more correctly: since faculty were year-to year” employees with no tenure, I was “terminated”. Nice….NOT
For math: Ray's Mathematics, which I have posted elsewhere... I'll find the link. (See below.)
For English: read and talk and have your child write about the books I've listed in the posts "Books to Build Great Americans". Have your kid focus on what she learned about being a good person -- either from examples or non-examples. Have her write about the universal truths in the books.
For Science: Let her deep dive into a topic she's interested in scientifically. Let wonder guide her. Hold her accountable for learning with Feynman's Test, which I detailed in another post on the part of my substack linked below.
For History: Land of Hope, either the full version (for an older, or a very good reader) or the Young Reader's Editions, which are the most accessible. Pair them with historical fiction/nonfiction in my "The Young American's History Library" on the part of my site dedicated to helping your child take an education, here: https://educatedandfree.substack.com/s/educated-and-free-simple-classical/archive?sort=new
Also, there's a group of people who homeschool who said they were willing to help anyone who wanted to try and needed pointers here and there. Here's the list: https://x.com/i/lists/1659934550288654336
You know your kid best. These are just suggestions on how you might start. Be consistent. Set up times for her to work. Sit with her while you do other work if you can. Read to her while she draws or cooks or works on something she loves with her hand.
Pretty sure it all started with social promotion and the elimination of tracking in public K12.
Kids started to think that just showing up was enough.
Oh wait. I guess it started with tenure; teachers and admin learned there was no accountability for them, so it would be unfair to hold kids to the same standard.
This is my second year teaching at a small private school. I would say I have a reasonable knowledge of my subjects (history and theology) but trying to expand that to keep up with where I feel like I should be is exhausting. Whenever I try a challenging assignment, I feel like my work load triples. Last year I assigned one essay to my freshman and ended up spending most of that week weeding through Chat GPT generated essays and emailing admin and parents about it. My sophomore history students told me they couldn't handle reading the Melian Dialogue, summarizing the arguments, and arguing which side they thought was stronger and again I spent much of my dealing with AI cheating. When I give kids bad grades, parents email me asking how their kid could have done that poorly. I know it's the job I signed up for and am paid to do, I just genuinely don't know how to do it all well and feel torn up about it. Most of the time it seems like my coworkers who have been in the game longer than I have and whom I should be able to turn to for help give me advice to generate my slides and projects using AI to make things easier. I really don't even know where to go to become a better teacher, as most of the "professional development" we receive doesn't speak to my problems.
Oh boy. Email me this comment educatedandfree@protonmmail.org and I'll let you know my process to teach writing based off complex texts. If you know your content, it's work heavy,, but only for one night. It has built in controls and calibration, and it'll get parents off your butt. It's work heavy, but only for ONE night. Over the year, the kids will immprove markedly if they choose to. Scout's honor.
I feel for the young teachers -- most have grown up in this system and have no knowledge of what could be. They could find out. why what they're doing doesn't work to produce readers and thinkers, but tenure prevents that kind of curiosity. It's much, much easier to blame the students and, mostly now, their parents.
At this point, I only write so that any parents looking can see that they're not wrong to be suspicious about the quality of their child's education and, hopefully, seek to fortify it.
As someone who recently graduated high school, I can say it is very much like this. Even at a 'top' school in my county.
It is very much a job for most and a passion for a very few. On the extreme apathetic realm was reading long long slides verbatim and playing youtube videos in class while we were on our phones doing whatever. Exams were open internet. The other extreme was incompetence. Rigid structures and complete disregard for any of the students. Often times completly wrong - but, they went to college so who am I to know better.
There needs to be major reform not just for students, but parents, teachers, and policy.
Good article.
Well, the good news is that you made it out alive.
And hey, there's always what I like to call the Rogan Rationale. When Joe Rogan's daughter asked him what was the point of school (she felt much the same as you), he said, "The most important thing you learn at school is that the people in charge are idiots."
Now YOU know, so go get 'em.
This is one of the saddest things I've read this year. It also affirms we were right to pull our kid from public school (which is 100% on screens in every subject starting grade 6), and send her to a small classical education school. A lot of the families there do hybrid homeschool/ private school. There is absolutely no tech. No phones. Oral exams, Socratic method discussions. Consequence for ChatGPT cheating is expulsion. She loves it. I want it for every kid in America. It's what they deserve.
Me too. It's going to take time, but parents who are not so distracted to look will make the switch. You did. Thank you .
I am so glad I retired from community college teaching in 2003! My first 10 years I taught Emergency Medical Technology…standardized curriculum, but I taught way beyond it. Lots of my students couldn’t read, so getting them to integrate a great deal of information was often frustrated. I routinely lost 1/3 to 1/2 of my class during the semester. After teaching the advanced Paramedic course at the University was a blast, but being on soft-money (I had to bring in my salary plus) I returned to the community college where I switched to teaching human anatomy and physiology and loved it. I did it for 20 years and loved it. I did a career-stupid” by accepting an offer to be a Counselor. I knew our colleges offerings and the aptitudes needed for each program, and when dealing with returning adults, I was loved and loved what I did. With the 18-20 years olds…not so much. I taught Student Development classes like “How to Study”, “note taking” and my favorite “Critical Thinking Skills”…I am being facetious. I found a way to purchase some military time from the State and retired…or more correctly: since faculty were year-to year” employees with no tenure, I was “terminated”. Nice….NOT
As a parent I see it and live it everyday.Most parents seem not to care. What are my alternatives w/o breaking the bank?
For math: Ray's Mathematics, which I have posted elsewhere... I'll find the link. (See below.)
For English: read and talk and have your child write about the books I've listed in the posts "Books to Build Great Americans". Have your kid focus on what she learned about being a good person -- either from examples or non-examples. Have her write about the universal truths in the books.
For Science: Let her deep dive into a topic she's interested in scientifically. Let wonder guide her. Hold her accountable for learning with Feynman's Test, which I detailed in another post on the part of my substack linked below.
For History: Land of Hope, either the full version (for an older, or a very good reader) or the Young Reader's Editions, which are the most accessible. Pair them with historical fiction/nonfiction in my "The Young American's History Library" on the part of my site dedicated to helping your child take an education, here: https://educatedandfree.substack.com/s/educated-and-free-simple-classical/archive?sort=new
Also, there's a group of people who homeschool who said they were willing to help anyone who wanted to try and needed pointers here and there. Here's the list: https://x.com/i/lists/1659934550288654336
You know your kid best. These are just suggestions on how you might start. Be consistent. Set up times for her to work. Sit with her while you do other work if you can. Read to her while she draws or cooks or works on something she loves with her hand.
You'll find your way because you love her.
Another facet of the incompetency cascade.
Pretty sure it all started with social promotion and the elimination of tracking in public K12.
Kids started to think that just showing up was enough.
Oh wait. I guess it started with tenure; teachers and admin learned there was no accountability for them, so it would be unfair to hold kids to the same standard.
I'm in this picture and I don't like it.
This is my second year teaching at a small private school. I would say I have a reasonable knowledge of my subjects (history and theology) but trying to expand that to keep up with where I feel like I should be is exhausting. Whenever I try a challenging assignment, I feel like my work load triples. Last year I assigned one essay to my freshman and ended up spending most of that week weeding through Chat GPT generated essays and emailing admin and parents about it. My sophomore history students told me they couldn't handle reading the Melian Dialogue, summarizing the arguments, and arguing which side they thought was stronger and again I spent much of my dealing with AI cheating. When I give kids bad grades, parents email me asking how their kid could have done that poorly. I know it's the job I signed up for and am paid to do, I just genuinely don't know how to do it all well and feel torn up about it. Most of the time it seems like my coworkers who have been in the game longer than I have and whom I should be able to turn to for help give me advice to generate my slides and projects using AI to make things easier. I really don't even know where to go to become a better teacher, as most of the "professional development" we receive doesn't speak to my problems.
Oh boy. Email me this comment educatedandfree@protonmmail.org and I'll let you know my process to teach writing based off complex texts. If you know your content, it's work heavy,, but only for one night. It has built in controls and calibration, and it'll get parents off your butt. It's work heavy, but only for ONE night. Over the year, the kids will immprove markedly if they choose to. Scout's honor.
So sad 😞.
I feel for the young teachers -- most have grown up in this system and have no knowledge of what could be. They could find out. why what they're doing doesn't work to produce readers and thinkers, but tenure prevents that kind of curiosity. It's much, much easier to blame the students and, mostly now, their parents.
At this point, I only write so that any parents looking can see that they're not wrong to be suspicious about the quality of their child's education and, hopefully, seek to fortify it.