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Teaching is a unique job. Teachers are generally university-educated, yet are unionized employees who are not considered professionals in the conventional sense. Finally, though a school usually employs many teachers, the teachers themselves may not actually spend much time together. This can lead to feelings of isolation from one's peers, and is a problem exacerbated should one not get along with his or her students. In education, teachers are those who teach students or pupils, often a course of study or a practical skill. ...
A university is an institution of higher education and of research, which grants academic degrees at all levels (bachelor, master, and doctor) in a variety of subjects. ...
A union (labor union in American English; trade union, sometimes trades union, in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a legal entity consisting of employees or workers having a common interest, such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the workers...
American high school students in a school A school is most commonly a place designated for learning. ...
Alternate uses: Student (disambiguation) Etymologically derived through Middle English from the Latin second-type conjugation verb stŭdērĕ, which means to study, a student is one who studies. ...
Throughout history, the intellectual challenges of pedagogy have been compounded by many societal issues. Because teachers have such intimate contact with young people, many of the problems of the young are seen as interrelated with their school environment. It is not easy to separate causes from effects, but it is possible to trace a general outline.
Up the Down Staircase The 1965 book Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman chronicled the struggles of a middle-class teacher working in a poor urban school. This book demonstrates some of the outstanding problems a teacher faces in many modern Western countries, particularly: 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ...
Up the Down Staircase is a humorous novel written by Bel Kaufman, and published in 1965. ...
Bel Kaufman is a Russian-American professor and author. ...
- low teacher pay and prestige
- distant and incompetent administration
- students with social and economic problems
- negligent or absent parents
- family and social burdens foisted onto teachers
These problems can be seen in many places, but are particularly bad in inner-city areas of the United States. Since this book came out, these issues have for the most part not been addressed by those who could do something about them. On the contrary, they have been compounded by: - general lowering of standards
- the practice of social promotion
- increasing concerns about safety
- teachers leaving the profession
Few teachers stay in the profession for more than 5 years. Those who do are known by some as "career teachers", that is they consider teaching a vocation rather than a temporary job they accepted because there was a need for teachers or because they simply needed employment. However, some suggest that a proportion leave due to lack of support, low status, etc, as outlined above. Social promotion is the practice of promoting schoolchildren to the next grade, to keep them with their peers, regardless of whether they are capable of doing grade-level work. ...
Safety first, ahhh safety, some just saftied and it wasnt me, ahhh safety, who just saftied??/??? safety safety safety safeetttttyyyyyyyyyyyyy // Types of potential problem situations A person or organization may want safety from numerous types of actual or potentially detrimental situations such as: personal physical injury financial/economic damage...
Social promotion In recent years many teachers and administrators have come under pressure to "inflate" failing students' grades and pass them along to the next grade. Critics contend that this is done so as not to harm the students' self-esteem, to let children stay with their friends, and to allow teachers to get rid of problem students. Defenders of the practice say that failing to promote a student can lead to that student being permanently tracked as an underachiever, with little opportunity to escape the "slow" track. In psychology, self-esteem or self-worth is a persons self-image at an emotional level; circumventing reason and logic. ...
An underachiever is one who falls short of a predicted level of performance. ...
Politics Teachers are often more effective when their lessons involve issues of current political interest. But in some cases, this can get them in trouble. In 2006, Colorado teacher Jay Bennish encouraged his students to compare the statements of President George W. Bush with US actions[1], and was suspended[2], warned not to talk to the press[3] and investigated[4]. Students protest Bennishs suspension. ...
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States. ...
Safety An increase in violence among students in many countries has resulted in serious concerns about safety. School massacres have occurred in several developed countries, such as the Columbine High School massacre in the United States and the Dunblane massacre in the United Kingdom. Teachers are understandably upset about these incidents, and though there is much dispute about their causes, there is little dispute about their effects. Even if the violent incidents are on a much smaller scale, constant concerns about safety create a stressful and unstable environment for both students and teachers. Violence refers to acts of aggression and abuse which causes or intends to cause criminal injury or harm to persons, and (to a lesser extent) animals and property. ...
Staff and Students evacuate Columbine High School shortly after the Columbine High School massacre A school massacre is an incident of attempted mass murder, involving at least one actual death, that occurs at a school. ...
Staff and Students evacuate Columbine High School shortly after the shooting The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School in unincorporated Jefferson County, Colorado, near Denver and Littleton, Colorado, in the United States. ...
The Dunblane massacre occurred at the primary school in the small town of Dunblane in central Scotland. ...
Effects Some believe that these problems have contributed to a shortage of teachers. Certain areas of the U.S., particularly in rural and high-poverty urban locations, have experienced teacher shortages. In response, state education departments and local districts have used various strategies to attract teachers. These strategies include financial incentives (such as loan forgiveness and signing-bonuses) and alternative/emergency certification routes which expedite the process of getting a teaching license.
At the same time, federal and state lawmakers have recently taken steps to strengthen teacher standards. The federal No Child Left Behind act requires all teachers to be "highly qualified" by the 2005-2006 school year. Meeting this standard includes having at least a bachelor's degree, full state certification, and demonstrating competency in the subject matter being taught. The latter provision can be demonstrated through passing a standard subject matter test. An increasing number of states are requiring new teachers to pass such tests in their academic field before entering the classroom.
Possible solutions Some programs have been started to remedy teacher shortages, such as Teach for America. This program sends recent college graduates to areas most in need of teachers, having gone through a short but intensive training program. The teachers then stay for two years, and may continue if they want. There are similar programs that allow ex-members of the military to become teachers. However, these programs have also been criticized as a "band-aid" cure that will not produce committed teachers. Teach For America is an organization whose mission is to close the achievement gap between children from different socio-economic backgrounds. ...
Some thinkers believe that only a radical restructuring of education will resolve the above problems. A.S. Neill, for one, founded his Summerhill School in England with the belief that the school should conform to the students, not the other way around. This avoids much conflict inherent in teachers and administrators holding power over students. Neil Postman, as well, argued for the Inquiry Method of teaching that more or less accommodates students rather than coerces them. Eric Hoffer was of a mind with Neill, that students could learn in only a few years what teachers try to spoon-feed them over many, if they could only get the urge to play out of their systems. Alexander Sutherland Neill (October 17, 1883 _ September 23, 1973) was an educationalist recognised as one of the leading pioneers in education. ...
Summerhill School Summerhill School, founded in 1921 in Hellerau near Dresden, England by A.S. Neill. ...
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Inquiry education (sometimes known as the inquiry method) is a student-centered method of education focused on asking questions. ...
Eric Hoffer (July 25, 1902 – May 21, 1983) was an American social writer. ...
It is not at all clear, however, that the experiment conducted at Summerhill and similar schools (to date apparently successful) can be applied on a broad scale (see Montessori method. Moreover, teachers' arguably low pay and social standing would not be remedied by this method. The Montessori method is a methodology for nursery and elementary school education, first developed by Dr. Maria Montessori. ...
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