IAmA HS teacher. This is a list of "suggestions" we got in our mailboxes today on how to dumb-down our classes even more than they already are. I'm so angry I can hardly see straight. AMAA

Oh, and I forgot the kicker: At the bottom it says "these were originally developed for special ed and learning disabled students, but we are now recommending them for regular classrooms."

"these were originally developed for special ed and learning disabled students, but we are now recommending them for regular classrooms."

This pegs my troll meter

This whole job is a troll. Ask a teacher - they won't be surprised.

Could this be a prank?

I wish it were dude. It comes on top of a lot of other "memos" suggesting that all tests be multiple choice, students should be able to re-take all tests that they have failed, etc. It's no prank.

students should be able to re-take all tests that they have failed

Does this mean that the poor teacher has the re-craft the same test differently over and over? Because otherwise, I can see a lazy student just taking it over and over and memorizing the answers to that same test without actually learning.

Does this mean that the poor teacher has the re-craft the same test differently over and over?

That's what we're told to do. In reality, when it's 6 PM and I haven't had anything to eat all day, I say fuck it, and give the same test. Often they fail it even worse the second time around since they've forgotten the material.

I can see a lazy student just taking it over and over and memorizing the answers to that same test without actually learning.

No, that would at least be showing some initiative. If you're flunking my class - which already has tons of "adaptations" in it already - you don't have that kind of initiative anyway.

Do you mean differentiations?

At our school the jargon is "adaptations." It's the same idea though. All depends on what $10,000-month consultant your particular district has hired.

Weigh the merit of using any essay questions at all

You have GOT to be kidding me.

consider giving open book tests with page references

ಠ_ಠ

Thanks for actually giving a damn about how students perform academically.

Where is your school. exactly? If you don't feel comfortable specifying the district at least specify the state.

Yeah, specifying the district would be pretty stupid. I don't even want to specify the state. But I'm sure before long other teachers will chime in here and say they've gotten similar "suggestions." It's a nationwide thing. There was a big article about this kind of crap in the NY Times last year, but I can't find it. Probably behind the paywall now.

This is gross. How do they expect students to learn if they baby them so much?!

I'm wondering if you have any outrageous experiences you'd like to share. I recently graduated college and attended my sister's high school graduation and the rehearsal for it.

I was disgusted by the absolute disrespect shown to the educators, the principal, and the superintendent. I can't even name how much crap was flying in the air during the graduation itself (an elderly woman was slammed in the face with a ball and no one did anything, for example). I'll never forget how one student interrupted the principal and asked how long it would take... she had an "important restaurant reservation" she didn't want to miss. The faculty and staff seemed too scared to show any authority or lay out any discipline.

Does this happen in your school district? Are you guilty of it? If it does happen, why, and what can be done to prevent it?

(wordy question... I'm sorry!)

Discipline was terrible until recently. There is a crack-down on that now since too many bad things got in the local paper.

The kids are not generally disrespectful - at least to me - they think I'm a "cool" teacher since I still watch a lot of the same shows they do, etc. I enjoy the kids on a personal level. But we are utterly failing them in terms of giving them a real education - it's so sad - these kids want to be nurses, detectives, etc. They will be lucky to be mopping the floors at McDonald's with the education we give them.

My favourite teacher, out of three countries and maybe a dozen schools, was a bloke in his first year. He was vehemently opposed to any sort of state-encouraged pampering and was very blunt with his students, saying "this is what the government expects me to let you get by with, and I have to comply." He then explained that while we could do the bare minimum and pass, it would later fuck us over tremendously.

He was the only teacher who really talked to us as adults, and his class was the only one that I actually tried in because of that. Worth a shot.

I feel like that guy. I did have a girl tell me today "you're the first teacher who's said I could do something with my life." Now this girl is a bit of a drama queen, so who knows how sincere that was, but still... stuff like that does make you keep going.

But then again, this same girl laughs at me today when I tell her she has to study. That's the sort of stuff that makes you want to quit.

these kids want to be nurses, detectives, etc. They will be lucky to be mopping the floors at McDonald's with the education we give them.

I'm not so sure. Unless you import all your nurses and detectives, I suspect they will end up as really bad nurses and detectives.

No, the nurses and detectives will come from the kids in the affluent suburban districts. Sad reality.

It's sad that little changed until the media got involved. :\

What do you think is one of the core issues that's injuring our education system? And... seeing as how you're disenchanted by the class suggestions you received...can you rebel against them and teach the class in a way you feel is more effective?

What do you think is one of the core issues that's injuring our education system?

That everyone must pass, regardless of how little work they do. Even if they flunk my class, they are given super-easy "summer work" that counts as a class credit. So hardly anyone repeats. Every now and then we will get a kid that can't convince mom to do the summer work for him, and he will repeat. But it's rare.

This type of shit pisses me off as well. I have been told that the lowest score I should give a student is a 60, even if they refuse to do the work.
It's unbelievable that your school had the balls to put this in writing. America will never be first in education with that kind of idiocy going on in schools.

We don't have that rule - yet. But my friend teaches at a school with a similar (unwritten) rule. He had a kid sit in the back of the room all year and rip up notebook paper every day and throw it on the floor - he was never disciplined for this - just got "demerits" but never detention - and did absolutely no work. The custodians refused to pick up the paper (not their job to clean up messes made by students, so they said), so he had to do it himself.

He was told by the asst. Principal to give the kid 50 in the class. By no coincidence, this is the minimum grade level required by that district's school board to count "summer work" as credit for a class.

You really should consider doing some whistle blowing here. Make this even more public than publishing it on Reddit. You might need to seek gainful employment elsewhere afterward, but hey if you are going to go out, you might as well go out with a bang. Not a LITERAL bang, ok? See what lowered expectations have wrought? I have to qualify everything and put disclaimers on what I say else it might be misconstrued.

And BTW thanks for going into teaching. My SO was one for awhile. She got out while still retaining some sanity. And because I don't think you are quite mad/disgusted enough for today, I will tell you that she encountered students at college level who could not write complete sentences. And if I've said it once I've said it 1000 times: I AM NOT KIDDING.

Since this is information concerning students it falls under federal privacy guidelines, or so we told in the automatic message that goes on the bottom of every email from the admin side. So technically I am breaking the law just by doing this, and though I think a good lawyer could weasel me out of any serious charges (since no specific student names or grades were mentioned), I'd certainly lose my job if I went more public. I'm not a hero, just a pissed-off guy.

I hear you about college students being just as babied and un-educated. I went to a college with a good reputation and the stupidity was amazing.

[deleted]

What state are you in?

This "posting internal memos on reddit" stuff is new to me, so I'm a little shy about answering that one. It is a large state that ranks around the middle in terms of school quality. In other words, it's not Alabama or somewhere like that.

Does the school system require anything from the parents to improve their child's education?

No, but we are required to call the parents of all failing students and get yelled at by them.

What classes do you teach?

Do you plan on teaching with these methods? Do you foresee any problems if you don't do them?

How long have you been teaching?

Do you teach at an school that has been struggling to get good grades or is what is causing this to occur?

What classes do you teach?

Math and (ironically) Character Education

Do you plan on teaching with these methods?

Hell no.

Do you foresee any problems if you don't do them?

Bad comments on "not following district practices" on my yearly eval. Beyond that, who knows? I'll keep doing this job until I find another teaching job somewhere better (I do like to teach - a lot), or until they start disciplinary action against me. I am in the "evil" union so that might help.

How long have you been teaching?

A few years.

Do you teach at an school that has been struggling to get good grades or is what is causing this to occur?

We missed the state targets this year, however the admin doesn't seem to care about this beyond lip service. I think they're betting on the fact that there are so many schools in our state that are so much worse off than us that it will be 50 years before the state auditors ever come around to threaten to shut us down.

What is "character education"?

Trying to instill moral values in the kids. It is not graded. We show inspirational movies and eat snacks. The kids don't take it seriously. It is a HUGE waste of time.

Is this class taught daily and for how long?

Yes, for one period (45 min)

Math

Are you saying you are supposed to use multiple choice tests for math?

I've never taken a multiple choice test in school. I can't even imagine how one would look like for a math test.

Yes, all our tests are multiple-choice this year. That we don't have a choice on (we can include one open-response question per test). Of course, it is very easy to solve those just by plugging each answer back in and testing, but most kids don't even know that much.

Wow what the hell, our teachers have problems like 30+ even 39 students per class room. But this? Those kids are going to fail in college, just wow...

They're not going to college dude. They flunk out of our local Community College (aka "13th grade") in droves.

So, admittedly, some of those aren't horrible suggestions (like negative/comparative wording)...but to put those in your box as suggestions at a high school level is ridiculous. May I ask what state you work in? I'm a teacher in Florida, and I find we do pander to the FCAT, but my school itself holds itself to a higher standard than what it seems your school is doing, at least, and I'm at a middle school, home of pampering students and parents.

I'm not going to say my state but I'm glad there are some schools out there that don't do this BS. What is your economic profile like? Ours is below-average, but not horribly so.

Are you afraid American Public School's will only get worse in the following 10-20 years ? Will education be cut first ? How can we solve this ?

What can common citizens do to get involved to better public schooling, even after being out of HS & School in general ? Does not having children but still caring about education have any play in it ?

I've always been an avid art & music fan and volunteered for my art teacher for years in HS and his biggest fear (or truth) is that they cut art & music first, it's a very sad state of affairs. Thanks and I look forward to hearing back !

Are you afraid American Public School's will only get worse in the following 10-20 years

I think they will be whittled away in the next 10-20 years. Already a lot of our "low" seniors are on half-day "job entry" schedules. They come to school in the morning and stock shelves at Wal-Mart in the afternoon. Next year they will be able to do full-day "job entry." And there is talk about extending this to 11th grade. Soon I think a lot of the "non-academic" kids will be in HS in name only. They will be working at McDonald's under the supervision of a "job entry" teacher 99% of the time. (we have more "career ed" teachers than math teachers at our school)

But of course they will be allowed to graduate with the same diploma and pretty cap and gown as everyone else. Our district even lets kids walk in graduation who flunked senior year (often because they got fired from their jobs and thus failed the 4-credit "career ed" class). They are handed an empty folder with no diploma inside.

What can common citizens do to get involved to better public schooling, even after being out of HS & School in general ?

Elect serious people to the school board. It starts there. Ours is a bunch of retards. School board elections are the lowest turnout elections in the whole country. A few committed groups of parents can make a difference. Unfortunately, so can a few committed groups of religious nuts. Fortunately I don't teach in a super-religious area but I've heard horror stories from cousins who do.