Ann Coulter on teachers

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

I'm more than happy to gripe about teachers (or more correctly, griping teachers) but that chick is a loon. Don Cherry without the entertainment value.

[driveway]

Ann Coulter hasn't said anything relevant for longer than Don Cherry.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Ice

Ok, let me preface my response by saying I know there are good teachers out there. However, some friends and I were just discussing a couple of weeks ago how most parents now are unsympathetic to teachers wanting more money. We all have kids at various stages of school and have seen the decline in the quality of teachers. While we've all experienced good teachers, more often than not, our experience with teachers is that they don't care so much about teaching anymore. At least half of the teachers do lock their classrooms and head to their car right as the dismissal bell rings. You can't get a parent conference, you can't get a return phone call or email and its very frustrating. Then, we have teachers who openly admit to taking advantage of the unemployment system. Most school districts allow teachers to choose to get paid either larger paychecks for 9 months of the school year or have their pay spread among 12 months to have year round paychecks. What the teachers do (and this is actually explained in the credential program at the university I attended) is choose the 9 month pay period and then file for unemployment for the summer. So they're getting taxpayer money to the tune of about $3000.00 during the summer, knowing full well they have a job starting the last week of August. Now, imagine if they were given that same money directly to their classroom, that would solve a lot of the financial problems. There are so many problems with teachers, the credential program, the motivation of becoming a teacher and the actual learning in our schools, that its become more and more challenging to be sympathetic to teachers.

Like I said, there are good teachers out there. I planned on being one of them but became disenchanted with the system while in the credential program. But there were a lot of my classmates who wanted to have Christmas vacation, spring break and summers off. And while that might be a nice perk, it really ticked me off when that was given as one of the top two reasons for being a teacher.

Ann Coulter is obviously sensationalizing her opinion because that's what she does, it what gets her heard. Speaking as someone who was aiming for a career as a teacher and kids who have had several teachers from elementary to high school. I can definitely see why the tides have changed.

Sorry dude but you have no clue what teachers do. You are painting them all with the same brush. I would wager that there are just as many bad teachers as there are bad employees in ANY other field of work.

People that make comments like you really piss me off to no end.

[Locke]

Holy crap her mouth still flaps....sorry guys, I was under the impression we had that bitch all sewn up....excuse me, I have to go fire an intern and schedule an operating room for an emergency 'STFU bitch' procedure.

[kootenayguy9]

Originally Posted by bcb

You definitely raise some good points; however, I have never heard of any "credential Program". CBE (at least) only pays teachers monthly, spread out over 12 months.

We get paid 11 times over a school year not 12 FYI. No paycheque in August for me. The stretch from the end of July until the first paycheque at the end of September is a long stretch.

[bcb]

Originally Posted by kootenayguy9

We get paid 11 times over a school year not 12 FYI. No paycheque in August for me. The stretch from the end of July until the first paycheque at the end of September is a long stretch.

Oh, we get two in June, right?
If you haven't guessed, I am a new teacher

[ricoFlame]

i'm a teacher too. ann coulter's ignorant generalizations are hilarious. god she's ugly.

[tanguay'sstillgood]

Originally Posted by Ice

Ok, let me preface my response by saying I know there are good teachers out there. However, some friends and I were just discussing a couple of weeks ago how most parents now are unsympathetic to teachers wanting more money. We all have kids at various stages of school and have seen the decline in the quality of teachers. While we've all experienced good teachers, more often than not, our experience with teachers is that they don't care so much about teaching anymore. At least half of the teachers do lock their classrooms and head to their car right as the dismissal bell rings. You can't get a parent conference, you can't get a return phone call or email and its very frustrating. Then, we have teachers who openly admit to taking advantage of the unemployment system. Most school districts allow teachers to choose to get paid either larger paychecks for 9 months of the school year or have their pay spread among 12 months to have year round paychecks. What the teachers do (and this is actually explained in the credential program at the university I attended) is choose the 9 month pay period and then file for unemployment for the summer. So they're getting taxpayer money to the tune of about $3000.00 during the summer, knowing full well they have a job starting the last week of August. Now, imagine if they were given that same money directly to their classroom, that would solve a lot of the financial problems. There are so many problems with teachers, the credential program, the motivation of becoming a teacher and the actual learning in our schools, that its become more and more challenging to be sympathetic to teachers.

Like I said, there are good teachers out there. I planned on being one of them but became disenchanted with the system while in the credential program. But there were a lot of my classmates who wanted to have Christmas vacation, spring break and summers off. And while that might be a nice perk, it really ticked me off when that was given as one of the top two reasons for being a teacher.

Ann Coulter is obviously sensationalizing her opinion because that's what she does, it what gets her heard. Speaking as someone who was aiming for a career as a teacher and kids who have had several teachers from elementary to high school. I can definitely see why the tides have changed.

Really? Where is this school? I teach at a school with about 75 teachers and I would bet you a lot of money that I could still find half of them there nearly an hour after school. Talk to me when I've at school for 13 hours one day so that kids can play sports. And even if I do leave 15 minutes after the bell goes (no teachers leave right away...the parking lot is too busy so there's no point) I go home and work again throughout the evening. Everything is computerized, an most is on the internet, so why do I need to sit in the school to work if I would rather beat traffic and work from home? If you find any students hanging out in the school looking for me for extra help at 4:30, please let me know and I'll stick around. Even if I'm not at the school in the evenings/weekends, I promise you I work at least 6 days/week, and 5 of those days I spend probably about 10 hours working (whether it's at home or work).

I would also wager that almost all of our teachers are in contact with parents weekly. If you find a significant group of teachers in an area who all refuse to give you a parent conference then I would say that's a specific school issue.
Oh, and guess how busy I am on 'meet the teacher night' and at parent teacher interviews! Maybe we should be more concerned that so many parents don't seem to give a damn?

[Ice]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

Sorry dude but you have no clue what teachers do. You are painting them all with the same brush. I would wager that there are just as many bad teachers as there are bad employees in ANY other field of work.

People that make comments like you realy piss me off to no end.

I wasn't trying to offend you or any other teachers. I'm speaking on my own experience as both someone who was in the process of becoming a teacher ( I got the education, I entered the teaching program and I passed the required state exams) and a parent who's dealt with my own children's teachers. My opinion is formed completely on my own experience. I would like to see ingenuity encouraged with teachers, not meeting arbitrary state curiculum and specific scores on standardized tests. I suppose I don't blame the teachers that have lost interest completely, their hands have been tied by beaurocracy and it limits their creativity in the classroom, but it doesn't change the fact that many teachers have, in fact, lost interest in teaching and just go through the motions. Like I said, there are good teachers out there, but it seems there are just as many who aren't.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Ice

I wasn't trying to offend you or any other teachers. I'm speaking on my own experience as both someone who was in the process of becoming a teacher ( I got the education, I entered the teaching program and I passed the required state exams) and a parent who's dealt with my own children's teachers. My opinion is formed completely on my own experience. I would like to see ingenuity encouraged with teachers, not meeting arbitrary state curiculum and specific scores on standardized tests. I suppose I don't blame the teachers that have lost interest completely, their hands have been tied by beaurocracy and it limits their creativity in the classroom, but it doesn't change the fact that many teachers have, in fact, lost interest in teaching and just go through the motions. Like I said, there are good teachers out there, but it seems there are just as many who aren't.

One thing that I have learned since my wife has become a teacher is that MOST parents that she deals with have unrealistic expectations of what the TEACHER should do and no expectation of what the parent should do. Parents have abdicated their jobs as the main teacher in their childs life.

It is unfortunate if you have experienced bad teachers. They are out there just like in any other job. But I can give you just as many examples of bad parents as you can give bad teachers. My wife has spent hours and hours out of her own time to help students that are having trouble learning, special learning plans, special reading material. Only to have the parents not commit and nothing ever gets done at home or have the parent complain that they think their child shouldn't be doing this or that. One parent was more worried about the colour of the binder my wife sent home with the child over the actual material in the binder.

If you want to level blame on teachers you need to level just as much on parents if not more blame on them.

PS; This $5 keyboard I purchased is a piece of donkey manure and some keys I have to press really hard for it to work, thus some of the words dont make sense because they are missing some letters.

[RougeUnderoos]

Obviously our teachers are not being paid enough if their dependents have to stoop to buying $5 keyboards.

Won't someone please think of the children?

[Ice]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

If you want to level blame on teachers you need to level just as much on parents if not more blame on them.

I can wholeheartedly agree with this statement.

[Calgaryborn]

I think there is a difference between training requirements for teachers in the States and those in Canada. Canada requires more training. Also there is a difference in wages between the two countries. Most of the money for public schools comes from the countie's purse. Poorer counties will have poorer teaching/learning conditions. If you look beyond Ann Clouter's zingers she does have some interesting observations about some of the problems within the public system.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Calgaryborn

If you look beyond Ann Clouter's zingers she does have some interesting observations about some of the problems within the public system.

Such as?

In related news, I found this line on her website:

"In 2001, Coulter was named one of the top 100 Public Intellectuals by federal judge Richard Posner in 2001."

That is some public intellectualiciousness right there.

[flylock shox]

One day, Ann Coulter will die.

I like to imagine this day.

It makes me smile.

[Sport Psych]

Originally Posted by Ice

I wasn't trying to offend you or any other teachers. I'm speaking on my own experience as both someone who was in the process of becoming a teacher ( I got the education, I entered the teaching program and I passed the required state exams) and a parent who's dealt with my own children's teachers. My opinion is formed completely on my own experience. I would like to see ingenuity encouraged with teachers, not meeting arbitrary state curiculum and specific scores on standardized tests. I suppose I don't blame the teachers that have lost interest completely, their hands have been tied by beaurocracy and it limits their creativity in the classroom

My guess is that your experiences have been working with LAUSD, correct? If so, I can see why you'd be jaded... LAUSD is one of the most egregious examples of bureaucratic bloat that you'll find anywhere in the world. The good news is that virtually all other school districts across the country are much easier to navigate (and are much less likely to stifle teacher creativity/flexibility).

Do you mind me asking where you worked on your credential? Was it National University?

[V]

Honestly, I don't know why anyone would want to be a teacher. The hours suck, the pay sucks and the recognition sucks. You must have to really, really, really love what you do.

I think this is a major factor for why there are so many terrible teachers out there.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by stang

I would do her...

Got a thing for chicks with an adams apple do yeah?

And by chicks, I mean trannys.

[Ice]

Originally Posted by Sport Psych

My guess is that your experiences have been working with LAUSD, correct? If so, I can see why you'd be jaded... LAUSD is one of the most egregious examples of bureaucratic bloat that you'll find anywhere in the world. The good news is that virtually all other school districts across the country are much easier to navigate (and are much less likely to stifle teacher creativity/flexibility).

Do you mind me asking where you worked on your credential? Was it National University?

I worked on my credential at one of the Cal State Universities. I haven't been exposed to LAUSD, but I've heard horror stories. Its a combination of the State beaurocracy and the No Child Left Behind Act that I think has really limited teachers, not only in what they teach but they're forced to race through material at an unrealistic pace. The teachers union doesn't help. Listening to the union representative clinched my decision not to be a teacher. The talk was about manipulating the system for everything from abusing IEP's to get aids in your classroom and how to get a child labeled with a learning disability to the unemployment scam to using union lawyers to get tenure. The union representative spent less than five minutes out of a four hour lecture talking about educating students. There would be a lot more money available for teacher salaries and the classroom if the union was gone tomorrow.

[stang]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Got a thing for chicks with an adams apple do yeah?

And by chicks, I mean trannys.

No I got a thing for crazy blondes...

Ex. my wife.