U.S. teachers and their unions are amateurs

[Blackhawk2001]

What????

I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that you don't have a college degree. If you do have a degree I have one thing to say to you: Just because you didn't learn much or try hard in college, don't think we did the same.

I had a boss who was a Police Lieutenant and had a college degree. He was a great police officer but couldn't successfully put a memorandum together without spelling or grammatic errors. I have a good friend who has a Masters Degree in Business Administration; he can hardly put a coherent sentence together correctly. My wife has an Associates' Degree she acquired in 1971; SHE routinely proofs and corrects her bosses written communications. Our son has had teachers who were apparently incapable of sending a note home with him that did not contain spelling and grammar errors. A college degree may imply some specialized learning in specific areas, but it appears to me that a monkey could get an advanced degree in Education, based on the success of the Public School System.

Now, I may not be exactly fair in saying a monkey could get an advanced degree in Education; it may be the case that, as we opined in the military, once you get to a certain level of achievement, you are sent to a chamber where they suck all the common sense out of you. In any case, overall, Public education has deteriorated greatly even since my son was in high school in the early 90s; and his education was inferior to mine, as mine was to my parents'. The public education system has lost its way - for whatever reason - and phony "achievements" of paper issued by a corrupt institution do not impress me. I guarantee you, none of MY grade school or high school administrators would have knowingly graduated students who were unable to read or write or spell correctly.

 

[jamil]

I had a boss who was a Police Lieutenant and had a college degree. He was a great police officer but couldn't successfully put a memorandum together without spelling or grammatic errors. I have a good friend who has a Masters Degree in Business Administration; he can hardly put a coherent sentence together correctly. My wife has an Associates' Degree she acquired in 1971; SHE routinely proofs and corrects her bosses written communications. Our son has had teachers who were apparently incapable of sending a note home with him that did not contain spelling and grammar errors. A college degree may imply some specialized learning in specific areas, but it appears to me that a monkey could get an advanced degree in Education, based on the success of the Public School System.

Now, I may not be exactly fair in saying a monkey could get an advanced degree in Education; it may be the case that, as we opined in the military, once you get to a certain level of achievement, you are sent to a chamber where they suck all the common sense out of you. In any case, overall, Public education has deteriorated greatly even since my son was in high school in the early 90s; and his education was inferior to mine, as mine was to my parents'. The public education system has lost its way - for whatever reason - and phony "achievements" of paper issued by a corrupt institution do not impress me. I guarantee you, none of MY grade school or high school administrators would have knowingly graduated students who were unable to read or write or spell correctly.

A degree does not guarantee a minimum quality of work produced. It does not remove base character flaws like selfishness, jealousy, or laziness, which contribute to what you've described. However, a degree does add value. It gives people who are willing to exploit their education to its fullest value an edge over people without that education. I've worked with people who have or don't have a degree in my field. Generally, as you've described, the highest quality work is done by those with the best work ethic, irrespective of education. People who care what they produce, produce better results. But also in my experience, people who've survived ridged coursework, and have a good work ethic, generally outperform those with the same work ethic but haven't done the course work.

Of course this observation is in a technical field. I can't say that a degree in something like social welfare would give a social worker with the same work ethic any higher advantage over a non-degreed worker other than having the "correct" indoctrination.

But I do agree that the public education system has lost its way. It now seems they're more focused on reaching statistical milestones, or producing a desired social outcome than producing competent graduates. Also, more and more public and private colleges are becoming diploma mills, which dilutes the value of a degree.

 

[jamil]

Just so my position is clear....

Thanks for clearing that up. Agreed on most of the stuff. Not sure it's any more valid to call Obama a Kenyan than an Irishman other than that I'd wager he would personally favor Kenya.

 

[88GT]

Thanks for clearing that up. Agreed on most of the stuff. Not sure it's any more valid to call Obama a Kenyan than an Irishman other than that I'd wager he would personally favor Kenya.

I do believe he was born in Kenya, but that's not why I call him the Kenyan.

It's not as good as another term I saw during the election cycle of '08. But that one would probably bet me a lengthy temp ban or maybe even a permanent one, so I refrain from using here. But it is funny as hell.