Comments by "upabittoolate" (@upabittoolate) on "Are America's Schools Failing?" video.

  1. There is no country like the US. In Australia, they don't need unions for teachers because they take care of their teachers & parents prepare their kids. Japan is homogenous; nuff sed. The UK has just the right amount of socialism. Again, you can't blame the teachers. You have to take a look at how kids are prepared BEFORE they come to school. A teacher can't make the kids do the homework. Only parents can.
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  2. I agree. A public sector union IS different. But that has no bearing on this discussion. Unions aren't to blame for parents who don't prepare & motivate their kids. Teachers aren't to blame. If I have to spend all my time tryna bring the kid who won't do the work up to speed in my class, I can't teach the others who came ready to work. That's a parent thing, not a teacher thing.
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  3. I don't disagree with you about the format thing. I teach high school math. And yeah, if kids can't count that's not my failure. But it's not the other teachers' failure either. If a parent doesn't instill something within a kid that makes him value his ability to count, then I can't do much to reverse the effects of bad parenting during my finite time with a student.
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  4. Parents are failing.
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  5. It's not a win/lose dynamic. We're exchanging ideas, sharing information & perhaps, learning something while pursing some mutual understanding. And like I said, big ups go to the teachers that go the extra mile. They have to fill in the blanks for parents that suck.
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  6. I guess they didn't teach you to count or to communicate effectively or methodology. Right? Wrong. You don't learn math at school. You learn math when you watch your mother bake. You don't learn science at school. You learn science when you explore your back yard or when you treat a wound. That's parents' stuff, not school stuff. You just said you learned critical thinking later but the seeds were planted with the work ethic & value system installed by.... you guessed it: your PARENTS.
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  7. You're moving the goalposts. A teacher has some stake in a student's life but let's be completely honest: who's responsible here? If a kid goes into a store to buy something, doesn't have enough (he counted wrong) then steals it, who's responsible? The parents. And I do pity your friend. I'm happy he got the help he needed to overcome his disability. It sucks that his parents weren't prepared. He almost got screwed. Kudos to the teachers. But they didn't have to do that. His PARENTS made him.
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  8. I agree with that postulate. There definitely something to be said about the student as well. But it's still my assertion that parents have more influence over the situation than the teachers. Come into my math class & I only see you for 55min & there are 20 other kids there. Parents, however, see their kids for a tad bit longer than that. Wouldn't you agree? You certainly can't disagree. Hence, they (parents) have more to do with it.
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  9. "Research shows..." When you're vague, you're probably not speaking from any actual basis. Fail.
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  10. You can argue that all you like but you'll be wrong. What self-respecting parent is gonna let his/her child walk around not knowing how to count? As for bad teachers, there are quite a few. But I know when I was in school, it was a matter of getting through it because I understood that most of the time, I wasn't going to have a tremendous amount of control of a situation so I (JAMES) had to adjust. You don't yell at nature for being cruel. You adapt or oyu die. The same goes for education.
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  11. Also, let me flesh out my meaning of "prepared" with regards to parent/child dynamics. I mean they're fed, bathed, rested & ready to listen. I don't mean they're preoccupied with their smartphones, their gym shoes or their performance on a basketball court or football field. Prepared means not being afraid to ask a question too. You see, a teacher can only precept subject matter & make himself as available as he can. Again, the parent builds & cultivated the student.
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  12. Nonsense. Labor unions are just labor unions. If parents aren't preparing their kids, teachers can't do much. School isn't a panacea.
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