Hi Phid,Would agree with the first paragraph... the second is interesting though, since at least in my state having your kid in school is required by law and in many cases (mine for instance) the kid is stuck with a certain teacher and that's that. Short of pulling the kids out to go to another school or district they are stuck.When it comes to hiring you are correct the newbies have all the latest edumacational learnin' but then they have to face reality... it ain't like in the books. 😮 While competition for the best is the ideal it is more usually who will work for the least money. Most districts are straped for funds (and getting worse) so would like to get rid of older teachers and get some rookies on board.Again I agree on adjunct professors (though we didn't have many where I went to school... a few faculty wives teaching a lab or an extra section of something).Cheers,Wally
Perhaps today a univ. teachers would need educ. background but in the days I was in college (dinosaurs ruled the earth and lumber wagons had iron wheels) just in area of specialization; this was why many weren't the best teachers. Levels were (are?), Teaching Assistant (up and coming grad student on the payroll) Lecturer (often a part-timer or really hot grad student), Assistant (could be tenure track or not), Associate (tenure track most usually), Professor (fully tenured or almost).Public school emphasis seems to be on educ. background (the idea that if you're a good teachers you can teach anything) rather than subject matter which is why many aren't the best teachers.If you catch my drift....
If we consider facts just the bricks from which to construct our argument (and truly follow Bloom's Taxonomy) we can avoid bias and really tell the story. IMHO.
According to an old Basque trail-cook, as quoted by a late and lamented history prof of mine… “… when every man can do as he G*d dam*ed well please as long as he doesn't interfere with any other doing as he G*d dam*ed well pleases!”As a young lad, the history prof was, sent down to Arizona for toughening up by ol' dad... a friend of dad had a rather large cattle ranch and young lad was set to work as Little Mary to the cook on a cattle drive. Happened to be nearing election time (maybe the 1920 election) and being a precocious fellow raised in a somewhat privileged home asked the old cook for whom he'd be voting. The cook replied that not being a citizen he'd not be voting but really neither the Republicans nor the Democrats had much to offer him anyway. Young lad then asked about his party of choice, to which the old boy answered utopian anarchist. ;D
Too true, most texts show them (and their futility) as the triumph of the Congress of Vienna… re-establishing monarchy as the way to go and allowing the various states to help each other counter any revolutions. Read: “Balance of Power”.Not until the unifications of Italy and Germany do we see this change.
Scout,Too bad most of the writers today aren't able to follow your philosophy... major reason we're so ignorant about who we are and how we got here.Cheers,Wally
Teaching standards that are written by people that make a living writing standards rather than presenting the events that happened and what came next….
My $0.02…[rant]Eurocentric gripe is based on the idea history is (was) all about old dead white guys; given that the literates at that time had a certain point of view (and were old white guys) that is what got recorded... multicultural apologists and panderers about 20-25 years ago go on the kick that history had to show all sides from a less biased point of view. While they are correct (to a point) generally the bias is now overboard the other direction; discounting everything that isn't eastern, of color, or non-traditional.Couple of years back we had a flap getting a history text adopted when a group went to court because the book stated that Hindus in ancient India thought the caste system was a good idea and that women had very few rights. Imagine that... protesting the truth in a textbook. 8)Far as the Lies... issue; checked my library and found it must be one of the books I meant to buy. The truth is that much of what we learn (if we aren't careful to check it out) is, if not a lie, often a mis-remembered truth... the story about John Hancock's signature for instance... was it really so Geo III could see it w/o specs? Much disagreement on this. Textbooks in public (and private) schools don't really get much peer review by anyone but teachers... the authors are pretty free to dispense any pap they see fit and it's up to the ones of us that care to debunk them. Often this leads to questions about what we know and why we disagree with the books.[/rant]
I think the melting pot is the way to go. Just like a crucible filled with many type of metal can create an alloy that is stronger than any of the individual metals in the pot. This country was the same up through the 19th century. We are a stronger nation with a collection of different cultures melted into the American Culture. But when you get cultures that want to be separate, just like in a piece of alloy, it creates a weakness in the material.
On the other hand, veggies and dressing in a blender makes glop....Â
Jumping to the idea of multiple language for a second. The NEED for English to be the official language is the fact that we have so many cultures here. If a person of Japanese origin wants to go to Miami for spring break, English is the comon language that both the hispanics in S.Florida and Japanese Americans can communicate with. Same goes for all the nationalitites. English is the language that unites us. Do not destroy the things that unite us.
Onecommon language as part of the dressing (along with the Const. and Bill of Rights) makes the the salad work. 😉
Back to multiculturalism. Everyone has something to add to this country. That is where multiculturalism helps. Being focused on one way and closed to new ideas is not how this country got to where it is. Other cultures broaden out arts and increase our academic pools. And there is a way to recognize all the cultures, wearing green on St Patrick's Day, Hawaiian shirt friday, Sinco de Mayo. I'm sure every sports bar out there would love another reason to have a party, what's yours?
If we really believed in NAFTA, we'd have taken the Victoria Day Weekend off; eh? ;D
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