If you were on the board of education...

[Afal]

I would take all of the bureaucracy out of education and allow the teachers to get on and teach!

(Written from the perspective of a British teacher!).

[Guest]

Several friends I have known in the past were teachers. One in Texas and the other in Louisiana.

Item 1: Get rid of every trace of "Administration" from the school districts and hire some people who can manage properly, not build their stupid political empires at the expense of teachers and the students.

Item 2: Give the teachers a massive pay raise!

Item 3: Discipline so that order can be maintained in school. (Yes, this means the "board of education applied to the seat of learning when needed!)

Only the first 3, but its a long list.

[Shad]

1. I would pass a curriculum that would put fun back into learning instead of this "Teacher stands up in front of the class tells them to read chapter 1 and 2 then sits at their desk reading the latest romance novel and gives them a quiz afterwards" crap that we so often see now days. I firmly believe the # 1 reason kids drop out of school is because they are bored not rebellious as most people think.

2. Get rid of this stupid rule that you can't paddle students for misbehaving because if the parents aren't going to have the grapefruits to discipline their kids then somebody should. I'm not talking about taking the kid to the janitors closet and beating them till they are black and blue or anything but at least for the younger kids a good swat on the behind "Pants Up" of course because we don't want any sexual lawsuits might do them some good. For the older kids in Junior and Senior High instead of detention after school where all they do is play around and make it more of a social function instead of a punishment maybe you make them help the janitor clean the toilets or something along those lines. You know something embarrassing because the one thing the older kids don't want is to be embarrassed in front of their peers.

3. I would require all schools to hold a monthly school meeting where they give out awards and commendations instead of this one big "Awards Ceremony" at the end of the year thing that most schools do. I believe the more you praise kids for their efforts the more it makes them want to do better.

4. Lastly on the Junior and Senior High Levels I would require every student to participate in some type of extra curricular activity be it sports or some type of club. Not only does it build confidence and teach them to work as a team but it gives them something to do in the hours after school before their parents get home instead of wandering the streets getting in trouble.

Edited November 13, 2007 by Shad

[Emily~Anne]

Personally, as a parent, I would be highly upset by anyone other than me or my husband spanking our children.

[LossForWords]

I agree with Shad on one of his opinions...bring the paddle back in our school. Usually parents who discipline their kids at home, don't have a problem with their children acting up in school. But for the kids who receive no discipline and come to school and feel it is their right to do whatever they feel like, however they feel like it, and whenever they feel like it has got to stop. I think if we brought corporal punishment back, it would put an end to a large portion of the trouble makers that we find roaming the sacred school grounds.

Ya know...learning can be fun. Educators today are taught how to use manupulatives effectively and are shown how to use performance based assessments, and learning centers, and hands-on experiments to reach all levels of students. However, it's the district and board of education that decides when this is appropriate to be used. It doesn't help when the board of education and district employees are not brought up to date with the latest teaching trends, and instead of applauding a teacher for having the initiative to bring the fun back into learning, they are instead evaluated and written up because they were caught allowing their students to "play" all day instead of sitting down and learning. While some of the older teachers are telling their students to read the chapters and then sitting down at their desk to hash out what the rest of their day beyond the school building will look like. And it's these teachers that get the credit for keeping their kids on track. Most teachers know what they should and should not be doing, but it discredits teachers when someone who doesn't know what should be happening comes in and evaluates your performance based on standards they have not shared with the teacher beforehand.

#1 Coporal punishment brought back into our hallways. Awesome!!

#2 Allowing good teachers to remain good teachers, and no more half-bootied evaluations that don't really specify what the evaluator is looking for but instead rips the teacher apart when the evaluator sees something they are not familiar with.

It's no wonder our school systems are in the state they are in. Teachers have people breathing down their necks from all different directions. They are afraid to discipline, they are afraid to add anything fun, they are afraid to step outside of the curriculum standards, they are afraid to be caught teaching to the test, but at the same time they are afraid to not teach the test because then their students will not succeed and the blame will lie with them. And because of all the mumbo jumbo the students (our main concern) have to suffer the consequences.

[Treasure]

So glad my kids aren't a part of C-meck school system. I am in NC but our schools are very conservative here. They teach abstinence education and the curriculum is great!

I'm undecided about putting prayer back in school. This country is such a melting pot of so many different religions and I don't want someone who is Muslim, Wiccan, etc......to be leading my children in prayer. On the other hand, children should NOT be persecuted (or have to face the supreme court) for having the desire to pray in school. That's a major can of worms though.

I voted for W. twice but I do very much agree that the No Child Left Behind is really a joke. Even in my community, kids are only taught to test and not the importance of true knowledge. They've already started preparing for the EOG and that's just ridulous.

There is more I could say but it's really off topic and I don't have the time at the moment to go into it. How nice of me to give ya'll a break

Oh, I also think Mathy should be given a substancial raise just because I love her so much

[mathqueen]

Oh, I also think Mathy should be given a substancial raise just because I love her so much

Awwwwwwww you just made my DAY!!!

Btw, yes I am at school but am on my prep and ahead on all my work. For once, I get to relax for a few minutes instead of running around like a mad woman!!

mathy aka ted hates me and changed my name

[forrestkc]

It would all depend on the district, some districts perform very well, others not as well.

In general though:

1. Cut back on administration if the school was bloated with bureaucracy.

2. Flat out ignore demands by marginal interest groups such as minority groups looking to do "sensitivity audits" and fundamentalist groups looking to redefine science and or insert theology into the public curriculum (many schools are stretching funds as is without being drug into yet another "Scopes Monkey Trial" they are destined to lose).

3. Have an all day kindergarten program (you would be surprised how many districts just have a half day kindergarten program).

4. Ignore radical groups looking to censor books in high school libraries (total waste of time and energy and a very poor message as well). For example, we would not have school board meetings just because some parents wanted to keep The Golden Compass out of the Scholastic Book Sales.

5. In general focus on education and not be drug into the culture war of the day.

[sheya joie]

And I try doing it with 37 kids, and that's only one of the 5 classes I teach everyday. The government wants 100% of kids at proficient or advanced, or rather, as I have seen it worded, 100% of kids ABOVE THE MEDIAN. You cannot have 100% of kids above a median, so that part in the law was badly worded. We will all be program improvement schools soon because the government is saying we must have accomplished this by 2014.

Trust a math teacher to catch that fallacy.

Some changes I would make for my teens' high school:

1) Showing movies does not constitute teaching. My teens have seen several movies during class. Class time is supposed to be for instruction, not entertainment! (One movie my son has mentioned seeing more than once during school hours is 'The Patriot' by Mel Gibson. And I wonder - is that supposed to be instruction in how the American Revolution really was???)

2) The days and weeks after the state standardized test has been taken should not be wasted time. My teens have told me that their teachers stop making lessons plans once the TAKS testing is over, and let the students hang out and play for the rest of the school year. That makes me so angry! I struggle to get these kids up out of bed and out the door to go to school - I'm doing my part of the bargain - and the kids come home bragging about the movies they watched and the games they played - all the time they could have and should have been learning, but the school didn't bother to provide instruction. *sound of gnashing teeth* The school system should either move the testing to the end of the year, or insist on instruction taking place regardless of the state testing being over. The private school my younger children go to has the standardized tests during the final week or two of the school year - and instruction even on the final day of school.

(Mathy and other teachers here, I certainly hope your schools aren't like the high school my teens go to. Are you surprised to learn that their school was on the 'Drop-Out Factories' list?)

Ok, rant over.

[LossForWords]

Not only would I make a full day kindergarten program mandatory...I would make Head Start programs, early intervention programs, and child development classes mandatory.

I would also hire extra teachers for each grade level. What wonders could be discovered if your lowest students were taken out of your classroom and placed in a transitional room until they were working on the appropriate level. I don't think it always helps to fail a child...instead the lower children should be placed into a transitional classroom until they are able to perform at the acceptable grade level.

And I would put an end to students being placed in special education classes, or given IEP's because they are lazy or because parents don't want to deal with misbehavior. My brother has ADD...so I'm not bashing the problem...but good grief...every child in the classroom who won't sit down in their seat does not have an attention problem that they can't handle. They have a respect problem which they are not made to handle in an appropriate way.