From the NY Times:New Yorkers are broadly dissatisfied with the quality of their public schools, and most say the city’s school system has stagnated or declined since Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took control of it nine years ago, according to a New York Times poll.
Mr. Bloomberg has made improving the schools a focus of his mayoralty, seizing authority over the bureaucracy, doubling the budget and opening hundreds of additional, small schools. Still, even as his overall approval rating, 45 percent, is at a six-year low, considerably fewer residents — 34 percent — approve of how the mayor is handling education.
In follow-up interviews, poll respondents expressed various reasons for their dissatisfaction, including frustration over the system of school choice, services for disabled children and the emphasis on standardized tests.
11 comments:
Geez- who knew?
Mostly what they're dis-satisfied with is the day care aspect of the public school system.
Face it. Walcott is a nebbish.
As a retired NYC PS's math teacher I can tell you why the discontent feelings are there. There's an expectation that it's a teacher's job to raise their children. That view is dead wrong. It was my job to teach math & that's what I did. Granted there we're fellow teachers who were not up to snuff but that type of ineptitude is found in all professions. The right formula for your children (I have 4 & 6 grandchildren) is to read to them, read with them & start number "games" early on. (Pre K) Teach your child to sit at his/her desk, keep their mouths shut & follow directions. Don't introduce them to porn, alcohol, drugs, etc. Enroll them in a Church group or the scouts if you're not religious. If you think my recipe is wrong then chances are my advice won't help you or your kids. Stop the killing in Syria, Libya & Egypt. End genital mutilation in the Islamic world! Long live Israel! Long live Crappy! Long live my amazing NYC pension!
Why is it that the founding fathers of our country (Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, etc.), along with many other great thinkers such as John Milton, were able to learn Latin, Greek, and Hebrew?
This was in the days before the U.S. Department of Education, the NYC Board of Education, the Teachers Unions, before computers, and all the other teaching fads (whole math, charter schools, Afrocentric and Chicano Curriculum, etc.)!
"When schoolchildren start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of schoolchildren." - Albert Shanker, President of the United Federation of Teachers from 1964 to 1984 as well as President of the American Federation of Teachers from 1974 to 1997
BHB-I, too am a recent retiree,and agree with you on the babysitter aspect of the job.Due to the system having been and continuing to be only too glad to pick up the slack so to speak,as its kept many folks in jobs, parents have increasingly abdicated their roles as just that- parents, who by the way, should be the first and best teachers their children ever have.We have been trying to make up for the lack of effective parenting and genuine experiences in the lives of our students for far too many years, and there isn't a book, a program, a curriculum or a rubric which addresses no can hope to address just that. The publishing companies' agenda of metastatic cartel-based standardized testing and all (profit-producing items) that entails is carrying the day-look no further than "Common Core"- chuck the old books and print up the new ones plus the online content!And for willing shills like
Bloombucks-hey, the best scores money can buy-unless of course you get caught, in which case you can pay off some guy in State Ed to take the fall and lose the chancellor for some plausible deniability!
Thanks to you anon & I hope you are enjoying your retirement as much as I am enjoying mine. I don't know if you've noticed the anger regarding our benefits & pensions. The best thing you can do is rub their faces in it & carry on. If these whiners can do a better job then let them.Most of them wouldn't last 15 minutes in a classroom with "inner city" kids. Long live my amazing NYC pension. Long live your mothers unfurnished basements, ye suckers! Death to the Palestinians!
SOCIAL ENGINEERING instead of reading ,writing and arithmetic and the socialist /marxists have destroyed generations of American citizen's pursuit of success.
enroll your child in a private /parochial school for their salvation.
Why is it that the founding fathers of our country (Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, etc.), along with many other great thinkers such as John Milton, were able to learn Latin, Greek, and Hebrew?
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Do you even think before you troll? You state yourself "Great Thinkers" yet you want to compare them to 1.1 million school children in the NYC schools system? Look into the percentage of students that learn Latin, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Physics, recieve scholarships to Harvard, Yale, MIT, and the likes. The Cream always rises to the top. The men you described were not your "Average Joe" they were the Cream that would have risen no matter what their circumstances.
BHB, I'm a recently retired teacher as well...we deserve every penny of our pensions. Teaching is not for uncreative wusses. It never mattered who was in charge of the school system, we were teaching, often under very adverse conditions without smartboards and whiteboards no matter what! I hope we all collect our pensions for many years in only the best of health!! The UFT is a labor union, not a social service agency!! Am Yisrael Chai!!
The only thing that's improved under Bloom-Hitler's tenure has been his personal wealth.
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