Interesting. I hadn’t really thought about that. My child is in all honors. Scored very high on ISEE and SSAT. So maybe there is something to it…
@Center, some say that teachers are so highly pressured for average test scores that half of them are considering leaving.
http://neatoday.org/2014/11/02/nea-survey-nearly-half-of-teachers-consider-leaving-profession-due-to-standardized-testing-2/
The sad fact is that there would be fewer bad teachers if there was no teachers union. The teachers union protects bad teachers just like the police union protects bad cops. I prefer heavy testing. Why? Because teachers ability to apply grades subjectively should be minimized. If a student expresses an opinion or point of view that the teacher doesn’t like papers are a great place to apply punitive grading. If a teacher is a vocal feminist that dislikes male students that teacher may give better grades to female students. Standardized tests are good for many reasons: they test pure knowledge and there is no bias or interpretation when being graded.
All measures of success in life are subjective and depend on human interactions. Why should grades in school be any different?
Wow what a dangerous attitude. Because these are minors/powerless children. An adult frustrated with a work review or a business owner disappointed because someone doesn’t like his services is an entirely different situation than children in a learning environment where an adult has all the power. An adult with perhaps marginal talent or of a strong social or political persuasion that creates bias in a classroom for or against certain students is best to be held in check by strong knowledge based assessments.
Lots of standardized and/or multiple-choices in-class testing can be very time/effort consuming for students with very little educational gain. That’s a major reason that I am avoiding public K-12 schools.
Right, I’m dangerous.
Thanks!
The teachers union does not “protect” bad teachers. However, they do support due process for all members. Teachers and their unions do not do the hiring, observation, evaluation, or dismissal. The administration does (or doesn’t), and therein lies the problem if “bad” teachers are allowed to stay.
Actually the teachers union does protect bad teachers. There are also thousands of incompetent teachers…but that is another issue. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/16/rubber-rooms-in-new-york-city-22-million_n_1969749.html
Describing teachers, you said: An adult with perhaps marginal talent or of a strong social or political persuasion that creates bias in a classroom for or against certain students…
Geez, as a public school teacher, I’d gladly fill out the forms for your child. I’d might be sorry to see the kid go, but with your attitude toward teachers… probably not so sad to wish you goodbye.
Sounds like a suburban NYC school. None of them care if your kid goes. They may lose state funding, but they barely have room for all the kids anyway, so they don’t fuss about this. Kids go to private and religious schools all the time. Plus, for every smart kid that goes, dozens remain.
My kid has had annoying teachers too, but in my experience, the worst thing about public school is not the teachers, but other parents, who can be very judgemental, selfish and intolerant. Teachers generally will work with and accommodate my kid. Other parents are so fixated on their own little angels, I wish some of them would transfer out!
Perhaps it is just this one nitpicky teacher? Tho why would you want a rec from him/her anyway? Be careful your own interactions don’t poison the well for your kid there.
^^ Boarding schools specifically ask for recommendations from applicant’s current grade’s math and English teachers.
For me it is the system that makes the teachers, parents and students think and act certain way. A system of control rather than education as its main purpose. It’s inefficient at best and destructive at worse times. It’s an opinion as a parent of homeschooling my daughter for 8 years.
My daughter in 8th grade is applying this year to a local day school. As of today, the online application system hasn’t shown that anything has come from her school, although the guidance counselor told me today that she uploaded my daughter’s grades and test scores. I have to assume that the day school is behind at updating the system. The GC also told me that the school understands that some things will come in after the deadline, because the semester ends after the application deadline. Just wanted to share!
@Center, did you get the recommendation for your child in time? So sorry, I am reading this thread late.
In answer to your original post, when my child applied, she had asked her math teacher for a rec (she was in 10th grade at the time). The teacher apparently forgot and was on vacation the week the recs were due. We knew the former chairman of the math department, and he kindly called her in Hawaii and she submitted it while she was on holiday–the very last day. Phew.
I did find that some of her teachers and coaches were incredulous (not resentful). We live in a very good school district; a district to which very well educated parents deliberately move for the public school system. The teachers just don’t have a context for expecting a request for recommendation from a younger high schooler for boarding school. I can not think of one other child in the district that is my child’s age that goes to BS. Local privates, sure. BS–what’s that?
Anyway, best of luck to you and your child! [-O<
We had the situation of teachers/etc inexperienced with gateway’s requirements. We ended up helping out by gathering hard copies from most and mailing in one package via Fed Ex. That extra effort on our part gave peace of mind but also appreciated the added effort requested of teachers.
Regarding the dangerous minds of teachers bias? Ironically for you, the environment at most private schools celebrate their teachers ability to influence the dialogue with their students. That pedagogy is exactly what you are buying into. Hope you decide to celebrate that too.
So here is a zinger… At a public school and asked by a colleague why we chose to send DD to Choate over LPS.
This same colleague often complains to me how so many students are disengaged and do not take their education seriously. Had to explain that it was NOT our decision, it was hers; she pushed for it and she was trying to get away from all of those disengaged peers! All LPSs know the difference and spend countless hours complaining about the lessening quality of public education. To pretend it doesn’t exist is naïve and disingenuous.