Don't Be A Teacher

Off Topic
61

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
legend wrote:
went from 10 years in the design/engineering industry to teaching the same at University,

sure i miss all the cut and thrust of the real world, but Lecturing is a great life, just a shame that pay is not performance/success related.

Some old fossils who have been static in their teaching and research for 20 years still earn as much as me.

How do you measure success? Grades? Student Evaluations? Are you an easy A?

My wife teaches college and feels she is a better teacher than many of the older profs.

It is not in the colleges best interests to seriously determine these things.[/quote]

Dude i’m seriously tough if the work merits it i have no problems rewarding the effort. However if you are a waster then consider your ass mine

62

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Chris Aus wrote:
Im not saying thats its a walk in the park, but seriously those conditions arent bad… with a reasonable starting wage which on average is comparable with law, economics, accounting, nursing degrees etc
…

Quiz time Chris (and anyone else) :slight_smile:

Suppose that teacher pay goes up 2% per year but inflation is 3%. How long until you’re purchasing power is half of what you started with?

Remember, there are no promotions in teaching, just more duties. An accountant, fireman, and so on can get promoted. Teachers can’t, unless they go into admin (which is no longer teaching).

If it helps, you can use $30,000 to start (slightly above the national average), and an exponential growth model.

Answer later! Have fun! :wink:

HH

[/quote]

well we live in different areas… so im very suprised that first year out teachers are paid the same as teachers who have been out for 20 years…

in australia you get paid more the longer youve been out…

also if you are young enthusiastic and willing to move to a rural area job prospects are not that bad…

move to a small rural school with a high turnover… stay for a couple of years and you will find yourself HEad of Department… Stay a couple more and you can be vice/deputy principal… couple more and possibly principal…

then you have that on your resume… get some good references and work your way back to larger cities…

do really well and eventually get to principal of big illustrious private school on a very good wage…

63

[quote]mike08042 wrote:
spartanpower wrote:
tmanners wrote:
Chris Aus wrote:

HH

reasonable money with very good hours, lots of free time, and TONS of holidays…

sounds okay to me

Obviousy you don’t know any teachers. All teachers have huge workloads they take home after working 8-3 in australia. Ask them when they mark work, keep updated on the sylabus and set lessons. I’m traing to be a teacher and I am not thinking I’m getting off easy because they get 12 weeks of holidays a year.

Boo fucking hoo. You consider 8-3 with a lunch a huge workload? It’s a good thing you’re going to be a teacher, because the real world would swallow you whole.

High school teachers in the States work roughly 7-3 each day. The first 40 min and the last 30 min of each day are free. The teachers teach 6 out of 8 periods with a 30 minute lunch break. So, out of 8 hours, they’re only teaching for roughly 4.5. That’s an extra 3.5 to plan, grade, and masturbate to their little hearts’ content. If you’ve been teaching for more than 2 or 3 years and you STILL have to take work home, then you’re probably not doing much work at school.

I’m sick of these fucking primadonnas that think they’re god’s gift because they’re “educators.” If a true professional wants a pay increase, he can either ask his boss for one or he can quit and get another job that pays better. Teachers just go on strike. That’s unprofessional. If a professional wants better benefits he can pay for them himself, ask his employer to change plans, or find a new employer. Teachers just go on strike. Unprofessional again. If a company wants to get rid of a senior employee because they make too much money or they are losing their edge, they can fire them. If a tenured teacher starts using the same lesson plans and tests over and over and begins to suck as a teacher, he can only be fired if the school’s administrators find a dead baby in his freezer. How is that equivalent to any other professional field?

So, basically, all of you teachers need to shut the fuck up and stop your fucking whining. Nobody cares how hard or thankless you find your job. Speaking of hard and thankless, have any of you fucks (US only) ever found yourselves crying about marking a paper with a red pen, and then you realized that there are men in the desert 15,000 miles away risking their lives to protect our country?

For the record, I know a few teachers, and the only ones that complain about their workloads are the ones that had never held a real job prior to becoming a teacher.

I never seen such an ignorant post. My dad held many real jobs, and who is comparing teaching to being in the army? You are honestly a dumbass.

“How is that equivalent to any other professional field?”

Every other field is the exact same, and the situation you explain is a problem that this profession faces, and well you probably had a bad experience with a teacher and thats why you hate them so much. Every career has problems associated with it.

“If you’ve been teaching for more than 2 or 3 years and you STILL have to take work home, then you’re probably not doing much work at school.”

umm ok, so your a know it all now? So between those hours you have time to plan for the next lesson? If you teach the same class you have to make sure every class is at the same level as the other. Maybe you have to take work home because you actually give out real tests with essay questions and not all multiple choice baby tests like the teachers you know. The teachers that have no work to bring home are the ones who dont correct your work or bother reading it. Why not just pass all the children? Who cares right? My dad was an excellent teacher because he put in alot of work, and if you put in the hours, the return is better. I remember the number of nights my dad was up till 2 or 3 am correcting hundreds of tests because he wanted the children to learn and come out of his class with something. Well come to think of it maybe he should of just given simple multiple choice tests and just said fuck it, who gives a shit about the children. To be a good teacher you have to put in the hours and if you dont you wont be very good at your job. Just because you dont get fired doesnt mean your doing a good job. I was lucky to have lots of hard working teachers, many of which came out of retirement at 60 to die within a year of stress related illnesses. Everything I say is based on high school teachers, i dont know how the elementary or higher levels of teaching is, but your views are plain ignorant. Between classes you have meetings, you have to see children to give them extra help before and after school, detentions, and extracurricular things that you must stay behind for. All I know is that if you think teaching is so damn fuckin simple, why dont you go into it? [/quote]

id just like to seperate myself from spartan powers post…

im just saying that being a teacher is no reason to think you are hard done by or to go jump off a building…

doesnt seem too bad… there are a ton of benefits to the job just as the draw backs…

often though when people are in a job they only see the drawbacks and when they think about other jobs they only see the benefits…

64

The worst part about being a teacher is the other teachers-not in particular, but just the contageous group mentality of working to the level of the contract and no more.

As for vacations, I need two weeks during Christmas to stay ahead in development of quality lessons. I work at least half days during the week and at least half of the summer I put in 40 hour work weeks on lesson development. If you are content doing the same old thing year after year, then its an easy job.

My work day during the school year is on average 6:45-3:45 (9 hours) and probably conservatively another 1 1/2 to 2 hours of lesson development each night, and 4-6 hours every weekend. Thats a 60 hour work week during the year, and probably an average of a 20 hour work week during vacation periods. Maybe I’m just slow.

65

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
Chris Aus wrote:
Im not saying thats its a walk in the park, but seriously those conditions arent bad… with a reasonable starting wage which on average is comparable with law, economics, accounting, nursing degrees etc
…

Quiz time Chris (and anyone else) :slight_smile:

Suppose that teacher pay goes up 2% per year but inflation is 3%. How long until you’re purchasing power is half of what you started with?

Remember, there are no promotions in teaching, just more duties. An accountant, fireman, and so on can get promoted. Teachers can’t, unless they go into admin (which is no longer teaching).

If it helps, you can use $30,000 to start (slightly above the national average), and an exponential growth model.

Answer later! Have fun! :wink:

HH

Noone tried it, or maybe didn’t notice it. Anyway…hint…

30000(.99)^x = 15000

Solve the equation for x.

HH

[/quote]

To be more exact, shouldn’t that be …

30000((102/103)^X) = 15000

66

[quote]NealRaymond2 wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
Chris Aus wrote:
Im not saying thats its a walk in the park, but seriously those conditions arent bad… with a reasonable starting wage which on average is comparable with law, economics, accounting, nursing degrees etc
…

Quiz time Chris (and anyone else) :slight_smile:

Suppose that teacher pay goes up 2% per year but inflation is 3%. How long until you’re purchasing power is half of what you started with?

Remember, there are no promotions in teaching, just more duties. An accountant, fireman, and so on can get promoted. Teachers can’t, unless they go into admin (which is no longer teaching).

If it helps, you can use $30,000 to start (slightly above the national average), and an exponential growth model.

Answer later! Have fun! :wink:

HH

Noone tried it, or maybe didn’t notice it. Anyway…hint…

30000(.99)^x = 15000

Solve the equation for x.

HH

To be more exact, shouldn’t that be …

30000((102/103)^X) = 15000

[/quote]

The difference is not that significant. What is 102/103?

You could also approximate with a version of the old ‘Rule of 72’.

Of course, the point is that teaching is a good way to go broke slowly. Philosophically, the teaching profession is being driven lower and lower in the Middle Class, hence the decrease in results.

HH

67

Just came accross this thread and I have to tell you that this really bothers me.

I had wanted to teach ever since I was 15 years old. I went to the NYC public schools, and during the buget cuts of the early 1970’s, my teachers told me the same thing – DON’T TEACH.

So, I became a banker – and had some success in that career for about 19 years.

However, I ALWAYS REGRETTED NOT GOING INTO TEACHING! After a long while, I decided to leave banking and we started a small private school.

I couldn’t be more thrilled with teaching and in working with the teenagers in our junior high classes and high school classes.

Headhunter, while I do respect your knowledge and long career in teaching, I am grieved that you are giving the same (bad) advice that I got when I was 15.

What we need are really great teachers who will dedicate themselves to the kids and not worry about changing the world. I have friends in the NYC Public Schools, and you are correct about the terrible conditions there. However, one can teach in private schools or religious schools where classroom discipline is enforced and the administration will back you up.

DON’T GIVE UP YOUR DREAMS!

68

Any one who says teaching is easy and there is nothing to it doesn’t know anything. My mother is a teacher at a Cathloic Grade school. You want to talk about teachers getting mistreated work at an old grade school they get shit on more than anything. My mother doesn’t get paid nearly enough would be better at McD’s and she has a masters and has taught in college.

They have gone through 3 princples since she started and have gone hill each year the current one is the worst ever she is literally insane like she took a few months of for therapy. My mom is forced to work the school festival, attend student events and was forced to change grades after 10 years this is a big prob for those who don’t know because after 10 years she has a routine and every thing ready now she has to re make all of her lessons and teahcing practices.

She also must keep her mouth shut because the priciple as is said is a wack job. She says how she loves teaching and in old pictures of her at work you saw her smiling and happy now when I talk to her abouther job she comments that her kids get worse each year. Parents no longer respect the adult they beleave whatever the kids say even if the story is ludacris.

Kids no longer listen and you hear stories every day about kids hitting teachers and no actions being taken because of it.

69

[quote]doogie wrote:
I forgot to put the disclaimer that my post was addressing teaching in the U.S. and should not be read as referring, in any way, to teaching in America Junior.[/quote]

You prick. :wink:

The change was really shocking. I still can’t believe what an underhanded load of BS our government pulled. They actually spent millions of dollars of taxpayer money taking out television and radio ads attacking the teaching profession. Politicians who literally screwed the future of a generation of children to make a career for themselves.

And people bought into it. It’s just insane. Ironically, it was the Conservatives who, back in the 70’s, instituted an educational system that worked just fine. Produced one of the most successful public education initiatives in the world, which in turn provided the foundation for this region having one of the highest standards of living.

Either way, the damage is done. It’s all the fashion for the public to trash teachers up here, and the next election may well see education turned into the scapegoat of the day once again.

70

What mertdawg says rings true. Every teacher I’ve known who’s worth a damn goes through a similar work process. The time off isn’t vacation time so much as prep time, or time to take new courses to increase their value as educators.

[quote]mertdawg wrote:
The worst part about being a teacher is the other teachers-not in particular, but just the contageous group mentality of working to the level of the contract and no more.

As for vacations, I need two weeks during Christmas to stay ahead in development of quality lessons. I work at least half days during the week and at least half of the summer I put in 40 hour work weeks on lesson development. If you are content doing the same old thing year after year, then its an easy job.

My work day during the school year is on average 6:45-3:45 (9 hours) and probably conservatively another 1 1/2 to 2 hours of lesson development each night, and 4-6 hours every weekend. Thats a 60 hour work week during the year, and probably an average of a 20 hour work week during vacation periods. Maybe I’m just slow.[/quote]

71

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
This is a very intelligent post. I see these politicians all the time institute this bullshit — “Wow, look what we’re doing to educate your children!” — and convince most that “That’ll solve it!” They keep offering these band-aid solutions that are pablum.

HH

[/quote]

There should be an committee established to record a full sum of all the pro-government folks where they admit to faliure/fallacy on the behalf of their professed leaders…

72

Those of you that think 60k is good money, obviously don’t live in California!

73

Yes, I teach the little ones. If it is not for you, you will know within the first two years. If it is an unbelievable grind, leave now.

Yes, standardized testing is destroying public education. However, you have complete autonomy in the classroom once that door shuts.

If you want to teach critical thinking, you will. If you want to make a difference in your students’ lives, you will.

If you don’t, you won’t. Leave now, for it will only become more bureaucratic in the near future.

Yes I am in the union. It is the lesser of two evils for me (Doogie will disagree with me on this one.)

I also go to the recitals, basketball games, soccer games, baseball games, cross country runs, and the ballet shows. I meet, and interact with the parents. Such actions build a sense of community.

You become a part of something you believe is fulfilling a greater need.

If you want a paycheck, there are a hell of a lot of other professions that will pay easy money.

Previously, I attended law school, and passed the bar. I never practiced, that did not suit me.

If you solely want what is best for you, DO NOT TEACH. If you believe the externalities are more than the paycheck, then, by all means…

Choosing education was the best decision I ever made.

To each his/her own.

74

[quote]sob440 wrote:
Any one who says teaching is easy and there is nothing to it doesn’t know anything. My mother is a teacher at a Cathloic Grade school. You want to talk about teachers getting mistreated work at an old grade school they get shit on more than anything. My mother doesn’t get paid nearly enough would be better at McD’s and she has a masters and has taught in college.

They have gone through 3 princples since she started and have gone hill each year the current one is the worst ever she is literally insane like she took a few months of for therapy. My mom is forced to work the school festival, attend student events and was forced to change grades after 10 years this is a big prob for those who don’t know because after 10 years she has a routine and every thing ready now she has to re make all of her lessons and teahcing practices.

She also must keep her mouth shut because the priciple as is said is a wack job. She says how she loves teaching and in old pictures of her at work you saw her smiling and happy now when I talk to her abouther job she comments that her kids get worse each year. Parents no longer respect the adult they beleave whatever the kids say even if the story is ludacris.

Kids no longer listen and you hear stories every day about kids hitting teachers and no actions being taken because of it. [/quote]

Amen. I’m not saying that because your mom teaches in a Catholic school, btw, but from agreement. It IS amazing how teachers are simply shat upon.

Many posters have said how a teacher has autonomy once the doors are closed. Nothing could be further from the truth. A student-spy is often put in a classroom and/or the principal grills students about what happens in the classroom. Are all professionals spied upon in this manner? Seriously, say one non-pc word and wait for the fireworks. Ex: a good friend was teaching a class. A boy started ripping the girls for coming in second at a Robotics competition. My friend said, “Well, could you do better, Mr. Hot Shit?” She’d meant to say ‘Shot’. You’d have thought she slapped his face — parental meeting, reprimand, public apology.

I’ve changed my mind: Go ahead and teach, guys. Teach in an inner-city school. Please feel free to enjoy all the wonderful aspects of this great profession. Come back and post your experiences. It’d make a great thread!

HH

75

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
sob440 wrote:
Any one who says teaching is easy and there is nothing to it doesn’t know anything. My mother is a teacher at a Cathloic Grade school. You want to talk about teachers getting mistreated work at an old grade school they get shit on more than anything. My mother doesn’t get paid nearly enough would be better at McD’s and she has a masters and has taught in college.

They have gone through 3 princples since she started and have gone hill each year the current one is the worst ever she is literally insane like she took a few months of for therapy. My mom is forced to work the school festival, attend student events and was forced to change grades after 10 years this is a big prob for those who don’t know because after 10 years she has a routine and every thing ready now she has to re make all of her lessons and teahcing practices.

She also must keep her mouth shut because the priciple as is said is a wack job. She says how she loves teaching and in old pictures of her at work you saw her smiling and happy now when I talk to her abouther job she comments that her kids get worse each year. Parents no longer respect the adult they beleave whatever the kids say even if the story is ludacris.

Kids no longer listen and you hear stories every day about kids hitting teachers and no actions being taken because of it.

Amen. I’m not saying that because your mom teaches in a Catholic school, btw, but from agreement. It IS amazing how teachers are simply shat upon.

Many posters have said how a teacher has autonomy once the doors are closed. Nothing could be further from the truth. A student-spy is often put in a classroom and/or the principal grills students about what happens in the classroom. Are all professionals spied upon in this manner? Seriously, say one non-pc word and wait for the fireworks. Ex: a good friend was teaching a class. A boy started ripping the girls for coming in second at a Robotics competition. My friend said, “Well, could you do better, Mr. Hot Shit?” She’d meant to say ‘Shot’. You’d have thought she slapped his face — parental meeting, reprimand, public apology.

I’ve changed my mind: Go ahead and teach, guys. Teach in an inner-city school. Please feel free to enjoy all the wonderful aspects of this great profession. Come back and post your experiences. It’d make a great thread!

HH

[/quote]

HH,

It’s not all about you…it’s about the kids…

S

76

[quote]steveo5801 wrote:

HH,

It’s not all about you…it’s about the kids…

S

[/quote]

You are a true gentleman whom I respect very much. Please read the thread (I know its a lot) and tell me where I am saying, “It’s all about me.” or similar. It is because of what has been done to our educational system that I am heartbroken.

What I love doing is being made progressively harder, to actually teach. The profession is being killed off by stupidity, lies, and too much bureaucracy.

Imagine if you joined the army in the young Roman republic. You then could magically fast forward and watch your country get turned into monstrosity that was the later Empire. Is that what anyone signs up for? No one fights to defend such vile crap; I’m advising young people to steer clear of the ‘Empire’. T’ain’t the Republic no mo’ !!

HH

77

It’s no news that the public education system sucks.

I was fortunate enough to go through the IB (Internationaol Baccalaureate, www.ibo.org) program from Middle to High School where students and teachers were somewhat motivated about education.

I’m sure there a lot of good school/programs out there.

HH, it doesn’t matter what you do, but you gotta do something about your situation.

78

First of all, HH, I can’t believe you are or were a teacher. Even though I consider formal education to be something of an intellectual plague, it’s very difficult for me to picture someone like you teaching…anybody, frankly.

More important, however, I’d like to comment on what you wrote about the system being destroyed by politicians and bureaucrats.

In keeping with this line of thinking, I’d like to pose a few simple questions to you:

Does the government bureaucracy which you claim has ruined your profession function any better in other fields? Fields such as health care, crime prevention, border security and oh-let’s-say…the military?

Can a government that can’t properly educate it’s citizens be trusted to provide for their defense?

Can a government that can’t properly educate it’s citizens be trusted with the most powerful offensive army in history?

Can a government that can’t properly educate it’s citizens be trusted to police the entire world?

So tell me, my dear neocon: Can it?

[And if so, please explain how ;-)]

[quote]Yo Momma wrote:
We need good teachers…The next generation depends on you to do your job.[/quote]

A quaint notion. But is it true? Is formal education really a necessity? How many people on the street of any major city possess the combined geographical, historical, scientific and mathematical knowledge that is expected of middle schoolers, to say nothing of the higher grade levels? Extremely few, no doubt. The structure of the education system is not at all conducive to genuine learning: what it IS conducive to is the rote memorization of bland, useless anecdotes and their subsequent regurgitation on exams. This characterizes the entire public education system. It is a joke that got old long ago but keeps on getting told.

[quote]Biggeezer wrote:
Best quote ever from “School of Rock” (I think)!

Those that can do.
Those that can’t, teach.
Those that can’t teach, teach physical fitness"

Great, eh?[/quote]

Yes, indeed. But the great Mencken said it first.

http://www.watchfuleye.com/mencken.html

And he had more to say on the subject of education:

[i]The average American college fails…to achieve its ostensible ends. One failure…of the colleges lies in their apparent incompetence to select and train a sufficient body of intelligent teachers. Their choice
is commonly limited to second-raters, for a man who really knows a subject is seldom content to spend his lifetime teaching it: he wants to function in a more active and satisfying way, as all other living
organisms want to function. There are, of course, occasional exceptions to this rule, but they are very rare, and none of them are to be found in the average college. The pedagogues there incarcerated are all inferior men–men who really know very little about the things they pretend to teach, and are too stupid or too indolent to acquire more. Being taught by them is roughly like being dosed in illness by third-
year medical students.

The truth is that the average schoolmaster, on all the lower levels, is and always must be…next door to an idiot, for how can one imagine an intelligent man engaging in so puerile an avocation?[/i]

…school teachers, taking them by and large, are probably the most ignorant and stupid class of men in the whole group of menial workers.

[quote]CrewPierce wrote:
Think about it, when we get old do you really want a bunch of people running the country that were taught by robots? I would rather have them taught by Plato, and him alone, than robots or any form of technology.[/quote]

And I would rather have a multitude of individuals who educated themselves through their own volition instead of having been drilled by a robot, human OR mechanical.

[quote]spsavior wrote:
The best thing in the world is to know that you can make a difference in a child’s life. [/quote]

That’s an ambiguous statement – it could be applied as easily to a child molester as to a teacher. Obviously, you regard the impact conveyed on a child by the education system as a benevolent one. I would beg to differ.

79

None of you seem to be mentioning the distinction between private or independent schools.

I’m a product of public school, hated it, went to a very unique college that was profoundly different from every other school in this country, and won’t consider teaching in public schools.

Private schools don’t have to teach to tests. Private school teachers can develop challenging, intense courses that train students to think independently.

I don’t seem myself as imparting knowledge to my students, and I place ZERO emphasis on the rote memorization of facts. The specific material is far less important than the rhetorical, grammatical, and logical skills I help my students develop.

Before you all go off making blanket statements about ‘the education system’, maybe consider that you’re ignoring a whole class of schools that are categorically, demonstrably different.

80

[quote]Nominal Prospect wrote:
First of all, HH, I can’t believe you are or were a teacher. Even though I consider formal education to be something of an intellectual plague, it’s very difficult for me to picture someone like you teaching…anybody, frankly.

LOL! I CAN imagine you as Teddy Kennedy’s bitch!

More important, however, I’d like to comment on what you wrote about the system being destroyed by politicians and bureaucrats.

In keeping with this line of thinking, I’d like to pose a few simple questions to you:

Does the government bureaucracy which you claim has ruined your profession function any better in other fields? Fields such as health care, crime prevention, border security and oh-let’s-say…the military?

Can a government that can’t properly educate it’s citizens be trusted to provide for their defense?

Can a government that can’t properly educate it’s citizens be trusted with the most powerful offensive army in history? See below

Can a government that can’t properly educate it’s citizens be trusted to police the entire world? See below

So tell me, my dear neocon: Can it?

[And if so, please explain how ;-)]

Yo Momma wrote:
We need good teachers…The next generation depends on you to do your job.

A quaint notion. But is it true? Is formal education really a necessity? How many people on the street of any major city possess the combined geographical, historical, scientific and mathematical knowledge that is expected of middle schoolers, to say nothing of the higher grade levels? Extremely few, no doubt. The structure of the education system is not at all conducive to genuine learning: what it IS conducive to is the rote memorization of bland, useless anecdotes and their subsequent regurgitation on exams. This characterizes the entire public education system. It is a joke that got old long ago but keeps on getting told.

Biggeezer wrote:
Best quote ever from “School of Rock” (I think)!

Those that can do.
Those that can’t, teach.
Those that can’t teach, teach physical fitness"

Great, eh?

Yes, indeed. But the great Mencken said it first.

http://www.watchfuleye.com/mencken.html

And he had more to say on the subject of education:

[i]The average American college fails…to achieve its ostensible ends. One failure…of the colleges lies in their apparent incompetence to select and train a sufficient body of intelligent teachers. Their choice
is commonly limited to second-raters, for a man who really knows a subject is seldom content to spend his lifetime teaching it: he wants to function in a more active and satisfying way, as all other living
organisms want to function. There are, of course, occasional exceptions to this rule, but they are very rare, and none of them are to be found in the average college. The pedagogues there incarcerated are all inferior men–men who really know very little about the things they pretend to teach, and are too stupid or too indolent to acquire more. Being taught by them is roughly like being dosed in illness by third-
year medical students.

The truth is that the average schoolmaster, on all the lower levels, is and always must be…next door to an idiot, for how can one imagine an intelligent man engaging in so puerile an avocation?[/i]

…school teachers, taking them by and large, are probably the most ignorant and stupid class of men in the whole group of menial workers.

And he learned how to write and think all by himself. What an egotist! This, Ordinal Prospect, is why you get laughed at.

CrewPierce wrote:
Think about it, when we get old do you really want a bunch of people running the country that were taught by robots? I would rather have them taught by Plato, and him alone, than robots or any form of technology.

And I would rather have a multitude of individuals who educated themselves through their own volition instead of having been drilled by a robot, human OR mechanical.

spsavior wrote:
The best thing in the world is to know that you can make a difference in a child’s life.

That’s an ambiguous statement – it could be applied as easily to a child molester as to a teacher. Obviously, you regard the impact conveyed on a child by the education system as a benevolent one. I would beg to differ.[/quote]

Ummm…you don’t understand how POWER works. Power is not exercised for the good of those who are controlled by its use. Stopping a tribal chieftain from blowing up a dam or oil well is not for his benefit.

Since education is supposed to benefit the recipients, this conflicts with the above principle of power. Your arguments therefore make no sense.

Come back when you are rational, if ever.

HH