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Teachers Union Opposes Virtual K-8 Charter School
theodp writes "'You can't sit a child in front of a computer and expect him to learn things he needs to succeed in society,' said unimpressed Chicago Teachers Union president Marilyn Stewart of the Chicago Virtual Charter School, which will open to Chicago elementary school students this fall if approved by the state board of education."
In Canada, the Teacher's Union uses its powers to hold this country hostage once in a while. Public school teachers are basically government employees, they get summers for vacations, they get benefits, above average salaries, and they often (just about every year) exercise their union powers on the people of this country. When they strike during the school-year, they are putting millions of families into really difficult situations - the kids have to stay home, someone has to be there or someone has to be hired or a parent has to stay home, if it is a single-parent family, then it is even more difficult (I have no kids, but I see this all the time.) The kids' education suffers, they have nothing to do during the strike, many of them can go to the streets and do whatever, join gangs maybe?
In Ontario, the provincial liberal government is gutless, they always cave in to ANY union, and so they just give away our money for no reason, and the unions know this and they take advantage of this even more than in the rest of the country. Teachers get more 'professional development' days (during business days) in Ontario than anywhere else it seems like and they don't really spend those days for any development, and this happens while in private organizations PD days are taken during weekends. Those who bother to show up for those days don't really learn anything new, or if there is anything, it is all about the administrative part. In reality, teachers have entire summers that could be dedicated to 'improvement' in their profession, but what they do, is get summer jobs and make even more money instead. (they earn all of their money in the winter, but those ARE the money for the entire year, but they get to work 2 jobs and make double during the summer, isn't that great for them?)
So whenever I hear that a teacher's union opens their collective mouths to say something, all I can think of is that the parents, the kids, and the rest of the society is about to get a shaft.
(Ontario, you have to wake up and fire this union, fire those teachers who are lazy and useless and get yourself into a better alternative deal.)
You can't handle the truth.
The UK has a distance learning University called the Open University, nowadays it's courses are based almost entirely online. It also extends into Europe somewhat and even other parts of the world (www.open.ac.uk btw). You're generally assigned a tutor who you submit assignments to online (or by post for some courses that haven't updated yet) and the only time you really have to leave your house is to attend exams or to go to tutorial sessions if you feel you want/need to (these happen like once every 3 weeks or so for an hour or two) but essentially you could do an entire degree remotely bar the exams. Now, I can understand your concerns and the OU maybe an exception to the rule but it is proof that distance learning can and does work. Just to demonstrate how well the OU has done, the OU is the biggest University in Europe and also, the OU is responsible for 25% of Masters degrees in the UK. I think the real issue is seperating scam-like online institutions from the distance learning based institutions like the OU that are extremely credible. Distance learning works for those who have passed the University age and are working full time yet can't afford to give up their job, I'm one of those - I work full time and can't afford to just quit my job and go to Uni for 3years for another degree so I'm doing it with the OU, studying for 30hrs a week I'll be done with my physics degree within 3 years. Also the quality of OU material is absolutely fantastic, it's better than the stuff I've come across at most conventional Unis! I'm biased because the OU has treated me well and I've found it fantastic, and most importantly, it's given me chance to gain a 2nd degree that I'd never have had chance to gain otherwise. I've actually enjoyed it so much I could be tempted to do it again and get a 3rd degree ;)
I do realise my experience isn't relevant to the discussion about the social impact, because I did go to a real school, I work a real job and so social skills are gained that way, however when someone makes a blanket statement that they wouldn't hire someone from an online university I feel the point has to be made that online Universities can and do work and that to ignore them in recruitment is ignoring 25% of the UK's Masters degree graduates ;)
I was home schooled for 5 years in a foreign country, where I didn't interact with the locals my age. Very much 3rd world, to the extent where kids my age and even older people never before saw white people. When I got back to my own country @ the age of 15 I was not socially adapted to handle a school environment. Socially I was a mess till around the time I turned 21. Children should socialise with their peers otherwise they will have much larger problems when the peer group has moved into adulthood and they havent.
This is my sig.
Its important to learn social interactions, which you DO get in current school systems.
The problem is that you also learn negative solical interactions; i.e. getting picked on, bullied, etc. So it is a crap shoot as far as helping kids be social. I learned to be not very social and it was years before I became more outgoing after my experiences in school.
wish I had mod points. of course around here this gets modded flamebait, but you are 110% correct. I am a high school history teacher and am thoroughly disgusted with the treatment history gets in our textbooks. It is sanitized, whitewashed, and outright rewritten. Dianne Ravitch (hardly a right-wing ideologue) wrote a great piece a while ago titled: PC textbooks full of skewed history which details the way California (where I teach) purposefully uses history for every reason other than to teach about the past.
Public schools have failed precisely because they are not doing precisely what it is they are required to do. There are many solutions, not the least of which is to eliminate teacher unions (of which I am a member) completely. I can think of no greater conflict of interest than unions lobbying the state on educational issues. There is no concern for educational quality only what is in the teachers' best interests. In fact, I believe that public employees shouldn't be allowed to strike. This is hardly an anti-labor/anti-union position, as public employees (police, fire, teachers) a) chose their profession b) have job security and c) serve vital roles which the market cannot remedy. Unlike say an auto manufacturer who has competitors, is accountable to shareholders, and has to actually market and sell a product, you have no real choice when you dial 911 or send your child to school.
The unions have been infiltrated with very left-wing ideologues and it has permeated every sector of education. Now, before people get upset, just think about those places where "intelligent design" has been adopted into the cuuriculum. Many want that no more than others want Heather has two mommies but it is exactly the same prinicple. I've always believed that privatization of schools is the ultimate answer. In fact, government should stay out of the schools, marriage, business, the internet, etc.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
I couldn't agree more. My parents, both members of the NEA and NJEA (New Jersey) are basically extorted into paying fees to an agency that hardly ever help in any way, and seem to spend more time lobbying on issues that have nothing to do with education (or the views of my parents.)
Please - this is NOT a push to start a flame war, so realize this post is NOT about abortion. However, at least with the NJEA and definatley with the NEA, for some reason, they lobby HEAVILY on pro-choice decisions in local and national arenas. While it not only confuses me (less aborted babies = more kids in school = more teaching jobs) it's totally outside the realm of anything to do with the education of children or what's in the interest of the teachers who are part of the union in the capacity of doing their jobs.
Teachers unions are so misguided and misdirected that they're almost completely useless. I know that they are certainly there for certain things like arbitration, but I feel that they evey shy away from conflict whenever possible, even discouraging teachers from filing grievances.
I'm rambilng. Point is, I agree with ya.
Excuse my speling.
Making The Bar Project
I am one. What's your point?
People need to realize that locking kids up in a basement and throwing away the key is not prerequisite for home education.
I was home schooled K-12, using a curriculum so religious and conservative it would likely make the majority of Slashdot readers barf, and yet, I like to think that I turned out relatively OK. I'm a college graduate, I have a good job as a programmer, and I'm happily married. I even have friends!
The only negative effect that homeschooling had on me socially is this damn inferiority complex I have from people like Mr. Underbirdge never missing an opportunity to tell me and my parents how screwed up I was going to end up for being home schooled.
Seriously, I grew up thinking I was stupid because my friends would constantly whine and gripe about how much homework they had to do and how long they had to be in school each day. They'd tell me that I had it so easy, not having to wake up until 10 and only doing school work for 2-3 hours a day. It wasn't until I took the ACT and scored about 8 or 9 points higher than most of them that I finally started to realize that I probably wasn't so stupid.
That said, I'm sure there are some pretty screwed up home schooled kids out there, just like I'm sure there are some pretty screwed up public schooled kids out there. There is no one solution that fits everyone. I really don't mind if people don't like homeschooling. But what irritates the hell out of me is the assumption that homeschooling = guaranteed social retardation.
That's not what is going on in the article, though. The online school is basically there to help parents who are home schooling their children.
Frankly, there are a lot of things that children "learn" in school that I think are counter productive. We just moved to New York (Long Island) this year (from the west coast), and the school here is terrible. All the kids are "dating" in 5th grade (which I think is the parent's fault). The school has dances for 5th grade. They are two years behind where her old school was in pretty much every academic subject. The kids are allowed and even encouraged to use profanity in school.
So, next year she will be attending a private school. One semester at the crappy New York school is too much.
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