Things you learned at school

[vic-k]

Eeeeewwwwwwweeeeeeekkkkkk!!!!!! That hurts just thinking about it...
... I found a lovely shiny conker, fresh out of its shell, work -- my spiders seem to climb in through the windows.

So! you were never told, 'not', to go behind the bike sheds with the boys!

[Jaysen]

Conker? On a string? We call that a weapon and go hunting with things like that. Typically hunting for sisters and "the kid from that other block" but hunting none the less. And we use walnuts, blocks of wood, pieces of metal, the kind of stuff that leaves an impression.

I think the biggest "don't touch" lesson ever taught around me was at a family reunion. Someone took a beer from the wrong cooler. Big mistake. If it is BYOB only TYOB.

Back to being marginally on topic, I will surprise everyone by disagreeing with druid on the value of what kids get from teachers in a couple of areas. I think 'dee hit it already, but if parents are actually being parents then teachers are either very effective or entirely unneeded. I would lean toward the latter from experience as both student and teacher. A parent that is "raising" a child will spend time reading, talking, explaining, theorizing, experimenting. The interaction will build social skills and a love of learning and thinking. With students like this a teacher doesn't really need to teach as much as present information.

On the other hand, if parents abandon their kids to the system then teachers need to teach. But how can they be effective with the diversity of personalities, home lives, problems, and God knows what else to deal with? I believe that most teachers are truly there to help, but are doomed from the day they start their job. The kids who could make the most from the teacher are over shadowed by those who suck the very life out of the class.

That overly simplistic and idealistic rant out of the way, the best teachers I had were Mrs Williams, 3rd grade, Mrs H (never know her last name) for sophomore biology, and Mr Stuart for comp/calculus. The one thing they all had in common was "leaving me alone" to explore the area they had to offer. Mrs Williams convinced the school to lift the restriction on what I could get out of the library which allowed me to explore Shakespeare (didn't get much out of it at first), London, and the beginnings of Darwin and various other religions (I was in a school associated with a specific Protestant denomination). Mrs H let me veer off the curriculum and steer my own way into environmental impacts in biology at a level that was uncommon in high school. She even helped me to a few impact studies by opening sources of information that would have been closed to me. Mr Stuart, that poor man. I did home work for other classes during his calc lectures, taught myself assembly when he was teaching pascal, hacking the novel network by writing and installing a key logger on his terminal. He defended me as "being to limited by the system and only trying to learn how things worked".

I will admit to being lucky, no, privileged, growing up as one of the kids raised by parents not the system. I was so disgusted by the ignorance around me that I did not see the real value to a college education until much later in life. Hence my current status as uneducated hick.

Which means that I completely agree with druid in this regard: The best teachers, editors, doctors, pilots, pick your field, are those that do their job in a way that makes "them" transparent, as if "they" were only there on the sidelines cheering you on.

[Skallegrim]

I'm sure KB is an inspirational teacher, but sadly he didn't teach me!

Here we go again!! Another one after a free 2.0 upgrade

Hmmm. The young Vic's raised this before, with others I see. It's obviously worrying him. Makes me wonder how low he'd be willing to stoop to snag such a boon for himself.

[vic-k]

Hmmm. The young Vic's raised this before, with others I see. It's obviously worrying him. Makes me wonder how low he'd be willing to stoop to snag such a boon for himself.

Mr Skallywag,
Not, 'wishing', to overstate the obvious, but being left with no alternative: 'I' am Scrivener`s Psychoanalyst. Please stick to your own field of expertise. Thank you!
Dr Mulality

[druid]

Jaysen, thanks for your comments on good teachers. Yes, the wise ones let you learn on your own. The task is hugely difficult, because children work at such a variety of levels. And their home environments are so disparate as well. (A child with ignorant, bigoted parents has far to go, alas.)

It's a wonder that teachers have any success at all. My original point is that they are often forgotten or undervalued by their pupils. (Sadly, you never learned Mrs. H's name.) In some areas, especially family traditions and moral values, parents can be fine teachers. But they've been out of school a long while, and much specific knowledge of our day (DNA, computers, the past perfect of awake) is well beyond them.

However, I have known a few home-schooled students, and they are great because they've read so much and are less susceptible to peer pressure, which is perhaps the worst effect of public or private schools.

[Jaysen]

Mrs H didn't want to be known by her last name. She asked us to call her Gloria, but I was never good with that. She caved in and let me call her Mrs H. She had significant reconstructive surgery as a young woman and later had scaring removed. So while she was probably in her 60's she looked, and acted, like she was right out of college. She was one of the folks that provided me the non-faith based side of science. Funny thing was, she was an elder in her church. I didn't know that until much later. She retired a few years later and the school is still maintaining her privacy. Rumors abound about the real story, but no matter who she was, she set a high bar for teachers.

I had been thinking about your previous post, then my reply, and then talked with snort and daughditor over lunch. Reading your last post makes me pretty certain that I can make the statement that follows with some certainty: Teachers can only succeed when the school community (students, parents, administration) understands that a teachers responsibility is the presentation of knowledge, not the moral education of the student body. Moral in this context is not the "faith" morality, but the basic ability to differentiate between social right and wrong (behavior).

Unshackle teachers by removing the unjust burden of raising kids for which the teachers are not responsible and stand back.

But then I could be wrong.

[pink]

I think a good teacher takes time to look at the child, understand them, and recognise how they interact before they step in and try and change them. Observation is a powerful tool. My 7 year old's teacher last year observed that she takes a long time to start working on things in class, and often didn't finish in time. She realised that she was mulling it over in her head first, as she was afraid to start writing in case she was wrong.

This teacher didn't bail straight in and tell her to start work and not sit there day dreaming, she observed that though processes and hesitation were occurring. Then she guided her to a bit more confidence, and a bit more urgency and a sense of time management.

I really valued her for how well she stood back and observed before taking any action.

[flow]

What's on one side of the equal sign has to equal what's on the other side of the equal sign.

I can hear her voice as she says it, still.

[Wock]

Never whiz on an electric fence.

Don't pee uphill.

Don't stand downhill of someone peeing.

Don't eat yellow snow.

Don't drive faster than you can afford.

Don't fry food naked.

[pink]

I guy I worked with learnt to never cook spagetti while drunk. Oh wait, that wasn't at school.


Ok, How on EARTH did you lean not to fry things naked AT SCHOOL? Home Ec must have been pretty weird.

[Wock]

I guy I worked with learnt to never cook spagetti while drunk. Oh wait, that wasn't at school.


Ok, How on EARTH did you lean not to fry things naked AT SCHOOL? Home Ec must have been pretty weird.

Home schooled?

LOL

Actually I was responding to the daft things adults have told us part.....

But I will say I learned a lot of things about being naked in school

[pink]

maybe best not shared in a family forum!

[Skallegrim]

maybe best not shared in a family forum!

he'd probably be safe here then...

[vic-k]

he'd probably be safe here then...

That wazzack`snot safe anywhere!
Fluff

[lunk]

Some of these bots have no sense for time... or maybe they are just a bit behind? A nine year old thread...