We need more teachers like this

[Leung]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110216/...suspended_blog

What do you guys think?

[fatboy1185]

It starts with the parents, plain and simple. Parents have no class anymore.

[deevergote]

Exactly.

Far too much is expected of teachers... no wonder every one of them that I tried to date ended up being thoroughly insane!
Kids today are too distracted. Technology is a blessing and a curse. Information is there, easily accessed, so why bother learning it? Why bother studying math when your phone can be used as a full featured scientific calendar with pre-programmed formulas? Why bother learning history, biology, etc... when your phone can access Google in an instant? Why bother using proper grammer and spelling when your word processing program (or hell... your phone once again!) will tell you what you need to correct?

The information is there, so kids don't focus to learn it.
Then there are the distractions.... When I was in high school, the internet was basic. AOL... AIM, AOL member profiles, and email were the extent of social networking. IRC and ICQ if you knew a little bit more. There was no Facebook or Myspace. There wasn't an internet forum such as this one for every little thing. Ebay was like a flea market, not the biggest online shopping mall.


Kids today are both overstimulated and understimulated. It's like pumping them up with steroids so they have big fake muscles that they didn't have to work for, and then asking them to concentrate on lifting light weights.

It DOES start at home. The parents need to teach their children self control, moderation, and focus. I don't have the exact statistic (mainly because nobody in charge wants it to be known...) but I firmly believe that the majority of kids diagnosed with ADD (and medicated for it) are not afflicted with the disorder at all.
The parents are just as lazy as the kids. Rather than push them to do something constructive, they allow them to sit in front of a computer screen all day. It's worse than the cartoons and video games that plagued the kids of my day!

If they want to put kids back on track, and use the schools to do so... then the schools need to start assigning much heavier workloads. If homework that would've taken me an hour to do in 1996 could be done today in 15 minutes, then perhaps kids today need 4x as much homework!

I realize I'm focusing ONLY on the added distraction of technology, especially the capabilities of the internet, and that's only a part of the issue... but I think it's a big part. My OWN level of focus has decreased considerably thanks to the internet! Kids are in a worse position... social networking is more important to them, their levels of focus are already low, and they're in the process of developing habits that will make or break them as adults.


This teacher kept her blogs vague. She did not identify herself or her students in her posts. Were her actions inappropriate? Perhaps. But without names or references to specific incidents that can positively identify a particular student, it's hardly a case of libel. The teacher has every right to complain about her job in general, just as a cashier has the right to bitch about the guy who paid in pennies and demanded change!

[GhostAccord]

Bring back some sort of discipline at home and in the schools. I see it here as a Det commander in the reserves. Punk ass kids coming in thinking they are all that. then ask them to do a simple task and all they do is bitch and complain. It is truly getting worse, I to blame the parents. Seems as though parents today pass off raising their kids to the day care workers and school teachers who don't/can't use any sort of discipline or could care less about raising somebody else children. It's got to start at home!

[deevergote]

If you don't respect your parents, who should be the ULTIMATE authority figures to any pre-adult... then you will never respect ANY authority figure.

I wish I could figure out what my parents did. My mom smacked my ass when I was bad, but only enough to scare me, never to hurt me. My dad never raised a hand to me.
I was never scared of the punishment. I was scared of losing their respect. A look of disapproval from a parent was the worst thing ever.
Some parents manage to do that today... it's not like ALL kids are bad... but it seems to be a growing trend.

[GhostAccord]

I agree about the ADD, I probably would have been on it if I went through school now. However instead of drugging me my parents disciplined me. I got a few shots here and there just enough to straighten me out. After that I did what I had to do to get through the boring classes.

I think that the parents should be held accountable for what there children do socially. Just like the bullying topic, the parents should be charged or fined if there child does something to another child. Same with disrespecting any authority figure. they should have the power to do what is necessary to bring that child under control. It's all about giving the children too many liberties these days............

It's not hard to see were this trend is going. Pretty soon the workforce will dry up becuase there will be so many lazy ass adults pretending to work and get through life achieving nothing. Things are just too convenient these days.

If your life is easy as a child, remember that someone else must have worked very hard to make it that way. Respect them for it!

[bcjammerx]

I'm really sick of people getting in trouble over what they post online...you should not be able to be fired just because of what you post online...how is that not illegal?

especially when what you say is actually correct...she is pretty spot on from what I read

[GeoffM]

Heh. It's a prelude of things to come! Get it? Prelude

ADD and the associated diseases are a myth in my mind. Everyone is strong enough to stand on their own two feet. Nobody truly needs assistance, with the exception of ACTUAL disabled people. If something is difficult, get down to work and do it! It's not going to go away, and it'll be there for you when you get back. Very few kids understand that, and with everything being made easier I can see why.

Nowadays when I have trouble spelling a word (it happens), I can pull out my phone and speak into it, and it will give me the correct spelling. No kids ever had that when I was growing up, and it's only a matter of time before it becomes streamlined enough for kids to use it on spelling tests.

A bit, but I think that this is another step towards something happening in 2012

[mj213]

Ugh. I think it's disgusting how the educational system in the US is being blamed for kids growing up to be stupid adults. Yes, cutbacks on funding have a part in the quality of learning in the classroom, but fundamentally it's still the parents' role to give their child or children one on one time to help them through the process.

Geoff - your comment about "ADD" is like you said, your opinion. Being a firsthand witness of children with diagnosed (and undiagnosed) ADHD, I can say that it IS real. It's primarily a chemical imbalance in the brain, as is many other psychological problems. I don't like the idea of doctor's prescribing meds to children in the first place, when their diet can have a significant impact on their disorders, but I also know that some children only respond to medication. The worst part about this is that it is just one more sign of how unsophisticated our healthcare system is. Doctors still preach that vaccinations will never hurt children, but not getting them will most certainly kill your child. Our primary care physicians are not educated in food and nutrition. They're educated to treat the symptoms first and foremost.

As a nation, we need a giant kick in the ass. We need to relearn how to take care of ourselves and our children without shifting blame on others and take accountability for our actions.