Jay scrobe:
>
>
>
>Teacher education is a weak link in the US education system.
yes - yes - yes - for such pervasive, deeply rooted historical
practices beliefs values that sometimes i think that it can never really
change - and i don't mean reform - i'm doubtful of the notion of
reform because it is usually practiced and getting someone else to reform
rather than reforming one's self.
>Standardization leads to predictable outcomes; the
>pervasive social technology of modernism I have been indicting.
which i've been closely reading - and again, it seems that the historical
forces are so tenacious.
>
>None of this reformist endeavor directly points to resource issues. You
>can
>train better teachers relatively quickly if you spend the money to have
>the
>teacher educators work with them one-on-one as they practice teaching in
>real classrooms, and if you reduce the workload of both first-year
>teachers
>and senior teachers to act as mentors to them. This is all well-known and
>documented. It is probably done in progressive European countries. It
>costs
>a significant amount of money.
i have no doubts that the resources are there - but that would mean on
a personal level people giving up SUVs or their third, fourth and fifth
television set, and call-waiting, etc. what i mean is that the
acquisition of material goods is so deeply tied up with self-worth and
identity and exercise of perogative and privilege - whereas spending
money to well education someone else's child - that's a stretch for most
people. even harder is to get them to spend more for someone else's
mental health.
> In the present US situation there
>are plenty of good teachers, but they teach in affluent school districts.
>There are not enough teachers now and a severe shortage is projected. The
>districts that pay less will wind up with even less qualified teachers on
>average.
yes - because the districts that pay less usually have a poorer
population. however, it is also much easier to teach in more affluent
schools districts - not only are there greater resources but the
students who walk into the classroom have greater expertise in
white-middleclass lingo and activities.
>
>
>So the cheap solution is to insure that even the least qualified teacher
>meets some minimal standards. You substitute the power of coercion
>(control
>the teachers and teacher educators) for the power of resource allocation.
>This is the basic strategy of slave economies. It has the same weaknesses.
>
well, this gets tacked up on the wall next to Philip Capper's.
thanks!
phillip
>
* * * * * * * *
* *
The English noun "identity" comes, ultimately, from the
Latin adverb "identidem", which means "repeatedly."
The Latin has exactly the same rhythm as the English,
buh-BUM-buh-BUM - a simple iamb, repeated; and
"identidem" is, in fact, nothing more than a
reduplication of the word "idem", "the same":
"idem(et)idem". "Same(and) same". The same,
repeated. It is a word that does exactly what
it means.
from "The Elusive Embrace" by Daniel
Mendelsohn.
phillip white
doctoral student http://ceo.cudenver.edu/~hacms_lab/index.html
scrambling a dissertation
denver, colorado
phillip_white@ceo.cudenver.edu
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