[eavesdropper]

[quote=captcha][quote=eavesdropper]
Given your interest in the situation, and your high level of mathematics literacy, perhaps you can volunteer your time to your local public school system, either providing support to overworked teachers there, or tutoring struggling students. [/quote]

Here is an idea – take some of the money spent on TSA and pay skilled and educated people to teach. If you depend on volunteers you’ll get people like Ms. DeRegnaucourt. It is not her fault, it is the system.[/quote]

Captcha, what, precisely, do you mean by “you’ll get people like Ms. DeRegnaucourt”? What leads you to believe that she is unqualified for her position? This isn’t a rhetorical question. I’m genuinely curious.

BTW, I agree with you that some reorganization of our societal priorities is in order. But chronic underfunding of education has always been a problem, and in the current political atmosphere – one in which the trashing of educated people and academic pursuits has become a popular way for many of our political office holders and citizens to feel better about themselves – I don’t anticipate that this will change.

Upping salaries and benefits will certainly attract more people to teaching, and some will have flawless academic credentials. But, in teaching elementary and secondary school students, that is only half (and not the most important) of the battle. In these grades, you have students of widely varying socioeconomic/cultural backgrounds and academic capabilities. What’s more is that these students did not choose to attend school, and don’t understand why they need to be there. For the most part, they are not, in any way, receptive to learning. Truly skilled teachers (grades 1-12) are able to find ways to reverse that. Learning CANNOT occur in the absence of curiosity. Good teachers find a way to reach their students, and expose them to the rewards of learning. They know that once a student’s curiosity is piqued, they will actively SEEK knowledge. They will want to know more, and will go after it — on their own, if they have to.

This is why early childhood education is so important: children are at their most imaginative and curious at that age, and if they do not acquire the basic building blocks of academics in the beginning, they will be totally incapable of learning anything that comes after that. Yet, there is no area of education that is more underfunded than that of early childhood.

For whatever reason, Ms. DeRegnaucourt was one of these: the kids that fall through the cracks and are permitted to graduate, despite being functionally illiterate. Fortunately, when exposed to an instructor who took a genuine interest in the students she was teaching, Ms. DeRegnaucourt was able to see that this could represent the difference between a student leading a life of accomplishment and self-confidence, as opposed to setting off on a path of frustration and failure. This inspired her to try to make a difference in the lives of other young students.

As for “topology, predicate calculus or at least Euclidean geometry”, I saw nothing in the article that enabled me to determine that these were not included in the curriculum, or were not areas of interest or skill for Ms. DeRegnaucourt (I have my own opinions on that topic, but they are just that). Likewise, I have no evidence that she is incapable of enthusiastic discussion of the Newton vs. Leibniz controversy or Fermat’s last theorem.

What I DID get from the article is that she uses her education, experience, and her love of mathematics to excite curiosity in her young, at-risk students. And, in my book, that is what constitutes “skill” in teaching. It doesn’t matter in the least if a teacher is excited by the subject matter he/she is charged with teaching. It only matters if he/she can get their students excited about it.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=captcha][quote=eavesdropper]
Given your interest in the situation, and your high level of mathematics literacy, perhaps you can volunteer your time to your local public school system, either providing support to overworked teachers there, or tutoring struggling students. [/quote]

Here is an idea – take some of the money spent on TSA and pay skilled and educated people to teach. If you depend on volunteers you’ll get people like Ms. DeRegnaucourt. It is not her fault, it is the system.[/quote]

Captcha, what, precisely, do you mean by “you’ll get people like Ms. DeRegnaucourt”? What leads you to believe that she is unqualified for her position? This isn’t a rhetorical question. I’m genuinely curious.

BTW, I agree with you that some reorganization of our societal priorities is in order. But chronic underfunding of education has always been a problem, and in the current political atmosphere – one in which the trashing of educated people and academic pursuits has become a popular way for many of our political office holders and citizens to feel better about themselves – I don’t anticipate that this will change.

Upping salaries and benefits will certainly attract more people to teaching, and some will have flawless academic credentials. But, in teaching elementary and secondary school students, that is only half (and not the most important) of the battle. In these grades, you have students of widely varying socioeconomic/cultural backgrounds and academic capabilities. What’s more is that these students did not choose to attend school, and don’t understand why they need to be there. For the most part, they are not, in any way, receptive to learning. Truly skilled teachers (grades 1-12) are able to find ways to reverse that. Learning CANNOT occur in the absence of curiosity. Good teachers find a way to reach their students, and expose them to the rewards of learning. They know that once a student’s curiosity is piqued, they will actively SEEK knowledge. They will want to know more, and will go after it — on their own, if they have to.

This is why early childhood education is so important: children are at their most imaginative and curious at that age, and if they do not acquire the basic building blocks of academics in the beginning, they will be totally incapable of learning anything that comes after that. Yet, there is no area of education that is more underfunded than that of early childhood.

For whatever reason, Ms. DeRegnaucourt was one of these: the kids that fall through the cracks and are permitted to graduate, despite being functionally illiterate. Fortunately, when exposed to an instructor who took a genuine interest in the students she was teaching, Ms. DeRegnaucourt was able to see that this could represent the difference between a student leading a life of accomplishment and self-confidence, as opposed to setting off on a path of frustration and failure. This inspired her to try to make a difference in the lives of other young students.

As for “topology, predicate calculus or at least Euclidean geometry”, I saw nothing in the article that enabled me to determine that these were not included in the curriculum, or were not areas of interest or skill for Ms. DeRegnaucourt (I have my own opinions on that topic, but they are just that). Likewise, I have no evidence that she is incapable of enthusiastic discussion of the Newton vs. Leibniz controversy or Fermat’s last theorem.

What I DID get from the article is that she uses her education, experience, and her love of mathematics to excite curiosity in her young, at-risk students. And, in my book, that is what constitutes “skill” in teaching. It doesn’t matter in the least if a teacher is excited by the subject matter he/she is charged with teaching. It only matters if he/she can get their students excited about it.

[eavesdropper]

Thanks so much for posting this article, flu. I would have definitely missed it on my own.

[eavesdropper]

Thanks so much for posting this article, flu. I would have definitely missed it on my own.

[eavesdropper]

Thanks so much for posting this article, flu. I would have definitely missed it on my own.

[eavesdropper]

Thanks so much for posting this article, flu. I would have definitely missed it on my own.

[eavesdropper]

Thanks so much for posting this article, flu. I would have definitely missed it on my own.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=captcha]I am surprised to read that someone who teaches high-level math at high school finds linear functions and matrix calculus exciting. I was expecting topology, predicate calculus or at least Euclidean geometry. After reading the article, my impression is that she was under-qualified to sub in her son’s school when he was 6 and she was just as under-qualified to teach high-level math at high school.[/quote]

First, the article, as written, does not quote Linda DeRegnaucourt. While it is possible that she relayed that sentiment to the reporter, it is just as likely that the reporter, who may have been limited in her high school mathematics education, added it into the article herself.

While it is clear that she was underqualified to teach in the beginning, she recognized the need to acquire more education. To return to school as an adult is an extremely difficult undertaking; with a young child at home, even more so.

She found that she loved learning, but what is even more important is that she was determined that other kids were not going to slip through the cracks as she had. She took the time to develop teaching techniques that would encourage this same love of learning and desire to pursue excellence in her students.

You may say that she was simply doing the job for which she was hired, and you would be correct. However, many teachers out there aren’t doing that. Some were never fit for teaching in the first place, but many more are simply burned out, not only by the low pay in many school districts, but also by the lackadaisical attitudes of administrations and parents.

Yes, I like to think that our children in advanced placement classes are being challenged at a much higher level. But the sad truth is that, here in the U.S., we fortunate if our students leave school with a basic level of literacy in reading and arithmetic. If you want to be truly shocked and saddened, go to the website for the National Center for Education Statistics:

http://nces.ed.gov/naal/

The link will take you to the test for adult literacy. On the left side of the page, shaded in blue, you can access sample questions from the test, and how U.S. adults fared on them. It’s truly discouraging.

If teachers like Ms. DeRegnaucourt can reach some of these students, and manage to instill a love of learning in them while giving them the foundations for managing the basic demands of a junior college, they will then have the curiosity and desire that will encourage them to enroll in more complex math courses, and spur them on when they encounter the tougher demands that come with them.

Difficult as this may be for you to believe, there are many parents out there who work hard at discouraging their children from learning and from pursuing more education; I know this from personal experience. Teachers like Linda DeRegnaucourt can make all the difference in those situations: a child can grow up to spend their entire adult life unfulfilled, underpaid, and frustrated in a job for which they are highly overqualified, or they can grow up able to have their potential tapped to the fullest. Which is better for us as a nation?

I do share your frustration over the “dumbing down” of the school curriculum. However, when I look at the “superior” elementary and secondary school education that I received in the 60s and 70s, and compare it with that given to students in my parents’ generation, I see that it’s nothing new.

Given your interest in the situation, and your high level of mathematics literacy, perhaps you can volunteer your time to your local public school system, either providing support to overworked teachers there, or tutoring struggling students. In the meantime, I commend Ms. DeRegnaucourt for acquiring an education, and for her years of service to the children of her school system. Given her level of empathy, and her ability to determine the needs of those depending upon her, I know that she will make a fine nurse.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=captcha]I am surprised to read that someone who teaches high-level math at high school finds linear functions and matrix calculus exciting. I was expecting topology, predicate calculus or at least Euclidean geometry. After reading the article, my impression is that she was under-qualified to sub in her son’s school when he was 6 and she was just as under-qualified to teach high-level math at high school.[/quote]

First, the article, as written, does not quote Linda DeRegnaucourt. While it is possible that she relayed that sentiment to the reporter, it is just as likely that the reporter, who may have been limited in her high school mathematics education, added it into the article herself.

While it is clear that she was underqualified to teach in the beginning, she recognized the need to acquire more education. To return to school as an adult is an extremely difficult undertaking; with a young child at home, even more so.

She found that she loved learning, but what is even more important is that she was determined that other kids were not going to slip through the cracks as she had. She took the time to develop teaching techniques that would encourage this same love of learning and desire to pursue excellence in her students.

You may say that she was simply doing the job for which she was hired, and you would be correct. However, many teachers out there aren’t doing that. Some were never fit for teaching in the first place, but many more are simply burned out, not only by the low pay in many school districts, but also by the lackadaisical attitudes of administrations and parents.

Yes, I like to think that our children in advanced placement classes are being challenged at a much higher level. But the sad truth is that, here in the U.S., we fortunate if our students leave school with a basic level of literacy in reading and arithmetic. If you want to be truly shocked and saddened, go to the website for the National Center for Education Statistics:

http://nces.ed.gov/naal/

The link will take you to the test for adult literacy. On the left side of the page, shaded in blue, you can access sample questions from the test, and how U.S. adults fared on them. It’s truly discouraging.

If teachers like Ms. DeRegnaucourt can reach some of these students, and manage to instill a love of learning in them while giving them the foundations for managing the basic demands of a junior college, they will then have the curiosity and desire that will encourage them to enroll in more complex math courses, and spur them on when they encounter the tougher demands that come with them.

Difficult as this may be for you to believe, there are many parents out there who work hard at discouraging their children from learning and from pursuing more education; I know this from personal experience. Teachers like Linda DeRegnaucourt can make all the difference in those situations: a child can grow up to spend their entire adult life unfulfilled, underpaid, and frustrated in a job for which they are highly overqualified, or they can grow up able to have their potential tapped to the fullest. Which is better for us as a nation?

I do share your frustration over the “dumbing down” of the school curriculum. However, when I look at the “superior” elementary and secondary school education that I received in the 60s and 70s, and compare it with that given to students in my parents’ generation, I see that it’s nothing new.

Given your interest in the situation, and your high level of mathematics literacy, perhaps you can volunteer your time to your local public school system, either providing support to overworked teachers there, or tutoring struggling students. In the meantime, I commend Ms. DeRegnaucourt for acquiring an education, and for her years of service to the children of her school system. Given her level of empathy, and her ability to determine the needs of those depending upon her, I know that she will make a fine nurse.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=captcha]I am surprised to read that someone who teaches high-level math at high school finds linear functions and matrix calculus exciting. I was expecting topology, predicate calculus or at least Euclidean geometry. After reading the article, my impression is that she was under-qualified to sub in her son’s school when he was 6 and she was just as under-qualified to teach high-level math at high school.[/quote]

First, the article, as written, does not quote Linda DeRegnaucourt. While it is possible that she relayed that sentiment to the reporter, it is just as likely that the reporter, who may have been limited in her high school mathematics education, added it into the article herself.

While it is clear that she was underqualified to teach in the beginning, she recognized the need to acquire more education. To return to school as an adult is an extremely difficult undertaking; with a young child at home, even more so.

She found that she loved learning, but what is even more important is that she was determined that other kids were not going to slip through the cracks as she had. She took the time to develop teaching techniques that would encourage this same love of learning and desire to pursue excellence in her students.

You may say that she was simply doing the job for which she was hired, and you would be correct. However, many teachers out there aren’t doing that. Some were never fit for teaching in the first place, but many more are simply burned out, not only by the low pay in many school districts, but also by the lackadaisical attitudes of administrations and parents.

Yes, I like to think that our children in advanced placement classes are being challenged at a much higher level. But the sad truth is that, here in the U.S., we fortunate if our students leave school with a basic level of literacy in reading and arithmetic. If you want to be truly shocked and saddened, go to the website for the National Center for Education Statistics:

http://nces.ed.gov/naal/

The link will take you to the test for adult literacy. On the left side of the page, shaded in blue, you can access sample questions from the test, and how U.S. adults fared on them. It’s truly discouraging.

If teachers like Ms. DeRegnaucourt can reach some of these students, and manage to instill a love of learning in them while giving them the foundations for managing the basic demands of a junior college, they will then have the curiosity and desire that will encourage them to enroll in more complex math courses, and spur them on when they encounter the tougher demands that come with them.

Difficult as this may be for you to believe, there are many parents out there who work hard at discouraging their children from learning and from pursuing more education; I know this from personal experience. Teachers like Linda DeRegnaucourt can make all the difference in those situations: a child can grow up to spend their entire adult life unfulfilled, underpaid, and frustrated in a job for which they are highly overqualified, or they can grow up able to have their potential tapped to the fullest. Which is better for us as a nation?

I do share your frustration over the “dumbing down” of the school curriculum. However, when I look at the “superior” elementary and secondary school education that I received in the 60s and 70s, and compare it with that given to students in my parents’ generation, I see that it’s nothing new.

Given your interest in the situation, and your high level of mathematics literacy, perhaps you can volunteer your time to your local public school system, either providing support to overworked teachers there, or tutoring struggling students. In the meantime, I commend Ms. DeRegnaucourt for acquiring an education, and for her years of service to the children of her school system. Given her level of empathy, and her ability to determine the needs of those depending upon her, I know that she will make a fine nurse.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=captcha]I am surprised to read that someone who teaches high-level math at high school finds linear functions and matrix calculus exciting. I was expecting topology, predicate calculus or at least Euclidean geometry. After reading the article, my impression is that she was under-qualified to sub in her son’s school when he was 6 and she was just as under-qualified to teach high-level math at high school.[/quote]

First, the article, as written, does not quote Linda DeRegnaucourt. While it is possible that she relayed that sentiment to the reporter, it is just as likely that the reporter, who may have been limited in her high school mathematics education, added it into the article herself.

While it is clear that she was underqualified to teach in the beginning, she recognized the need to acquire more education. To return to school as an adult is an extremely difficult undertaking; with a young child at home, even more so.

She found that she loved learning, but what is even more important is that she was determined that other kids were not going to slip through the cracks as she had. She took the time to develop teaching techniques that would encourage this same love of learning and desire to pursue excellence in her students.

You may say that she was simply doing the job for which she was hired, and you would be correct. However, many teachers out there aren’t doing that. Some were never fit for teaching in the first place, but many more are simply burned out, not only by the low pay in many school districts, but also by the lackadaisical attitudes of administrations and parents.

Yes, I like to think that our children in advanced placement classes are being challenged at a much higher level. But the sad truth is that, here in the U.S., we fortunate if our students leave school with a basic level of literacy in reading and arithmetic. If you want to be truly shocked and saddened, go to the website for the National Center for Education Statistics:

http://nces.ed.gov/naal/

The link will take you to the test for adult literacy. On the left side of the page, shaded in blue, you can access sample questions from the test, and how U.S. adults fared on them. It’s truly discouraging.

If teachers like Ms. DeRegnaucourt can reach some of these students, and manage to instill a love of learning in them while giving them the foundations for managing the basic demands of a junior college, they will then have the curiosity and desire that will encourage them to enroll in more complex math courses, and spur them on when they encounter the tougher demands that come with them.

Difficult as this may be for you to believe, there are many parents out there who work hard at discouraging their children from learning and from pursuing more education; I know this from personal experience. Teachers like Linda DeRegnaucourt can make all the difference in those situations: a child can grow up to spend their entire adult life unfulfilled, underpaid, and frustrated in a job for which they are highly overqualified, or they can grow up able to have their potential tapped to the fullest. Which is better for us as a nation?

I do share your frustration over the “dumbing down” of the school curriculum. However, when I look at the “superior” elementary and secondary school education that I received in the 60s and 70s, and compare it with that given to students in my parents’ generation, I see that it’s nothing new.

Given your interest in the situation, and your high level of mathematics literacy, perhaps you can volunteer your time to your local public school system, either providing support to overworked teachers there, or tutoring struggling students. In the meantime, I commend Ms. DeRegnaucourt for acquiring an education, and for her years of service to the children of her school system. Given her level of empathy, and her ability to determine the needs of those depending upon her, I know that she will make a fine nurse.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=captcha]I am surprised to read that someone who teaches high-level math at high school finds linear functions and matrix calculus exciting. I was expecting topology, predicate calculus or at least Euclidean geometry. After reading the article, my impression is that she was under-qualified to sub in her son’s school when he was 6 and she was just as under-qualified to teach high-level math at high school.[/quote]

First, the article, as written, does not quote Linda DeRegnaucourt. While it is possible that she relayed that sentiment to the reporter, it is just as likely that the reporter, who may have been limited in her high school mathematics education, added it into the article herself.

While it is clear that she was underqualified to teach in the beginning, she recognized the need to acquire more education. To return to school as an adult is an extremely difficult undertaking; with a young child at home, even more so.

She found that she loved learning, but what is even more important is that she was determined that other kids were not going to slip through the cracks as she had. She took the time to develop teaching techniques that would encourage this same love of learning and desire to pursue excellence in her students.

You may say that she was simply doing the job for which she was hired, and you would be correct. However, many teachers out there aren’t doing that. Some were never fit for teaching in the first place, but many more are simply burned out, not only by the low pay in many school districts, but also by the lackadaisical attitudes of administrations and parents.

Yes, I like to think that our children in advanced placement classes are being challenged at a much higher level. But the sad truth is that, here in the U.S., we fortunate if our students leave school with a basic level of literacy in reading and arithmetic. If you want to be truly shocked and saddened, go to the website for the National Center for Education Statistics:

http://nces.ed.gov/naal/

The link will take you to the test for adult literacy. On the left side of the page, shaded in blue, you can access sample questions from the test, and how U.S. adults fared on them. It’s truly discouraging.

If teachers like Ms. DeRegnaucourt can reach some of these students, and manage to instill a love of learning in them while giving them the foundations for managing the basic demands of a junior college, they will then have the curiosity and desire that will encourage them to enroll in more complex math courses, and spur them on when they encounter the tougher demands that come with them.

Difficult as this may be for you to believe, there are many parents out there who work hard at discouraging their children from learning and from pursuing more education; I know this from personal experience. Teachers like Linda DeRegnaucourt can make all the difference in those situations: a child can grow up to spend their entire adult life unfulfilled, underpaid, and frustrated in a job for which they are highly overqualified, or they can grow up able to have their potential tapped to the fullest. Which is better for us as a nation?

I do share your frustration over the “dumbing down” of the school curriculum. However, when I look at the “superior” elementary and secondary school education that I received in the 60s and 70s, and compare it with that given to students in my parents’ generation, I see that it’s nothing new.

Given your interest in the situation, and your high level of mathematics literacy, perhaps you can volunteer your time to your local public school system, either providing support to overworked teachers there, or tutoring struggling students. In the meantime, I commend Ms. DeRegnaucourt for acquiring an education, and for her years of service to the children of her school system. Given her level of empathy, and her ability to determine the needs of those depending upon her, I know that she will make a fine nurse.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]Who is Rupert Murdoch?[/quote]

William Randolph Hearst’s Australian bastard son.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]Who is Rupert Murdoch?[/quote]

William Randolph Hearst’s Australian bastard son.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]Who is Rupert Murdoch?[/quote]

William Randolph Hearst’s Australian bastard son.

[Author]

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