Who was the best teacher you ever had?

[WahKeen]

Someone's got to clean toilets and feces...

[Big Bill]

Someone's got to clean toilets and feces...

 

He can work his way up to "Lead Brush".

 

Do you remember that show on Fox, "Get a Life" starring Chris Elliot? He was a man in his 30s that still lived at home with hes parents. Everybody would rag on him because he a career paperboy. He would always proudly remind them that he was "The Head Paperboy".

[WahKeen]

He can work his way up to "Lead Brush".

 

Do you remember that show on Fox, "Get a Life" starring Chris Elliot? He was a man in his 30s that still lived at home with hes parents. Everybody would rag on him because he a career paperboy. He would always proudly remind them that he was "The Head Paperboy".

 

lol, yeah... "lead poopah scoopah"... *sigh*

[Big Bill]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-7pgeD__qU&feature=related

[Tman5293]

Ok now there's no need to make fun of me guys.

[milod]

I doubt many kids were that much more rebellious in high school than I was - but always keeping away from the "edge" and tending to quote Shakespeare or T.S. Eliot while being otherwise a bad little boy.

 

Compared to today, yeah, I think I had on average far better teachers than are around today in many ways, yet not perhaps as technically skilled than I see in local schools where I live now and - among other things - cover education for a newspaper.

 

I think the current testing cycles puts everything into a different league. "Liberal Arts" with a classical slant are far less emphasized, ditto history. I think we were taught better to think and synthesize material than kids today.

 

On the other hand, living in west Tennessee eight years, I saw true horror stories in school. One of my "out of school" program students actually left home to move in with a relative to be at a high school where there was a reputation that teachers actually wanted student to know how to read in order to graduate. One 7-year-old couldn't count to 10 and his mother didn't know it until told by the kid's Taekwondo instructor.

 

I watched Gov. Bill Clinton have much of his effort squashed by the teachers union when he sought to ensure that teachers could themselves read, write and speak with standard English grammar. I'm not of his political persuasion, but note that his efforts were followed by similar goals by George W. Bush and now Obama. Anyone of any political persuasion who cares, should care about public schools.

 

My two mothers (long story) both were excellent public school teachers; the mother of my childhood encouraged study of history and literature. My Dad was an ex Harley dealer who at one time taught college-level philosophy on occasion. It was an interesting childhood.

 

My first two years of high school were in a "little high plains town" where I had two years of Latin; my second were in a boarding school in western Massachusetts with grades posted every three weeks, classes six days a week, mandatory sports, etc., etc.

 

In both types of school the teachers I would say were generally excellent; all seemed to have a good work ethic.

 

Today teachers almost certainly are better versed in learning theory. On the other hand they're also up against annual testing of their students for skill sets as opposed to the sort of deeper understanding that was what I saw as a kid.

 

Best teachers? I dunno. I think my math and foreign language teachers were excellent for the average kid; I didn't do that well in class but had rather decent SAT scores, even in math, and can function reading some other languages far better than kids who had better grades than I. I spent a lotta time a few years ago reading everything I could find on learning theory and still don't understand why.

 

The late David H. Wood was, I thought, an exceptional high school lit teacher. Richard Rutledge was a great teacher of high school English history. In college it was a different story, but perhaps in part because I was a bit of a loose cannon.

 

The story of my college un-career is told in the way I studied music under a string quartet a while. I got average grades and later the guy who played my atonal piano piece told me I'd learned more than others in the class - I just didn't follow the curriculum.

 

So... Tman... Good luck, because you're gonna need it. The road less traveled is not at all more comfortable, and will be increasingly less so for you than for me because you are entering a different world with different standards. The nail that sticks up will be increasingly beaten down - or worse, pulled from its place and discarded.

 

m

[retrosurfer1959]

A seventh grade english teacher turned it all around for me I was in trouble in school all the time spent more time with the principle then in the classroom until a young Miss Struthers who was a new teacher caught me in detention reading Tolkien and Assimov when I could supposedly barely read. She sent me through testing and they transferred me into almost all advanced classes and instantly I went from being bored and rebellious to the point of disruption into being a serious and dedicated student. It was all about the challenge and letting me work at my own pace.

 

I graduated college with honors and got a MBA at Harvard and much of the credit for that later success goes to that young English teacher they stuck in detention to watch delinquents like me because she was brand new, but luckily she still cared. I stayed in touch with her ll through life and actually was invited and flew back home to be at her retirement a few years ago, all because she had meant so much to me.

[heymisterk]

A seventh grade english teacher turned it all around for me I was in trouble in school all the time spent more time with the principle then in the classroom until a young Miss Struthers who was a new teacher caught me in detention reading Tolkien and Assimov when I could supposedly barely read. She sent me through testing and they transferred me into almost all advanced classes and instantly I went from being bored and rebellious to the point of disruption into being a serious and dedicated student. It was all about the challenge and letting me work at my own pace.

 

I graduated college with honors and got a MBA at Harvard and much of the credit for that later success goes to that young English teacher they stuck in detention to watch delinquents like me because she was brand new, but luckily she still cared. I stayed in touch with her ll through life and actually was invited and flew back home to be at her retirement a few years ago, all because she had meant so much to me.

 

That is the kind of story a teacher loves to hear!

[rocketman]

Today teachers almost certainly are better versed in learning theory. On the other hand they're also up against annual testing of their students for skill sets as opposed to the sort of deeper understanding that was what I saw as a kid.

 

This hits it right on the head. I once asked college engineering seniors to tell me the sine of 30 degrees and no US student could tell me the answer without getting their calculator out. This way of teaching creates robots and certainly does not promote creative thinking. I can't blame the kids for this one. The more I look at how things are mandated onto teachers the more I ask "are these kids really learning?" This is part of the reason why our US education is lagging behind other countries. Couple that with poor attitudes, lack of drive and general disrespect, and we're in serious trouble...

[Tman5293]

This hits it right on the head. I once asked college engineering seniors to tell me the sine of 30 degrees and no US student could tell me the answer without getting their calculator out. This way of teaching creates robots and certainly does not promote creative thinking. I can't blame the kids for this one. The more I look at how things are mandated onto teachers the more I ask "are these kids really learning?" This is part of the reason why our US education is lagging behind other countries. Couple that with poor attitudes, lack of drive and general disrespect, and we're in serious trouble...

 

Several comments on this one:

 

1. What the hell is a "sine of 30 degrees"??? You should see what it's like in high schools now. We use our calculators for everything. Even stuff like simple division and multiplication.

2. To address the "are these kids really learning?" statement, For the most part no. We use calculators for all math, we take notes, stuff them in our backpacks, and never read them again, and the internet knows everything. If we don't know something, Google has all the answers. Fact is, most people forget most of the stuff they learn in school by the time they're 40.

3. What countries is our education lagging behind?

 

Just my thoughts on your post.

[milod]

Tman...

 

What countries does the US lag behind in education? Just about any country with any economic, political or military clout in today's world. Google it yourself if you don't believe old people.

 

China and Brazil are growing in power like weeds and we in the U.S. are... fading.

 

I'd say the US is fading because of attitudes such as you exemplify.

 

Yes, the Web has incredible amounts of information available, but if there's not the education to teach how to find what's needed for specific instances, or to teach a mode to synthesize knowledge for creating thinking, it's nothing more than what Shakespeare referred to as "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

 

"Education" comes from the Latin roots meaning "to lead out from." It doesn't mean "stuffing irrelevant information into people."

 

"School" is there to lead you from ignorance and the walls that inhibit self realization into a paradigm that allows an essential understanding of "stuff," a "Theory of everything" except much more broad than that latter term as used in physics.

 

I'd also question that one forgets everything one learns in high school by age 40. I'm well past 40 and still can give you the prepositions of the German Language and whether they're accusative, dative or could be either. I still rather well remember the uses of ablative and vocative in Latin - and for what it's worth, my two years of Latin enabled me even to get the gist of newspaper articles in the western Romance languages.

 

Although I lack an eidetic memory, I can still give you a rough timeline of European history and make comparisons to current political and economic circumstances.

 

In fact, I could have done so at your age in an off-the-cuff discussion without recourse to an Internet that didn't exist.

 

The Internet won't be creative for you, you must be creative in your use of it rather than putting notes into a backpack and forgetting them.

 

If I might quote Petronius about a lady with whose quoted circumstances I personally rather frequently identify:

 

"Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidi

in ampulla pendere, et *** (the Latin word for "when" or "with" was bleeped here because it is also an English language word that's not politically correct) illi pueri dicerent: Σιβυλλα

τι θελεις; respondebat illa: αποθανειν θελω."

 

Yes, there are translations on the Web. It would help a degree of understanding were you to have read Virgil by now, as I had by your age.

 

m

[Californiaman]

Best teacher I've ever had...

my wife.

Hands down the woman has taught me a lot in our 12 years together.

And I'm always learning something new from her.

 

Of course I've taught her a thing or two.

[Big Bill]

Tman,

 

Milod just summed it up for you nicely. I strongly suggest that read his post several times to make sure you understand. Otherwise, you will have a very difficult time accessing Google on a fry cooks wages.

[Silenced Fred]

My health and drivers ed teacher... she was hot

 

In all seriousness, it would have to be my journalism teacher/newspaper advisor. he helped me out with a lot of stuff, and taught a ton of valuable life lessons. I don't think I would be where I am today without him.

 

But seriously, my health teacher was a fox

[milod]

Nathan...

 

Your note reminded me of an excellent English teacher I had as a high school freshman. The poor woman had lost three or four fiances through illness or accident...

 

In retrospect, she was an exceptionally attractive woman in every sense and yet - we mature, grown-up and deep-thinking young folks though it was sad that she had such a tough time for an "old woman."

 

Sheesh.

 

I'm very happy to hear you figure you had a teacher who was a fox... <grin> That's a lot sharper than I was as a HS freshman, for sure.

 

m

[WahKeen]

Ah, Tman is pulling our legs. He's got it all planned out to be a High School teacher. He's going to be the antithesis of "Mr. T".

[Silenced Fred]

Nathan...

 

Your note reminded me of an excellent English teacher I had as a high school freshman. The poor woman had lost three or four fiances through illness or accident...

 

In retrospect, she was an exceptionally attractive woman in every sense and yet - we mature, grown-up and deep-thinking young folks though it was sad that she had such a tough time for an "old woman."

 

Sheesh.

 

I'm very happy to hear you figure you had a teacher who was a fox... <grin> That's a lot sharper than I was as a HS freshman, for sure.

 

m

 

Yeah... and the best part was, she was really cool too. I mean, she rocked.

[dem00n]

My Math teacher Mr. Adlder, i felt he gave all of us confidence not only in class but for the rest of our lives, and he all knew that one day will all be successful if we try hard.

Hats off yo you Mr. Adler.

[Tman5293]

Ah, Tman is pulling our legs. He's got it all planned out to be a High School teacher. He's going to be the antithesis of "Mr. T".

 

Very funny Joaquin! But no. Absolutely not! It actually amazes and bewilders me why someone you want to go back to school and teach after they just wasted a fourth of their life span in school.

 

Actually I plan to be either a musician, a software engineer, or a video game designer. Thats the order in which I would choose them too. I want to be a musician above all else. My music is more important to me than anything else I do in my life.

[dem00n]

Very funny Joaquin! But no. Absolutely not! It actually amazes and bewilders me why someone you want to go back to school and teach after they just wasted a fourth of their life span in school.

 

Actually I plan to be either a musician, a software engineer, or a video game designer. Thats the order in which I would choose them too. I want to be a musician above all else. My music is more important to me than anything else I do in my life.

Not to be a ****, but in the next year there will be no jobs in video game design, it so common now its crazy.

[Tman5293]

Not to be a ****, but in the next year there will be no jobs in video game design, it so common now its crazy.

 

I know. Thats why it's last on the list.

[rocketman]

I have one question for Tman. What happens if you can't make it as musician, a software engineer, or a video game designer? A software engineer needs some sort of higher-level education. If you don't know the sine of 30 degrees then you should give up on this goal right away.

 

I really do hope you make it in one of your chosen professions. But odds are very much against you. I had many offers to do professional work as a musician when I was 16-17 years old. I did some of it and I quickly realized it is a very cold business. There is ALWAYS someone around who is better than you and he/she will burn you at every opportunity they get. It gets very tiring after a while, which is why I choose not to do it.

 

Just remember that someday you'll be 40. I absolutely guarantee you that you'll regret your current attitude when you reach that age, no matter what you end up doing in life. I have not met ONE person who didn't.

[Mark]

My Kids.. They showed me whats really important in life.

[WahKeen]

I have one question for Tman. What happens if you can't make it as musician, a software engineer, or a video game designer? A software engineer needs some sort of higher-level education. If you don't know the sine of 30 degrees then you should give up on this goal right away.

 

I really do hope you make it in one of your chosen professions. But odds are very much against you. I had many offers to do professional work as a musician when I was 16-17 years old. I did some of it and I quickly realized it is a very cold business. There is ALWAYS someone around who is better than you and he/she will burn you at every opportunity they get. It gets very tiring after a while, which is why I choose not to do it.

 

Just remember that someday you'll be 40. I absolutely guarantee you that you'll regret your current attitude when you reach that age, no matter what you end up doing in life. I have not met ONE person who didn't.

 

+1

[46 and 2]

Hated every single one, and still do. I seriously got failed by the education system and had to make my OWN way all the way through. I was indifferent to my college professors because by then I had the world figured out in my mind. Now I am on to really disliking my kids teachers as well. Also didn't like a single principal or "guidance" (ha-ha right) counselor. They can all taking a flying leap IMO. Yeah bitter much? If ya knew my story you would understand.