Spring Break
Hypersensitivity harms entire education system
George Maynard
Issue date: 2/23/09 Section: Commentary
It really is a shame that the education system in our country is slowly changing to cater to whining, lazy students and oversensitive, litigious parents.
Between parents suing teachers for disciplining students, mandatory sensitivity training and watered-down classroom content, the education system is failing to provide students with anything more than a chaotic, feel-good use of their day, with sports and clubs afterward.
This nonsense creates a stressful situation for teachers and does a huge disservice to students, who will only realize how ill-prepared they are for the real world once it is too late.
Here at UConn, many students are excited for the prospect of joining Teach for America to help inner-city students. Hopefully their time in the schools will be better than that of Joshua Kaplowitz.
Kaplowitz graduated from Yale with a degree in political science. After graduation, he turned down a high paying job with a consulting firm and left his job with Al Gore's presidential campaign to join Teach for America (TFA) as a 5th-grade teacher in a low-income section of Washington, D.C.
Before potential teachers can enter classrooms as TFA instructors, they have to go through what is sometimes referred to as "teacher boot camp." When Kaplowitz arrived, he was annoyed to find that so much of the training he received was focused on sensitivity and not on actual classroom management or effective teaching techniques.'
In an article for City Journal, Kaplowitz describes spending hours on an activity where everyone stood in a line and "took steps forward or backwards based on whether [they] were the oppressors or the oppressed in categories of race, income and religion."
Kaplowitz later said he was "completely ill-equipped" for what was to come.
At Emery Elementary School, Kaplowitz was faced with a small number of disruptive students who were empowered - through D.C. public school regulations - to turn the entire school upside down at whim. After physically breaking up several fights between students, both in the classroom and on the playground, Kaplowitz was called into the principal's office and told that private investigators hired by D.C. Public Schools would be investigating him for allegations of corporal punishment.
Between parents suing teachers for disciplining students, mandatory sensitivity training and watered-down classroom content, the education system is failing to provide students with anything more than a chaotic, feel-good use of their day, with sports and clubs afterward.
This nonsense creates a stressful situation for teachers and does a huge disservice to students, who will only realize how ill-prepared they are for the real world once it is too late.
Here at UConn, many students are excited for the prospect of joining Teach for America to help inner-city students. Hopefully their time in the schools will be better than that of Joshua Kaplowitz.
Kaplowitz graduated from Yale with a degree in political science. After graduation, he turned down a high paying job with a consulting firm and left his job with Al Gore's presidential campaign to join Teach for America (TFA) as a 5th-grade teacher in a low-income section of Washington, D.C.
Before potential teachers can enter classrooms as TFA instructors, they have to go through what is sometimes referred to as "teacher boot camp." When Kaplowitz arrived, he was annoyed to find that so much of the training he received was focused on sensitivity and not on actual classroom management or effective teaching techniques.'
In an article for City Journal, Kaplowitz describes spending hours on an activity where everyone stood in a line and "took steps forward or backwards based on whether [they] were the oppressors or the oppressed in categories of race, income and religion."
Kaplowitz later said he was "completely ill-equipped" for what was to come.
At Emery Elementary School, Kaplowitz was faced with a small number of disruptive students who were empowered - through D.C. public school regulations - to turn the entire school upside down at whim. After physically breaking up several fights between students, both in the classroom and on the playground, Kaplowitz was called into the principal's office and told that private investigators hired by D.C. Public Schools would be investigating him for allegations of corporal punishment.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
fizzy
posted 2/23/09 @ 8:57 PM EST
You hit the nail on the head. Excellent article!!
spiralbound784
Q
posted 2/24/09 @ 1:40 AM EST
A rarity amongst the commentary. An article that presents a problem and also, a solution. It is the truth. everyone learns differently. Restructure the teachers so k-4 or 5 teachers teach the material required, but also find out how each student learns so they can be placed in the proper learning group as each student progresses. (Continued…)
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