Comments on: `Superman’ comes to Oakland

By: Former high school teacher

Former high school teacher — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 03:50:49 +0000

Great beginning of much needed dialogue on how to fix public education although WFS could have been more even-handed by including the negative impact of uncooperative parents, disruptive students and incompetent and/or self-serving administrators and politicians on the best efforts of many teachers! Dealing with the complexity of the problem in that way would have been more constructive than adding the last segment on the drama of the lottery process.

By: AC Mom

AC Mom — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 21:36:59 +0000

Wow! Ms. Spearman…Can we follow-up on comment #37? There are only 5 “qualified” principals; none of which serve at the high school level? I have elementary school age children enrolled in OUSD, and I know that statement alone is enough to send some parents running out of the district. Do you wish to clarify your statement, or are you going to let it stand as is?

By: Ms. J.

Ms. J. — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 18:48:06 +0000

Returning to the topic of the movie, a couple of friends and I were discussing the contrast b/w Superman and Inconvenient Truth, and wondering why the more recent movie seems more like propaganda than I.T. Both clearly have an agenda.

I think that the reason WFS seems more like propaganda to me is that, as noted by some other critics, the movie has not only clear superheroes but clear villains, whereas the inconvenient truth of the earlier movie was that we are ALL responsible for climate change. I think it presented a challenge to all of us to make changes in our ways of life, as we are all consumers and thus all implicated.

This movie, on the other hand, seems to suggest that the only ones who need to change in order to fix a very complicated and crucial system are the public school teachers and their unions. If you want to contribute, you are invited to donate money. That’s a lot less of a personal sacrifice and demonstrates less conviction of personal responsibility than deciding to bike to work instead of drive, or trying to fly less, or shop at thrift stores, or whatever environmental concession we each try to make.

It’s also easier to feel outraged at what others are doing, or failing to do, than to take on the implications of one’s own decisions.

By: Gordon Danning

Gordon Danning — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:34:48 +0000

JR:

Well sure, but are those in the top 1/3 less likely to have those attributes? I don’t think so. So if we get more top 1/3 teachers, we are more likely to get teachers with all the attributes needed for good teaching. If we recruit from the bottom 2/3, we are less likely to get the “book learning” attributes, but no more likely to get the empathy.

By: JR

JR — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:15:06 +0000

Gordon,
I am just saying that just because a person is from the top 1/3 does not mean he/she is a de-facto better teacher, teaching while not overly complex, is more involved than simply that. Some of the great teachers I know had near 4.0 GPA’s and others were 3.0 and even 2.5+ GPA’s, and conversely some of the worst teachers I have witnessed had 4.0 GPA’s as well. There are other attributes that good teachers have that do not show up on report cards patience,compassion which I have seen in the great teachers that I have known.

By: Gordon Danning

Gordon Danning — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 06:47:18 +0000

JR:

You are certainly correct that many brilliant people are poor teachers, but there are attributes other than brilliance that are also more likely to be found in the top 1/3 of college grads which are also attributes of good teachers. I’m thinking of things like conscientiousness, hard work, etc. For example, in college, I never once “pulled an all nighter,” and I almost never skipped class. It is no coincidence that, as a teacher, I have never, ever “winged it,” I am never late, and I am never absent (Well, except when I was sick as a dog for 3 days, about 13 years ago). So I’m guessing that “more teachers from the top 1/3″ generally translates into “more learning.”

By: JR

JR — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 18:17:53 +0000

Stephen,
Therein lies the question, is a teacher that knows more(sum knowledge)automatically a better teacher, or is a better teacher a person who is able to impart and explain concepts in an understandable way(and maybe also makes learning a little fun). Some of the most brilliant people that I know could not teach you how to program a DVR or even edit a word document(they know how to do it, but yet couldn’t teach another person how to do so). There is some truth to that opinion though, when we were last confronted with a teacher shortage we hired a lot of teachers with little more than liberal arts degrees, a pulse and threw them in the classroom. We still have many of them today, and it shows. Ever since NCLB teachers have been more stringently prepared for the classroom than in previous years(the only good thing I have to say about NCLB). Teachers need to stand on their own individual merit if they expect more respect as professionals, and that is just the way it is(the teachers in many other countries are highly respected because of this and in turn it makes the profession more attractive.

By: Steven Weinberg

Steven Weinberg — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 17:28:29 +0000

I am not an expert in European educational systems (although I do know the difference between Finland and Belgium), but an article in Education Week, Sept 29, 2010 says that a major difference between the U.S. and countries like Finland, Singapore, and South Korea, that achieve high scores on international tests, is that those countries draw 100% of their teachers from the top third of college graduating classes, while the U.S. draws only about 23% from that group. A McKinsey and Company study said that U.S. teacher salaries would need to increase to a range of $65,000 to $150,000 per year to attract such a teaching force.

By: JR

JR — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:29:53 +0000

Ooops, that’s Belgian kids not Finnish.

By: JR

JR — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:26:30 +0000

Jenna,
Let’s hear what some Finnish teachers,students and parents have to say about education.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx4pN-aiofw