TheApple

 Dear teacher_411,

I suspect that anyone who believes money is the prime/only important factor in choosing a career might think the same way. There are many who work at jobs they don't like (or even hate) simply because the pay is so good.

To those sort of people, I imagine we could seem to be "educated idiots," but I know whom I consider to be idiots.

It all depends on what your priorities are. I'd MUCH rather make less but do a job that I love, one that I am sure makes a difference for the better in the lives of others.

Miss my computer. Okay it seems to be that many people see us as crazy to do what we do for the pay we earn. In retrospect i did not earn my MS for the pay increase I did it for the benefit of my students and my abilities. I believe that we should model what we want. If we want studentsto continue learning then should we not do what we say as well? Makes sense to me and I GUESS THAT IS WHY i have been labeled an educated idiot. I do have to admit I AM in great company when compared to other stereotypes.

Yes being educated is a good thing. It is basically what we do with our knowledge how people view what we do. While listening to the radio this morning a homeschool mom was trashing the public ed system and its teachers but in honesty she places her kids in a chair at a computer to do classwork with an educated school teacher yet she called us stupid (school teachers).

 Interesting etymology, though:

"The English word "idiot" originaly comes from the Ancient Greek 'idiotes' "layman, person lacking professional skill," literally "private person," used patronizingly for "ignorant person," from 'idios' "one's own"." (hence idiosyncratic: a characteristic, habit, mannerism, or the like, that is peculiar to an individual.")

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=idiot

We are all idiots. We are all to blame for this secretary's perspective/comment.

All one has to do is watch/listen to mainstream media such as movies, television shows (esp. "reality" types), radio talk shows, etc...to see what we value in this country. We have allowed our country to sink to the lowest common denominator, so to speak, because we continue to consume the messages they reinforce:

If you make a lot of money, you must be clever or hard working and so we value you and we want more of you around. (Conversely, people who don't make a lot of money lack ambition and drive. If only they were a...)

The highest form of human existence is someone like Donald Trump, a shrewd business man with a lot of gold things in his many homes.

Lawyers or doctors are good things to be, but only if you have a "successful" practice (i.e....$$). Those that work Pro bono publico or follow some sort of passion will surely loose their fiancée, their cool well-dressed friends and their bitch-en apartment in NYC.

If you have a posse (or a lot of something else like posse with one vowel change) or a lot of muscles and you can fight a bunch of people really well, you are worthy of praise.

Coming up from the ghetto is a good thing to do. You get even more public praise if you punish those that are not from the ghetto by forcing them to hear recordings of bad poetry set  to drums and a booming bass while producing videos that have equally scary images that include a lot of posse (use the vowel of your choice), make gestures that show some degree of hostility, and show off the bling they made from a lot of idiots.

Even the positive role models (firefighter, police, soldier) that should be praised, are glorified and made bigger than life by drinking too much, getting into bar fights, splitting with their old lady, and  breaking the law to get the job done.

Teaching school is for possys. But who am I? Just another idiot.

dhastings says ...

We are all idiots...

As long as we're not complete idiots, I think we'll do ok.

I battle my own ignorance quixotically one new fact at at a time. Sometimes though facts are hard to come by.

 Dear MisterD,

I certainly hope your battle ISN'T quixotic:

"engaging in foolish impracticality in pursuit of ideals ; especially : those ideals manifested by rash, lofty and romantic ideas"

and using facts to combat ignorance sounds to me to be a lot more effective/practical than quixotic.

Regards,

John

P.S. Although, to quote a line from a movie now playing, "Ah, but facts can be so misleading."

 Well, irony needs some recreation, too. It's hard work, being ironic, and a little play can put the "iron" back in irony. 

Regards,

John

I don't know what we could do to improve our ed.system. I mean it does suck that sometimes there are some teachers who do teach b/c its an easy paycheck or as a side job.  But what can be done to improve our current education system?

I personally like the way Japan does it. Students would have to take an exam to see whether they would benefit from the upper ed institutions (high school, college, etc.) If those student fail to get passing merits, then they go to a vocational school of their choice where they would benefit more. As professionals in a trade they would make about the same if not more.

What do you guys think?

johnslat says ...

 Dear MisterD,

I certainly hope your battle ISN'T quixotic:

 "engaging in foolish impracticality in pursuit of ideals ; especially : those ideals manifested by rash, lofty and romantic ideas"

 and using facts to combat ignorance sounds to me to be a lot more effective/practical than quixotic.

P.S. Although, to quote a line from a movie now playing, "Ah, but facts can be so misleading."

I do consider it to be because the chances of acquring the vast bastion of knowledge i pursue are very slim for a mere mortal. Then there is that issue with facts.  You show me your fact and I'll show you a windmill!

PS that is a rhetorical device. No need to respond with a list of what you consider to be incontrovertible facts. Thanks

Students deserve teachers not wage earners and yes ther is a difference.

john,

Do you honestly think teaching is that hard that no one could possibly do it for an easy paycheck and then have their own business on the side.

If yo do then I might ask you the same question.

I am a professor in Texas making 60K a year while working on my second doctoral degree. My brother who holds a GED and has no college degree works for Homeland Security and makes twice what I do. Why do we do this? It isn't for money. Does that make us idiots or really, really smart? After all, we are getting up every day and doing what we enjoy. We are engaged in fulfilling a calling. I think that makes us brilliant!

 Dear MagPro85,

If as a teacher, you are making "an easy paycheck", then, in my opinion, you are one lousy teacher. I've been teaching for thirty-two years now, and the hours that I put in outside of school preparing lessons, grading papers, etc. have never been less than a half of my forty-hour week (and usually more.) That's a sixty hour week (my wife sometimes gets annoyed because we seldom have a "weekend" free.)

One other thing - I started late as a teacher, when I was thirty-four. Before that, after I got out of the Marine Corps, but prior to my going back to college, I bummed around, doing a lot of different jobs: construction, painting, road work (I operated a jack hammer), working in an ice house, lifting fifty and a hundred pound bags all day. Hard work? Yup, it was. But only physically and when your eight hours was done, your day was over. Having done both, I can say that teaching takes a LOT more out of a person. But, to borrow an old Peace Corps slogan, "It's the hardest job you'll ever love."

So, I'd like to ask my question (which you didn't answer) again: Are you or have you ever been a teacher?