an appropriate thought on teaching

I ran across this quote from John Steinbeck (who's birthday is today): "I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit."

Who is at fault if Johnny learns football rather than reading?

Everyone wants their share of the limelight. So, how best can Johnny get his? Almost every regular local TV newscast spends about 1/3 of the time covering sports. Even if a team is having a losing season, they are likely to get a mention on TV. As far as academics? Maybe a brief story will be run about the national spelling bee champion. But did you see any coverage on the district or state winner?

Those who lay out the news would argue that they are just giving people what they want. Ratings dictate that academics not be covered and sports be covered. Is that really the case? If you had a child who was to be on TV for an academic achievement, would you not try to get all of your friends and family tuned in to the broadcast?

It seems more and more that the news programs are becoming expanded commercials for other programming on the station. It then makes sense to emphasize sports so that people want to watch the sporting events that will be televised the next weekend. Are not sports a better profit generator for TV networks? With a sporting event, the network need not pay writers and actors. The TV program coordinators will claim that they focus on athletic programming rather than intellectual because that is what people want. If people don’t want the intellectual programming, how do you account for the popularity of such programs as “Universe”, “Jeopardy”, and “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”?

I have picked on TV, but are radio and newspaper any better? Don’t most newspaper have an entire section dedicated to sports? How much space is dedicated to academics?

  

Continuing the rant from yesterday

I heard on the news one of the pro-governor people saying that teachers have an easy job because they get summers off. Again let’s compare with the NFL player. Remember that the $285,000 is a minimum pay. The rookie who gets that amount need not be on a team that makes the play offs. How long is an NFL off season if you don’t continue beyond regular season play? Also being ignored is that many teachers work at low paying summer jobs and use some of the money earned at those jobs to but classroom supplies. I have heard of plenty of teachers buying their own supplies. I have never heard of an NFL player buying their own uniform or pads. I can’t imagine a construction worker needing to take their own nails to the job or a secretary supplying their own white-out, and yet this is commonly expected of teachers.

A teachable moment

Excuse me while I climb on my soapbox for a brief rant and rave.

We have a teachable moment now in Wisconsin, but what is the lesson?

Many in the state are still celebrating the “hero” packers on their super bowl win. It is not that I don’t like the packers – I do – but should we be making heroes out of millionaires who are good at playing a game while we vilify the much lower paid teachers? As of 2007, the minimum pay for a rookie in the NFL was $285,000, many times what an experienced teacher can expect to earn.

And how did they get to their respective positions of employment. For the NFL player, typically they went to college on a scholarship and were trained by a head football coach who was paid millions more than the next highest employee at the school. Some of the future NFL players decide to forgo their senior year. What does the NFL do to help encourage education? It may lend some support to a “stay in school” PSA. On the other hand, the teachers are often paying for school through student loans rather than scholarships. Many teachers will go on after the four years of a Bachelor’s degree to work on a Master’s degree.

Is it any wonder that a young person would rather play than do homework? So, next time you wonder “why can’t Johnny read?” ask yourself, can he run off tackle? Which one does society say is more valuable?