Standards

During last Tuesday's class we discussed how many times teachers in schools are under qualified. Many times they are teaching in fields that they are not qualified for. Maybe one of the fields they are teaching in they are qualified for, but the others they are not. This often happens in small schools that have low budgets. Then even when teachers are qualified many times they can not teach what they want because they have to stick to the strict curriculum. Often time they have to stick to the curriculum that is laid out in the text book because that is what the school requires of them or they are not educated enough to teach the subject without doing research for themselves outside the text book. They have to stick to the curriculum in order to fulfill requirements and make sure that their students measure up when it comes to standardized test times. When discussing this in class I just kept thinking how disfunctional this is and how students being taught this way really does not benefit anyone. It does not benefit the students because when you get to the real world I feel like you are always required to think outside of the box. Anyone can memorize what they are told and fit the mold. It is those that think for themselves, take initiative, are creative, and THINK that are sought after. This also does not benefit the teachers because if they are not researching the subject that they are teaching they are not learning anymore about the topic, but just repeating the same facts over and over again. Year after year. They probably are also not enjoying their job as much as they could be if they got to add their own creativity and style in. As Loewen says we are scared to let kids think for themselves in school because heaven forbid they think for themselves and question something. I agree with Loewen's point being that  keeping people in a mechanical sort of mold where they are not challenged to think for themselves is wrong. It does not benefit anyone.