TOPIC: Dungeon Builder's Union Shirts.

shirts are ordered. they should be in late next week.<br /><br />thank you to everyone. these have been well received.  =D

Thank you, Jeff!  <br /><br /><br />Those are some great shirts.  I really love this "tradition." 

I'm bored. Maybe we can start up another slapfest over whether unions suck?

O, henwy! <br />

Henwy,<br /><br />Brian took the bait.  Go get him.<br />

I just figured he was making a literary reference.  =D<br /><br />Kim

Good one Kim.<br />

And an appropriate reference it was!<br /><br />Kim

Disclaimer: the below is from a sociological perspective.  Groups of people react in predictable ways.  In marketing they call this demographics.  We can all think of individual exceptions (that would be the psychological level).  We are not talking about Oprah Winfrey, or Warren Buffett here, but the big picture.<br /><br />

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<br /><br />The odd thing about teacher pay being linked to performance is that, sociologically speaking, a teacher really does not do much to effect the educational outcome of students.<br /><br />Think about it.  How much help or harm can one person have on a child's education 180-days in one year, 6-hours-a-day?  If that.  Most children have multiple teachers.  Teachers just are not as important in this equation as most folks think.  <br /><br />I can only think of three teachers from my education (17-years) that made a strong positive impact.  I had a lot of teachers.  I needed those average teachers.  We need new teachers that suck, because we get good ones from experience.<br /><br />I think it would take a real piss-poor teacher to cause harm.  Look up states without teacher unions and see how many teachers are fired . . . not many.<br /><br />People tend to stay in there social economic class.  Especially in America. www.economicmobility.org/assets/pdfs/PEW_EMP_GETTING_AHEAD_FULL.pdf <br /><br />Success in school is linked to eating diner as a family, and the number of books in the home.<br />For the life of me I can't find the study just now.  <br /><br />A mothers level of education is a strong indicator of a childs final level of education.<br /> www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/717 <br /><br />Breastfeeding is important to intelligence, and intelligence is important to education (poor people tend not to breast feed, are told to use formula, and are given it for free)<br /> www.springerlink.com/content/066n8873x578121l/ <br /><br />Intelligence effects education, and they both effect income.  Money buys oneself out of a lot of problems, and offers many second chances.  I just saw a piece on CNN where a high school boy was reading at the 3rd grade level, and after six (!) weeks of tutoring he was reading at the 6th grade.  Holy-shit Batman!<br /><br />Think about it.  Teachers are really only helpers for parents.  Parents are the constant.  Teachers are the variable.  Education is all on the parents.  Teachers can not take the place of parents (not in our school model).  Parents are really the key to success.<br /><br />The only working method I can think of that changes the social economic model's effect on education is Jeffrey Canada's Harlem Children's Zone.  This man is a god walking among men.  He turns the poorest of the poor into successful students.  The first requirement of his is that the parents must be involved, or the children are kicked out of the school.  Think about that.<br /><br />Ideas like No Child Left Behind (NCLB) or rewarding teachers for student performance make me cringe.  NCLB actually says that children will read at their grade level (average) or better . . . think about that . . . all children will read at average or better levels.  Who thought this up?  Then it goes on to say that those schools who do not read at average or better will not get money (remember the high school boy who went from 3rd to 6th grade reading levels from privet tutoring in six weeks?  That is not free.  How will taking money away fix the problem?).<br /><br />If I was a principle (and we had teacher-student performance based pay), then I would give the teachers I liked the "good" kids, and screw the teachers I hated by assigning them the "bad" kids.  I would be unto god.  And the obvious result would be that teachers in poor areas would looks like shit, and teachers in rich areas would look like gods.<br /><br />Do you think the children of two parents with masters degrees, or two parents that barely have educations and don't speak English have the same educational shot?  Hell no!  The children of the educated have built in tutors!<br /><br />My wife works in a dirt poor immigrant neighborhood.  68% of the students have difficulties with English.  38% of the students read at or above grade level.  75.5% of them need to read at grade level per NCLB . . . it will not happen (with the way we structure schools, and NCLB removing money from the school will not help).  <br /><br />As for unions I think they are a mixed bag.  We need year around schooling, and 8-9 hour days.  Teacher unions are for the summer vacation, and short days.  If we did this, then we would need to increase teacher pay (teachers are the lowest paid of all professionals - those who work with a license - like doctors and lawyers).  <br /><br />We also need small class sizes, reciprocity (so teachers can move and keep seniority), bonus pay for teaching in poor areas, and more pay to attract higher educated folks (but teachers are the most educated out of all professions to begin with, so this one is marginal).  Teacher unions would love this stuff.  <br />

Success in school is linked to eating diner as a family, and the number of books in the home.<br />For the life of me I can't find the study just now. 

<br /><br />From Google:<br /> A 1994 survey by Louis Harris and Associates had 2000 seniors take an academic test and answer a list of personal questions. Researchers found that "Students who regularly ate dinner with their families 4 or more times a week scored better than those who ate family dinners 3 or fewer times a week. These results crossed racial lines and were a greater indicator than whether the child was in a one or two-parent family."<br />

Also sleep seems important in school, especially high school.  What would you know . . . one needs sleep to learn?<br /><br /> www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1903838,00.html <br /><br />Teachers can't make kids sleep.  Parents can.  I would be tempted to get a doctors note, a lawyer, and insist that my sleepy kid can come to school late.  I am sure things can be arranged so that study hall or something like that is the first class of the day for my kids.<br /><br />

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Success in school is linked to eating diner as a family, and the number of books in the home.<br />For the life of me I can't find the study just now. 

<br /><br />From Google:<br /> A 1994 survey by Louis Harris and Associates had 2000 seniors take an academic test and answer a list of personal questions. Researchers found that "Students who regularly ate dinner with their families 4 or more times a week scored better than those who ate family dinners 3 or fewer times a week. These results crossed racial lines and were a greater indicator than whether the child was in a one or two-parent family."<br /><br />

<br /><br />Thank you.  I think placing blame on teachers is a politicians only move.  Who is going to elect someone who says "your kids fail because of you?"  It is easier to blame the teachers, and get votes as people say "yeah it's not my fault!"  <br />

Structure and consistency are essential for kids. Often parents aren't monitoring their kids and are at work or out. I also see a lot of parents who want to be 'friends' with there kids. Big mistake. Kids want the structure and boundaries which is why they test to discover where they are.