From: mattair@sun44.synercom.hounix.org (Charles Mattair)
Subject: Re: Quality of Public Education.
Organization: Synercom Technology, Inc., Houston, TX
Distribution: tx
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 16:44:05 GMT

In article <21653@rpp386.lonestar.org> jfh@rpp386.cactus.org (John F. Haugh II) writes:
>
>There are lesson plans to be filed and mid-term grade slips to be sent
>out.  That's about the extent of the paperwork.  The grade slips are
>usually only sent out for students doing poorly.  At the end of the
>term you have to fill out a set of bubble-sheets (the "Fill in the
>circle with a #2 pencil only" forms) with all of the grade info.
>
>My darling ex-wife would regularly do hers while she and I sat on the
>bed watching Fawlty Towers and To The Manner Born.  Not really all that
>much work.  She taught two different subjects so she had two different
>lesson plans (actually, she had three, but two of them were fairly
>similar).  The mid-term grade slips took half an hour, and the others
>took half a day.  The only other work she had to do was grading homework
>and helping with after-school projects.  Homework is an hour or two once
>or twice a week.  Projects were about the same, but bunched into periods
>of activity and inactivity.
>-- 

I'm not sure what your ex-wife taught but I'm damned sure not going to let
my ex or current wife read this (they both teach high school math).  They
would probably come find you and make you wish they hadn't.

I would suspect your ex taught kindergarten or 1st grade.  High school teachers,
at least the ones I know who actually teach as opposed to baby sit,
regularly assign homework.  Homework has to be graded and this is more than
2-4 hours a week.  You sure don't let the kids grade it in class.  Most are
honest but some....

Tests are giving periodicly - these consume several hours, both in prep and
grading.  You also have to come up with different tests for each section;
otherwise the answers get passed around (not really fair, this was a problem
when I went to school).

The mid term grade slips are now at the middle of each marking period (six
weeks to us dinosaurs) and if you've got 150 students, they take considerably
longer than 1/2 hour.  Hell, you can't even average that many grades in 1/2
hour and you'd better average them.  You send an undeserved progress slip home
or fail to send a deserved one; the parent squawks and you can find yourself
in very deep weeds.

Six weeks grades regularly consume a significant fraction of a weekend.
Plus, you have to contend with school dictates that you cannot flunk more
than X percent of your students - regardless of their achievement levels.

Although its not paperwork, you left out parents calling to find out why
Johnny or Jannie is failing (Well, (pick one) (1) if he/she would wake up
occasionally, (2) if you exhibited any interest in the kids education
(3) if the kid didn't have to work after school, (4) ... it would help).
You absolutely don't give out your phone number - you have to call them - at
their convenience usually.

Special projects: right now she's tutoring some kids for TAAS.  Why?  They
barely speak English but the state says...

Unless you get the same classes each year, you have to prepare handouts,
worksheets and so forth.  In as much as the school changed two of my wife's
three courses, she regularly spends 20 hours a week just on this.
-- 
Charles Mattair		 			mattair@synercom.hounix.org
Any opinions offered are my own and do not reflect those of my employer.
Never try to teach a pig to sing - you waste your time
		and it annoys the pig.  (West Texas saying)
Newsgroups: tx.politics