On one level I agree with you, but look at it like this - would always want to get the hardest tasks dumped on you because youre a better employee? You'd quit

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I agree, and that underscores what's wrong with our educational system in the US. If teachers were paid what they're worth I think you'd see more of them willing to take on more challenging students.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

What you're describing is a tutor, they exist. The worst thing that has happened to education, in my opinion, is no child left behind. It made classes far worse for everyone involved. Some kids are simply slower than others, and some kids just don't care, yet geniuses decided it would be a great idea to keep these kids all grouped up regardless of level. A "good" teachers job is to teach the entire group lessons and help them get a general understanding and not dedicate their entire time to the few that simply don't get it. This is not a difficult concept to understand. Everyone getting a participant trophy, regardless of work, means no one works hard to achieve better.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

It's best for society to bubble up the best to do best. This is how cancer gets cured. The education system on the whole is generally setup for the lowest common denominator and this is a small exception we gravely need to maintain

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Often the "best" just benefitted from being fortunate enough to have been born on third base. You can't honestly think the smartest people only come from the wealthy.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Nah I was born poor as have many immigrant kids in the US and I've greatly benefited from having good teachers teaching advanced classes in school. The classroom environment of all of the general public kids (future teen moms, burger flippers, and jailbirds) who have behavioral problems, under perform, can't keep up just holds us all back and is majorly distracting and disruptive and bad for everyone. I'm very grateful I was allowed to escape such classroom environments and could be in classes with people who cared more and/or were just naturally better able to handle academic life.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Sounds great in theory, but that's essentially punishing the best employees with the most difficult kind of work especially when they're not getting paid extra or given the resources necessary to do their jobs effectively. And as a former teacher myself, you can't make students care. There's only so much teachers can do when their own parents don't care about their education.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Hmm definitely wasn't the case when I was in school. Not sure where that is but yeah that's not the case everywhere that'd be awful

by Anonymous 1 year ago

That was my experience as well. Then again, I went to grade school in the 80's, before they started cutting public school funding. I also remember most of my teachers being able to live in the same town they taught in.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

It's the opposite for language classes. If there are 100 students and you have to teach all of them, then maybe 10% (Group A) will actually learn the language, and that's being *very* generous. Maybe 20% (Group B) will learn enough to get around. Then another 30% (Group C) will learn a lot of words, easy phrases and some basic expressions. The other 40% (Group D) will learn some words, or nothing at all. But if you can focus on Groups A and B then *all of them* will learn the language and you've suddenly got an environment where 30% of the people are proficient in the language. Now Group C is also going to learn the language and instead of only 10% actually being able to speak the language, you're at 60%. A bunch better outcome, yeah?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Where does teaching have the most impact? Fast or slow learners? For the largest positive impact, the best teachers should teach the brightest children. The only exception is teachers who are specialized in teaching dumb or lazy children.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Teachers teach to the Middle, that's where most of the kids are. If your kid needs sped services you need to advocate for them and if your kid is gifted you also need to advocate but acknowledge that a lot of schools just don't have gifted programs anymore.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Lol let's face it. The dumb kids are going to get pregnant at 17 and work at a factory or McDonald's for their entire lives. better to enrich the better kids.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

That's what happens when our public school system fails kids from practically day one.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Dumb kids are useless

by Anonymous 1 year ago

How many kids just assume they are stupid because they get put on that track starting at 1st grade because they don't learn the same way most kids do?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

What district do you live in that still has tracking? Or do you put your kids in your time machine everyday and hop back to the '70s?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

True.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Good students are like a sponge. They are our future and you need good teachers to feed them. Bad students are a drain. Let the bad teacher teach the bad students how to become bad adults. Bad teachers can't teach good students and good teachers are wasted on bad students.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

As a kid who had a lot of problems in school I can tell you "Good teachers" don't exist There are teacher who can reach kids in a crowded class room and are good at that There are teachers who are good one on one and working with special needs There are teachers who are good at dealing with behavioral problems and controlling that class room. They however aren't interchangeable. The "really good" teachers that parents and students loved that went above and beyond. Crumbled with me, the strict teacher that kids hate but always seems to get everyone to pass the final. Quit after a school year with me. The one that got through was the older one who was a few years from retirement and just didn't care anymore. Different kids need different teachers

by Anonymous 1 year ago

This is not really that an unpopular opinion. It's more like a 50-50 decades-old debate in educational psychology. A lot of resources are expended on the poorly motivated and / or otherwise struggling students. Sometimes, the "best" teachers get the gifted kids, but as someone who is currently employed by the NYCDOE, some of these highly motivated teachers prefer to work with the disadvantaged.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

My dad loved working with the special ed kids. He would regularly get classes of kids who were severely under grade level and by the end of the year, they would be where they were supposed to be. My sister did the same thing for a couple years before they moved her back to a grade level. Its completely different for her. She didnt have a class, she had to go pull 1 kid at a time and work with them, then go pull one more, and so on. Terrible set-up all around.

by Anonymous 1 year ago