Tired and Bitchy
My hitherto diffident and implicit support of the "Education Coursework Is BS" movement is now officially proactive and explicit. Education coursework is BS. Am I joining the bandwagon a little late? Probably. Do I have anything particularly new to say? Probably not. But I'm vain and self-important, and so long as someone reads my blog because it's someone's job to do so, I suppose I can be placated with pettiness. It's about all I have for a defense mechanism these days.
The lines I just wrote conjure the image of Morgan Freeman in the Shawshank Redemption telling the young parole officer that the word "rehabilitated" is just a word used by the government so that people like him can have a job and dress up in a suit. Stamping a degree for me with words "Master's of Education" is exactly the same sort of job. This isn't of course to say that these same people are not decent people, but the whole system is flawed, and if one chooses to be an integral part of that system, they deserve the criticism that goes along with it.
I of course have chosen to be a part of that system. Of course, I feel somewhat duped about it, but that's yet another blog that I'm probably not going to write because even if I had the time I wouldn't care to do anything for this program anymore than the bare minimum. And I'm totally self-righteous right now, and everything I have to say totally rocks even though it really doesn't.
Education programs are a waste of time. They should not be a part of the university system, but alas, we here in America with our Protestant heritage believe that job training is exactly what higher education is for. And like all job training, education job training is worthless.
STAI is not practical. It's not anything. Rather, it is something - a retarded document that gave somebody a meaningless Ph.D., gives other people meaningless job descriptions, and keeps young teachers like me from focusing on my classroom. I'm never going to use STAI lesson plans again. I'm not even using them now. And yet, I'm three weeks behind on grading and haven't had a whole lot of free time or extra sleep to show for it because spending two hours a night to think of different ways to say that I'm giving my students a few worksheets tomorrow and having a class discussion makes me a good teacher. Awesome. I'm glad that's my grade for my graduate work.
Visits from an old man losing his mind are not practical. They also waste my time. Thanks sir, but I'm not really interested in making you feel important while you bitch at me because you have to wear a name tag in my school like it's a personal affront. By the way, you didn't come during the wrong class period because I wrote my schedule wrong, you came during the wrong period because you looked at my schedule wrong. Maybe I'd feel differently if you actually responded to anything I had to say instead of ignoring it and didn't condescendingly toss a Kit Kat my way for the trouble.
And while I'm being as vicious as someone as generally good-hearted and trusting as I am, let me be among the first to say that I'm tired of hearing a defensive, snippy speech about how meaningful it all really is every Saturday in Oxford. By and large, it's not. By and large, we could all learn in a week what we're dragging out over two years. And deep down inside we all know this, so let's stop pretending and relax a little. I wouldn't be so defensive myself right now if I didn't witness it on Saturday mornings and feel the need to respond. It's called 'modeling'.
So, have I not learned anything in this program? No. Do I not think this is a useful program? No. I only wish to point out some major flaws with what we do here. Do I have any real solutions? Not really. But just because I don't know what I'd do in someone like President Bush's shoes doesn't mean he's not a self-important idiot wearing a suit because someone gave him the job and ruining what could be a chance to do some good.
I suppose the joke's on me getting this degree, though. I thought it might mean something, like it's a post-graduate education or something, but it's not really an education at all so much as extra dollars in my salary. It makes me feel like a business major, and that embarrasses me, but it's what I'm stuck with now. Awesome.
The lines I just wrote conjure the image of Morgan Freeman in the Shawshank Redemption telling the young parole officer that the word "rehabilitated" is just a word used by the government so that people like him can have a job and dress up in a suit. Stamping a degree for me with words "Master's of Education" is exactly the same sort of job. This isn't of course to say that these same people are not decent people, but the whole system is flawed, and if one chooses to be an integral part of that system, they deserve the criticism that goes along with it.
I of course have chosen to be a part of that system. Of course, I feel somewhat duped about it, but that's yet another blog that I'm probably not going to write because even if I had the time I wouldn't care to do anything for this program anymore than the bare minimum. And I'm totally self-righteous right now, and everything I have to say totally rocks even though it really doesn't.
Education programs are a waste of time. They should not be a part of the university system, but alas, we here in America with our Protestant heritage believe that job training is exactly what higher education is for. And like all job training, education job training is worthless.
STAI is not practical. It's not anything. Rather, it is something - a retarded document that gave somebody a meaningless Ph.D., gives other people meaningless job descriptions, and keeps young teachers like me from focusing on my classroom. I'm never going to use STAI lesson plans again. I'm not even using them now. And yet, I'm three weeks behind on grading and haven't had a whole lot of free time or extra sleep to show for it because spending two hours a night to think of different ways to say that I'm giving my students a few worksheets tomorrow and having a class discussion makes me a good teacher. Awesome. I'm glad that's my grade for my graduate work.
Visits from an old man losing his mind are not practical. They also waste my time. Thanks sir, but I'm not really interested in making you feel important while you bitch at me because you have to wear a name tag in my school like it's a personal affront. By the way, you didn't come during the wrong class period because I wrote my schedule wrong, you came during the wrong period because you looked at my schedule wrong. Maybe I'd feel differently if you actually responded to anything I had to say instead of ignoring it and didn't condescendingly toss a Kit Kat my way for the trouble.
And while I'm being as vicious as someone as generally good-hearted and trusting as I am, let me be among the first to say that I'm tired of hearing a defensive, snippy speech about how meaningful it all really is every Saturday in Oxford. By and large, it's not. By and large, we could all learn in a week what we're dragging out over two years. And deep down inside we all know this, so let's stop pretending and relax a little. I wouldn't be so defensive myself right now if I didn't witness it on Saturday mornings and feel the need to respond. It's called 'modeling'.
So, have I not learned anything in this program? No. Do I not think this is a useful program? No. I only wish to point out some major flaws with what we do here. Do I have any real solutions? Not really. But just because I don't know what I'd do in someone like President Bush's shoes doesn't mean he's not a self-important idiot wearing a suit because someone gave him the job and ruining what could be a chance to do some good.
I suppose the joke's on me getting this degree, though. I thought it might mean something, like it's a post-graduate education or something, but it's not really an education at all so much as extra dollars in my salary. It makes me feel like a business major, and that embarrasses me, but it's what I'm stuck with now. Awesome.
posted by David Jones | 19:34
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