what percentage of the teachers you had through high school, were really good ?

[liebuster]

Most were decent with the tenured teachers being mostly awful.

There was maybe one teacher a year that was really good and stood out.

 

[trobinett]

what percentage of the teachers you had were really good, how many sucked?

I graduated in 1965, I felt most of my teachers were good at their profession.

The major factor that separates today's teachers from teachers 50 years ago, is today's teachers are NOT empowered to teach, their only empowered to baby sit, and even then, they have no authority.

Not surprising to see the amount of people who feel they were cheated in their education, or those of their children. Today's parents want to blame someone else, ANYONE else.

Your just like so many others, sad, and totally lost.

 

[washamericom]

i was unruly and barely teachable. i was a class clown and drifted from class to class in a high school of nearly five thousand. plus i was a marked man going into all of my schools, because of my older brothers. but there are a handfull of wonderful teachers in there, and some who could barely fog up the mirror.

 

[The T]

i was unruly and barely teachable. i was a class clown and drifted from class to class in a high school of nearly five thousand. plus i was a marked man going into all of my schools, because of my older brothers. but there are a handfull of wonderful teachers in there, and some who could barely fog up the mirror.

Name Recognition is a bitch isn't it? Prior to me? I had two older sisters that had some of the same teachers...My sisters' performance was less than stellar...even irritating to those teachers...I had alot to overcome...and did.

 

[Wicked Jester]

75%

Most were good to excellent.

Best teacher was Mr. Storm, 7th grade science. Dude was brilliant and a lil' crazy. He would break out into impromptu concerts in the middle of class by throwing on a Rocker Album and jumping on his desk and playing air guitar and lip synching. Best one was when he put on a KISS album and blew fire out of his mouth ala Gene Simmons. He made things fun, and we all definitely learned. Not one if us in a class of 25 got below a B average......Another thing he did was have us build these lil' animatronic 4 legged skeletons. He said he had a special project for them when we were done. A couple o' weeks after we finished them and went through the lesson plan on the workings he told us to break them out. Lo and behold out comes the frogs for disection day. We disected them, talked about it and then mounted the perfecly hollowed skins on on our lil' animatronic walking vehiles. We then took them out in the hallway and had races. It was funny shit indeed.

 

[goldcatt]

In hindsight, I had a lot of very good teachers. At the time I thought differently about some of them.

I had three that stand out as poor. Very poor. In a small rural school, I was unlucky enough to have one of them twice. But others were excellent. Particularly my 9th grade civics teacher, my 11th grade English teacher, my 10th and 12th grade Bio teacher, my Econ teacher, my Geometry teacher....my typing teacher, not so much.

 

[xsited1]

what percentage of the teachers you had were really good, how many sucked?

I can remember one, but I graduated early so I could play in rock bands. I didn't become interested in school again until I was in my 20s.

 

[The T]

In hindsight, I had a lot of very good teachers. At the time I thought differently about some of them.

I had three that stand out as poor. Very poor. In a small rural school, I was unlucky enough to have one of them twice. But others were excellent. Particularly my 9th grade civics teacher, my 11th grade English teacher, my 10th and 12th grade Bio teacher, my Econ teacher, my Geometry teacher....my typing teacher, not so much.

I had zero that were poor...really. ALL knew their jobs, knew the curriculim, Knew thier expertise......and adhered to it, and didn't want to hear ANY sob stories...NAZI's I tells ya! (Seriously? They were great life's encounters...I was too young and stoopid to see it at the time, and isn't that the case with MOST of us)?

 

[goldcatt]

In hindsight, I had a lot of very good teachers. At the time I thought differently about some of them.

I had three that stand out as poor. Very poor. In a small rural school, I was unlucky enough to have one of them twice. But others were excellent. Particularly my 9th grade civics teacher, my 11th grade English teacher, my 10th and 12th grade Bio teacher, my Econ teacher, my Geometry teacher....my typing teacher, not so much.

I had zero that were poor...really. ALL knew their jobs, knew the curriculim, Knew thier expertise......and adhered to it, and didn't want to hear ANY sob stories...NAZI's I tells ya! (Seriously? They were great life's encounters...I was too young and stoopid to see it at the time, and isn't that the case with MOST of us)?

The poor ones I had were the ones you probably couldn't get today. One was almost always drunk, one was senile (that was typing - I can't remember his name, neither could he!), and one might have been a good teacher at other times but I happened to have him in the middle of a very messy divorce. Stuff happens.

No, I didn't appreciate some of them at the time. But what does a 14, 15 or 16 year old know about what'll be good for them down the road?

 

[chanel]

My favorite teachers were the nicesr and the easiest. In hindsight, they were not the most effective. One of the new proposals floating around about teacher performance is surveying the students. Um. Bad idea.

 

[The T]

My favorite teachers were the nicesr and the easiest. In hindsight, they were not the most effective. One of the new proposals floating around about teacher performance is surveying the students. Um. Bad idea.

Indeed...BAD idea. The teachers should be taught to adapt and overcome as to adhere to the curriculum they are hired to teach.

I mean to say is that the teacher adapts to the students...NOT the other way around...and if they are good/great teachers...they will.

 

[syrenn]

I had ONE. ONE good teacher. She was a bitch from HELL. Mean as the day was long. She was the ONLY teacher that i did not feel superior to.

Except for her, the rest were a waste of my time. I should have skipped the whole high school crap and gone straight to college.

 

[psikeyhackr]

I don't think you can evaluate the teacher separate from the subject. I also think the idea of being a straight A student is idiotic crap.

I nearly had an argument with a friend of mine about our chemistry teacher way back when. He thought he was great and became a chemical engineer. I thought he was just OK but I didn't give a damn about chemistry. I got straight A's in the course but I didn't care. He could have been a bad teacher and I would hardly have noticed. I think our physics teacher was bad or maybe just adequate. It was like he didn't care really but went through the motions but I got A's in that to but I was interested in physics so he kind of pissed me off.

Our math teacher junior year was a wacko. Most of us were scared of him. If you made a mistake he would scream, "HERESY" and throw the eraser at you. But he was competent at teaching math, just nuts.

But stuff like English and History I wouldn't even try getting an A no matter how good or bad the teacher was.

If the subject is worthless what is GOOD?

psik

 

[chanel]

Good thread. But as we've seen, students react to dofferent teaching styles differently. That's why evaluations are subjective. I have a class that would do ANYTHING for me. They all have A's and B's. I will teach the exact same lesson to my next class, and it is mutiny. Half that class is failing. Is it me?

 

[JakeStarkey]

"Out of all of your teachers that I've met, I never thought any of them were smarter than me.".... My Dad, in my last year of HS.

Only 1 was exceptional. I had a couple that were "good", the rest were doing little more than time.

In the Navy it was a little different, but they were instructors, not teachers. most of them were very good.

All my college teachers lacked something, except for one, she stood head and shoulders above the rest.

The community college instructors were outstanding, the four-year instructors, who were also in some cases, my grad school instructors, were really, really good. We had one drunk, one insane, and one university prof who could not keep his hands off the girl students. Several of the guys from a frat house caught him alone one night and beat the unholy hell out of him, with a warning the next time, he would be gelded. Campus and town police went nuts, had suspects, but could never make a case. I have always believed no fraternizing policies at college and in the work place of "superior" and "subordinate" should be fiercely enforced. Probably with not horsewhips and tire irons, though.

 

[washamericom]

how much do you guys think accounts for knowledge aquired at home, meaning from your parents or whomever was around ? my parents were both really smart.

 

[rightwinger]

I thought my High School teachers were better than my University professors. HS teachers are actually trained to teach. Professors are trained in their area of expertise.....doesn't mean they know how to teach it

 

[chanel]

Got that right Jake. Last year I remarked that I didn't learn a damn thing my first two years at college because none of my professors spoke English. One of my colleagues said "You went to Rutgers too?" He's about 15 years younger than me but had the same experience. And Rutgers is supposed to be a great school.

 

[rightwinger]

Got that right Jake. Last year I remarked that I didn't learn a damn thing my first two years at college because none of my professors spoke English. One of my colleagues said "You went to Rutgers too?" He's about 15 years younger than me but had the same experience. And Rutgers is supposed to be a great school.

I went to Buffalo and had the same professors. Most had poor English skills and couldn't answer questions. They had PhDs though

 

[goldcatt]

College was a whole different ball of wax. I had some rotten professors in undergrad, I went to a small teaching school rather than a large research oriented university. I also had some good ones. It was pretty hit or miss. Other than the drunk high school teacher, it was also the only place I ran into political or religious dogma being pushed in the classroom. And from both sides plus a few so bizarre they're off the usual spectrum, I might add. I skipped class and taught myself a lot.

Grad school was much better and more consistent in the quality of instruction, and law school uses a different teaching method. Almost all of my profs there were also fantastic instructors who stressed thinking from different angles and seeing the big picture rather than regurgitating facts, and independent thought was almost universally well rewarded. I can still quote significant pieces of some of their lessons (and a few of our arguments ) today. That was the best time of my academic career, by far.