NationStates Jolt Archive

Reading an opinion piece in my morning paper about how President-elect Obama will not truly being doing anything revolutionary while in office, I ran into an interesting throwaway bit. The bit in question stated that it is the success of the feminism movement that has lowered the standing of teachers in the American public. The idea being that before the movement took off, teaching was one of the few professions open to women of intelligence and drive, but now, those women have better things to do and so such positions are considered as quaint and demeaning as being a housewife.

What say you to this idea?

considering that about a third to half of my teachers were male...
Considering I tried my hand at teaching (more like tutoring, but close enough)
considering my mother was a teacher (retired now)

I laugh at that assertion.

Not American but here it hasn't affected the teaching. In the teaching unis in Belfast you need the same grades as to do law and accountancy.

there was a time when (lets be honest) teachers weren't stupid?!

also what are these "intelligent" women doing exactly? being desk pilots?

Reading an opinion piece in my morning paper about how President-elect Obama will not truly being doing anything revolutionary while in office, I ran into an interesting throwaway bit. The bit in question stated that it is the success of the feminism movement that has lowered the standing of teachers in the American public. The idea being that before the movement took off, teaching was one of the few professions open to women of intelligence and drive, but now, those women have better things to do and so such positions are considered as quaint and demeaning as being a housewife.

What say you to this idea?
This sounds like yet more contempt for choice feminism that seems to be in vogue in the more reactionary "feminist" circles. The idea that it is somehow feminist to demean a female teacher's contribution by saying that it is somehow "quaint" to be a teacher smacks of class-based elitism to me. It is true that the contribution of teachers, much like mothers, goes drastically undervalued, and the burdens of labor are often inequitable, but that doesn't mean teaching sucks. I really don't understand what kind of rational idea could have motivated such a diatribe.

I don't think it is at all feminism's fault that teaching isn't respected - quite the opposite, in fact, as the decline in respect has coincided pretty neatly with its switch from a predominantly male to a predominantly female profession.

back when all (elementary school) teachers were female, they were also all young and quit teaching when they got married and had kids. so they didnt have the depths of experience that modern day teachers have. (please excuse the generalization)

and a good half (maybe more) of the teachers i had in grade school did not have full teaching credentials.

as far as i can see todays teachers are better educated and better trained than they were back in the pre-feminism days.

the difference is that kids arent trained to treat teachers with respect and adults look down on them because they dont make boatloads of money.

i blame the patriarchy. for everything.

Well considering the way the democrats choose their running options there was always going to be a cry of racism or sexism. Personally I think both are overused as an excuse. Crying about the world dosnt help. Getting up and trying something does

I went to seven schools, three high schools none of them private and I've had over 40 teachers. In all of that only 3 or 4 were bad/incompetent. Honestly, I don't think that teachers are as bad as people make them sound. Now I'm in my first year of university and my high school teachers were just as good/better than my profs. There is nothing wrong with teachers in the present day in my opinion. So no I don't think that feminism reduced the quality of teachers.

considering that about a third to half of my teachers were male...
Considering I tried my hand at teaching (more like tutoring, but close enough)
considering my mother was a teacher (retired now)

I laugh at that assertion.

Seconded.

Reading an opinion piece in my morning paper about how President-elect Obama will not truly being doing anything revolutionary while in office, I ran into an interesting throwaway bit. The bit in question stated that it is the success of the feminism movement that has lowered the standing of teachers in the American public. The idea being that before the movement took off, teaching was one of the few professions open to women of intelligence and drive, but now, those women have better things to do and so such positions are considered as quaint and demeaning as being a housewife.

What say you to this idea?

It might (and I mean might) have less to do with Feminism, than it does with a structure that tends to retain the least effective and drive away the ones that actually have some talent, drive, intelligence, or ability.

Notably, "Private Schools" pay less, have fewer assured benefits, yet retain more talented professionals than Public schools. Why is that?

I call BS on that article's opinion. (not on you, NERV-sama)

I don't think that is the reason for poor teachers at all. I think the reason my have to do with declining entrance standards which has to do with less people wanting to become a teacher so what we are getting are those that want to be a teacher and those that have to be a teacher because they aren't good enough to be anything else.

I would like someone to PROVE that the quality of teaching has fallen. I believe quite the opposite is true. I must wonder if this is not more of the same public-school-bashing we see so often.

My B.A. is in Secondary Education and I'd blame modern educational theories and the Ed.D's that create them for the decline of American schools, not feminism. To clarify, I'm not attacking EVERY Doctor of Education... But a lot of them are just unrealistic and sort of looney (trust me, I've read God knows how many articles written by them).

There's a reason why I decided to be a professor of history instead of a high school history teacher... Well, I mean, besides the fact that I couldn't stand making nickles a day for the rest of my life and that I've always wanted to have "Dr." in front of my name.

Not American but here it hasn't affected the teaching. In the teaching unis in Belfast you need the same grades as to do law and accountancy.

Here in Fairfax County, you can start with a Bachelor's degree, but most have a Master's or higher - it's very competitive here.

If you're in our school system for more than a few years, you'll have a Master's or higher - just to stay competitive.

And that's for teaching elementary school. High school teachers as a rule in Fairfax all have Master's or PhD's.

It might (and I mean might) have less to do with Feminism, than it does with a structure that tends to retain the least effective and drive away the ones that actually have some talent, drive, intelligence, or ability.

Notably, "Private Schools" pay less, have fewer assured benefits, yet retain more talented professionals than Public schools. Why is that?

Because thanks to NCLB, the teachers in Public School are forced to teach the test rather than teach their class.