When children teach children...you get gibberish

> My thoughts on this run parallel to MawMaw's. The one thing I would add to
> Sandi's assessment of the situation? I wish I'd saved some of the notes
> sent home by teachers because you would be SHOCKED at the level of written
> communication skills possessed by many. At least the example she cites
> show the educator doing the right thing even if unsupported by the admin.

> Enjoy.

The real problem is that most folks do not realize that they butcher the language (especially English).

We have teachers only a couple of years older than the students they teach. These well-meaning young teachers haven't been out in the world long enough to appreciate the way things really DO work (especially in business)...so they opt for the placebo instead of solving the real problem. It's easier to say 'it's the thought that counts' instead of correcting the real problem.

You see, when children teach children, the end result is oftentimes gibberish or confusion, at best. To allow this sort of 'teaching' to go on is to short-change our next generation in such a way as to handicap them severely in the global job market.

Here's an example from one of my son's teachers:

'...he couldn't spell "Indianapolis".' Well, sorry to say, neither could the English teacher as he spelled it Indiapolis! I kept that note for many years as a classic example of incompetence.

If you want folks to learn things correctly you must begin with teachers who KNOW their subject...otherwise all you do is pass along incompetence.

Sure, students should be tested...but so should our teachers...and not just on their knowledge of 'how to teach and track grades' but on the subjects they're expected to teach. Just getting a teaching certificate should NOT entitle them to teach ANY of the standard subjects without having passed a specialized test on the subject. The days of the one room classroom are long gone...and so should the out-moded qualifying of teachers be long gone.

The world our children inherit is far too complex to have them taught by folks who are still trying to do things like they did in an agrarian society. Subjects have expanded exponentially to the point where specialization is virtually a requirement. Trouble is our teacher qualifications and quality-assurance methods haven't kept up. Long past time we changed things to reflect the world as it is.

A lot of the expenses that employers have to cover (and that get passed along to us as consumers) are directly related to the lack of communication skills of their employees. Muddled communications cost all of us more than you'd ever believe in wasted time and resources, not to mention lost business.

Sandi Bowman