My recent columns have focused on the extremely poor educational outcomes for black students. There's enough blame for all involved to have their fair share. That includes students who are hostile and alien to the educational process and have derelict, uninterested home environments. After all, if there is not someone in the home to ensure that a youngster does his homework, has wholesome meals, gets eight to 10 hours of sleep and behaves in school, educational dollars won't produce much.
There's another educational issue that's neither flattering nor comfortable to confront. That's the low academic quality of so many teachers. It's an issue that must be confronted and dealt with if we're to improve the quality of education. Most states require prospective teachers to pass a certification test. How about a sample of some of the test questions.
Here's a question from a recent test given to college students in Michigan planning to become teachers: "Which of the following is largest? a. 1/4, b. 3/5, c. 1/2, d. 9/20." Another question: "A town planning committee must decide how to use a 115-acre piece of land. The committee sets aside 20 acres of the land for watershed protection and an additional 37.4 acres for recreation. How much of the land is set aside for watershed protection and recreation? a. 43.15 acres, b. 54.6 acres, c. 57.4 acres, d. 60.4 acres."
The Arizona teacher certification test asks: "Janet can type 250 words in 5 minutes, what is her typing rate per minute? a. 50wpm, b. 66wpm, c. 55wpm, d. 45wpm." The California Basic Educational Skills Test asks the test taker to find the verb in the following sentence: "The interior temperatures of even the coolest stars are measured in millions of degrees. a. Coolest, b. Of even, c. Are measured, d. In millions." A CBEST math question is: "You purchase a car making a down payment of $3,000 and 6 monthly payments of $225. How much have you paid so far for the car? a. $3225, b. $4350, c. $5375, d. $6550, e. $6398."
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3 comments:
Pitiful at best. And YOU wonder why your children graduate ignorant, clueless, indoctrinated, no critical thinking skills and NO common sense. Wow!!! I wouldn't hire them for love nor money.
I am a teacher. I would have answered every one of those questions but you are correct, many adults in pur schools would not be able to because they are incompetent. That meme that shows kevin hart saying about coworkers "how TF do you still work here?" i say every day. Most are in administration or guidence. But the biggest issue with the black students you are talking about is that they simply do not care, nor do they have anyone at home that cares. Nobody in charge cares about really helping those kids but only fixing the numbers to make it look as if they care. If Wicomico county actually had an independent investigation on the coverup of behavior issues and lack of accountability people would be really surprised. Our idiot administrators keep telling us that referrals are down. I would bet my paycheck that they have more than doubled. No doubt.
Those are 3rd grade questions.
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