With the economy the way it is now, this is no time to lose a job. However, what I just read in the Morganton News Herald (hat tip to MishkaZena as usual) about the NCSD situation is quite upsetting to me as a parent:
"Tasha Houpe, from Statesville, has a son in 10th grade at NCSD. She said the school has changed a lot since he started there when he was 2 years old.She said she doesn’t feel teachers are helping the students as much as they should.Houpe said one teacher told her it doesn’t matter if the students finish a grade because they probably won’t go to college.She said she wants to know someone is there who cares about her son."
If any teacher said that to me about my kid, I would be demanding that that teacher be immediately fired. Unless my kid had a very severe disability and/or was clearly not mentally/academically/emotionally capable of going to college, the school and its teachers should expect that my child would be going to college. Right up to the point of graduation, the expectation should be that a child is going to college.
Assuming that this attitude is typical of all the educational staff at NCSD, I would say that none of them have any business teaching deaf children and perhaps ALL should be fired. This is 2008. We know deaf students, when properly taught, are just as capable as anyone else of going on to college. And in today's economy, a bachelor's degree is practically a requirement for entering the labor force in a decently paid job with a future.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
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9 comments:
What is the Board of Education at North Carolina doing about this?
Der Sankt
yes this teacher should be fired, because teachers should be helping their students to succeed, and no teacher should hold the opinion that a child can't graduate or attend college. These children deserve someone that has faith in their abilities, and one that will help them to build their confidence and succeed.
I am not surprised about the NC Board of Education and Employment system from DSHH to DVR of North Carolina. I have no more comments since I witnessed how ignronant things going on with the system.
Not all teachers are like this. The good teachers' hands are tied due to the system they are under. So far many good teachers have left or are leaving the school when they are able to.
To clarify what second anonymous said...
NCSD is under Department of Human Health Services then the Office of Exceptional/educational (I forget which) services also known as OES consults and provides so called support to the two deaf schools and blind school in NC.
So OES must be sleeping on the job...where were they when these concerns were brought up? I understand the issues been around for as long as the current director has been there! No excuse!
and couple that with bad principals, I was a teacher for two years with good intentions of giving deaf children the means of having a great future and career. I lost my job as a teacher of the deaf because the students REFUSED to do work and turn around telling the prinicpal that I do not do the work at all as a teacher when they knew they were lying and would get away with it.
I was given bad evaluations by the evaluators that do not know sign language at all and have any deep understanding of the deaf culture and deaf people.
So in case of NCSD, there may be more to the eye to this story. I never would say that a particular student would never go to college unless he/she demostrated that he/she can not. But still I lost the job anyway.
Think about this: why is there high turnover of teachers at deaf schools and deaf programs across the nation? No stablity in the learning environment for the deaf and other disabilities at all.
No wonder many teachers left.
Thanks, Anonymous... you are right; not all teachers feel that way. Many of us believe the students can do, but the system does not allow them to develop correctly. The Administrators all do not have deaf education degrees !!! Many teachers have tried to tell the school that there are many other ways to help the students achieve but often ignore....
There are teachers like this everywhere. They do not seem to be in control of their mouths and do not THINK BEFORE THEY SPEAK.
I think it is up to the parent to ask the teacher what she meant by her remark and make her sweat a little. How else can people like this L E A R N ?
Lantana
Keep in mind, majority of the teachers at NCSD are there for the students. Not for the $$, fame, or glory.
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