Well, are we there yet?
I have to ask. As I may have posted already, I taught the story "The Fun they Had", by Issac Assimov, in the last few weeks. I'm wondering if we are there yet.
In a rather unique twist on the story, a prof is now outsourcing the marking of his papers to a company he runs in India. Now, it seems, not only are your Pizza orders taken in India, so are your technical support questions and marking your papers.
On the whole, this to me seems rather foolish. Why get others to mark the papers you should be marking? Why do that? Laziness is too easy an answer. Perhaps time demands. Perhaps an aversion to the bone crushing repetitiveness of all that marking. (I mean how many times CAN you circle simple spelling errors before lunacy begins?)
What's worse is the "gasp" students on Facebook during university lectures. How is that worse? Well, try paying for the honour of sitting in that lecture hall, then tell me facebook is worth it. Honest to God, who the heck does that? Why spend the money to get into University, to take the time to go to class and then not pay attention?
Now try teaching a Phys Ed class in a computer lab with the idea that I am a Kinkos and a free Internet Service Provider. Judging by what I am seeing, that is some students' perception of my school. (Who needs five print offs of one newspaper article? Who needs twenty copies of their own resume?)
Whatever.
I was speaking to several fellow teachers about their student-teachers in the past few weeks. (I've never had one, not sure if I'd like one, as you'll read in a second) Seems this student-teacher in a grade one class was on her last day. Had pencils to give out to the students and then asked the supervising teacher if she should leave them dull or sharpen them.
As I was being told this, I wondered out loud "Who the hell cares?"
Which was exactly what the supervising teacher let out, too. A little snarky perhaps, but that is what is happening in the future world of teachers.
Someone else I know had to repeatedly speak to the student teacher to go and meet the students, go and talk to them. Find out their names, things like that. Things that I try and do one the first few days of class. On the last day of a five week placement, being quizzed about children's names, got three correct.
Why? Why do that? Why make all the effort to get into a classroom and then do nothing but waste that opportunity on facebook, being unprepared or not having the decency to think for yourself and take the lead?
I think I am preaching to the converted here, but man I'm seeing more and more slacktivism, morons preaching marijuana and just plain Ferris Buellers in the classrooms.
And I don't think it's harmless.
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