Pajiba

I'm going to be singing Rock Me, Sexy Jesus all damn day now.

Considering that Ben Stein made a movie railing against the Theory of Evolution that whined about Creationism not being taught in classrooms, and compared evolutionary scientists and the media to Nazis... Yeah, I'm good with a lack of Ben Stein here.

No matter how memorable he was in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Dammit Steve beat me to it by two minutes!!!

I love The Faculty. I love Jon Stewart getting stabbed in the eye. (I love Jon Stewart and would never want him stabbed in the eye, so don't get your panties in a wad. That scene is just awesome.)

Where's Shoop (Mark Harmon)?!

And seriously where is Mr. Escalante (Edward James Olmos)?

Shoop and Mr. Hand. Both excellent (and mandatory) calls.

Richard Vernon - Breakfast Club. You just bought yourself another Saturday for not including him.

Also, I have lots of love for Tina Fey's Ms. Newbury in Mean Girls.

Nicole:

It's Ms. NORbury. I only correct you because the poor lady got coffee spilled on her, her house searched for drugs, got divorced, and had to deal with that pill head Lohan. Show respect!

And since the blowjob this time was for Geoffrey Canada specifically...

Geoffrey Canada is justly celebrated for the creation of the Harlem Children’s Zone, which not only runs two charter schools but surrounds children and their families with a broad array of social and medical services. Canada has a board of wealthy philanthropists and a very successful fund-raising apparatus. With assets of more than $200 million, his organization has no shortage of funds. Canada himself is currently paid $400,000 annually. For Guggenheim to praise Canada while also claiming that public schools don’t need any more money is bizarre. Canada’s charter schools get better results than nearby public schools serving impoverished students. If all inner-city schools had the same resources as his, they might get the same good results.

But contrary to the myth that Guggenheim propounds about “amazing results,” even Geoffrey Canada’s schools have many students who are not proficient. On the 2010 state tests, 60 percent of the fourth-grade students in one of his charter schools were not proficient in reading, nor were 50 percent in the other. It should be noted—and Guggenheim didn’t note it—that Canada kicked out his entire first class of middle school students when they didn’t get good enough test scores to satisfy his board of trustees.

I'll quickly elaborate.

For MYSELF, I embrace the idea of charter or alternative schools beyond the basic public/private choices we've had in the past, because a lot of the stuff I experienced as a teacher or assistant wasn't so much test scores, but the lack of facilities, paper, pens, pencils, notebooks, etc. I hate when affluent people bitch about the list of stuff their kid has to bring to school for the year. Does anyone realize that most teachers (especially in the impoverished areas) pay out of their own pockets and salaries for classroom materials? In New York the average teacher spends between $500-$1,000 on stuff. Not including people who buy extras; like crackers or fruit for kids who obviously don't get fed enough at home or at the shelter where they live. There are schools that are so overcrowded that kids sit on the floors or on radiators and they are forced to share the same books.

I personally say fuck the tests. I could give a rat's ass about the test scores because I know they don't always show exactly what's going on. But if I'm a parent in Detroit or the Bronx and my public school is dirty, overcrowded or dangerous, and I have no money to send my kid to a Jewish day school or a Catholic prep school, why should I be forced to give my kid a shitty education? Why are people digging in their heels that other children might finally learn in a safe, clean environment?

Throwing my two cents in on the public vs. charter school debate.
I went to a public school, and received a quality education, so the system is not as broken as many people imply. Granted, I lived in an affluent neighborhood, which obviously had a large impact on the school system.
I understand the desire to send children to charter schools, but I think the problem is that it leaves the kids stuck at public schools royally screwed. Not everyone can go to a charter school; not only are there not enough spots available, but kids with learning disabilities will most likely be denied. Also children without involved or invested parents are left out of the charter schools, because the parents simply don’t care enough about their education. Because of this the children left at the floundering public schools are the ones who are already the most at risk.
Charter schools are a band-aid for our education system, but we need more.

The tough as nails faculty you don't want:

Richard Vernon, Breakfast Club

Mr Hand, Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Professor Banks, Soul Man

Trevor Garfield, 187

Jonathan Shale, The Substitute

Charles W. Kingsfield, The Paper Chase

Go see the film that fills me with blind rage knowing how the director pins everything wrong with education on the teachers? Yeah, not happening.

I was with you, too, until you mentioned Dead Poets Society. What an awful, obnoxious, destructive teacher. Anyone who advocates ruining books in a classroom must think leaving the lantern burning on the floor next to the cow in the barn is a smart idea.

Saw Waiting for Superman at local theater last weekend. Yes, the film compares American kids against kids from countries with decent social security net (and less economic inequality). But the test compared the highest-achieving kids from each country. As in, the best Finnish kids' test score against the best American school system could come up with (presumably not inner city school students)--and we _still_ came last. Also, the second highest scores were earned by South Korean kids, and South Korea has less of a social security net than US does. The best we can do comes up short; yes, we have a problem.

And yes, it is possible to get a decent education in public school system, depending on where you live. Relying on property taxes to fund schools is inherently unequal, because kids who need help the most get the least amount of funding.

However, good teachers _do_matter, and it is extremely difficult to fire bad ones. I live in a "good" school district, and have an 8th grader preparing to go into high school.

At his middle school, there are 2 science teachers, and he did not get the _good_ one he had wanted. She was Teacher of the Year, and students who went through her class went on to do well in science in high school. But he's got the _other_ teacher, who hands out As and Bs, but his students went on to do badly in science in high school. So we do extra work at home to make up for this.

And I've heard about this teacher who doesn't come to work anymore, because he sexually harasses girls (we are talking middle school here), i.e. "accidentally" brushing/touching boobs. So he's on PAID leave for rest of the year. Apparently this teacher does this sort of thing every year (so he ends up getting paid to NOT to come to work). And he has been in the district for 15 years, and he can't be fired.

Sigh...charter school teacher here. Fully one-fourth of my 160 kids have ESE/ESOL accommodations, each one different, each one met. We welcome *every* student.

Enrollment is down this year - we'd love more students. But one byproduct of the economy is a flood of folks leaving us (Florida) to go back north to move in with family. Numbers across the county are down, so it isn't just us.

As for the $$ issue, one problem we have regarding school- related taxes that may be unique to our state comes from part-time residents who want to save their tax dollars for "their" schools "back home," even if they spend at least half of their calendar in their FL homes. This may contribute to why Florida - I don't know how to put this, so please excuse the clumsy wording - has one of the lowest per-student allowances in the US. (Side note - charter schools receive only 60% of what the public schools do.)

I always feel like I need to jump in and remind folks that educational systems vary from place to place. And until we have our public school overhaul, charter schools, private institutions, and homes hooping will continue to be necessary options for families that cannot wait for a future fix.

Richard Mulligan as Herbert Gower in Teachers. He escaped from an asylum and steps in as a history teacher. He dressed the parts of the historical figures he was talking about.

Sam Kinison as Professor Terguson in Back to School.

Laura Dern as Miss Riley in October Sky.

I'm with Sean. Mr. Vargas and Mr, Hand FTW.

@scorzi: My god, you are right. I shall take a part time job as a bartender at P.J. Calamity's as my punishment. I owe her that.

@Snuggiepants re: Richard Vernon - Yes, but he's amusing as hell, so it's six and one half dozen, really.

I always liked the feminist hippie teacher in Dazed and Confused, the one who reminds them as school lets out that the bicentennial is just commemorating a bunch of rich guys who didn't want to pay their taxes...

Sam Kinison as the professor was the only reason (and Dangerfield nostalgia) I bought Back to School.

...and the Vonnegut cameo.

Right there with you, Shibuyama.

Thanks for the link, mightygodking, it was an interesting read to say the least.

As a college student, it's time for me to begin my career, get a job which 1 I needed is increasingly more tough. And I must maintain study each day. By Google I can get some info which is I needed.

Of course teachers are important. And of course good teachers are better than bad teachers. But where do you think charter school teachers come from? They come from the same pool of teachers that go into traditional public and private schools. And, as a teacher myself, I know that charter schools are seen as the bottom of the food chain. They don't treat their teachers well as a rule, and everyone I know who teaches in them wants out. Does this film address the fact that the turn-over rate for teachers in charter schools is extremely high? If you want better teachers, improve teacher preparation programs, provide better support for beginning teachers and experienced teachers alike, and develop a system that rewards good teaching. (Hint: firing the teachers labeled "bad teachers" without giving them any chance to improve is not the same as rewarding successful teachers.) Also, the "tenured teachers cannot be fired" comments drive me crazy. In every public school district, there is a process for evaluating every teacher, whether tenured or not. And if that process is followed properly, the "bad teachers" will receive bad evaluations and be fired. If the administration/school board is not following that process, then it's up to the teachers unions, local media, and above all PARENTS to make sure that it is followed.

Where's Coach Kilmer from Varsity Blues?

I haven't seen "Waiting for Superman" yet, but I've read in interviews where Guggenheim says that the most important step in improving education is excellent teachers. So, this debate about charter vs. public is kind of a moot point, if you don't consider training, recruitment, retention, and continuing education of quality teachers, right?

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Chuck Noblett, Joffrey Jellineck, and Principal Blackman from Strangers with Candy. Also Giles from Buffy.

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