Teacher Teacher

[Gran Torino]

An article by Charles Adler

What says NSMB about it? Is Chucky right or is he way off?

Here’s a fun fact for you: Justin Trudeau spent a little while teaching at a Vancouver high school before entering politics. He also has a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of British Columbia.

So he’s been on the frontlines of education before. He can honestly say he has experience in the field.

That may seem a little odd, based on his thoughts on how today’s teachers should approach the practice of education.

You’ve read about educators who forget to be educators, instead choosing to be armchair child psychologists, or mouthpieces of big labour, or – my personal favourite – “co-parents.”

But to Monsieur Trudeau, it’s a great new development when teachers don’t think about how to get the kids to do well in school.

Last week, Trudeau gave a lecture at Queen’s University to 31 student leaders from the Upper Canada District School Board. According to the press release, the purpose of the speech was to “talk about the importance of reminding students of their personal power and impact.”

He used the word “empower” a lot during his address. According to him, that’s supposed to be priority number one for today’s teachers.

What happened to priority number one being the act of teaching the material to the students? Apparently it’s not “diverse” enough.

Here’s the quote:

Trudeau said the hierarchical model of success that existed for so long in western society – the idea that academic success means success as an adult – must be altered.

“The kinds of success we’re looking at now are going to be as diverse as the students themselves are,” he said. “As a teacher, you must demonstrate that these students have power.”

What does THAT mean? That you don’t have to do well in school because you’re already “powerful?” That anyone’s idea of success is valid if they say so? Folks, this is what we talk about when we’re talking about an entitled generation.

I have no doubt that plenty of Canadian kids were raised to believe in hard work, individual effort, the value of a good education and a good career, and live those beliefs to this day.

But there are also plenty of Canadian kids who never learned to take responsibility for themselves and expect everyone else – school staff, parents, employers, the government – to do it for them.

Trudeau isn’t talking about “empowering” kids. He’s talking about coddling them. Can’t read or do math at a college level by the time you finish high school? Hey, no problem! You’re so special that it doesn’t matter!

And so-called “student leaders” are the ones hearing this. How many of them will buy it? How many of them will repeat it to their fellow students?

I wish there were more voices of responsibility reaching out to our kids. Instead we get a prime minister’s son and left-wing media darling who has always believed that he fell off the special tree and didn’t miss a branch on the way down.

[Couch_Surfer]

Charles Adler is a huge pompous douchebag.

[Buster Bluth]

Justin beat up a big indian.

Nuff said.

[L. Hutz Esq]

Is Mr. Adler saying you have to do well in school to do well in life? Because that is just as false as the argument he is pretending Mr. Trudeau made.

Plus, the material taught in a typical year could be taught in a week. Learning how to learn and learning that you want to learn is far more pressing.

Further, since when has empowering a kid been the same as coddling them? Think about teaching your kid to bike. - You empower them by buying the bike, setting it up right, giving them the knowledge on how to go about it. Then you let them fall over until they get it all the while encouraging them to get back up.

[chupacabra]

Originally Posted by Couch_Surfer

Charles Adler is a huge pompous douchebag.

My sentiments exactly.

There is a big difference between letting kids find what they are good at then showing them success, and letting them fail.

[Adam West]

Fuck that has to be one of the dumbest things I've read in a long time.

and that's coming from me.

[Adam West]

This is nothing but another attempt to establish a Us vs Them mentality against the youth by the old geezers who are now so out of touch with reality, desperatley clutching at straws in order to try to stay relevant.

[ReductiMat]

Originally Posted by Gran Torino

What says NSMB about it?

Charles would fit in well at NBR:

1) Construct simpleton strawman
2) Attack strawman
3) ???
4) Profit

[rewoga]

Related - classy move by some teachers here in the Comox Valley...

http://www2.canada.com/comoxvalleyec...a-8ad3eeec2151

[Couch_Surfer]

Originally Posted by rewoga

Related - classy move by some teachers here in the Comox Valley...

http://www2.canada.com/comoxvalleyec...a-8ad3eeec2151

How is that related.

[BJC]

Originally Posted by Adam West

This is nothing but another attempt to establish a Us vs Them mentality against the youth by the old geezers who are now so out of touch with reality, desperatley clutching at straws in order to try to stay relevant.

Oh dear I am not sure which side of that equation I fall into. It must be the "I don't give a f@%k side.

Cheers Ben

[Gran Torino]

Originally Posted by Couch_Surfer

Charles Adler is a huge pompous douchebag.

^^^^^^^^^

But there are also plenty of Canadian kids who never learned to take responsibility for themselves and expect everyone else – school staff, parents, employers, the government – to do it for them.

This Part of his comment however has some merit except the portion that says plenty. There is no doubt there are some Canadian kids with the "I'm Entitled" attitude,but not near as many as there is in some countries.Most of the young people I deal with work hard, and plenty of them own their own businesses. So my thoughts are most of Canadas youth have excellent work ethic and are entrepreneurial. For that matter most of the kids that join us riding buy their own bikes and don't just get stuff handed to them by their parents. That said their is a segment of our youth that feel they are entitled to everything, from everybody,thankfully it is a small amount.

[Fast Orange]

I think what Justin was getting at is kids need to take more personal responsibility for their education. Nowadays it seems all too easy for kids to excuse poor performance by criticizing the teacher and then parents pass on those criticisms at PTA meetings.

"A teacher can open a door for you, but you must walk through the door yourself."

-Confucius

[Mic]

And this is the hard part - trying to teach them that they have to et up their asses to walk on their own out of the door. YOu can only try to teach them, there is no guarantee that they truly "get it".

Sometimes I feel like the guy from ancient Greek mythology, pushing up a boulder only to realise it is rolling down on the other side....again.

[AlanB]

Alder is trolling. That's how he gets paid.