The book I read was 'Triangle: The Fire That Changed America." It was about the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire and had tons of information about NYC at this time, particularly about how the poorer people lived.
Kid wants to learn but hates school
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The book I read was 'Triangle: The Fire That Changed America." It was about the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire and had tons of information about NYC at this time, particularly about how the poorer people lived.
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Also keep in mind that in some schools, rural and small-town especially, several grades (or ages) of children were all in the same classroom. So a teacher would be teaching reading to one group of children, while nearby an older group would be working on something else. Penmanship perhaps. Or reading silently from history books, or even the Bible. An older girl (or boy) might be conducting a reading lesson in a far corner, or helping a child write their letters.
My dad went to school in a rural town in the 1930's and told me there would be four 'grades' in one classroom, as as many as fifty children in that one room. Older children would def. be helping the teacher out in such a situation. (These teachers, btw, were grossly underpaid and many were required to take a paycut during the Depression. I worked with one elderly lady early in my teaching career who had all sorts of horrible stories about teaching during that time. When I knew her she was retired and worked as a substitute. She told me she was one of only a few teachers who 'refused to use the rod' when a child misbehaved.)
Anyhow, what I would stress is the droning 'sameness' of day-after-day reading aloud and listening to a teacher, who might be just a teenager or who had very little training, as she (and sometimes he) struggled to keep the attention of a 30+ children of various ages. Even those of us who liked school would have a hard time in that environment.
What makes a child 'not like school' is not necessarily the harshness of the environment, but the frustration of sitting still and listening and reading aloud, (and waiting for the slow readers, which can be excruciating), then sitting still some more and watching the clock and the time passing so slooowly. Creative, energetic, bright kids are going to suffer. In fact, all the children in that environment are suffering.
My dad went to school in a rural town in the 1930's and told me there would be four 'grades' in one classroom, as as many as fifty children in that one room. Older children would def. be helping the teacher out in such a situation. (These teachers, btw, were grossly underpaid and many were required to take a paycut during the Depression. I worked with one elderly lady early in my teaching career who had all sorts of horrible stories about teaching during that time. When I knew her she was retired and worked as a substitute. She told me she was one of only a few teachers who 'refused to use the rod' when a child misbehaved.)
Anyhow, what I would stress is the droning 'sameness' of day-after-day reading aloud and listening to a teacher, who might be just a teenager or who had very little training, as she (and sometimes he) struggled to keep the attention of a 30+ children of various ages. Even those of us who liked school would have a hard time in that environment.
What makes a child 'not like school' is not necessarily the harshness of the environment, but the frustration of sitting still and listening and reading aloud, (and waiting for the slow readers, which can be excruciating), then sitting still some more and watching the clock and the time passing so slooowly. Creative, energetic, bright kids are going to suffer. In fact, all the children in that environment are suffering.
Any talk of improving education in today's political environment is all wishful thinking. Education funding at all levels of government is the ATM where they go to find money for political cronies, tax cuts, and enforcing social-engineering legislation.
They can do this by demonizing teachers as government funded layabouts, and for some reason, the public seems to eat this stuff right up. I'm glad none of my kids or grandchildren chose to take up teaching as a career, else I'd be forced to kick them in the ass and tell them to "Wise up. You'll be the whipping boy for parents and demagogues for your entire career, even as you spend your evenings on parent-teacher counseling and your own money to supplement scarce school supplies."
They can do this by demonizing teachers as government funded layabouts, and for some reason, the public seems to eat this stuff right up. I'm glad none of my kids or grandchildren chose to take up teaching as a career, else I'd be forced to kick them in the ass and tell them to "Wise up. You'll be the whipping boy for parents and demagogues for your entire career, even as you spend your evenings on parent-teacher counseling and your own money to supplement scarce school supplies."
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Agree whole-heartedly.
I spent up to $2,000 a year on school supplies for my classroom until my husband had a heart-to-heart with me and I had to stop. (I bought my own TV, TV cart and VCR/DVD player as the school had only one per department and even then, they often wouldn't work. I bought paper, pens, chemicals, rocks, fossils, an aquarium and all that went with it, and numerous novelty items for my room, like a clock with the chemical symbols in place of the numbers 1-12. I was always buying some silly thing that the kids would love.)
As for difficult parents, I learned early how to disarm them, (for the most part.) I'd find a way to compliment their child before they tore into me for being too hard/too easy, too challenging/not challenging enough. It's hard to attack someone who just told them their child was polite or creative or a joy to have in class. Plus I always had the kids on my side. When a difficult parent would threaten to remove their child from my class - omg, once I mentioned astrology as being the beginnings of astronomy - they'd go home to learn the child didn't want to leave my class and would usually put up a tantrum. Parents would give in. (What kid wants to leave the science class where we blow up hydrogen gas - small, safe amounts in test tubes - or play with cars or darken the room to burn chemicals and do light spectra tests? Not a one.)
But I do have two friends who left teaching when they developed panic attacks over parental pressure. I've walked more than one friend out to their car at Parent's Night when they were in tears over comments parents made about their teaching. Me, I developed a thick skin, wouldn't take BS from anyone and walked out of a few parent-teacher meetings where the aim was simply to try and intimidate me - or a colleague.
So, to all the posters who have a lot of negative views on public education, please know there are a lot of really good teachers out there who are working their asses off and it's not just because of 'June-July-August.'
And for me it was only July and August, and btw, where I taught we never got a paid vacation. I bet a lot of people don't know that. We only got paid for the days we worked and most of my colleagues worked summers; many worked weekends, too, to make ends meet.
Still, I'd go back if I could. (I retired early to take care of my son.) I miss the kids. I miss their enthusiasm when I put out a tray of test tubes or held up a Megalodon tooth and said pass this around carefully!
Apologies for total thread derail ....
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About derailment ...
Yeah, sorry about that. I read all the negative comments about public education and bit my teeth and tongue. I wanted to address the op's issue and thought I had a few relevant comments as I do know how horrible bad teaching can be.
But to the op, keep in mind the huge classes at the turn of the century (1900) and the fact that repetition, reading and lecture were the usual ways teaching was done. But not always. My grandmother, born in 1903, recalled a teacher she loved in General Science. He was always blowing something up, she told me. She forever loved science after that and possibly gave me my love for it.
Now I shall depart this thread forever ...
Yeah, sorry about that. I read all the negative comments about public education and bit my teeth and tongue. I wanted to address the op's issue and thought I had a few relevant comments as I do know how horrible bad teaching can be.
But to the op, keep in mind the huge classes at the turn of the century (1900) and the fact that repetition, reading and lecture were the usual ways teaching was done. But not always. My grandmother, born in 1903, recalled a teacher she loved in General Science. He was always blowing something up, she told me. She forever loved science after that and possibly gave me my love for it.
Now I shall depart this thread forever ...
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