The Forum > Article Comments > A failure to make the grade > Comments
A failure to make the grade : Comments
By Andrew Leigh and Chris Ryan, published 13/9/2006The academic ability of new teachers has fallen substantially.
- Pages:
-
- Page 1
- 2
-
- All
There has been a push in recent times to pass more responsibility on to teachers. I happen to know two teacher who are required to spend around half an hour every day discussing things like feelings and relationships with their students.
Where once parents where expected to handle these issues, now it is fobbed off onto the teachers.
Where it used to be a simple case of teach them math, english, science, history etc, the curriculum has been broadened. Ultimately, every time you add a new subject, there is less time spent on core subjects - and the performance of students in each individual subject is bound to fall as less time is being spent teaching it.
Add to this a deficit of male teachers. Why you ask?
Male teachers are getting more and more cautious about teaching, because if they are accused of some kind of sexual impropriety, regardless of whether they are guilty or not, they know that that black mark will never go away, so ultimately any aggreived student has the power to ruin the teacher's career. There is really no easy solution to this problem.
So why would you enter a risky low paid profession when you can aim higher?