NEW WEBSITE

Please note that I now post under my own website

http://jcsprenger.com

Please visit me whenever you have a chance; I have a lot of posts on education and a few on politics.

Moving to WordPress

PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM NOW POSTING ONLY ON

http://jcsprenger.com/

THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND CONSIDERATION AND PATIENCE

The Art of Education

When a teacher faces a new class at the beginning of the school year, he (she) sees 25 bodies belonging to girls and boys. Some are thin, some fat, others are tall, or short, but the main information, the one the teacher really needs, is hidden from sight. A good instructor will make sure he finds out what’s going on before the first month is over. Learning each name is essential, of course, to set up a good relationship with the youngsters; but more important is getting to know as much as possible about their life experiences at this stage of their existence.

MOVING TO WORDPRESS

I will be moving to



http://jcsprenger.wordpress.com/

in the next few weeks; it will give me more flexibility to make my blog what I really want: a professional site.

Meanwhile I will continue to post the same piece on both blogs. Thank you to my readers for their patience.

Bad Teacher, Good Teacher, Great Teacher

Nobody has ever measured the harm done on children who have a bad, really bad, teacher. The younger the child, the more the harm, and parents are usually unaware of the enormous stress placed upon their son or daughter. A bad teacher is much like a bad priest or its equivalent, a preacher or minister, except that the first sees and interacts with this child five days a week. Just imagine being subject to scorn and ridicule for a whole school year; the other students, who miss nothing, quickly notice that their classmate is being harassed by their teacher. Whose side do they take? Of course, the guy or the lady who gives them grades, the adult in the room who can cause havoc at home with one phone call.

The Forgotten Ones

Capitalism rewards the smart, the savvy, the lucky, the great athlete, the hard-working entrepreneur, the astute financier, the hypocritical politician, and rewards very well, in the millions of dollars. But aren't we forgetting the rest of the people, the ones at the bottom of the pile, the almost untouchable ones, those who have no special skills, those who'll never have a pension plan, those who sometimes seek refuge in the bottle, or in drugs?