DUmmies Discuss Fine Arts In Elementary School

[GOBUCKS]

Sun Mar 24, 2013, 05:55 PM
demmiblue (5,122 posts)

Art, music, and gym teachers get the ax in Lansing

Lansing elementary students will soon say goodbye to all their art, music, and gym teachers.
 
Now the remaining teachers need to find a way to work all that art, music and gym curriculum into their regular classrooms.

Here’s an extra challenge: teachers also gave up their planning time in this round of negotiations. When it comes to lesson planning or grading, some middle school teachers are now down to just a 24-minute lunch break, says Seidl.
 
Plus, between paying more for health care premiums and salary concessions, Lansing teachers are now making what they did back in 2005.
 
This is just outrageous.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022560797
Union drones have never heard of grading papers or planning at home.

And way back when they still taught kids to read and write and do arithmetic, there was no such thing as an art teacher or a music teacher in elementary school.

We simply had a teacher, and those things were part of the day.

Gym teachers for elementary school? That's what we called "recess". You don't have to hire extra teachers for recess.

Sun Mar 24, 2013, 05:58 PM
villager (18,730 posts)
Sounds like a good time for a teachers' strike

Sun Mar 24, 2013, 09:12 PM
knitter4democracy (13,836 posts)

21. Illegal, thanks to MI GOP.
We can't even do work slow-downs anymore.

Based on their results, I'd say these teachers have been on slow-downs their entire careers.

Sun Mar 24, 2013, 06:07 PM
BeyondGeography (20,955 posts)

6. A fine strategy for cultivating fat and demoralized young people

Sun Mar 24, 2013, 08:40 PM
adieu (379 posts)

17. I'd rather they
get rid of the reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic and keep the art music and gym. They'll learn reading and writing soon enough, and most math (that is currently taught) is pointless.

Well, DUmmy adieu, the teachers' unions have pretty much done away with teaching those things already.






 

[RobJohnson]

I worked 9 1/2 hours today and almost had a twenty minute uninterrupted lunch. No other breaks. I might be too focused on the big picture and do whatever it takes.

[formerlurker]

It truly amazes me how teachers believe they are (or should be) immune from the realities of the economy. 

[Karin]

Gym teachers for elementary school? That's what we called "recess".

Exactly!  What do you need a teacher for?  Just let the little goons run around like the goofy kids they are.  Art class for elementary kids?  Isn't this just arts & crafts and drawing at this young age?  Sure, set a little time apart to do those things, but you don't need some art history major to head it up.  You just need someone to remind everybody not to eat the paste.

[AprilRazz]

Little torn on this one. Had art, music and gym teachers in elementary school. One each that had their own room/gym that we went to once a week for about an hour. As far as the art teacher (like the others she had to teach the entire school) it made sense to keep all the messy art supplies like paint in one place. I enjoyed going to those classes but I am not sure what I learned. Those teachers were also responsible for lunch and recess coverage. Gave our regular teachers 3 hours a week for planning and the like plus time for lunch. But that was in the 70's as well.

But at the same time I remember going to the school board building to take care of something for the boy and noticed almost as many luxury cars in the parking lot than were in front of the welfare office. It seemed that even the secretaries had assistants. Maybe if they trimmed some of the bureaucrats and bad teachers they could afford to hire/keep the good ones. But alas the unions have seen to that.

[Chris_]

I remember my first day of recess in elementary school. 

The "coach" showing us how to do calisthenics  had to be nearly 300 pounds.

[Rebel]

I remember my first day of recess in elementary school. 

The "coach" showing us how to do calisthenics  had to be nearly 300 pounds.

All my PE teachers were dykes. All of them.

[miskie]

When I was in grade school, we only had a dedicated gym instructor. Art & music was handled by the teacher. Our kids have separate instructors for each, but the music/gym/art instructors not only handle multiple classes, they handle multiple schools.

[AprilRazz]

I do have to add though that in my elementary school class there was only one fat kid.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

"Planning time"?

Why do they get planning time to conduct a repetitive task? Do the rules of English grammar and math change from year-to-year?

[Carl]

Sun Mar 24, 2013, 08:40 PM
adieu (379 posts)

17. I'd rather they
get rid of the reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic and keep the art music and gym. They'll learn reading and writing soon enough, and most math (that is currently taught) is pointless.

[DumbAss Tanker]

All the elementary schools I ever went to, back into the late 50s, had a music teacher.  Not all teachers (Or anyone else, including bitchy, demanding parents) can read music or understand a damned thing about it, probably even fewer now than back then.  In those days, a lot of people knew how to play some instrument, now all most people can play is an MP3 player.

A lot of the same is true of art, though not all the schools had an instructor for that until what is now called middle school.  My sister teaches art for a large consolidated school, mostly elementary, works her ass off at it, and drives a beater.  You couldn't pay me enough to put up with the bullshit she gets from her manipulative, backstabbing, and conniving administration, the shitheads on the school board, loony Leftist parents who think their brain-damaged offspring are just misunderstood and who 'Know more about primary education' than any teacher their little hellion has ever had, and the equally-loony Right-wing parents who think education should be limited to Scripture and cipherin'.