Grate Or Great??? Updated 9/25/12

[Bassn Blvd]

Apparently, my son's pre-k teacher doesn't know the difference. She graded his homework and noted "Grate Job" on the front page. C'mon, really!

I can only imagine what Long Mike would do. all the way to the school.

[tomustang]

Be glad she's only teaching Pre-K

[Long Mike]

Ignorance in the use of the English language can be overlooked - unless you are a school teacher.

I know it's Pre-k, but it's unacceptable, nonetheless.

[Bassin' gal]

If that were my child I would be at the next school board meeting, with that paper in hand, demanding some answers.

[Root beer]

Maybe she spelling it in manners in which the kids do?

[Bassn Blvd]

Maybe she spelling it in manners in which the kids do?

Huh? The teacher spelled it correctly, but she used the wrong word. It's "great job," not "grate job."

[Long Mike]

Maybe she spelling it in manners in which the kids do?

Jeez! I hope you've been drinking!

[moguy1973]

Maybe he had some carrots and cheese and a grater and he did a grate job?!?

[Bassn Blvd]

Maybe he had some carrots and cheese and a grater and he did a grate job?!?

Hahaha, that made me laugh

[Tuckahoe Joe]

Thats your tax dollars hard at work right there.

[Hi Salenity]

Apparently, my son's pre-k teacher doesn't know the difference. She graded his homework and noted "Grate Job" on the front page. C'mon, really!

I can only imagine what Long Mike would do. all the way to the school.

Is she "hot"?

[Bankbeater]

Unbelievable

[Intruder 150]

gr8 job

[J Francho]

Their not taught the same way we we're.

[Root beer]

Huh? The teacher spelled it correctly, but she used the wrong word. It's "great job," not "grate job."

Spelling was the wrong word, I apologize. Let me try to again, maybe she wrote it out of context to relate to the kids.. I've seen Pre-k kids write like that. Not all of them goes to a fancy private Pre-k school that teach them how to actually write...I thought it was a fair assumption. Not saying I agree with her method of relating to kids, but just shining light at another direction instead of jumping to conclusion that she is careless or ignorant.

[moguy1973]

Spelling was the wrong word, I apologize. Let me try to again, maybe she wrote it out of context to relate to the kids.. I've seen Pre-k kids write like that. Not all of them goes to a fancy private Pre-k school that teach them how to actually write...I thought it was a fair assumption. Not saying I agree with her method of relating to kids, but just shining light at another direction instead of jumping to conclusion that she is careless or ignorant.

The thing is though, is a teacher that teaches the wrong thing to a student really a teacher? I'm thinking no. That's like a teacher teaching that 1+1=3. Doesn't matter if they are pre-k teachers or grad school professors, teaching the wrong way if doing something is never productive.

[retiredbosn]

It's been awhile since some people have had kids in school. Not surprised at all. I had kids in school when a school district decided the correct answers were not as important as the child's self esteem. 1+1=3 spelling dog with any combination of letters fine, as long as the kids felt good. Needless to say my kids learned the correct spelling because I made sure they did. This type of behavior isn't rare but very common place in the public school system.

No offense intended to school teachers as they are ultimately not the one who are responsible for crap like this.

[deaknh03]

Their not taught the same way we we're.

Your joking?

[Bassn Blvd]

It's been awhile since some people have had kids in school. Not surprised at all. I had kids in school when a school district decided the correct answers were not as important as the child's self esteem. 1+1=3 spelling dog with any combination of letters fine, as long as the kids felt good. Needless to say my kids learned the correct spelling because I made sure they did. This type of behavior isn't rare but very common place in the public school system.

No offense intended to school teachers as they are ultimately not the one who are responsible for crap like this.

The teachers are responsible for teaching kids the RIGHT way while the kids are in THEIR classroom.

[J Francho]

The teachers are responsible for teaching kids the RIGHT way while the kids are in THEIR classroom.

Exactly. I don't have time to teach speeling. My job is to teach them about life.

[retiredbosn]

The teachers are responsible for teaching kids the RIGHT way while the kids are in THEIR classroom.

Teachers are employees and not policy makers, if the policy of the school district is such that they are forbidden to correct spelling and math problems then no, their responsibility is to teach according to the accepted standard given them.

Exactly. I don't have time to teach speeling. My job is to teach them about life.

If you need them to spell then I would find the time, I did. I griped, cussed and complained to my wife and other parents the whole time, but just because the School Board's policy was to raise idiots, it wasn't mine.

I think you are missing my point, teachers do not have ultimate control over what they teach in their classes, nor how. Too many Federal and State mandates that over-rule their own preferences. As a teacher you are given the material, if that material states that you can not correct spelling or math mistakes then you can not do it, unless you want to be fired. All teachers are required to submit lesson plans to Administrators and have them approved prior to teaching a class, this is done on weekly or every other week basis.. Everyone gets mad at the teacher, but in most cases their hands are tied. In the case I provided, the teachers were very upset about the policy, but at the same time they could not go against the policy and correct the students as they would be in violation of the established standards and face disciplinary actions. How it was handled was that the teacher had to teach according to the policy set forth by the School Board, then after grading was completed she went over the answers that would be the correct answers as a group, that way the papers weren't corrected, and the kids at least got to see how it was supposed to be.

In the case of the original post I would find out why, but don't go in assuming that she used the word grate by mistake. I know it makes no sense, I know it is wrong to teach kids in this fashion, what I'm saying is that it is not always the teacher's fault. Just one of the many many reason I wouldn't teach kids, most of the reasons are not that teachers are incompentent, but the mandates forced upon them are. Like the "no child left behind" crap, all that law was about is teaching to the lowest common intelligence and instead of challenging kids to learn they make them lazy.

[J Francho]

I'm thinking public schools in SC are a world apart from public school in NY. My kids can spell, read, write, and do math. They are even graded. I didn't have to teach them this.

[retiredbosn]

I'm thinking public schools in SC are a world apart from public school in NY. My kids can spell, read, write, and do math. They are even graded. I didn't have to teach them this.

Man you don't know how right you are, lol, . I've not always lived here, believe it or not NC is worse. I should state that the example given was from NC. Now that I have moved back here (SC), my youngest is in a private school, he actually regressed last year, his first year here in the public system, (we moved down from WV). I talked to his teacher about it, she is looking forward to retiring in a few years. I'm hoping this school will be better I have kids from 25 to 7, and the state of our public education system has steadily declined the whole time, it is sad.

[deaknh03]

My daughter is 5 and just started kindergarten. Before she started going, my wife and I had her reading some stuff, spelling a lot of words, doing simple addition and subtraction, just so she would have a head start.

[moguy1973]

My daughter is 5 and just started kindergarten. Before she started going, my wife and I had her reading some stuff, spelling a lot of words, doing simple addition and subtraction, just so she would have a head start.

And you want to hear something that is really sad with regards to that? My sister-in-law was going to send her kids to public school where they live until they found out from a friend that they were forbidden by the school to read to their own kids at home. The school said that it put the kids that were read to at home an unfair advantage in the classroom to the kids that weren't read to at home. Therefore instead of having kids that want to learn at an accelerated rate, they had kids that are held back from learning so that the other kids can "catch up"..

Thusly, my sister-in-law home schools...