(Incomplete)
Teaching Issues
EthoPlasìn is an Educational Institution with a World Civic Wellness Vocation. As such its objectives are closely related to the competence and influence of teachers as 'educators' for the formation of future citizens in terms of good civic behavior. The role of teachers is fundamental and could be much more positive if we applied simple new rules to their own formation. Unfortunately their role as 'educators' is too often inexistent or even very negative, and most of the time reduced to an 'instructor' role. All this is eminently related to the civic objectives of the EthoPlasìn. In conformity with its firm policy of full transparency, EthoPlasìn wants to let potential members know openly the related objectives it will fight for, and strongly lobby for in all circumstances, with all democratic means available.
To start with, as the first item, we place an excerpt of our page on Micro-Criminality Issues that has to do with teachers.
The following suggestions are presented as spontaneously conceived by members for the purpose of the Suggestions Registry, without major concern for form or coordination with other pages, even if sometimes they are somewhat too idealistic or provocative to be implemented exactly as formulated. They are nevertheless good 'hot' food for thought.
It is also important to stress that although the following suggestions are interesting ones, submitted by members, they are not the official ones of the EthoPlasìn. The official ones are in two other pages. The first one refers to short term EthoPlasìn objectives: Lobbying To Change The World; The second one refers to long term EthoPlasìn objectives: EthoCracy.
o play an educator's role and to
inculcate pride and good civic values in the minds of students. As seen in
our page on Micro-Criminality
Issues, the
strong presence of retired grand-parents in the life of growing children can sometimes be an
important factor of high value
from this point of view as these can often play that role of educators in the
most spontaneous and natural way. For school teachers it should not be an
uncertain factor provided or not provided to them by nature, like it is
maybe for grand-parents, but a required
one. All school teachers should definitely be trained not only
as 'instructors' in their own teaching subjects, but obligatorily also in
aspects of their vital role as 'educators'. They do not only have to
'Know', but also to 'Know
to Teach' and to 'Know to
Educate'.
These 3 aspects combined should become the subject of new university
faculties as soon as possible. At the moment, in most 'modern'
pre-university schools, teachers
only 'Know', and only if we are lucky... Teachers should also face formal
formation and exams regarding their two vital roles above the need to
"Know", before they are appointed as teachers, as it used to be
the case for years and years in many countries before the destructive 1968 Revolution
(as seen in our Background page) eliminated
practically all private schools and brought in a much more general, and
nearly exclusive, system of public
schools based solely on Instruction as opposed to also on Education, making
existing special training centers for future teachers disappear entirely along the
way. School teachers
below university level should never be appointed on the sole basis of their
"Know" competence in their
teaching subject matters like it is the case in practically all schools
today. Their formation as teachers, and in particular as educators, should be compulsory and
strongly rooted on the concepts of the philosophy of
Meritocracy. As a
result, their primary and most important role should be as 'Educators' and
in the inculcation of a
legitimate and strong sense of pride in the students they are charged to
educate, for the good conduct they should have in their civic life, in
priority over their role in bringing students to good levels of competence
in the subject matters they teach. Special institutions forming school teachers,
like they used to exist, should be reinstated and/or alternatively become new
faculties at university level in a number of universities. Pre-university teachers should also be evaluated each
year as 'Teachers' but also in particular as 'Educators', by their supervisors.
They should not be promoted if they are
assessed as 'Insufficient' in playing this most important role, as
an Educator,
independently of their competence as 'instructors' in their "Know" teaching subject matters.
Being assessed as 'Insufficient' for a second consecutive year should force
their return to a special center of formation for educators, for at least one year, on half their
salaries. This role is so important for our civic environments that after a third
yearly assessment as 'Insufficient', they should be
readily released from employment as teachers and possibly recycled to less
important background roles. This should be a clause of
their hiring contract. University teachers would not automatically be
subjected to a similar training as Educators but there should be a symbolic penalty in
their salary if they have not previously gone through a special training centers for
teachers for at least one year before their appointment to a faculty. They
too have an important role as educators, even at the university level. If
they have
appropriate training as such, there should definitely be at symbolic
bonus attached to their salaries. In any case, they should also be assessed yearly as
'Educators', as one of the factors counting for their promotions or
reconfirmation as university
teachers, independently of their previous formal formation in special
training centers for teachers. Alternatively, if the university where they
teach has a faculty for training teachers, and they have never attended any
special training center for teachers, they could choose to follow an
established minimum of classes of that faculty of their university for one
year and then eliminate their penalty in salary.
