The impossibility of removing incompetent teachers (money, students, learning, parents)
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I work in a district where we have been implementing a lot of the "business world" practices. Result: thousands of hours a year lost in mindless courses preaching the new mantras that teachers are at fault, because they need enthusiasm and smile at everything... and a lot of "education gurus" with their pockets full, doing those trainings.
My question is if someone wants to change the education world, why they don't become teacher themselves. Nobody tells their surgeon or dentist how to do their work, but everybody feels entitled to tell who is a good or bad teacher without spending any single minute in their classrooms.
My question is if someone wants to change the education world, why they don't become teacher themselves. Nobody tell their surgeon or dentist how to do their work, but everybody feels entitled to tell who is a good or bad teacher without spending any single minute in their classroom.
I think a large part of "entitlement" is justified, in the sense that taxpayers are footing the bill, and have much reason to have a say in how those funds are administered.
Also, I don't think it a bad thing that the general public is interested in public education.....what is the alternative? Apathy?....
Finally, it is not a matter of telling someone how to work/do their job/micromanage......it IS a matter of overhauling K-12....and all the particulars involved in the same, including increasing salaries/better candidates, retaining the same, pooling larger funds for districts and spending what we have wisely, bringing the latest in technology into the schools on every level, including administration, and equipping students to be as armed as possible to lead the world as US workers and citizens..
I think a large part of "entitlement" is justified, in the sense that taxpayers are footing the bill, and have much reason to have a say in how those funds are administered.
Our taxes pay for a lot of things...yet most people don't feel the need to regulate how firefighters do their jobs, how roads are built, or how the military conducts strategic operations.
I think a large part of "entitlement" is justified, in the sense that taxpayers are footing the bill, and have much reason to have a say in how those funds are administered.
Also, I don't think it a bad thing that the general public is interested in public education.....what is the alternative? Apathy?....
Finally, it is not a matter of telling someone how to work/do their job/micromanage......it IS a matter of overhauling K-12....and all the particulars involved in the same, including increasing salaries/better candidates, retaining the same, pooling larger funds for districts and spending what we have wisely, bringing the latest in technology into the schools on every level, including administration, and equipping students to be as armed as possible to lead the world as US workers and citizens..
Do not get me wrong. I want change too, but I wish the general public would know more about real education. Not the one size fits all that most people want to implement in the districts.
In my humble opinion and experience, general public is interested in public education when they can blame the teachers, principals, schools, districts,.... but not when they are asked to have more parent involvement, or demand that the students have more responsabilities in order to be ready to college.
It is sad how many parents are enabling their kids, for example, arguing with the teachers about deadlines.... would they do the same to their bosses?
It is very annoying to see my wife having problems because some students and his parents complaint about a flunking grade, when their son refused to do any work. It is sad when an administrator tries to get ride of good teachers just because they have to have the parents happy. If parents complaint, the teacher is in trouble. Tenure does not exist here.
In all the countries with commended school systems, their teachers do not have to put up with those situations that American educators have everyday.
I wish most people would have real classroom experience and they can say what they would do to make changes..
I pay a lot of taxes too, and I do not feel that I have to tell everybody how everything has to be done, when most of the time, I do not know their professional fields.
Last edited by SpaniardinTexas; 09-16-2014 at 07:16 PM..
I can only say a sea change is coming in education, essentially it has already hit......
Blaming is the wrong operative word.....we are talking change, change of an antiquated system that has stopped preparing our children to thrive in what has become a technological world ripping apart paradigm after paradigm..
Education K-12 just being another paradigm like the rest..
I can only say a sea change is coming in education, essentially it has already hit......
Blaming is the wrong operative word.....we are talking change, change of an antiquated system that has stopped preparing our children to thrive in what has become a technological world ripping apart paradigm after paradigm..
Education K-12 just being another paradigm like the rest..
There's no sea change coming. Just corporate edureformers trying to raid education funding coffers and those of us trying to stop them. I'm not sure who will win, but we will all lose if we keep ignoring the real issues, which start in the home.
I worked in a Huntington Learning Center back in the 1990s. We helped a lot of kids whose parents were able to fork out a huge amount of money for intensive basic skills lessons. It was expensive, but it definitely wasn't a rip-off. I still use some of the techniques I learned there to help students who are way behind their grade level.
I'd be curious about where the teachers at the private tutor orientated learning centers like Sylvan and Huntington are coming from....
Word is those centers have some of the highest franchise default rates of all franchises. The franchisee just pays the franchiser for the rights. He/She is solely responsible for outcomes and hiring.
The fact that the default rate is so high is saying something. I would imagine the students don't stick around long-term, or at least long enough to make money from them, as opposed to a private magnet school. After a point, the center can't pay the bills, and moves on.
Something definitely to be said for the guaranteed funding of public schools, and the magnet schools that would not survive without the stipends/vouchers paid for and guaranteed by taxpayers.
Take away that captive money, same as the gov't backed loans taken away from Corinthian College, and you have no school anymore.
Fact is, only private schools backed by relative wealth, or an archdiocese(Catholic, and even they close schools) can survive. On a pure profit basis, regards the sky high failure rare of Huntington, they can't hack it.
You don't understand the business model or purpose of either Sylvan or Huntington.
Their students aren't supposed to "stick around", their model is as a tutoring service. Fix the problem then move on to the next student.
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