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Easier said than done. Not too many people are willing to spend years and lots of money on getting their degree, then go through getting certified, and then accept a low paying job with little respect, little chance of advancement, and somehow do their job every day with one or both hands tied behind their backs. Lots of people want to fire the teachers who are not doing their jobs well--problem is, where do you then put those students? It's not like Americans are beating down the doors trying to get teaching jobs. It's not like little kids are encouraged to become teachers. Everyone knows that if you are a teacher, you are going to be getting low pay, lots of take-home work, a good chance of an unsafe working environment, and not much (if any) respect from your community or (in a lot, but not all cases) respect from the students you teach.
So, again, where are we going to find people willing to put up with all of that?
I taught in South Korea for 10 years and LOVED it. I am now a teacher's assistant here in the States. I've had LOTS of encouragement from teachers here to go ahead and take the tests to get certified and become a teacher, but there is no way I'd do it. I'm just not that into self-inflicted stress and to me, taking a teaching job in America would be punishing myself. I greatly admire the people who are teaching--they are gold. To put up with what they put up with and still come to teach everyday--that takes a lot. I don't have it. Not many do. I miss teaching--the rewards can be huge...but I miss teaching in S. Korea, where the teaching profession still has a lot of respect, from the community as well as the students. I made good money there and yeah, the hours were long, the days were many (two weeks vacation per year, rarely were the two weeks back to back), and the materials were few--but oh, the joy I had in my job. The joy that was in a large part due to how I was treated--I see the opposite treatment in effect here in the States. No, thank you.
Cut backs in education are going to be a big problem for students, and communities. The children are not going anywhere. Filling the classrooms with more students because of less teachers will have a lasting impact on struggling students, students with special needs, and other groups who depend on specialized instruction and services. I read on another blog that some systems are (and I do not know how true this is) are resorting to hiring less credentialed and less experienced teachers in order to cut cost (which could be a form of descrimination). Children benefit from the new and the experienced. In many schools today there are so many problems that eventlually affect the entire commmunity. In the long run we will still have to pay for students who do not meet expectations of the public school systems. I'm hoping that state goverments will rethink their plans to have such drastic cutbacks in education. These same children who are in school today deserve better. They are the one's who will have to clean up what the adults have messed up. Lets finish what we started if we can and remember that we have spent a lot of time and money already to carry out the mandates of No Child Left Behind and IDEA.
Eduaction has to take a hit juts like evrybody else ;I guess. Just a sign of the times.
Except for the fact that unlike your local shopping mall, the demand for schooling hasn't decreased and the number of kids showing up at the schools each day hasn't gone down.
What you could do is get away with most administrators positions and reduce pension benefits. also put a cap on teachers salaries. That would GO A FAR way. But no side wants any REAL solutions.
Schools can decrease their spending. My school wastes a lot of money. Over $500,000 is spent on useless positions within my school (undmandated paras, too many APs, and coaches who never coach). So, can schools cut back? Yes, but not on the teachers that work with the kids every single day. They are needed.
Except for the fact that unlike your local shopping mall, the demand for schooling hasn't decreased and the number of kids showing up at the schools each day hasn't gone down.
Actually, our county has lost about 10,000 students over the last several years, and expects a similar decrease in the future. We've dropped from third in the state to 27th. Yet the budget has incresed almost $500,000,000 (that's 1/3, ladies & gentlemen) in that time.
A "principal on district assignment" makes almost a hundred thousand a year. A "student achievement specialist" makes over 50.
The capital outlay is nearly 500 million-- but we're closing schools because of the drop in enrollment, and no, the land isn't being sold. It's just sitting there, buildings empty.
We get $112.76 million from the "reduce class size" funds. That would hire more than 200 new teachers at 50K a year, so I don't think that's an issue.
There are at least three attorneys on staff. (I'm also thinking if you need three attorneys, you're screwing up pretty badly.)
I wish I could find a gig where someone would pay me a third more to do a crappy job, and less of it.
If you cut teachers and close schools then where will all the kids go? Parents will have to quit jobs and stay home with them.
No, the remaining schools will take those kids from closed schools. Some teachers from the closed ones will go to the new one but the net result will be larger class sizes overall. An upside might be that some administrators go back the classroom (or get riffed). No more showing up at noon and then leaving for a meeting.
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