Public v Private

[Voter2012]

A mind terrible thing to waste, but so is Money on Crappy Education!

I have a lot of friends that went to "private schools" and most are no more smarter than the average "lug nut". I would say as a parent go into the schools in your district and conduct your employee interviews, as these teachers and administrators work for you whether they are in the private or public sector. I am a public educated student and wouldn't have it any other way, but that's not to say private schools can't sometimes offer more.

 

[icono1]

It does no good for tax payers to demand a change if they do not know what the problem is and blame the teachers by default. The above posts are from teachers...it should give a hint as to what is wrong.

Agreed; the teachers do take the heat by default which is a simplified way that school Administrators use for the 'parents' to focus their ire and blame when in reality it is the educational policies of the various State and local school boards that permit and to a large degree promote a permissive attitude toward student education and behavior.
To a large number of Administrators in American education a classroom teacher is an expendable employee but the student, because of State and Federal attendance and 'special program' monies, is not. So the 'money' talks and because of that most in-school policies, both disciplinary and educational, are modeled to be student friendly and not educationally challenging or competent.

 

[dahermit]

parents unaware

Agreed; the teachers do take the heat by default which is a simplified way that school Administrators use for the 'parents' to focus their ire and blame when in reality it is the educational policies of the various State and local school boards that permit and to a large degree promote a permissive attitude toward student education and behavior.
To a large number of Administrators in American education a classroom teacher is an expendable employee but the student, because of State and Federal attendance and 'special program' monies, is not. So the 'money' talks and because of that most in-school policies, both disciplinary and educational, are modeled to be student friendly and not educationally challenging or competent.

Exactly. I note that as a former teacher, your observation could only be made by another teacher. The parents are blissfully unaware of school politics.

Retiring is the best memory I have of Public School teaching.

 

[icono1]

Exactly. I note that as a former teacher, your observation could only be made by another teacher. The parents are blissfully unaware of school politics.

Retiring is the best memory I have of Public School teaching.

You are correct. I did teach HS math, Alg1, Alg2, Geometry and PreCalc for about 10yrs before I saw the writing on the wall and resigned.
My watershed moment came when an Administrator with a supposed teaching degree in Phys Ed. (specialty was basketball) informed me one day that the "....kids ain't got no fun in your class and the parents are complaining that you are being to hard on them (them being the kids) and you don't like them because you expect them to work the problems.".
The class was an Alg2 class and the 'unfun' part of the class that the students had been complaining about was learning the basics of a second degree equation. The Administrator then suggested that I should "....consider making the class easier and funner" if I wanted to stay in that particular school; that particular part of Alg2 could not be made easier and therefore "funner" because it is very a fundamental and straight forward part of the subject matter. So to I resigned and went to work in private industry as a consultant.
I also remember the out the window and atrocious behavior that students where allowed to exhibit and actually get away with because it was important to keep the student in school for the cover reason of "it's important they get an education and a HS degree" but the real reason was "the school board needs the money". Also, I do well remember the atrocious insults that classroom teachers had to endure not only from the students but also from a large number of Administrators that seemed to think that most, but not all, classroom teachers where nothing but "overpaid annoyances" to the educational process.
( I did notice that if an "overpaid annoyance" couldn't be in the classroom for personal reasons or reasons of illness and if a substitute could not be found that not one Administrator would 'fill in' for the absent teacher. Other teachers had to give up their planning periods or else be labeled a "non team player and a trouble maker". Which was two well used excuses to "transfer out" or "terminate" classroom teachers.)

 

[dahermit]

Sounds familiar

You are correct. I did teach HS math, Alg1, Alg2, Geometry and PreCalc for about 10yrs before I saw the writing on the wall and resigned.
My watershed moment came when an Administrator with a supposed teaching degree in Phys Ed. (specialty was basketball) informed me one day that the "....kids ain't got no fun in your class and the parents are complaining that you are being to hard on them (them being the kids) and you don't like them because you expect them to work the problems.".
The class was an Alg2 class and the 'unfun' part of the class that the students had been complaining about was learning the basics of a second degree equation. The Administrator then suggested that I should "....consider making the class easier and funner" if I wanted to stay in that particular school; that particular part of Alg2 could not be made easier and therefore "funner" because it is very a fundamental and straight forward part of the subject matter. So to I resigned and went to work in private industry as a consultant.
I also remember the out the window and atrocious behavior that students where allowed to exhibit and actually get away with because it was important to keep the student in school for the cover reason of "it's important they get an education and a HS degree" but the real reason was "the school board needs the money". Also, I do well remember the atrocious insults that classroom teachers had to endure not only from the students but also from a large number of Administrators that seemed to think that most, but not all, classroom teachers where nothing but "overpaid annoyances" to the educational process.
( I did notice that if an "overpaid annoyance" couldn't be in the classroom for personal reasons or reasons of illness and if a substitute could not be found that not one Administrator would 'fill in' for the absent teacher. Other teachers had to give up their planning periods or else be labeled a "non team player and a trouble maker". Which was two well used excuses to "transfer out" or "terminate" classroom teachers.)

This sounds all too familiar. It could have been the school system I was in. Our math teacher was routinely hounded by the admins to make algebra easier...he had students showing up for the class that expected to learn algebra that did not know their multiplication tables. He would tell of the time when he had a student up to the board and asked him to write down the number that was 5 times 12. The student responded that he could not do that in his head. The teacher told him to write down 60...which the student did. The teacher said to him: "now write down double that number (60). The student responded: "I can't do that in my head!!" While telling that story that teacher pointed out that the student was one of his "best" students, they went down hill from there.


My best day was when I left.

 

[icono1]

dahermit: I sympathize with the alg teacher. Not only could most of my students not do multiplication but the other math basics such as subtraction, division and ocassionaly addition was also a 'no can do'. As one student told me "That is why I have a calculator; to do all the easy stuff."!!!! He couldn't do the hard stuff either but he still expected an A (when in reality he barely earned a D-)because he needed the "good grade" to get into a "better college".
Also, my best day was when I left .

 

[Nerv14]

I have always blamed the poor American schooling system on low teacher wages and how the schools must be too soft on the kids. lol I don't mean hitting the students or anything, but more punnishments should be used because many students just don't care about doing their work, and even if that is their fault, if they could be more motivated it would improve the schooling substantially.

Even though America spends one of the most amount of money per person for education in the world the only real difference with schools in other countries is that those teachers get paid more. I am not sure what we are wasting money on, maybe housing?, or useless ellective classes, but it is the teachers that teach and that is where more funding should go. Teachers are leaving their professions very quickly before they get very experienced and they need more money to keep them in teaching longer,