How about looking into why educational quality is so low before deciding "throwing money at them" is the way to solve it?
If you have evidence to suggest it is, I'll listen.
All research I've found suggests that even Finland, the country with the highest education quality, pays comparable salaries to US teachers.
I don't think money is the problem.
The U.S. needs more schools like Cristo Rey
When people work a bit for their education, they're much more personally invested in it
I graduated last year and the last 5 years of high school where everyone decided for some reason that "omg its sooooo hard!!!!1!!!", were a complete and absolute waste of time with the exception of precalc and calc. 90% of the time I was there and wasn't skipping I was just twiddling my thumbs staring at the clock wishing I could be learning something useful.
I skipped as much as I legally could (25%) and still graduated with a 92% in the meaningful subjects (math). In the time I spent skipping I took online college courses and taught myself c# and python.
Unfortunately I live in a horrible horrible desolate place with the nearest city with a pop of more than 50k being 400km away (edmonton for you other canadians) so this might be an isolated example of living in a hick area where nobody gives a shit about education, including teachers.
Im pretty pleased with my decision.
Most likely cultural differences - not to mention Finland's educational system is not comprehensive. Furthermore, systems that may work in a country of five and a half million may not work in a country of almost three hundred and twenty million.
Still, Finland's teacher to student ratio is very low. 1 teacher to 19 students, versus 1 to 34 in the US.
Originally Posted by Marjane Satrapi
They spend less per pupil than the United Sates. Significantly less.
And I'm against Federalization due to the fact that the states better know what their people need than the Federal Government. You're either in the camp with Wells, who believes Federal institutions can be scaled effectively or you're with me who believes they're better handled at the state level.
You don't get to just say that a system should be handled at the Federal level in a way that's far less effective than a proven other example. You seem to think we should take a far less efficient and less effective route at the federal level because we're not Finland.
I believe they should be administered at the state level, but funded federally. It makes no sense that a school in Texas should get less funding than a school of the same size in Rhode Island.
The reason for this is the federal government simply has a much vaster pool of income from which to draw.
Originally Posted by Marjane Satrapi
Originally Posted by Marjane Satrapi
I was just hired recently and have begun a new job at a semi-urban middle school. Some food for thought.
1. I'm in disbelief by the lack of overall support from parents.
2. Teacher unions - they have an extremely negative sound. I'm a part of my union because it's my insurance in case a student accuses me of something and I have to defend myself in court.
3. Teachers work really, really hard. This is my first year and I'm young enough looking to fit in with the high school students next door. I haven't found a person in my building who isn't staying after hours, calling parents, planning awesome things to do in class, etc.
We need to get back to supporting teachers.
If possible, I'd increase teacher salaries by a huge amount, and not give teachers tenure. Also, I'd hire more teachers so that the average class size isn't 45 in my school anymore. I have a class that quite literally can't legally stay in the room, we have to go to the auditorium to conduct class. This being Utah, btw, which has the lowest funding per pupil, so it's probably just a massive extreme.
http://www.all4ed.org/about_the_cris...ls/state_cards
False. National rate is 72%. Texas' is 67%.
Originally Posted by Marjane Satrapi
False. Read the actual report. http://www.tea.state.tx.us/acctres/DropComp_2010-11.pdf
Good post. I don't agree with teachers getting paid anymore because we live comfortably and we get our summers off. While slightly underpaid, I'm more worried about my students parents getting a job in this economy than I am having a 2% raise.
That being said, I haven't really researched this topic that much, so what I'm stating are just observations and opinions.