The New Indentured Servant
Today the new indentured servant is the government-run school teacher.
Their ‘long’ summers off have been whittled down to about 8 weeks from 12.
They are told daily that they are responsible for how the child learns.
The parent is always right. Most administrators always side with the parent because it’s easier to do.
If a child makes any accusation, it is automatically ‘looked into’, no matter how moronic it is.
Today’s teachers do nothing more than collect data and provide assessments.
Consultant’s make a fortune based upon whose campaign they give to gain them access to DOE.
They have in-service training that ranges from the redundant to having a woman wear a rubber fish head while showing a video of some fish market in Seattle.
Children can demand to be placed in advanced classes although they failed last years courses.
Many schools have a safe room where administrators literally hide.
Government run school spending is close to 20% of the state budget and yet our test scores haven’t moved an inch…..in 12 years.
Finally, in Delaware a new teacher quits after 5 years on average. Now you know why
Dave said, “They are told daily that they are responsible for how the child learns.”
Well Dave of course they are at least 1/4 responsible for how they learn. You have the child, the parents, the government and the teacher in the equation. Of course you could boil it down and make it 1/5 by adding teacher’s unions.
Then Dave says, “If a child makes any accusation, it is automatically ‘looked into’, no matter how moronic it is.”
Of course you investigate “ANY” accusation made by a child. Would you want to be the administrator who ignored an accusation that allowed a molester to continue to abuse children?
As for, “Today’s teachers do nothing more than collect data and provide assessments.”
You can thank the teacher unions for this for bowing down to government in order to get fat contracts and benefits.
Finally, “Government run school spending is close to 20% of the state budget and yet our test scores haven’t moved an inch…..in 12 years.”
And this is where it takes all the parts to bring up the scores, not just throwing money at the problem.
We need good teachers, supportive parents, less government intrusion from the state level and more input at the local level, the kids will be kids as always.
Dave,
Are you a government-run school teacher ?
Perhaps what we need is a more effective performance assessment tool that evaluates the whole rather than 1/4th (1/5th). Since it is a shared responsibility, it would seem logical to share the performance assessment.
Parents, for example, would be responsible for providing food, clothing, shelter, a place for study and an environment that promotes learning. School Administration/Government could be assessed on infrastructure, curriculum, etc.
Todays process, where teachers stand as a proxy for the system, does not properly assess all parts of the equation, including the student.
The flaw in all this logic about standards and measuring is that we have responsible parents with children that want to learn. We provide a means to end for all children, weather they are willing or capable of meeting that challenge is clearly the domain of parents NOT the Govt.
Dave,
Years ago I made a few simple proposals, four districts statewide, one for each county and one statewide for Vo Tech followed by teacher training matching, curriculum and testing of any kind. Scrap the NCLB agenda and all the trappings of testing and instead use the NAEP as a Repot Card for schools.
The reality is most teachers come from the bottom of the Undergraduate barrel because of more lucrative opportunities among other reasons. Still, when a teacher can teach for 10-15 years go to a District job and finish a 30 year career with a Master’s Degree at $90k a year and retire at about $5200 a mont, not a bad deal.
The DSEA is zero help as you look at their political survey and you will not see one question about education.
Sure, most parents know their rights but exercise no responsibility but lawmakers write all of these rules and regulations to allow such rubbish to occupy a Principal’s time.
Possibly, let the money follow the student?
Dave the flaw in your idea of holding the parents responsible is, HOW?
Would you put them in jails? Would you kick their children out of the system? No the government and the teachers can be held responsible because they are the system and attendance is mandated by the government. Teachers can choose to work in the private sector of education. But few parents have any real choice other than to send their kids to the public schools.
I agree that parents are an equal part of the equation, unfortunately in a free society there is no way to discipline them for being less than stellar parents. That is unless we are ready to take children away from parents and send them to education camps. I am not.
Teaching is the teacher’s job, they should be evaluated and held responsible for their ability to teach, this should not be simply based upon the number of pass, fail students as this will lead only to corruption. I am evaluated in my job, why should they be any different?
The real question here with education is the same as always, choice. How do we allow all parents to make the best choices for their children? Mandated public schools is not the answer. Forcing parents to pay the cost of the public schools while trying to pay for a private school choice is neither right or fair. Home schooling is not a viable answer for a society that hopes to grow in the fields of science and technology.