One person called teachers he dealt with for the most part lazy. let me ask you this, how much do you think teachers should be paid and how much do you think they should max out at.
Me too, because I'm switching professions and moving there, not that I wouldn't make more teaching in my county then I do as an Accountant, but thats because I work at the lowest paying firm in the area.
Rep to DFW and Brightside. This country doesn't value academia. We mock the teaching profession and it is generally accepted and expected that people who become teachers aren't smart enough/good enough to perform other professions. How funny is it that in a society that talks about "staying in school" and talks about the value of an education, we basically resign ourselves to the fact that the majority of our teachers, particularly in the urban setting, fall into the "not smart enough, good enough, or motivated enough to do something more profitable." Our most educated and motivated people generally don't go into the teaching profession. It's sad how few teachers are actually teachers because that's what they wanted to be. I was lucky to have a few of them in my academic youth.
My best friend just started his first year of teaching in Arkansas (super cheap cost of living) and is making over $45k a year. He does have a masters degree, but that only added a couple of thousand per year to his salary. My parents were both lifelong educators that never had a problem making ends meet for our family. By the end of my father's career, he was a principal making a very nice living (although he worked during the summers) without having to work extremely long hours. As far as the high turnover rate goes, I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that a lot of people decide to give teaching a shot because it seems easy at first glance (and the summers/holidays off).
A random question: If our educational system lags so far behind those of other countries, why are there so many foreign students at every American university I've ever visited?
Perhaps she was upset about the gender ratio? As a straight boy, that was one of the nicest things about PVA, so I can imagine it would be a bit annoying for girls. In all seriousness, though, you can't form an opinion of a school based on one teacher. I never took French, so I can't really address your sister's complaints there (though I do recall hearing that they watched a lot of movies). Some of the best teachers anyone could ever hope to learn from teach at PVA, though a notable few have left in recent years. I feel it's a great model for how giving kids some direction in the form of a creative outlet, as well as building smaller schools, can improve outcomes on a basic level. I can't precisely remember the percentage of PVA students that graduate and go on to college, but I'm pretty sure it's in the nineties, maybe even the high nineties. When I was there, I heard from my mother (who has a lot of friends involved at St. John's private school in different ways) that parents there were getting upset that PVA seemed to be placing more kids in Ivy League schools than St. John's was. When I was a student there, no one ever claimed that HSPVA as a whole was a bad school. We were a highly motivated group of students, and virtually everyone loved it there, even the ones that had little interest in their art areas. It seems to me that the awards committees' assessments of PVA are much more in line with how most people who are involved with that school feel about it than your sister's opinion is.
This is not a good start for you. The first comment is just horrible, and you should expand upon the 2nd.
I don't disagree, but you bring up one of the bigger reasons for the difference in cost. Public schools have many more administrators and much higher paid administrators than private schools. The whole school administration career path that exists in the public school system doesn't exist in private schools. Other cost differences: Most public school teachers make more than most private school teachers. The elite private school teachers make more (sometimes much more), but average private school teachers aren't paid well at all. Public schools spend more on extracurricular activities compared to private schools.
Our university systems and Pre-K systems are still the best in the world. It's just the years in between where we've fallen behind.
It is not a shorter summer, nor longer school days. It is lower expectations....."No child left behind" etc..... We used to follow the competition and acheivement rules......now we dummy down classes and hold acheivers back for kids that can't keep up. We need to go back to the old ways.......honor good acheivement, don't teach to the Lowest common denominator. Kids are capable of so much more....it is the wussification of the educations system that is the problem, not the hours of operation. DD
Indian Prairie School District, it is outside of Chicago. Also, a few of my friends are teachers for Cook County Public Schools (Chicago) and make a base salary of $65,000 plus extra money for teaching during class (not bad, as they typically have 1-2 free periods). When it is all said and done they make more than many people I know that have graduate degrees and work more hours. This doesn't take into account the benefits received as well. Teaching is a very individual thing. Some teachers put in a number of hours outside of the classroom, however it was my experience as a teacher that most teachers used the same lesson plan from the year before and were putting in very few hours outside of the classroom. I have nothing against teachers, as I was one myself. However when I hear nonsense about how they are all underpaid and how their job is so difficult, it makes me shake my head. I have worked easier, and far harder jobs. In some districts teachers make $35,000 a year, but often times teachers are making more money than you think. My sister and brother-in-law are still teachers. One puts in 50 hours a week for $50,000 (figure in summers and it is less), the other puts in the absolute bare minimum and complains that the summers are not long enough. In this economy, and with the glut of college graduates, there are far worse jobs than being a teacher.
I agree with everything you say here, but I still think that year round school would benefit many students. How else do you address the fact that underprivileged children tend to show just as much improvement during the school year as wealthier students, but then fall behind during summer breaks? The easy answer is to say that their parents need to more strongly emphasize education and see to it that their kids keep up during the summer, but many parents won't do that and it's not fair that the children should be the ones to suffer.
sorry, but i seriously doubt that you were ever a teacher. nobody who has really taught would say it is 'relatively easy' (unless you just didnt care about your job?). nor would they say teachers are 'underpaid'. and the oft repeated claim that you get 3 months off a year is kind of misleading. first of all, you are working 12 hour days for 9 months, which is equivalent to working 8 hours a day 12 months a year. then during summer you are required to do a few days a month of workshops/training/ect. its not like you are doing nothing all summer with regards to your job. and if you are teaching elementary school than yes, you get a bachelors in education. but if you want to teach middle or high school you get your bachelors in the subject you want to teach and THEN go spend another couple years taking education classes, student teaching and getting certified. its not quite the workload of a masters, but its much more than just getting a bachelors. as for the topic at hand, i wouldnt want to go to or teach at a year-round school. if you really want to improve our education system the key is increased funding. w/out that none of the other stuff matters.
But what about the claims in this thread and elsewhere that private schools generally cost less per student...and typically provide a far superior education? I'm new to this debate, as baby #1 is on the way for me it is becoming more important. If true, it sounds like statistically the issue isn't amount of funding, but use of funding.
Public schools, by mandate, must take in any student within their district, no matter the physical, cognitive, or behavioral disability and provide them with an education. Private schools can pick and choose which students they enroll and can kick disruptive, difficult students out. This fact alone explains much of the lower per student costs and higher student achievement of private schools.
I don't think its a bigger reason, HISD's admin costs are split between a bigger pool of revenue. its not like you have administration for each school. when you've got 100 schools to manage you need an administration. private schools are usually their own entity or only a few. even the smaller districts around town have just four and five high schools alone.
when did you go there because I think it is drastically different now. She said that in nearly all her classes, most kids would cheat, kids would do noting but talk and eat in class, teachers did not care what was going on. Apparantly they fired the principle and a bunch of teachers and are trying to turn things around, but it was not enough for my sister to stay there. My sister was at the top of her class and it was not even close. She said most kids there did not care about class at all. If this is what people consider a good public school, I feel sorry for the public school system.
