Because I'm sick of the gay marriage debate

The Coffee Shop
1

Can we please, for the love of God, talk about something else? How about this?

American public education sucks. We pay our teachers almost nothing. Our students are taught to pass tests rather than to impart knowledge. The amount of music and arts education has been steadily declining over the last decades. Kids can’t even place various major nations on a globe, much less understand the complex world of international politics. As a result, we are losing our technical and innovative edge on the rest of the world, and even more importantly to me, our citizens sound like idiots.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

2

Word up!

4

"What if two homosexual teachers want to get married? "

Just so long as they don’t try to erect a monument to the 10 Commandments.

5

We pay our teachers almost nothing.

Not true.

At least, not true in all cases, and certainly not anywhere near as many cases as the education lobby would have you believe. Most public school teachers make a pretty good living. The low-paid public school teacher is rather the exception.

6

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average salary for a public school teacher is $44,000. Obviously that would differ based on where you teach. That doesn’t seem like a lot for the importance of their job.

7

Honolulu’s teachers make a crappy starting salary. As do their police force. I think Detroit’s starting teacher’s, and average teacher’s, salaries are among the highest in the nation. Considering how pitiful the state of public education in Detroit is, I’d say something skewed here.

Public school education is a captive of local school boards, generally. We need to look at what the local yokels are doing to wisely spend the public’s money.

K

8

I guess the question is, do we need a more comprehensive national policy regarding the education of our children. I know this will attract the states’ rights people, which is fine, but the state’s aren’t doing a very good job right now.

9

I’ve made a vow to myself, and my unborn or yet to be adopted children, that they will be home schooled. This does not equate with them being isolated from their peers, in fact the opposite is likely to be the case as they will be heavily involved in the world around them. I do think this is the answer, and if it isn’t then my future kid is pretty much SOL. I’ve read from an author I have great respect for that children are capable of absorbing such a great deal of information that it will generally take two teachers for each student to be properly satiated. I believe this wholeheartedly, and it certainly makes sense knowing that offspring are generally the outcome of two parents.

I havn’t the time right now to lay out a plan with much detail, but I’d like to summarize some important points.

Very little instruction shall take place indoors, as is the norm in public institutions. There are multiple reasons for this, one such is that lights have a color rendering index (CRI) in the 60’s usually, which at first thought seems archaic given the accessiblity of full spectrum lights in the 90+ CRI range, until we recognize in archaic times light was provide predominantly by the sun, which is what the CRI is based off of at 100. A low CRI has a negative effect on the ability to focus, due to it’s deleterious effects on our hormones. Where inside instruction is the only option, lights with a CRI of 95 or greater must be utilized. If inside, air “conditioning” shall not be present, as it modifies the bodies ability to quickly adapt. Also, “conditioned” air does not have the same amount of vitality present.

Day hikes to specific geographical points, such as mountain summits, peaceful streams, silent forests, etc. will put the student in a more powerful environment, and the physical activity to get there and to get back leaves much time for reflection. As Nietzcshe has said (translated into English) “All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.”

Mathematics and the sciences are essential of course, but so too is showing where they are derived from and found in nature.

Dance, voice, music, drawing, etc. lessons are also essential. We must foster the ability for artistic expression such that we can better understand one another, and to properly magnify what is learned in the scientific fields.

Above all, what we must guide our children to discover is the ability to be silent. Without silence, the amount of information we can assimilate, reflect upon, and recall, such that we may do our part to further the onward movement of humanity, is reduced to nearly zero.

11

So do we let those who can’t pay get a piss poor education?

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"By ‘education’ I assume you mean the indoctrination of our kids with the gay, godless, liberal agenda? Where many of them graduate w/o being able to read and write or do simple math? "

I’m not sure what your deal is. By education, I mean a well rounded education focusing on social sciences, math, arts, etc. I myself am the product of a private school, so I have an understanding of what they can do, but I also know that if there are a ton of them, they won’t be able to charge as much, and therefore won’t have as much money, and therefore will have to back down on some of the good stuff a private school can do now.

14

You’re doing a pretty good job there. I bet you could string slowguy on for a dozen or so posts before he caught on.

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As a teacher and Administrative Education master’s student … it is both common sese and supported by research that the #1 indicator of academic success is “amount of time spent on education OUT OF SCHOOL”.

Students, by and large, get the same education as their peers. A teacher teaches a class of 30 (don’t get me started on class size), and they all hear the same words, the same illustrations, the same activities, etc. What they do on their own is what separates the successful from the fialing. Somehow teachers have been thriust into a role that says they must teach and learn the information FOR the student.

As a teacher, I would prefer to be paid the going rate for babysitting each kid per hour … I’d make three times as much. =)

The average length of career for a teacher is 3 years.

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**average salary for a public school teacher is $44,000. <> That doesn’t seem like a lot for the importance of their job. **

$44,000 isn’t exactly chicken feed either. Especially for a job that has 3 months of vacation built in. What amount would represent a more reasonable average, in your opinion?

As for it not reflecting the importance of their job, maybe, maybe not. It could be argued that their job is priceless, I suppose. By that line of reasoning, how much should we be paying E-2s in Iraq? How important is their job?

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Those who can do…those who cant - teach.

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The reason the average salary is “not chicken feed” is because most teachers go back to school for their masters and some a doctorate. Without earning extra education, the average salary would be 10K less.

That’s what i am doing right now, spending 6K a year for an master’s education that will alow me to make “halfway respectable” money 10 years from now. I’m literally spending money I can’t really afford to spend, so that one day my pay cieling is more than “ridiculous”.

Teachers that do not earn a masters rarely, if ever, get past 35K a year. 35K a year for 30 years of service.

Other professions likely pay for their employees to get more training (my wife’s sends her all over the country). Education, too often requires teachers to pay for it themselves, and marks them negatively on evaluations if they are not furthering their education.

Teaching, as a profession, does not seem to compare to other professions. Teachers teach because the love what they do and care for who they teach … employers take advantage of that big time.

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Those who can do…those who cant - teach.

That’s pretty clever.

How’s that working out for you…?

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44G isn’t chikcen feed, but since most teachers get out after 3 years and most of those cite low salary as a major reason they got out of teaching, it might be good to address it. As for 3 months of vacation, well my mom is a high school teacher and her vacation months weren’t exactly time off. It wasn’t like she was in Bermuda for 3 months or anything. Additionally, many school districts are moving to schedules that teach year-round with a week or so between sessions.

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"Those who can do…those who cant - teach. "

This is just about the stupidest thing that I’ve heard.

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Isn’t a big part of the problem what happens after the kids get out of school. The parents/guardians also need to be involved to motivate their kids to study etc. I think people blame the teachers too much for poor students. When will America take some personal responsibility. If a kid does not want to learn and the parents don’t care the kid won’t learn. And caring is not yelling when the child gets bad grades.

JW

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Sure. I’m not saying pay the teachers a lot and things will be just fine. there are tons of ways to do it, and many aspects that contibute to our problems. However, sinc eI can’t pass a law telling you to be an involved parent, we have to start where we can do some good.