Stupid in America

I found this posted on Bureaucratic Daycare. I've got a discussion going on there with Dani and I must say that I'm a bit weirded out at the fact that I'm finding myself agreeing in some ways with a fundamentalist. It's on my mind once again as I am looking on subfinder for an available opening. I could stand to make a quick and easy $70 today and I'm off from the hotel. I'm not certified to teach yet, but I love to teach. The best the school board can offer me is substitute teaching. I look at it this way, I get to work at different schools and see what they are really like. I also get to learn more about teaching kids. I get introduced to faculty as well. Helps me hone my skills and decide who I want to work for. And I get paid for it!

But I have to say, as much as I love teaching, as much as I am for public schooling, the school system needs an overhaul.

I invite you to watch the video, it's 40 minutes long, but worth it.


Fist thing I want to bring up is the money. They say the more money the better. Some years ago, I read A Different Kind of Teacher by John Taylor Gatto. One thing that was brought up in that book in regards to money is that public schools spend more money educating kids than what it costs to send kids to a private school. Pretty accurate I'd say. I looked up a few private schools in the area and some of them offer tuition for less than the $10K/student (or more! they need more!) mentioned in the video. And where does the money go? Not to me, I only make $70/day. Even if I was full time, that's only $35K/year. When I was on my long term job last year, I had 140 students. That's $1,400,000! Wait, they had 5 other classes so $233,333.33. Still a pretty insane amount of money.

How about this - attach the money to the kids. Just like the video says. Voucher programs as they are called here. I guess I'm a bad public school teacher. I like vouchers. I support vouchers. Why do public school teachers hate vouchers? Because they suck. And because they know they will always have an income. Think of it this way, they know they will always have "customers." Therefore it doesn't matter how bad they do, they will always have a job. They can get away with doing an absolute shit job and not care. It's nearly impossible for a teacher to get fired for incompetence. About the only thing they can get fired for is doing something that puts them in jail. Parents need a choice as to where to send their kids. If there are vouchers, if there is a choice, there will be competition. Think about it. I'm typing this on a Dell laptop thats running Ubuntu Linux. I have the choice to do that just as well as you have the choice to read it on a different PC or Mac. And you have a choice in operating systems too! Either a PC or Mac can run linux, you are not stuck with Windows or Mac OS. Know what else? You have a choice in what internet service brings it to your home. If one isn't fitting your needs, you can choose one that does. A parent should be able to do the same thing with their child's education. And while I am aware there are options like private schools and home schooling, the parent is still paying the same taxes. Attach the tax money to the child, give the parents a choice. If the parent chooses to home school, give them the money. However, I think there should be a limit, if a parent wants to send their kid to the most expensive in private schools (like a boarding school) they can pay the difference. That's exactly how I see it. Under a voucher program a good teacher will always have students.

Let me go on to say I hate unions. I have never worked for a union. I will never work for a union. My attitude toward any job is that if it is not fitting my needs, I will find one that does. So far this has worked very well for me. Unions did serve a purpose at one time when there were no such thing as benefits. Not the case any more. I look a strikers as spoiled crybabies. They would be sticking it to their boss a lot harder if they find a better job and quit. One thing I will not do as a teacher is join a teacher's union. those are the worst. They are only in it for themselves. No one else. They want to protect the bad teachers. They want to protect their status quo. It's working great for them. Good teachers don't need unions.

Along with the vouchers, there needs to be an evaluation system in place. If the teacher isn't meeting the standards, or is behaving badly, fire them. Simply put, just like any other job. Really want to improve things, drop the bottom 10%. It worked for GE. It works for every other business. Reward the best, fire the worst. A good teacher will always have a job.

The lottery thing at the end made me angry. No parent should have to do that. I think if that was offered to me, I'd have to slug somebody. Seriously.

By the way, South Carolina schools are improving. Look at their contestant for Miss Teen USA -