Frustration with school leaders, not pay, forces teachers out

[PLC1]

This article pretty well describes the state of affairs in many of the big school districts in the State of California. How is it in your local schools, or in your state?

SACRAMENTO -- Nicolle Miller could handle the overcrowded classrooms, the lack of supplies and even the shortage of books for her seventh- and eighth-grade students at an Anaheim middle school.

What she found most discouraging was the lack of support.

Those who quit overwhelmingly cited bureaucratic impediments to teaching, such as excessive paperwork, too much classroom interruption and too many restrictions on teaching.

"They want bureaucratic systems to be in place, but they want them to be supportive and responsive, rather than interfering and burdensome," said Ken Futernick, director of K-12 studies for the center and the study's principal author.

About one in five teachers typically quit within the first five years, according to national studies, a condition that has long been a source of frustration for school districts and education schools.

It leaves schools with too many inexperienced teachers, who typically are concentrated in schools with the highest numbers of poor and minority students.

All too many idealistic young people, after having spent a year or more and thousands of dollars to earn a teaching credential, get thrown to the wolves, then get discouraged and quit teaching completely.

Maybe it's different where you are. I hope so.

 

[Grounded]

I went to a public high school in California.

I can understand what it's like.

It's a tragedy indeed...

 

[Truth-Bringer]

The bureaucracy is entrenched precisely because the schools are funded with tax money - which is money taken by threat of force and force if necessary. All attempts at reform on a wide-scale level have failed. This article demonstrates precisely why more money will not solve the problem. We already spend more than any other country in the world AND OUR SYSTEM IS FAILING:

"Report: U.S. No. 1 in school spending

Test scores fall in middle of the pack

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States spends more public and private money on education than other major countries, but its performance doesn't measure up in areas ranging from high-school graduation rates to test scores in math, reading and science, a new report shows.

"There are countries which don't get the bang for the bucks, and the U.S. is one of them," said Barry McGaw, education director for the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which produced the annual review of industrialized nations.

The United States spent $10,240 per student from elementary school through college in 2000, according to the report. The average was $6,361 among more than 25 nations."

Rest of article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/09/16/sprj.sch.education.compared.ap/

 

[PLC1]

The bureaucracy is entrenched precisely because the schools are funded with tax money - which is money taken by threat of force and force if necessary. All attempts at reform on a wide-scale level have failed. This article demonstrates precisely why more money will not solve the problem. We already spend more than any other country in the world AND OUR SYSTEM IS FAILING:

"Report: U.S. No. 1 in school spending

Test scores fall in middle of the pack

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States spends more public and private money on education than other major countries, but its performance doesn't measure up in areas ranging from high-school graduation rates to test scores in math, reading and science, a new report shows.

"There are countries which don't get the bang for the bucks, and the U.S. is one of them," said Barry McGaw, education director for the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which produced the annual review of industrialized nations.

The United States spent $10,240 per student from elementary school through college in 2000, according to the report. The average was $6,361 among more than 25 nations."

Rest of article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/09/16/sprj.sch.education.compared.ap/

These other nations you cite, the ones who are spending their education dollars so much more efficiently that the US:

Do they have public education also?

If so, then we need to look further. The correct answers may not be found in ideology, but in pragmatism.

 

[The Founders Intent]

What we have here is a multitude of spineless school boards who do not listen to their customers, but to entrenched lobbyists. If school boards would grow a pair and run the system with discipline and purpose, teachers would have all the support they need. If a principal charges an 8 year old with sexual assault for kissing a classmate, the boards should bring him/her in front and center, and slap him around a bit. Then this bullsh*t would end. They need to stop teaching urban students about multiculturalism and racism (which they already know like experts), and teach them to read and write so they can escape the ghetto.

 

[PLC1]

What we have here is a multitude of spineless school boards who do not listen to their customers, but to entrenched lobbyists. If school boards would grow a pair and run the system with discipline and purpose, teachers would have all the support they need. If a principal charges an 8 year old with sexual assault for kissing a classmate, the boards should bring him/her in front and center, and slap him around a bit. Then this bullsh*t would end. They need to stop teaching urban students about multiculturalism and racism (which they already know like experts), and teach them to read and write so they can escape the ghetto.

Yes, and then they need to stand up to the state and federal bureaucracies and say, "Enough! We want local control of schools!"

 

[vyo476]

Yes, and then they need to stand up to the state and federal bureaucracies and say, "Enough! We want local control of schools!"

Especially that last part. Public schools spend so much time kissing up to state and federal institutions to get funding that there isn't time for much else.