If You can read this, thank a teacher!

[Diva]

For the past couple of days, I've been hearing some mighty scary news reports about the laying off of our teachers.

Having just lived through that extravaganza, this hits really close to home, but my main concern is the WHY is this happening.

Here are the things I know after watching the Anderson Cooper 360 report early this morning....

There is a possibility that between 100,000 ~ 300,000 teachers will be laid off at the end of this school year.


Let that sink in.


Cities and states mentioned (um, hellz yeah, I took notes!) were Cleveland (I didn't get the number there, but it was too high), CA (23,000), IL (20,000), New York (20,000) and even here in Austin, several hundred jobs are on the chopping block!

Where is the TEACHER BAILOUT? Or the Districts bailout? AND........isn't one of the big 'arguments' FOR the legalization of the Lottery is to beef up our education funding?

Right.

So enter former Superintendent of Chicago Schools, now the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.....and he is "pressing" for the passing of an Emergency Jobs Legislation for school districts.

Pressing.

Why isn't he ~ and HASN'T he been kicking and screaming.

Now don't get me wrong...I don't believe that tossing money in the main direction of any superintendent's offices are the cure. I taught for over 30 years and have seen & heard it all. There are bad teachers in our schools who are only there because they have seniority or tenure. Principals sometimes look the other way and plug up their ears.

But why is this issue JUST NOW coming to light? Like the market, this has been going on for a while.

I'm venting of course. I don't have a solution. But I am distressed about it. Distressed enough to start a thread to see if this is of concern to anyone else......

Thanks!

~Diva

[rockybcn]

It is scarey! My sister is a teacher for the Indiana schools. She told me that the Superintendent is campaigning to eliminate the unions. He wants to keep who he wants and to hell with tenure!

[Diva]

Yes, but herein lies the problem (just my opinion, of course)....just because a teacher has tenure, doesn't mean he/she can teach...and just because a teacher has a Masters degree or a PhD after their name doesn't mean they can either....

All I know is that it appears that many things have been swept under the educational rug for far too long.

And I agree with You.....it IS scary!

[Linus]

Is it all about $$$; a lack of students as parents send their kids to private schools; a lack of faith in the public education system; a decrease in enrollment; or all of the above that is causing administrations to do this kind of drastic result? I do agree with you, Diva, in that unions often protect those that really shouldn't be teaching. I wish (and as a former member of a professors' union in Ontario) that there could be performance evaluations taken into consideration as to whether the union will protect your job or not.

[Diva]

Originally Posted by Linus

Is it all about $$$; a lack of students as parents send their kids to private schools; a lack of faith in the public education system; a decrease in enrollment; or all of the above that is causing administrations to do this kind of drastic result? I do agree with you, Diva, in that unions often protect those that really shouldn't be teaching. I wish (and as a former member of a professors' union in Ontario) that there could be performance evaluations taken into consideration as to whether the union will protect your job or not.

I totally agree with that 'performance evaluation' thing. Teachers are observed, of course (or should be), but in the schools in which I taught I was given notice. So any teacher could put on their A+ lesson. I think the way it OUGHT to be ~ if a teacher is doing their job as they should ~ is that the principal (or asst. principal) SHOULD be able to drop in. My principals always knew they could. (I've had principals come in and I would hand them the music and 'made' them sit with the choir!)

Public schools go downhill in some area and the parents yank their kids out and take them to private schools. ALso, parents sometimes expect the teachers to raise their children, the kids are discipline problems and they're taken out of public and taken to private. But that's another thread.

I'm just thinking that our priorities are SOoooooooo out of whack here!

[Apocalipstic]

With less money being spent there is less tax money to pay the teachers, I get that.

But when I think of the things we do spend money on like the 2 wars we are fighting for NOTHING and how much that money could do to help kids with their education and their health care it makes me want to scream.

Art and music programs being canceled/cut back way before sports makes me want to scream too.

I do wonder about the ups and down in numbers of students based on population booms, how some years we have a shortage of teachers and another a surplus...and I also question the media's love of stirring the pot and freaking us out. CNN has zero idea where Hawaii and Estonia are...grrrrrr and I wonder how anyone gets out of elementary school not knowing at least where the states are...and ends up as a newscaster.

I could go on....

Great thread Diva! I hold a special place in my heart for some of the great teachers I had who shaped my life more than they will ever know. Many of them music teachers.

[Martina]

i get dropped in on all the time. I know that formal observations require you to be notified, and in some places, the informal ones can't go in your record. i don't know. We definitely have some bad teachers in our school.

The firings this year have nothing to do with changes in enrollment. They are to do with decreasing state budgets. Some places are anticipating class sizes of fifty students. No teacher can educate fifty students the way we are taught. General education teachers are expected to differentiate instruction, to have profiles of each student, to keep assessment data, to do creative lessons -- which take materials and space. Who can teach fifty students unless all you do is packet them. You can't even do direct instruction and reach fifty students unless you have the classroom management skills of a drill instructor. That makes for a wonderful teacher-student relationship.

So they give us standards for the teaching profession and then they make it impossible for us to meet them for many reasons.

i am appalled that teacher evaluation is so large a part of the national debate.

ADMINISTRATOR evaluation is what is needed. Or a real paradigm shift in what they do. You ask for the teacher's edition of the text book for your class, and the response is "Good luck getting THAT!" What boss in the private sector is not responsible for making sure his employees have the resources they need to function?

People criticize teachers for not doing the four or five things it takes to be an effective teacher, but no one trains them to do it. Gifted teachers can still be ineffective teachers. CARING teachers can be ineffective teachers. It's hard work, but it's not rocket science. Why aren't administrators helping teachers who need it? That's what happens in the real world? Why does education just take the sickest elements in the market -- fire half of the teachers in failing schools (a new California law) and none of the efficiency or accountability at the top?

Anyway, i gotta do work so i can continue to teach. Rant just begun, but i have to stop.

[Diva]

Originally Posted by Martina

i get dropped in on all the time. I know that formal observations require you to be notified, and in some places, the informal ones can't go in your record. i don't know. We definitely have some bad teachers in our school.

The firings this year have nothing to do with changes in enrollment. They are to do with decreasing state budgets. Some places are anticipating class sizes of fifty students. No teacher can educate fifty students the way we are taught. General education teachers are expected to differentiate instruction, to have profiles of each student, to keep assessment data, to do creative lessons -- which take materials and space. Who can teach fifty students unless all you do is packet them. You can't even do direct instruction and reach fifty students unless you have the classroom management skills of a drill instructor. That makes for a wonderful teacher-student relationship.

So they give us standards for the teaching profession and then they make it impossible for us to meet them for many reasons.

i am appalled that teacher evaluation is so large a part of the national debate.

ADMINISTRATOR evaluation is what is needed. Or a real paradigm shift in what they do. You ask for the teacher's edition of the text book for your class, and the response is "Good luck getting THAT!" What boss in the private sector is not responsible for making sure his employees have the resources they need to function?

People criticize teachers for not doing the four or five things it takes to be an effective teacher, but no one trains them to do it. Gifted teachers can still be ineffective teachers. CARING teachers can be ineffective teachers. It's hard work, but it's not rocket science. Why aren't administrators helping teachers who need it? That's what happens in the real world? Why does education just take the sickest elements in the market -- fire half of the teachers in failing schools (a new California law) and none of the efficiency or accountability at the top?

Anyway, i gotta do work so i can continue to teach. Rant just begun, but i have to stop.

And I hope You DO continue for this was stated FAR more eloquently than I EVER could.....thank You, Martina.....

I'm just a Choir Director....

[firie]

Originally Posted by apocalipstic

With less money being spent there is less tax money to pay the teachers, I get that.

But when I think of the things we do spend money on like the 2 wars we are fighting for NOTHING and how much that money could do to help kids with their education and their health care it makes me want to scream.

Art and music programs being canceled/cut back way before sports makes me want to scream too.

I do wonder about the ups and down in numbers of students based on population booms, how some years we have a shortage of teachers and another a surplus...and I also question the media's love of stirring the pot and freaking us out. CNN has zero idea where Hawaii and Estonia are...grrrrrr and I wonder how anyone gets out of elementary school not knowing at least where the states are...and ends up as a newscaster.

I could go on....

Great thread Diva! I hold a special place in my heart for some of the great teachers I had who shaped my life more than they will ever know. Many of them music teachers.

Yeah, I think we tend to look at the logic of the funding behind two wars and then the move at slashing the school system this way, and automatically go wtf, but it's all about the genius of insuring American stupidity by bureaucratic budgets. We don't just throw one pile of cash into another budget and for good reason. Everything is so "complexly" allocated, I guess. Makes me think we don't really want a good education system. Why would we? We have had a better record at being so so in education and still manage to be the number one super power. That isn't because the masses in this country are rocket scientists. It's because most Americans are not critical thinkers. So those in power in this country are able to secure conquer and control of citizens, and then the terror (nice equation for world power) of fear internationally. Kinda like dick and balls idioacracy, you know? This benefits Americans in power because it keeps the pie tightly theirs. In order to truly ensure that, I think, you need a complacency among the masses that fuels stupid consumerism and thus the rich and their pockets. Hence, the rich don't really send their children to public schools. They also placate the masses (tossing out scraps is far easier when you are dealing with so many people than to fight them as hungry hordes) and with things such as television, new cars, cola, and well, public education.

[theoddz]

Originally Posted by firie

Yeah, I think we tend to look at the logic of the funding behind two wars and then the move at slashing the school system this way, and automatically go wtf, but it's all about the genius of insuring American stupidity by bureaucratic budgets. We don't just throw one pile of cash into another budget and for good reason. Everything is so "complexly" allocated, I guess. Makes me think we don't really want a good education system. Why would we? We have had a better record at being so so in education and still manage to be the number one super power. That isn't because the masses in this country are rocket scientists. It's because most Americans are not critical thinkers. So those in power in this country are able to secure conquer and control of citizens, and then the terror (nice equation for world power) of fear internationally. Kinda like dick and balls idioacracy, you know? This benefits Americans in power because it keeps the pie tightly theirs. In order to truly ensure that, I think, you need a complacency among the masses that fuels stupid consumerism and thus the rich and their pockets. Hence, the rich don't really send their children to public schools. They also placate the masses (tossing out scraps is far easier when you are dealing with so many people than to fight them as hungry hordes) and with things such as television, new cars, cola, and well, public education.

I totally agree with this and have thought this for quite a number of years. The political system, which also controls funding, wants to further the agenda of the dumbing down of America. Uneducated people don't read and for the most part, don't encourage their children to become educated. They let pop culture....in other words, the television and mass media, educate their children in what the establishment wants them to know.

Some folks may call me a "conspiracy theorist", but I strongly believe that this worldwide trend toward wealth redistribution is fully in play. That's why all of the (former) higher paying American jobs have been sent overseas. In such a process, the goal is to lower the standard of American living and increase it in other areas of the world which have, historically, had a lower standard. We all know that education has been the key to enjoying a higher standard of living. Well, that's exactly why the political system in this country has been gradually tearing down/dismantling the educational system.

These politicians may preach education, but that's not what they really want to do. Cutting education is means to an end. Here's a good link to what I'm saying.

http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2009/0...ntury-exposed/

~Theo~

[NJFemmie]

In all fairness, my sister taught me how to read and write before I even entered school. *smirk*
But .... I do think (some) teachers are grossly underpaid and under appreciated.
It is interesting how funding will go to financial institutions before they consider the educational system.

[The_Lady_Snow]

Columbus City Schools give layoff notices to 113 teachers on Friday.. Teacher's Union calls it a dark day for the district..

[Diva]

And I just saw a story on the power of music in the life of an autistic child, whose mother believed in her and fought for her, even though she herself was fighting cancer.

This child, Stephanie ~ who lives in southern California ~ had a passion for opera, it seemed. And sang "Ave Maria" at her mother's memorial service.

Yeah....let's kill music, et al, in our schools.

Snowy....it is a sad day. I'm sorry to hear this.

NJ...while she may not have been paid at the time, and unpaid, she was/is still a teacher. <smile> Don't You smirk at me, girl, or I'll spank You..... corporal punishment lives! LOL!

[blush]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_498003.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/ed...n/13texas.html

We can debate the effects of these articles.
We can debate the loss of teachers.
We can debate the decline of schools.

It doesn't mean shit unless we get out into our local community and GET INVOLVED in the schools. It is PUBLIC education. Most of the people who have control of curriculum, school boards, and textbook content are elected. Unfortunately, most of us would rather complain than go to a board meeting or go to a public textbook meeting or vote these assholes out of office.

If you care, back it up, and get involved. As an educator, I'm damn sick of being told what's wrong with our schools and watching election after election go by with very little voter turnout. I'm sick of PTA meeting with only a handful of parents in attendance.

The special interest groups know our apathy and are banking on the fact that no one will stop them. In Texas, they have gotten their foothold in pretty well. Unfortunately, we are a big state. Most school districts follow our lead. So this disease will spread until we stop it.

[Nat]

The teacher who "taught" me to read was a horrible, mean, snippy, condescending woman who put me in a corner facing away from the class and told my parents she thought I belonged in special ed. Sooooooo, I'm afraid I don't feel hugely grateful to her.

But, I am hugely grateful for the vast majority of teachers I had growing up, and I am hugely grateful for the very important role they play in our society. I am sure being a teacher has its rewards, but even a mediocre teacher has applied her/himself greatly to the profession and has made many personal sacrifices in order to serve society.

So - many thanks. I sure hope Austin doesn't lay off a single teacher.

[Diva]

Originally Posted by Nat

The teacher who "taught" me to read was a horrible, mean, snippy, condescending woman who put me in a corner facing away from the class and told my parents she thought I belonged in special ed. Sooooooo, I'm afraid I don't feel hugely grateful to her.

But, I am hugely grateful for the vast majority of teachers I had growing up, and I am hugely grateful for the very important role they play in our society. I am sure being a teacher has its rewards, but even a mediocre teacher has applied her/himself greatly to the profession and has made many personal sacrifices in order to serve society.

So - many thanks. I sure hope Austin doesn't lay off a single teacher.

Ok, Nat, but You know what my point was...<smile> The mean and snipping condecending witch doesn't count....

And sadly, AISD will be laying off teachers....they say MOST of the layoffs are peripheral positions (aides, office personnel, etc.)...."most".

It is a sad day.....for whatEVER the reason......

[Mrs. Strutt]

Floridians have been battling Senate Bill 6, started by that train wreck, former governor Jeb Bush, which would have made it easier to fire teachers and linked their salaries/merit increases to student performance. Thank God Charlie Crist finally vetoed the damned thing last week after the huge uproar among Florida voters:

"The incredible outpouring of opposition by teachers, parents, students, superintendents, school boards and legislators has greatly influenced my decision today," Crist said.

We CAN make a difference if we do raise our voices and get involved.