Long Island Mom and her students beat Math teacher

[Victor VonDoom]

Come along now, Doom.  It's a noble profession.  Even as an avocation, the generous mentor is much revered.  I flatter myself that, through the miracle of Getbig, I've helped a few doe-eyed youths along the path to become surly curmudgeons, burnt and bitter before their time.

80+% of teachers have very low pay
no support from central administration
no support from state & local government
no support from parents (in this case physically attacked by a parent)
demonized by the media
tortured by demonic students
tenure has been undermined or taken away so job security is gone

Is the stress and burnout worth it?  Really? 

Bah!

[Tapeworm]

80+% of teachers have very low pay
no support from central administration
no support from state & local government
no support from parents (in this case physically attacked by a parent)
demonized by the media
tortured by demonic students
tenured has been undermined or taken away so job security is gone

Is the stress and burnout worth it?  Really? 

Bah!

Well...the hardass half of me says welcome to the world.  But the disillusionment for someone who actually wanted to teach would be kind of a bitter pill.  Anyway, I reckon education should be funded to such an extent that it attracts top applicants to staff, and it ought to be free for students.  It doesn't strike me as an endeavor that benefits from meat-grinder capitalism.  We sure better do something because the rest of the world is kicking our ass.

Srs, what would you do?  Would you nationalize all universities to remove profit as their reason for being?  Or remove them entirely from state oversight?  Open doors or higher student standards?  Is there any solution or is shit so broken above and below that it's past fixing?

[Victor VonDoom]

Well...the hardass half of me says welcome to the world.  But the disillusionment for someone who actually wanted to teach would be kind of a bitter pill.  Anyway, I reckon education should be funded to such an extent that it attracts top applicants to staff, and it ought to be free for students.  It doesn't strike me as an endeavor that benefits from meat-grinder capitalism.  We sure better do something because the rest of the world is kicking our ass.

Srs, what would you do?  Would you nationalize all universities to remove profit as their reason for being?  Or remove them entirely from state oversight?  Open doors or higher student standards?  Is there any solution or is shit so broken above and below that it's past fixing?

This is about K-12 schools not universities.  Two very different entities with different challenges.  Universities in the US are, on the whole, very good.  K-12 is where the real problems are.  The solutions are not simple, but here is one that would never fly: extend the school year.  There is no reason for three months off during the summer.  This would never work if you sprung it on everyone so it should be piloted with select schools and teachers who are willing to do it (for compensation). Couple weeks off for Xmas, for Spring Break, and for Summer, but there is no reason for students to be off for three months at a time.  At most, summer should be one month. Even now teachers complain about not having enough time in the school year to teach required material.  This will solve that.  Changing expectations about what is possible in school is one place to start.  Start with the school year.

Bah!

[Tapeworm]

Ahh, spilled my baggage there.  Thought we were talking uni.

I went to a pretty good HS.  Good because it was in a well-to-do area, while down the road in Trenton they had metal detectors at the door.  Kinda inequitable but not simply the result of gerrymandered municipal boundaries.  More like one of those 'society at large' things that heavier funding alone wouldn't automatically solve.  Couldn't hurt either tho since I imagine the teachers down there were asking themselves your kind of questions.

Yeah, a long summer is nice for letting kids be kids but up around HS age it's getting silly.  It's not like you're out making mud pies at 16.  If it was a 'recommended option,' looked at favorably by unis, and (no harp) free then maybe summer school would become more the norm.

And I hate to say it, being all libtardy and egalitarian, but if I had a kid in a US school, I'd want problem students removed from the general population and put in a tier 2 place.  Not a less funded place with cobwebs on the ceiling or something, but just elsewhere.  Possibility of coming back etc, but the threat of expulsion/reassignment would do wonders for discipline with most kids, and the ones who are never going to give a shit get disappeared.

[The Ugly]

Ahh, spilled my baggage there.  Thought we were talking uni.

I went to a pretty good HS.  Good because it was in a well-to-do area, while down the road in Trenton they had metal detectors at the door.  Kinda inequitable but not simply the result of gerrymandered municipal boundaries.  More like one of those 'society at large' things that heavier funding alone wouldn't automatically solve.  Couldn't hurt either tho since I imagine the teachers down there were asking themselves your kind of questions.

Yeah, a long summer is nice for letting kids be kids but up around HS age it's getting silly.  It's not like you're out making mud pies at 16.  If it was a 'recommended option,' looked at favorably by unis, and (no harp) free then maybe summer school would become more the norm.

And I hate to say it, being all libtardy and egalitarian, but if I had a kid in a US school, I'd want problem students removed from the general population and put in a tier 2 place.  Not a less funded place with cobwebs on the ceiling or something, but just elsewhere.  Possibility of coming back etc, but the threat of expulsion/reassignment would do wonders for discipline with most kids, and the ones who are never going to give a shit get disappeared.

Why not change compulsory attendance laws as well. If you're blatantly checked out at 16, say - no effort, no growth, no interest, etc. - what's the use in wasting another two years in a classroom? Maybe studying a trade at this point snags some would-be dropouts, giving them something more to their liking, and more useful, to take into the workforce. Far more productive than just watching the kid age; unleashing him/her on society two years later, uneducated AND unskilled.

Plus, it frees up teachers and students from otherwise bored kids who often end up causing distractions. College ain't for everyone; more pragmatic to figure it out sooner rather than later.

Kid matures a bit, changes his mind, the diploma and college are still an option. Now it's just on him or her, the adult, to put forth the effort.

[Tapeworm]

I'd go with that as long as there's guardian sign-off and they take each case under review for a time, just to get the kid in a room without parents to make sure it's also what he wants and he's not just being pushed to become a third income.

Idk if they do trade placement in US schools these days.  They didn't at mine but here in Aus they do.  Some the least motivated people you'll ever have the misfortune of wasting time and money on, lol.  Maybe the ones I didn't get to meet get through it ok since the programs continue to run.  But the teachers were failed contractors, every last one.  

[The Ugly]

I'd go with that as long as there's guardian sign-off and they take each case under review for a time, just to get the kid in a room without parents to make sure it's also what he wants and he's not just being pushed to become a third income.

Idk if they do trade placement in US schools these days.  They didn't at mine but here in Aus they do.  Some the least motivated people you'll ever have the misfortune of wasting time and money on, lol.  Maybe the ones I didn't get to meet get through it ok since the programs continue to run.  But the teachers were failed contractors, every last one.  

Any ideas for the apathetic, disengaged, non-performing (no chance of graduating) kids who don't want it?

[Tapeworm]

Any ideas for the apathetic, disengaged, non-performing (no chance of graduating) kids who don't want it?

Not really, and there will always be some.  I don't propose to send kids to ze camps for poor grades tho.  As long as they're quietly apathetic and not being a nuisance, they're welcome to hang around, either pull their socks up or not, horses & water etc.  If they're being a pain in the butt then they get to attend the other school.

I'm basically pitching Kim Jong Un high school.  You publicly do one in and the rest are going to fall in line.