Re: I'm only going to point out a glaring contradiction

October 26, 2007 07:32PM
> "throwing more money at the problem won't fix it" <br>> <br>> "I blame the system. I blame a system that assumes there is one accepted way to teach every child in this country and one that herds 40 of them into a classroom..." <br>> <br>> The problems are complicated, and regardless of what you may think, they require more funding. Here goes: <br>> <br>> The single largest problem in the American Education system is geography. America is enormous, and getting kids to school is a huge cost. This presents a host of problems: <br>> <br>> * Small towns spend larger percentages of their budget just getting the kids to class compared to large cities. Transportation costs a lot, especially now that the price of gasoline is skyrocketing. <br> <br>Ok. Raise land taxes in those areas. If you prefer to be sprawled out, then you prefer to pay more. This shouldn't involve federal funding, because its not a federal problem that people choose to live in the middle of nowhere very far apart from each other. <br> <br>> * Small towns seeking identity insist on having their own schools. The result is tons of schools operating independently and inefficiently. For example, Every small town has its own superintendent. This is a highly trained position which requires a big salary in addition to secretaries, payroll officers etc. <br> <br>Let those small towns pay for it. "Seeking their identity" isn't a federal problem. If small towns really want that, they should spend their money on it. <br> <br>> * Property taxes aren't equal, and local government is in charge of paying a large percentage of their school's costs. Some local governments can't foot the bill and their schools suffer as a result. Some local governments have charitable businesses, and they get all of the money (and all of the best teachers). This is a hit or miss affair. <br> <br>Cut the fluff. Do you really need a football team to give kids a quality education? Raise land taxes. Et cetera. I will say this, not all schools are created equal and more than a few I've been to were way too lavish for what I consider "meeting needs". <br> <br>> * Special Education. Special education is now dominating school funding. Schools do not get a larger budget based on their special education needs. If you have a higher population of special education kids, the budget comes out of the budget that used to be allocated for the rest of the kids. Districts with high populations of poor / uneducated people have low property taxes and end up spending their tiny budgets on Special Education. First programs to get axed are gifted and talented. <br> <br>School should be about education, not charity. <br> <br>> * Our economy blows. The first place to get hit when the economy blows is school districts. While operating costs rise (transportation, fuel oil, school supplies etc) city councils repeatedly decide it's time to cut budgets. In the two school districts I've worked at, the town council renigged on their pledge to increase the school budget 5% every year.. and instead cut the budgets. Teachers get laid off when this happens. <br> <br>Our economy is kicking ass and taking names. Unemployment is at incredibly low levels - the dollar's value has decreased but that doesn't affect locals *that* much (in some ways it helps them). Inflation hasn't been no where near its worst times. I see hard times in the future, but there's certainly no hard times right now. There might be in the next 2-3 months for construction workers though. <br> <br>> * If you can't pay me well, I want job security and I don't want to be stressed out. I make 32,000 a year. If I used my engineering degree I'd be making double. I am highly qualified for my job. I have to put up with kids threatening to sue me because I confiscated their spit-ball gun. I have to tolerate kids threatening to take me to court because I tap them on the shoulder to wake them up. I am sworn at, harassed and threatened on a weekly basis. I have to clean up after kids who throw trash on my floors. I have to cautiously guard all my valuables for fear of them being stolen. That's the bad part. There's a good part which is a whole lot more rewarding and rationales why I do it. <br> <br>You're weak and soft, no offense. No, you don't deserve job security if you are bad at what you do. I didn't tell you to accept a job for shitty pay. <br> <br>> My point is, I'm one of a very few individuals who can tolerate the bullshit that teachers have to deal with. We've got a nation full of misbehaved parents with misbehaved kids. So this brings up my final and possibly most important problem: <br>> <br>> * We're overpopulated with dumbasses. Dumbass parents make dumbass kids in larger quantities then their counterparts (the intelligent parents). <br> <br>So flunk them, repeatedly. My point about the funding, as an aside, has nothing to do with what you are talking about. There's plenty of money there, its just being poorly spent. Think about how much your school would profit if it sold the land it was using for its football field. To be honest, children may be entitled to an education, but they're not entitled to their own set of free sports teams, $300,000 in coaches & physical education teacher's salaries and an indoor heated swimming pool. <br> <br>You also failed to mention the incredible costs of the sheer size of most schools, which I find excessively large and in a stupidly designed way (typically very low to the ground and inefficient in terms of heating). You'd be better served with several, smaller schools, meant to handle less children and not meant to provide them with a full cafeteria and recreation center. <br> <br>The money is there, home schoolers don't have olympic size swimming pools, thats why their educations are so cheap. Furthermore, its undeniable that in most education settings in public schools, no college degree whatsoever should be required, which lowers the cost mismatch for teacher salaries considerably. <br>> <br>> <br>> <br>
Subject Author Views Posted

Home schooled children score higher on national exams. ?

infi 1674 October 26, 2007 10:07AM

I don't doubt that it's true.

Lokain 511 October 26, 2007 10:34AM

That's not true either.

Death_Claw 612 October 26, 2007 10:37AM

I always wondered why...

Scrimbul 497 October 26, 2007 11:42AM

The irony for me...

Death_Claw 536 October 26, 2007 11:53AM

a minor point

Nivek 526 October 26, 2007 12:10PM

Thanks for the clarification. n/t

Death_Claw 549 October 26, 2007 12:16PM

All of my evidence is purely anecdotal

Lokain 582 October 26, 2007 12:16PM

Well, from what you're telling me, that's to be expected.

Scrimbul 481 October 26, 2007 12:44PM

In all actuality...

Scrimbul 548 October 26, 2007 11:37AM

Re: I don't doubt that it's true.

Isildur 542 October 26, 2007 12:16PM

Tim Tebow is the man. I love him. Seriously. And I hate Florida. nt

The Forsaken 544 October 26, 2007 03:46PM

Home schooled kid was at the dance tonight -nt

infi 554 October 26, 2007 06:24PM

Re: Home schooled children score higher on national exams. ?

Death_Claw 695 October 26, 2007 10:36AM

Re: Home schooled children score higher on national exams. ?

Isildur 593 October 26, 2007 12:10PM

Good points, especially inre to parent involvement.

Balrahd 497 October 26, 2007 12:14PM

Sorry, n/t in the above n/t.

Balrahd 469 October 26, 2007 12:18PM

I don't think that's so much the issue.

Death_Claw 1300 October 26, 2007 12:19PM

This report hand picks its data.

infi 554 October 26, 2007 12:22PM

The one I responded to you with was the Wall Street Journal.

Death_Claw 610 October 26, 2007 12:34PM

I'm only going to point out a glaring contradiction

infi 520 October 26, 2007 06:17PM

PS: 6am til 11:00pm day for me

infi 540 October 26, 2007 06:23PM

Nobody cares for your self-pity, dude.

Scrimbul 570 October 27, 2007 07:45AM

You totally spoke with 5 fingers to his face n/t

Lokain 546 October 27, 2007 07:54AM

I worked computer repair in a retail environment.

Scrimbul 541 October 27, 2007 07:59AM

I had nothing against your previous post

Lokain 517 October 27, 2007 08:45AM

Oh it was nothing against you.

Scrimbul 500 October 27, 2007 10:32AM

No, he's lobbying for a raise. :P nt

DurNominator 577 October 27, 2007 09:03AM

Summers, Winter Break and Spring Break off suck too, eh? nt

Lokain 478 October 27, 2007 05:47PM

Re: I'm only going to point out a glaring contradiction

Death_Claw 499 October 26, 2007 07:32PM

I'm going to keep going, just because I can talk about this for hours.

Death_Claw 500 October 26, 2007 07:58PM

Just (a few) problems with your model

infi 546 October 27, 2007 04:48AM

Well, here's where our beliefs differ.

Death_Claw 482 October 27, 2007 05:42AM

More explanation about the text book thing, from prior experience.

Death_Claw 514 October 27, 2007 06:52AM

Arr. I replied to the wrong thread below.

Balrahd 515 October 27, 2007 08:03AM

Could you link your other post? I'd be interested in your reasoning. n/t

Death_Claw 501 October 27, 2007 08:07AM

Basically...

Death_Claw 480 October 27, 2007 08:43AM

FWIW I agree completely n/t

Lokain 522 October 27, 2007 07:21AM

Thanks. I think a lot of people do, just the squeaky wheel gets the oil. n/t

Death_Claw 510 October 27, 2007 07:24AM

Re: Well, here's where our beliefs differ.

Chalupah 544 October 27, 2007 08:45PM

Some questions.

Paul Ott 571 October 27, 2007 07:31AM

I didn't even think like that and I agree with answering those questions. nt

Scrimbul 555 October 27, 2007 07:39AM

Re: Just (a few) problems with your model

Isildur 509 October 27, 2007 09:26AM

Re: Computers

Death_Claw 525 October 27, 2007 09:33AM

Books can be used again, though.

DurNominator 561 October 27, 2007 10:31AM

Whereas computers explode the moment you're done with them. n/t

Death_Claw 630 October 28, 2007 02:54PM

I'm still waiting to hear how homework is done in your system.

DurNominator 554 October 29, 2007 12:08AM

I do not study well with pc n/t

Graham 551 October 30, 2007 01:57PM

A slightly different perspective -

Chalupah 533 October 27, 2007 08:35PM

Oh man, I need some drugs for this post.

Chalupah 559 October 27, 2007 08:24PM

Here's our disconnect.

Death_Claw 528 October 28, 2007 03:08PM

You don't have kids, do you?

Chalupah 534 October 27, 2007 07:59PM

Regarding &quot;brain drain&quot;

Death_Claw 567 October 28, 2007 03:22PM

You're both saying some true things. txt

Isildur 547 October 27, 2007 09:14AM

I agree but I'd like to emphasize one issue.

Death_Claw 578 October 27, 2007 09:20AM

This is a good place to point out our difference:

Chalupah 531 October 27, 2007 08:51PM

Yes, I do say lets aim lower.

Death_Claw 506 October 28, 2007 03:00PM

And furthermore a difference between you and I.

Death_Claw 493 October 28, 2007 03:27PM



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