S.C. deputy filmed slamming teen girl out of desk, dragging her away

You're blaming nuclear families for education's woes? Interesting.

 

One of the things mentioned in the All Things Considered segment I linked to was that there was no real effort to place student teachers with, you know, good teachers.

They, were just placed with whoever, and often with teachers who were themselves not great teachers. Is that any way to train teachers?

What Michigan is now doing is working with a few schools, and teachers, even if it means that many student teachers train with the same teacher.

 

As an aside, conservatives - including YF - constantly want to model teaching after private industry. I can vouch that private industry is no great shakes, either, in terms of identifying talent and dispensing with non-talent. When we're slow - like now - I can come in for days, weeks, on end with nothing to do. And no one notices or cares. It's like "Office Space." There's just enough smart, competent people attracted to the salaries and salary potential that it's tough for management to fuck it up too bad.

 

If you want to call it that. I think Facebook's term is: "It's complicated."

 

Isn't this circular? Unless we improve education, we won't combat poverty. Insisting we take care of poverty first seems to me to be putting the cart in front of the horse.

Current policy, btw, is importing poverty. Schools are swamped with poor kids, for whom English is not their first language, and who may not speak it at all.

How does that help schools that are already failing. (Except by inflating their enrollment numbers, which keeps the dollars per child flowing, and keeps more teachers employed?)

Sure, private, expensive schools like smaller classrooms, because the parents at these schools think it matters, and think their snowflake will get more individual attention.

It's overrated.

What's better? Being in a classroom of 20 kids, with a lousy teacher at the front of the classroom, or a classroom of 30 kids, with a great teacher standing in the front?

How many parents in the first example would take the second example if given the choice?

One of the best ways to increase teacher pay, and improve the percentage of good teachers, would be to increase classroom size, and the teaching load (and probably the school day).

 

My ex-sister-in-law taught kindergarten in a school district with a lot of ESL kids. Her first year, about 3/4 of her students didn't know English. Of course, the parents didn't, either. I asked her if she was going to try to learn Spanish.

"Why should I? It's not my job."

All righty, then.

 

That's a cop out.

We hear all the time that we "need to empower principals".

Well, ok. Let's just say that the principal in your town wanted to recruit and pay an appropriate rate to highly qualified individuals to teach in his/her school.

What if by cutting some costs, and increasing classroom size, he was able to come up with a budget where he could pay some teachers $100,000?

Is there any way he could do it?

What if he raised the funds privately, from a foundation, for instance, is there any way he could do it?

 

Don't forget kids need iPads to succeed. They'll just use it for educational purposes.

 

I know a boatload of teachers, in districts from rich to poor. I saw their training. You know why most of them entered the field? Because the starting pay was pretty good for an easy job to get. Yes, they love the kids, blah blah blah, but the good money, job security and ease of entry were key.

Starting pay in my local ISD is 50K+ in an area with a relatively low cost of living.

 

You're totally clueless.

Extending the school year -- that I could get behind.

 

Well, we don't mean law firms when we talk about private industry!

 

Shouldn't have been hired. That administrator screwed up.

(I know Dicky has his fingers in his ears.)