Vouchers for Private Schools & Education.

Most good professors in my experience barely even use the book because theyre too busy enthusiastically talking to their students about the subject.

There's some philanthropy project where they make these sort of indestructible plastic laptop machines or something.

They're basically Nokia phones.

I suspect that's a difference of subject. Most of my professors used the books, but as reading and a set of pre-existing examples. At the final level of classes, the professors didn't really give more than fifteen minutes of lesson and then spent the rest of the class doing problems.

Yeah. see. a Good graphic design/arts/photography teacher in college is usually too busy assigning you practical problems to solve, or waxing philosophical about all the interesting details to expect much out of a book except for you to read it before coming to class.

IMO, the original question comes down to whether or not we, as a society, still believe in education for all.

Research continually shows that when struggling students are put in an environment where they are surrounded by high-achieving peers, they improve far more than similarly-struggling students who remain in classes with others in the same situation.

This is the edge that private schools and charter schools have - they are opt-in rather than opt-out. ALL students in private or charter schools have parents who are involved in their education (because otherwise, how would they have been enrolled?) and so it's not about the ability of each student, but about the attitude of the group.

There is just SO much evidence that if we truly want to educate ALL of our citizens to the best of our ability, the focus needs to be on reducing poverty.

http://www.bread.org/hunger/us-poverty-solutions/ http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/04/poverty_report.html

I'm pretty passionate about this (in case you couldn't tell!) because I'm both a teacher and a cancer patient. And let me tell you, if we hadn't had insurance? Those medical bills would have ruined us financially - and it's just me and my husband. We both work & don't have children.

Many of the students that I serve come to school exhausted because their job helps pay their family's rent, utilities, and/or groceries. They can't stay after for extra help because they have no way to get home except the bus that leaves school 5 minutes after the last bell. Their clothes are well-worn rather than artfully distressed Abercrombie-style.

But we have an American aristocracy that is more concerned about increasing their personal wealth than in improving our society as a whole. And their values are what have "trickled down" to the middle class.

Annnnd I'm gonna shut up now before I get even angrier. >sigh<

Didn't a page you linked up above show that focusing on failures leads to other students doing worse?

I think you mean the blog post? I wouldn't be comfortable saying that it proves anything, because (if you mean the one I think you mean) it's a reflection based on personal experience. BUT it makes sense that any teacher and/or school has a finite amount of resources, and so whatever you use on one group of students (whether they are struggling kids, gifted, athletes, artists, etc.) is not available for other groups.

Alabama senator says increasing teacher pay is against "Biblical Principle."

Not law, "principle."

But hey, that senator voted to increase their own pay 67%, so I'm guessing not as much, right?

edited 2nd Feb '12 11:48:56 AM by Enkufka

What.

What the fuck does Biblical law have to do with compensation for teachers? I betting it's as much as it says about compensation for legislators.

well, obviously Jesus taught out of the goodness of his heart and expected no payment and he somehow uh..something..er..

edited 2nd Feb '12 1:35:01 PM by Midgetsnowman

the gist was that to be a teacher, you needed to have a calling, and more money would attract people who don't have that calling.

calling or not, nobody,. even someone who loves teaching, isnt going to willingly work for minimum wage.

edited 2nd Feb '12 1:49:38 PM by Midgetsnowman

Being a teacher is very definitely a calling, given the shit students and student's parents put you through these days. Doesn't mean you should get fucking minimum wage for the work. Also, I may not have read much of the Bible, but I'm pretty sure there is not one damn thing in there against paying teachers well for doing their work.

Exactly. I know some friends who went into or are studying to be teaching. And yes, they love it. Same as I love art and want to work in it as my "calling" But just because my calling is the arts doesnt mean I believe god intended me to be paid minimum wage if I shoot photos for a sports team.

Basically, whether or not you consider your chosen profession a calling (whether it's teaching, painting, banking, or business), has nothing to do with accepting little to no payment for it. The value of work has nothing to do with the nobility of it; just what people are willing to pay for it.

Except with government jobs, where it's what the politicians are willing to budget, value to the customers (i.e. the community) notwithstanding.

edited 2nd Feb '12 1:56:40 PM by Ratix

Thats what i was kinda thinking too. Isnt politics technically a calling as well?

Considering that it can age you, yes. But a common complaint about such things is that the ones making the big budget decisions and such are up the rich class of folks and are detached from the reality of middle class and poor folks. And the vast majority of teachers are going to be middle class, due to their pay. (Other factors may push them up, like being born into a rich family, but that has nothing to do with job earnings.)

It's not their pay they're cutting in most cases, so they get to stay rich.

Y'all're familiar with Taylor Mali's poem "What Teachers Make," right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xuFnP5N2uA

<3

edited 2nd Feb '12 3:36:10 PM by Clicketykeys