Posted on 02/20/2011 9:23:23 PM PST by Sonny M
Are you sick of highly paid teachers?
Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit!
We can get that for less than minimum wage.
That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan-- that equals 6 1/2 hours).
Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.
However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.
LET'S SEE....
That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).
What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.
Wait a minute -- there's something wrong here! There sure is!
The average teacher's salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!
Make a teacher smile; repost this to show appreciation for all educators.
“Education is no longer a business to benefit the children. That ship sailed about the time the unions discovered the school house.”
True, but it’s not just the unions. The colleges of education in our university system share in the problem.
State and Federal legislatures often turn to these ‘experts’
when they want to reform the system.
Then there are the State and Federal legislatures themselves. The ability to raise revenue and appropriate it
in the name of “educating children” has turned our public school system into quite a money making adventure for those
who are able to lobby the right congressmen.
As to your recommendations...they seem like another beauracracy that will require evaluators, managers, supervisors etc. In essence more of the same that we already have.
What’s the solution? It’s the compulsory education laws
that give the states the power to run public education. By
compelling children to be in school, the state also takes the ‘responsibilty’ to create the system. It then allows them to tax the public at large, even people who don’t have
children in the system, to finance the enterprise.
To me this whole scheme sounds a lot like Obamacare!!!
Eliminate or scale back the compulsory education laws, and make individual parents responsible for defining the education their own children receive.
The counter argument will be that there are some parents that don’t care for their own children, are too poor, are too ignorant....or whatever.
Again this is the same argument behind Obamacare!!!
I’ve a better idea. Let’s pay teachers for what they accomplish and make it easy to fire them if they don’t actually TEACH children what they know. Let’s also hang the responsibility for educating children on the administrators also and fire them along with the teachers unless they school produce X percent of graduates per year.
My children’s teachers in Elementary school have indeed been little more than exceptional babysitters. They are worth perhaps $20/hr. They can afford their own health insurance out of that. Pensions? Let them open an IRA like the rest of us.
Unfortunately, the left is once again ahead of us on this one. They have realized that you cannot force a child to learn and that the equal opportunity to an education doesn’t always lead to an equal outcome, that White students continue to out perform minority students on tests.
So, rather than return to the old tracking system, where students choose their own path to a diploma, college preparatory, business, tech, or general, the left has decided to simply give out a diploma to kids at 15 or 16 and put them directly into a union apprenticeship or training program, preferably an SEIU training program, whether the kids can read, write and do math or not. They don’t even have to pass a GED test and probably couldn’t.
In other words, the left has changed the goal of education from an equal opportunity to an equal outcome. Next time you hear the left talk about outcome based education, you’ll know what they mean.
I've read articles that entrants into “education” colleges are in the lowest 25% percentile - so the kids are being taught by the lowest intelligent grads.
If I were czar, I would require **all** teachers to take and pass Calculus I for engineers and science majors. They would sit in the same classes, shoulder to shoulder, with the geeks.
Do teachers need Calculus to teach? No, of course not, but it would assure that they had a high enough IQ to be entrusted with a classroom of children. It would help prevent having math phobics teaching classes and passing their bias on to their students. And...Maybe having taken and passed Calculus the teachers would reject the nutty methods that are being used today to teach math.
Also...I would require all teachers to take and pass, once every three years, the GED for high school drop outs. If they can’t pass the GED then they shouldn’t be anywhere near kids as a teacher.
It is my guess that large numbers of government teachers would fail the GED, even if given a month or two to prepare. They would likely fail the math portion.
“In other words, the left has changed the goal of education from an equal opportunity to an equal outcome.”
The highest rating is termed ‘Excellent’. To be ‘excellent’ doesn’t mean that any students did particularly well. It means the vast majority managed to meet the minimum standards.
The course material in core subjects has been dumbed down
year after year, and more students are required to be enrolled in the ‘higher level’ college prep classes. The
Texas university system is full of kids that can’t perform
well enough to be in entry level college classes.
People talk about the importance of testing etc., but the
bureaucrats that write the tests can still push whatever agenda they want!!!!
Again it is really up to parents to work to ensure that
their children are truly learning what they want them to learn.
I don’t begrudge them decent salaries. Just don’t bitch when the “man” comes looking for some scalps. Thats the way it works in the real world.
If you are making money for them, they will pay you what the market bears. But, if you are one of those “superstars” you had been not have a bad quarter or two.
That's what the idiots in Wisconsin don't get. Not only will they never see all of that pension money, they are going to aid in the destruction of their State and Country. We'll see how they like it when looters start ransacking their homes and there are NO Police to call. They don't strike me as the "gun owner" type either.
Collectivist, socialist-funded, GODLESS, government owned and run, and voting mob comrade committee managed social programs NEVER work! This is why government schooling is a failure today and can NOT be fixed.
Ok...So?...What about your suggestions for government schooling? It will fail for the same reasons our current system of government schooling is a mess. Your plan is collectivist, socialist-funded, GODLESS, government owned and run, and managed by voting mob comrade committees ( school boards).
Solution: We must begin the process of privatizing all education. If vouchers, tax credits, and charters can help us move us in that direction by building a private infrastructure, then I support them,..but...**ONLY** if it leads to complete separation of school and state.
By the way...Look at the success of homeschoolers.
Perhaps homeschoolers are so successful because the parents have abandoned the Prussian-model and prison-like schools. They, instead, are providing an educational setting that resembles that of our Founding Fathers: teaching by parents, shared teaching by neighbors, very small parent-organized one room schools, dame schools in the homes of neighbors, Sunday schools, private tutoring when needed, apprenticeships, and small home-based academies to prepare children for college by their early teens.
In WA state, they are talking about delaying the testing until the “at risk” students are moved to the training programs, so that they won’t have to be tested.
I don’t disagree with you, to be honest. My family homeschools - we have taken both control and responsibility for our kids’ education.
I was just ranting off the top of my head about how I would fix some of the issues. I can admit (easily) that I sometimes miss the larger points. Thank you for sharing your viewpoint.
I agree re: homeschoolers. My lovely wife is the primary teacher in our family. I am the visiting math and science professor. LOL
Regarding my suggestions: I was approaching the issue as an engineering problem. Unfortunately, that does not account well for the people who are in and who run the system.
On further reflection, I believe that the only way the schools can be salvaged is for all of the adults involved to act out of purely altruistic motivations - which is against human nature, of course.
I have no "free periods." I do have a conference period, which is when I run papers, visit with my principal or the counselor about various individual student's situations, make parent phone calls (when there are parents), etc. I have students who have been abandoned by parents. (I ask God's blessing on the uncle who took in his niece and nephew.) I have a student whose mother was killed by a DUI, so her grandmother took her in. Then, her grandmother died in November. She's angry at the world, her aunt and uncle (new guardians who, I'm sure she thinks will die on her) and me, in particular, for being her teacher. I have a little gang-banger who is trying to take over my afternoon classes. This year, alone, I've been called an f-ing bxtch by both a 6th-grader and a 7th-grader.
We also have a planning period. [We have to sign in, and we have to be there to discuss curriculum and lesson planning, TAKS preparations and outcomes, etc. TAKS is the test that converts kids into bits of data.] I come in at 7 AM in the morning every morning, although class does not begin until 8:05. I'm at school until 4:15 at least. Frequently, it's 4:45 or 5:00.
At school I do school work. I don't socialize, I don't exercise, I don't snack, I never leave during the day-- ever. My cell phone is off. I'm there every day, which is why I've accumulated 120 days of sick leave which I will lose when I retire.
I spend at least 4 hours per weekend writing lesson plans online, and 2-3 more hours grading student work.
I earn my pay.
[On the bright side, in the morning, I have the pleasure of a class of students whose parents are raising a wonderful crop of kids. They are concerned about their grades, and their parents expect their children to do their best. This particular class, which I have the honor of teaching 3 periods a day, is, by their attitude, the best class I've ever taught in 22 years of teaching. [Of 25 kids, 4 are black, 2 are white, and 19 are Hispanic. Only three of these students could be called gifted. Most are just high achievers.]
There are some great teachers and then there are the ones like the coach teaching 8th grade math and algebra perfectly content with letting them waste the whole year and get credit for not learning a thing and they all get paid the same.
The following wouldn't cost the taxpayers a dime!
***Children should be allowed to take the GED, or similar private exam, at any age. If they pass, their local government high school issues them a standard state high school diploma. Having a standard high school diploma opens up opportunities for scholarships and loans for college and post high school education, and for admission to the military.
Allowing children to leave school early means fewer teachers are needed and schools can be consolidated and closed. The sale of unused school property can be used to fund the the existing deficits in government union pensions.
** Allow children to test out of subjects and courses at any age. If they pass third grade history or reading, they are immediately promoted to the next level in that specific subject. Exams should be private or government issued.
If children can progress through the system faster and leave earlier, fewer teachers and schools will be needed.
**Allow children of any age to take on-line courses ( private or government). These courses should be available all year. If a child finishes a course in a specific subject, then he is done, and is promoted to the next level in that specific subject. Government on-line courses require fewer government teachers, and little in the way of expensive buildings. This is a cost reduction to the tax payer and will allow the child to move through the system more quickly.
*** Move all sports, music, arts, and theater to the county departments of recreation. Many parents enroll their children in government schools because, especially in sports, the government is running a monopoly farm team for the big leagues. If their child is talented in athletics, using the government school is their **only** avenue to college sports scholarships and a possible big league position. Not only that, but the training is likely to be better. Maybe someone can explain this to me but why on earth would a history teacher be both a good history teacher and a good coach? Huh? How can anyone have divided passions like that?
By breaking the government monopoly on team sports some children simply would not choose government school as the setting for their education. Each child who is not in government school is a tax savings for the citizen.
Some variations of the above might include giving the child who finishes early a voucher for 1/3 of what would have been spent on them in government school. The voucher could be used at any time in their adult life for college or post high school technical training. This would provide an incentive for parents and children to get through the system early.
Another advantage to the above is that there would be a tremendous incentive for the parents to take charge of their own children's education by teaching the child themselves or by finding tutors. The vouchers for each year the child finishes early would help pay for college or post high school training.
Also,.. every extra year that an adult is NOT in school, but is instead WORKING, is worth a full year's salary! $30,000 to $100,000). Even one, two, or three extra years of working would go a long way toward paying ( in full) the cost of a house, for instance.
Isn't it about time, parents regained the self-confidence that our early American citizens had in teaching their own children? Isn't it about time that our children became proactive in their **own** educations as our early American children once were? As more parents and children rediscovered their innate ability to self-educate, perhaps we would see parents and children completely abandoning the government schools and moving entirely to homeschooling. ( Wow! What a savings that would be to the taxpayer!)
Why won't the above happen?
Answer: Government education is NOT about educating children. It **is** about providing a government jobs program for white collar workers of minimal creativity and ambition.
There are some great teachers
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There are NO great teachers in the government schools! Why?
Answer: **ALL** government schools in this nation are GODLESS in their worldview. ALL of them! ( The good, the bad, and the ugly!) When a teacher agrees to teach in a government school he or she willingly agrees to teach children ( who are there in the classroom under the threat of armed police and court action ) how to think and reason godlessly. The teacher agrees to teach everything from a godless perspective regardless of the religious beliefs of the child’s family.
The above is NOT “great”. It is a First Amendment and freedom of conscience abomination.
Oh!....Any any Christian teacher who attempts to sneak in a little Christian influence into the school or his or her classes is teaching a powerful lesson. They are teaching the children that Christians are:
** sneaky
** too timid to be bold about their faith
** teaching a godless worldview that is in utter contradiction to Christian belief...but..the Christian is willing to sell his Christian principles for a paycheck.
Please do not post to me. Thank you.
Let's look at it from the other side. If you wanted to hire the best teacher you could find that would give your child individual attention and actually teach them what they need to know to become successful in life, you would probably be willing to pay dearly. Maybe as much as $50 an hour.
But the union is set up so that all teachers are paid the same, regardless of their ability. So you have to look at the other end of the spectrum... the self-described “babysitter” teacher. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't pay a dime for that. But to be fair, let's assume that the union school will give you an average teacher... $50 + $0.10 = $50.10 / 2 = $25.05.
So that's pretty good for an average teacher that gives my child the individual attention he deserves. But now you divide that teacher's attention among 30 kids. And let's face it, the bottom 20% of the kids get the attention while the top 20% sit, bored to tears, as the teacher tries to bring the bottom 20% up to minimum. But let's be fair and divide that time equally among the 30 kids. $25.05/30=$0.835 per hour. I'll be nice and round up to $0.84.
I realize that a teacher works outside of classroom time to prepare lesson plans, grade papers, etc. So let's give them the full 8 hour day.
So $0.84 x 8 = $6.72 per day per child x 30 kids = $201.60 per day x 180 days = $36,288.
That's why we think $50,000 plus benefits seems a bit high.
But here's an idea... attach that tax money to the individual child, let the parents find the schools with the best teachers, private or public. Let the bad teachers suffer the lack of funding and either get better at teaching or find another job. The market will start bidding for the best teachers as parents are given the opportunity to vote with their feet and, low and behold, teacher salaries will rise based on the skill with which they teach.
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