[cloudmountain]

The California education system is just fine. Teachers are okay and so are the administrators, curricula, facilities and so on.

The problem? The state has to educate all comers. Private schools can pick and choose; public schools have to take EVERYONE. That means the system has to TRY to educate the LOWEST I.Q. and the WORST behavioral problems. Failure is part of human nature and the educational system has to deal with failure-students...and worse, failure parents.

I could list all the stupidities of the PARENTS and you might, as I did, end up feeling sorry for the poor kids with their screw-up parents.

Nothing new, different or unusual in the California educational system. It's just HUGE because we have so many damn people. I grew up here when the population of the state was a 'mere' 10 million. Now, we are BUSTIN' at the seams with close to 40 million. FOUR times more people!!

YIKES!!

[tacticalogic]

The California education system is just fine.

By what measure is it "just fine"?

The only thing it appears to be be undeniably successful at is funding the teacher's unions.

[kingu]

Class size has constantly shrunk in every district I can find information for. As that is the only basic that makes a difference at classroom level, the whole argument that teachers can be excused for the failure of students due to the number being taught goes out the window.

The failure is multifold - I won't blame JUST the teachers; there is plenty of blame to go towards cocktail bureaucrats who have inserted ‘gay education’, ‘minority history’ and ‘green education’ into the curriculum. But at the end of the day, far fewer students are leaving primary school with the tools needed to complete their education. And that is mostly upon teachers who have far more concern about pay raises and more benefits.

Beyond, the ‘average’ of $68,000 quoted salary ignores the nearly equal cost of benefits - vacations, health care, pensions, tuition assistance, student loan repayments, etc. If the teachers had their salaries slashed in half tomorrow, the benefits cost wouldn't go down and they'd still be earning an equivalent of a hundred grand a year.

The focus must be on reigning in the existing costs of benefits, as well as stepping down the salaries. And honestly, the only way to do this is to put transparency back into the system - everything goes into the paycheck, with the educator able to purchase pension benefits, health care, loan repayments, etc out of pocket. And of course, all of it taxable, just like any average citizen has to do if they were in business for themselves.

[paul51]

The California education system is just fine. Teachers are okay and so are the administrators, curricula, facilities and so on.

Completely wrong. A system can't be fixed if the problem isn't even recognized. The current model is FUBR. The best thing that can be done is trash the whole system and switch to an online model. No need for expensive facilities, buses, unions, administrators, etc. The old model is obsolete and unsustainable and exists only for the benefit of unions and bureaucrats.

[hinckley buzzard]

Don't be ridiculous. Every state has poor kids, low IQ kids, screwy parents, and behavior problems. But not every state gets ranked 46th, just above Mississippi, Alabama and DC, like CA just did.

[Publius6961]

No.
By whatever reasons you conjure up THE CALIFORNIA EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IS NOT FINE!

I'm no longer buying excuses. The only criterion is results. If the educational system demands baby sitting and nothing else, all teacher and administrator salaries should be minimum wage.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

[Half Vast Conspiracy]

Time to pull your head out of the sand...or wherever it’s stuck.