Posted on 10/17/2019 7:59:03 AM PDT by Hojczyk
“Replace them with reading literary classics or being introduced to music and art and the outdoors and other such activities.”
Except that many of their students probably can’t read and have marginal IQs. Oh, and you’re not allowed to separate them because it would make them feel bad, so no one gets an education.
What are they going to “call for” when they get down to a 1:1 teacher to student ratio?
I’m surprised they aren’t demanding smarter and more motivated students, too.
Does this mean they’re demanding not to be saddled with myriad illegal immigrants who cannot speak English, and most of whom have no idea of what decent social behavior consists? (Through no fault of their own, I will admit).
My son teaches school in an outrageously expensive private school for BD and LD kids, in a tony suburb of Chicago, and his salary is laughable, when compared to public school teachers. On the other hand, the worst behaved child in his school, behaves better than most students in Chicago public schools, the likely difference being that his students’ parents are mostly highly successful, motivated people, whose children are raised to be as successful as possible, considering their limitations. Parenting is more important than anything else. I feel sorry for teachers who basically end up as monitors and wardens. Our public school systems are a joke. There are good teachers out there, but the curricula they are forced to teach are absurd. Then, of course, there are plenty of duds,too. Just remember, many of them were “educated” by a bunch of Marxist or foolish duds,themselves.
Notice how they never do this when School in out of Session during the Summer? A coincidence I’m sure...
In Los Angeles they pulled this “It’s for the children (class size stunt)”, and heralded a massive victory for the chillen, while (approximately) 1.4 kids were reduced per classroom, and the staff got comparatively large raises.
My son had a girlfriend who,in her first two years of teaching in Chicago public schools, was placed in an inner city school, in classes consisting of a bunch of hooligans who, though they knew English, insisted upon speaking only Spanish. She did not speak Spanish, though by the end of the first year, she had learned a number of Spanish curse words, from the names her “students” regularly called her. Needless to say, there was very little learning accomplished, by her “students”. Whose fault was that? Perhaps an experienced teacher may have known how to get control of a bunch like that, but, of course, the experienced teachers were assigned to less challenging classrooms, as they would be nuts to allow themselves to be placed in HER situation. There is fault on all sides, administration, teachers, parents, students.
Enrollment in Chicago schools has been declining for years.
Unless a commensurate number of schools have been shut down, and last I knew they have not been, class size shouldn’t be an issue.
What this is really about: their cadillac health bennies and pensions.
Every year we see where schools nationwide and foreign are graded and compared with one another. I am not sure whether it comes from standardized testing or other devise. But, it must be a commonly accepted method as there is not much howling about it.
“75 percent of Chicago students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and many depend on schools to provide meals.”
And Chicago is the murder capital in the world. Is there a correlation? You betcha!!!!
Some years ago I came across an article which said that the lowest SAT scorers went into the School of Education (the second lowest went into the Communications School, i.e. journalists).
It used to be that women were nurses or teachers. Now, I don't want to prevent females from pursuing other careers; but, we should at least realize that this has had an impact on the quality of teachers that we have now.
After all, if they aren't given guaranteed contracts and 7-figure salaries and retirement (at 40), how can we expect them to continue their magnificent education results as evidenced by the vast number of world-renown brain surgeons and potential Nobel prize winning scientists they churn out day-after-day...
When I was a kid in college...40 years ago...the people who went to the college of education (males and females) to become teachers is, as they admitted to me, they didn’t know what else to do.
Everyone in school would play “what’s your major”? And when they’d tell me, I would usually say, “you must like children.” Usually, the majority would respond, “No, not really. I don’t know what else to major in.”
True statement.
Conservatives need a full court press to run and elect conservatives on school boards at every level.
it is also an easy major at both BS and MS levels
The average class size in Chicago schools is no more than 25.
For perspective, around WW1 classes of 50 or more in NYC were common around WW1, while by about "1930, the average class size in elementary schools hovered about 38 students."
"To a teacher in the 1890's facing 75 students daily, the prospect of having only 40 in a class would have been delightful." (How Teachers Taught: Constancy and Change in American Classrooms, 1890-1990 By Larry Cuban)
But there is a vast difference btwn the homes and thus the discipline of children today, and esp. in cities like Chicago, and those before the 70's.
And in contrast to the liberal CTU:
As Chicago's immigrant population expanded, the schools were called upon to aid in its assimilation into American life. In 1886, the year of the Haymarket Riot, the Chicago Tribune editorialized that “it ought to be the first function of the public schools to teach loyalty, love of country, and devotion to American principles and institutions.” The study of American history and “civics” had long been an integral part of the curriculum but received more attention as the numbers of foreign-born students grew. In 1897 school board president Daniel Cameron declared that the schools should impart “permanent admiration and loyalty” for the United States. (http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1124.html)
You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink
You can put kids in smaller classes but you can’t make them think
It will be interesting to see how many choose to exercise that right.
This has everything to do with getting state and federal dollars for having the kids at school. It has NOTHING to do with anything else. Chicago is so broke, they're desperate for every dollar they can get. Even if it means endangering the kids like this.
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