My oldest son went to a private middle school. Three of my daughters went to a private Christian school.
Both of these schools paid teachers around 25% of the salary of local public school teachers, and both of them had between 30-60 applicants for any vacancy.
The idea of universal, diverse public school education through Grade 12 is an idiotic fantasy. Until we give it up, nothing will get better.
Yes, obviously, you would have better teachers if you staffed the "system" with subject matter experts. You would have better letter carriers if you hired only English majors (I was an English major, and a letter carrier).
But how many capable subject matter experts do you think would be willing to work under the conditions that obtain in most public schools today? There are 3.2 million FTE public school teachers as of this Fall.
People who take this on face a sullen, restless, hostile group of adolescents who neither want to be there nor are willing to comply with minimal organizational requirements.
And you think you can get three million people who are better than the current crew to subject themselves to this?
The problem is not how to organize a proper school. They know how to do that in Borneo, and in Pakistan. The problem is not what makes a good teacher. They know that in Swaziland, and in Latvia.
The problem is massive resistance to compulsory high school education by students with IQs of 85 or less who are physically mature and unafraid of what passes for discipline, and until you fix that, the issues of spending, buildings, curriculum, and teacher standards are like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
“People who take this on face a sullen, restless, hostile group of adolescents who neither want to be there nor are willing to comply with minimal organizational requirements.” (Jim Noble)
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These young adult ( who have committed no crime) are imprisoned by law in a school that in many ways resembles a prison.
Then... society wonders why they are **rationally** sullen, restless, hostile, truant, and sometimes violent.
It’s not so much the teachers as it is the curriculum in lower grade schools. They teach just about anything but the basics.