while im a public school teacher, i agree on many levels. its not the teachers that arent essential, however. we provide an important service. its the bureaucratic system in which we are forced to operate that is non essential. we are not allowed to teach in the true sense of the word. Socrates himself would receive a failing grade as a teacher. we simply rush our schools so a bunch of meaningless boxes can get checked, until the end of june finally arrives. it destroys my soul.
You know that 20-30 percent of your colleagues could be fired and it would be no loss. You know who the dead weight is. Yet they continue to hurt kids.
Well if cops got as much 'training' and off-time as teachers, they'd probably be better. They're poorly trained and burned out. I expect them to sometimes be shit but do not blame them. They are in an impossible situation.
Also a public school teacher, but disagree with you. One caring parent, even a barely literate one, will do a better job with an average or below average kid than I can in a class of 40.
A bright kid, once they learn to read, often needs little intervention, but does need supervision.
There are plenty of homeschooling resources at the local library level.
More importantly, kids teach themselves if you let them follow their interests, protect them from addictive digital devices and provide lots and lots of books, which libraries and philanthropic groups provide to lower income Americans.
Strongly recommend Ray's mathematics and the McGuffey readers, both of which can be found free online as primary instruction volumes. The math is no-nonsense and the readers level up to Shakespeare, ask kids to memorize and deliver meaningful recitations beyond just the reading basics, and are impregnated with typical American (read: Christian) values.
The best Americans didnt have a teacher walking them through everything and compartmentalizing their lives and telling them when they could or should tackle certain texts or subjects.
I'll repeat my caveat of having a caring parent though. Sometimes people pretend to care, but don't want to put in the foundational work required to get a kid to the point where she can self-direct her learning and hold her accountable when she screws around, mostly because it's easier not to. A parent who doesn't properly discipline their child isn't caring.
And because we have a society that tells adults they shouldn't have to sacrifice any luxuries and at the same time devalues their labor through monetary inflation, often parents feel they both have to work. But if they do this with kids, they take a huge gamble. Imo they lose more often than win. The vast amounts of untapped potential I see daily at my high school are depressing af. Learned helplessness and the "soft bigotry of low expectations" are real and have enormous implications for American society, which you are seeing play out now in Portland, Seattle, Rochester, etc. Let's not even talk about the economic inefficiency created by mass government education because then I'll need a drink and it's 0630.
Tech will solve this though. Cummunity based ed pods will work. Online ed is much more solid than it used to be. The internet is rich in information and knowledge.
Give me only ten kids and internet access and I will produce ethical, disciplined, highly literate Americans. 40? I'll probably still only produce 10. Will yours be one of them? Maybe.
Public schools will never do what homeschooling or pods or micro schooling can do. There's too much power to be obtained by dumbing down the students through the systematic setup of overworked teachers and under challenged kids, neither group being held accountable for their ultimate performance.
I understand. Life is full of trade-offs. I'm not blaming, but an upper middle class (safe nabe, entertainment, two smartphones, car, vacations) in NYC necessitates two incomes. You can move, but there are costs. It's just a question of preferences. Econ's a bitch and sometimes the sacrifices are enormous to do what's best for your kid. Though not every kid will turn into a foaming at the mouth leftist monster, kids will definitely not reach their full potential in a public school; that I would stake my life on. Ask any kid in school if they're really learning; from about 6th grade up, they know it's all a bullshit game where the teachers pretend to pay them (in learning) and they pretend to learn (in bullshit, mostly irrelevant busy work.)
while im a public school teacher, i agree on many levels. its not the teachers that arent essential, however. we provide an important service. its the bureaucratic system in which we are forced to operate that is non essential. we are not allowed to teach in the true sense of the word. Socrates himself would receive a failing grade as a teacher. we simply rush our schools so a bunch of meaningless boxes can get checked, until the end of june finally arrives. it destroys my soul.
You know that 20-30 percent of your colleagues could be fired and it would be no loss. You know who the dead weight is. Yet they continue to hurt kids.
o yeah. i could run my schools with more results at 1/8 of the budget
Well if cops got as much 'training' and off-time as teachers, they'd probably be better. They're poorly trained and burned out. I expect them to sometimes be shit but do not blame them. They are in an impossible situation.
Also a public school teacher, but disagree with you. One caring parent, even a barely literate one, will do a better job with an average or below average kid than I can in a class of 40.
A bright kid, once they learn to read, often needs little intervention, but does need supervision.
There are plenty of homeschooling resources at the local library level.
More importantly, kids teach themselves if you let them follow their interests, protect them from addictive digital devices and provide lots and lots of books, which libraries and philanthropic groups provide to lower income Americans.
Strongly recommend Ray's mathematics and the McGuffey readers, both of which can be found free online as primary instruction volumes. The math is no-nonsense and the readers level up to Shakespeare, ask kids to memorize and deliver meaningful recitations beyond just the reading basics, and are impregnated with typical American (read: Christian) values.
The best Americans didnt have a teacher walking them through everything and compartmentalizing their lives and telling them when they could or should tackle certain texts or subjects.
I'll repeat my caveat of having a caring parent though. Sometimes people pretend to care, but don't want to put in the foundational work required to get a kid to the point where she can self-direct her learning and hold her accountable when she screws around, mostly because it's easier not to. A parent who doesn't properly discipline their child isn't caring.
And because we have a society that tells adults they shouldn't have to sacrifice any luxuries and at the same time devalues their labor through monetary inflation, often parents feel they both have to work. But if they do this with kids, they take a huge gamble. Imo they lose more often than win. The vast amounts of untapped potential I see daily at my high school are depressing af. Learned helplessness and the "soft bigotry of low expectations" are real and have enormous implications for American society, which you are seeing play out now in Portland, Seattle, Rochester, etc. Let's not even talk about the economic inefficiency created by mass government education because then I'll need a drink and it's 0630.
Tech will solve this though. Cummunity based ed pods will work. Online ed is much more solid than it used to be. The internet is rich in information and knowledge.
Give me only ten kids and internet access and I will produce ethical, disciplined, highly literate Americans. 40? I'll probably still only produce 10. Will yours be one of them? Maybe.
Public schools will never do what homeschooling or pods or micro schooling can do. There's too much power to be obtained by dumbing down the students through the systematic setup of overworked teachers and under challenged kids, neither group being held accountable for their ultimate performance.
yea but in nyc most families have both parents at work all day. its essentially a babysitting service. a ridiculously expensive babysitting service.
I understand. Life is full of trade-offs. I'm not blaming, but an upper middle class (safe nabe, entertainment, two smartphones, car, vacations) in NYC necessitates two incomes. You can move, but there are costs. It's just a question of preferences. Econ's a bitch and sometimes the sacrifices are enormous to do what's best for your kid. Though not every kid will turn into a foaming at the mouth leftist monster, kids will definitely not reach their full potential in a public school; that I would stake my life on. Ask any kid in school if they're really learning; from about 6th grade up, they know it's all a bullshit game where the teachers pretend to pay them (in learning) and they pretend to learn (in bullshit, mostly irrelevant busy work.)