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> After years of reading and discussion, I don't believe that anyone
knows> how to fix US schools. More than half of my local high school's
senior> class (of 1000+) last year didn't qualify for graduation, and that is
an> awfully big deliverable blown.
>
> So sorry, but face up to it, you can't fix that with policies,
training,> and money. Leading education thinkers all advise home school. If you
are
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There was a time when a career teacher could support a family. It hasn't been that way for a long time. There was also a time when a high school education was considered enough to get a decent job. I got out of high school with far better reading and writing skills than many of the young MBAs I work with have.
I have a good friend who teaches English to "at risk" students. She makes less than half of what I make. Every year when the schools complain about funding, she wonders if she'll have a job in the fall. She's thinking of chucking it and going into copy writing.
I am amazed that schools can attract anyone to the career of teaching. When I was doing a job search I checked out the State Employment listings. A math teacher with a masters degree was being offered a starting salary of $18,000 a year in the public schools. A truck driving teacher at a State vocational school was offered $35.00 an HOUR. It says a lot about what we value.
The education system is suffering from some of the same problems big business has. CEOs pull down multi-million dollar salaries while workers make do with 1 or 2 percent raises per year, minimal benefits, no retirement, and constant fear of layoff.
It makes me sick to see that school administrators get six figure salaries when schools are failing so badly. And everyone blames the teachers, who can't get a raise without threatening to strike.
I do agree that television and video games replace reading for a lot of kids. In the sixties, we had a black and white TV and only three channels. Now kids have videos, animated feature films on DVD. But on the other hand, you have kids standing in line when the next Harry Potter book hits the shelves. So there is a next generation of readers.
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