Spending and Education (Relocated Thread)
 

Yea Skip ;) I'm a teacher & the funding cuts are more & more ridiculous; kids are getting lazier & more aloof as it is; some can't think without their iPhone/Smartphone. The priorities in this country are out of whack; we pay for superstar athletes to make millions of dollars?? Disgusting :confused:

I agree .The priorities are out of whack.When I went to school there was no computers,internet, cell phones or Ipods and Ipads.All I had was a Texas Instuments 8 digit calculator, Paper Notebook and a transistor AM/FM radio with a little earphone.No walkmans back then.Yes I do agree on these superstar athletes are payed way to much.Police,Fire fighters should get more money in those life threatening jobs.

I did watch CBS 60 minute piece when George showed his house off. Love that see through refridge.

Us teachers too :) I now do the work of 5-7 people after all the budget cuts/layoffs; I', always exhausted. Some teachers I work with are always sick; it doesn't help that you have a new generation of parents who believe their child can do no wrong. And yes Skip I too went to High School before all that crap LOL

They weren't thrilled with us using our calculators either. They wanted us to be able to figure it out on paper, or on our fingers or in our head.

Marisa I have a few questions about the school system in this state. You may not be able to answer them, but I have no people in my life who can so maybe you can respond. And we do know each other so you know I am not a total wacko.

First off, LA and the state itself are essentially bankrupt. This is because of poor planning IMO. During the tech boom, the state thought it would last forever. So they budgeted as if it would. It didn't. Bang. Deficit. Real estate boom, ditto. They ALWAYS over project their revenue. By about 30%. They should know better but they are allowed to get away with it. So the entire state is a mess. And it is pretty much the fault of the legislators. They have no idea how to run the state and they can't be fired for their mistakes. They even give themselves raises. The sytem does not work.

But, from what I hear about the schools, there is an administrator for every teacher.
It is a top heavy office fiasco. It is nearly impossible to ever fire a teacher. The teachers union is so immensely powerful that every time anything is mentioned about restructuring or changing things, that idiot, I think his name is A.J. Duffy, goes on the radio and cries wolf. I hear about teachers accused of everything from being drunk in class to raping kids, who are being investigated, but still get paid. Sometimes for years. And they just show up in room and read newspapers and get checks while their cases get appealed and the teachers union fights for them. At this point I have actually become hostile towards the schools and the teachers here in LA.

I am very pro education. But I wonder where the money really goes. The college tuition keeps going up astronomically. But who is getting it? The public school costs are skyrocketing. Again, who is getting the money? It feels like healthcare. The costs keep doubling every 5 years and I wonder who is getting rich. That money has to be going somewhere but no one has an answer.

Please don't take this as a personal attack. I know you bust your hump as a teacher. I am where I am in life because of good teachers. But the system seems broken beyond repair, and from what I see the union isn't helping. I have lost patience with the subject. I hear college kids complaining about cuts, and teachers complaining about cuts. But the reality is that there isn't any money. The state is broke. You can't get blood from a rock. The money will not materialize out of thin air. And I don't want it materializing out of my property tax check or my sales taxes going up either. It seems like the system has tons of waste. What do you think?

As an aside, a friend of a friend has 2 kids in a snazzy private school in Sherman Oaks. They pay 25k for each kid. They go to school with Gwen Stafani's kids. Every few month they have a fundraiser which everyone is basically required to participate in. WTF? 25k a kid is not enough? What would be? 50? 100? I doubt it. It seems as if every dollar given would be sucked up and the beast would still scream for more. It seems like an endless money pit.

Please share your thoughts.

/

QUOTE=THINKABOUTIT;1051076]Yea Skip ;) I'm a teacher & the funding cuts are more & more ridiculous; kids are getting lazier & more aloof as it is; some can't think without their iPhone/Smartphone. The priorities in this country are out of whack; we pay for superstar athletes to make millions of dollars?? Disgusting :confused:[/QUOTE]

with all due respect (and this is a stevie nicks site and not political one) i have to respectfully disagree... this country spends more per child than any other country yet we see results that consistantly rank us in the bottom 10 in performance and scoring. This is not neccessarily the fault of teachers - Children are raised in broken homes - but spending more money has nothing to do with our issues - and classroom sizes are no longer an issue either - it certainly doesnt matter what a sports star makes either....all of those are talking points for teacher unions that don't get us any closer to better performing schools

I think many teachers try their best. I don't know if money will fix all of the problems in the education system.

I feel that some of the issue is that students have too many days off of school. My son really hates school and after he has a break from it (even a four day weekend), he does worse when he goes back. During summer and Christmas vacation, I still work with him on any areas where he needs help so he won't fall completely behind or forget what he already learned by the time he goes back.

Some of the issues in schools seem to be that unless you do really well or really badly, you are sort of ignored. I worry that the 'average' students are not getting what they need from the local education system.

I care about my son's education, so I work with him a lot at home. Not every parent can or will do that. I was not raised locally, but I now live in a rural area. I know for a fact that there are older people here who never learned how to read and quit school in 4th, 6th, 8th grade because they had to help on farms. A lot of older people here don't put much importance on education and that attitude rubs off on the younger people.

I feel examples like these are why the education system in the US seems to fail so many students.

Public schools and the education of our kids are supposed to be an investment in our nation's future security and prosperity, but I don't think they've been treated as such in several decades.

I believe the problem comes down to three core elements:

American kids are spoiled and lazy and American parents are too exhausted to care.

Our educational standards are far too low.

Public schools operate with many inefficiencies.

As an owner of real property, I pay property taxes, of which the vast majority of it goes towards the local school district. That's fine and dandy since a free public education in the U.S. is a fundamental right, and, theoretically speaking, a good local school system will help to preserve/improve the value of a home within its jurisdiction. However, that is literally thousands of dollars of my money being paid directly to a public entitlement program from which I do not benefit directly (I do not have a child in the school system). Again, fine, whatever.

What I do not particularly appreciate is this notion that the local school system, which is really one large K-12 school, has its own full complement of administrators and other staff whose primary responsibility is *not* directly related to the job of teaching or counseling. Rather than realizing economies of scale by merging the administrative burden with other local school districts, each of these micro-school districts insist on maintaining their own administrations. Ridiculous. And it would be one thing if the school system was producing amazing statistics on test scores, college placement, scholastic awards, etc., but it is just solidly a little above average. Where is the accountability for all of the money we pay into the system? And what about the tennis courts, a swimming pool, and even golf and polo (the horsey kind, not the watery kind) teams! WTF??? I know it's good to produce well-rounded students who have facility in a range of extracurricular activities, but do they really need polo? Aren't softball, baseball and soccer good enough? Perhaps I somehow missed out because I didn't learn about country club activities when I went to school!

Yes your right.I remrmber when the teacher balled me out using the calculator at times doing tests.