Azih said:
I think more funding and higher pay for public school teachers would be the only thing that helps in the long run.
That's a foolish mindset (i.e., "hey, let's throw more money at it!"). Fact: Every several years or so, the teacher's union and the board of education here in NY make their customary plea for more money from the state to "fix" the ailing school system. They've
never been refused. Yet even as funding has increased to previously unimaginable levels, our "results" in terms of student outcomes have become more and more abysmal. If someone one year asks for a 25% increase in funding, claiming that
this will "fix" the situation and positively affect outcomes, and that very same person comes to you 5 years later and asks for yet
another increase-- 40% this time-- despite the fact that outcomes have not improved, but rather worsened, I'd say that only a fool would approve of that funding without
first taking a full account of the various social and systemic factors at play in determining these outcomes and attempting to address them. Isn't that the
sane course of action? NY's budget per pupil is currently ~$18,000 per year. Private and parochial schools with a "mere" $6-14K tuition per pupil (and no public funding) get
drastically better results (literacy rates, HS graduation rates, standardized test scores, fewer disciplinary/crime problems etc.).
Now, it is proper to note that there's a degree of self-selection that goes on with regards to the student populace at such schools, but that in and of itself doesn't adequately explain the discrepancies. In other words, even if you control for socioeconomic status, family type (two parent versus single parent), and environment in terms of neighborhood, the students at the public schools are
severely outperformed by those in private and parochial schools. A
lot of this has to do with organizational culture (the organizations here being both the schools as well as their respective governing institutions) and the fact that students who attend these schools (and their parents) frequently have to sign contracts regarding the accepted standards of conduct; breach of these results in expulsion. There are also stricter standards for teachers at these schools in terms of their own conduct and the expected results in the classroom. There are other differences between the two that can help to account for these differences in outcomes, namely such things as their favored didactic methodology, the focus and scope of curricula, the relative experience levels of the teachers etc. But the largest component of this difference is cultural, both within the organization and without, in society at large.
My sister teaches third grade at what would be considered a "good" school. Yet even here, she estimates that roughly 15% of her day is spent on basic disciplinary issues; for other teachers in her school, this percentage is far greater, as my sister is a "no nonsense" type of teacher. In some of the "bad" schools, I've heard that up to half the day if not more can be spent disciplining kids as opposed to teaching the material. And you think that more money will fix this? Better paid teachers will fix this? News flash: the teachers we have
now, at the pay they're getting
now, could fix this if their hands weren't tied by bureaucracy, aggressive parents, and the constant threat of litigation. In a
just world, a teacher would not have to worry about a "call from a lawyer" because they don't accept assignments written in pencil, or because they told a child who just spit at them to stand out in the hall (this, amazingly, is considered "corporal punishment" in NY and is illegal :lol). There's no point in lamenting the arbitrariness of such rules; the fact is that it is the teacher's
rule, and it should be respected provided that it does not infringe upon a child's personal rights (which are few). Disrespecting and undermining the authority of the teacher, as parents do when they side with their children
regardless of who is correct and what is proper, ultimately causes a child to not respect that teacher as well. This is the inevitable result of such behavior, and it plays itself out daily in our public schools.
Fact: When I was in elementary school, it was
unheard of to mouth off to a teacher-- no one even considered it. This was because we were raised properly, first of all (which many kids today aren't, but that's a broader social issue), but also because we knew very well that our parents were not going to take our side if we did (regardless of whether we had a "legitimate" grievance), and that the school was not going to "cave in" due to the threat of litigation (which was nonexistent in the 80's in the school context). Perhaps
one kid was a smart-ass with a teacher
one time each year-- and never a curse, just being a wise-ass. Nowadays, this happens numerous times daily, even in the "best" of schools. My sister and two cousins are public school teachers, and my mother works in a public school as well, so I hear
all the stories firsthand. Kids spitting at teachers for no reason other than because they were told to "stay in line" at lunch or on the way to the bus or some such; kids throwing objects at teachers because they told them to stop running around in class and sit in their seat etc. This is unacceptable. Unfortunately, most attempts at discipline of
any sort meet with fierce resistance from parents and calls from lawyers. This happens every day in every public school, even the "best" of them.
The system (and the outcomes in terms of literacy rates, test scores, and HS graduation rates) is not going to change unless there is a profound cultural shift both within the schools and in society at large. First off, lawyers need to be removed from the equation,
period, except in instances of possible
criminal misconduct (e.g., a teacher inappropriately touching a child, a teacher hitting a student, a child bringing a gun to school etc.). Don't like the rules? Well that's what your legislature is for; they empower the school boards to enact rules and regulations in accordance with existing law which will serve the interests of the student body and create a harmonious and orderly learning environment. Take it up with your representative in the next election, then. Get a group of parents together and petition your local school board. Try to do things in a
sensible, productive, and proper manner, rather than getting "lawyered up" at the drop of a hat, which creates an adversarial relationship between yourself and your child's teacher, undermines their authority in the eyes of the child, and ultimately takes the joy and love out of teaching, which is a big part of why so many teachers seem to "just not give a shit" anymore (though there are other factors at work there as well). These things seldom are issues that should be taken up in court, quite honestly. This is just another example of our overly litigious culture and how it adversely impacts important segments of our society (in this case the schools, their employees, and ultimately the children). Anyone who refuses to acknowledge the harmful influence it's had on our school system is being foolish.
To be sure, teachers deserve to be paid more than they are currently, but if you believe that better compensation and increased funding for schools
in a vacuum is going to remedy the situation-- or even improve it slightly-- you're deluding yourself. It must be coupled with
drastic systemic reform and a renewed push for accountability and responsibility on the part of teachers, parents, and children alike. Children should not come into kindergarten like
enfants terribles, unable to socialize normally and heeding no reproof, because it then takes the first year or two just to get them to a basic level of social competency (and since these efforts at discipline are rarely reinforced at home anymore, many
never reach basic social competency and continue on to become deviants). Consequently, they don't learn the material they should be learning.
I could say a lot more, but the point I wanted to make is that it is
utterly foolish to believe that it is greater funding and better compensation that will be the factors which make a difference in the long run. No. They'll
help matters (though it begs the question: "what level of funding is adequate?" $15K per child per annum? $25K?), but they're not a panacea by any means, nor should supposedly "inadequate funding" even be considered among the most important contributory factors when examining the dismal state of our public school system.
As an aside, I don't feel that funding is inadequate in any regard. Children of previous decades fared much better with roughly half the funding per pupil (adjusted for inflation), and children in private and parochial schools today similarly outperform their public school counterparts, as noted. If you'd like to make the argument that our "social reality" has changed, and that this necessitates increased funding (in order to compensate for our social failings-- lack of adequate discipline within the family unit, lack of a
family unit in many instances etc.), well, I'd make the argument that the place to address such issues is
not within an educational context, where the needs of a child can cloud our judgment (after all, who doesn't want to give our children the very best?), but rather within the
social context; our politicians, media personalities etc. need to make these arguments to the people, and it's something they've utterly failed at.
America's predominant message to adults nowadays, is, "hey, it's alright-- you go ahead and fuck up and we'll make things right no matter what the cost!" I don't subscribe to that mentality, nor is it a prudent one for us to implicitly espouse as a people; certainly, government at every level (as well as the programs, such as education, that it funds) need to prepare for certain contingencies. When those "contingencies" (such as an unruly child, say, or a teen who has a baby and needs day care while in school) become the rule rather than the exception, however, it cannot be adequately dealt with within the educational context-- it must be addressed by society as a whole, lest costs spiral out of control. We're reaping the fruits of our lack of foresight now, and I, for one, think that it's a shame.
