As if this man needed another nail in the coffin that was his campaign.
I can see him saying this to a teacher. You don’t become a businessman without being strong willed.
Education’s funding has been cut every year, yet, private schools don’t get that. Private schools do better. Hmm? Weird how that works. And now? Getting cash, via vouchers, to go to the private schools, so they get MORE money?
Are we really shocked?
Here’s how I’d change education, if I may.
*) Use standardized testing that has already been normed to determine where kids are. Not the state testing that is written on the fly, changes yearly, and isn’t normed to the grade level being assessed. They are private companies, in the pockets of politicians, earning extra cash. Instead, look to exams like the IOWA basic and SATs.
---from there? Use it as a diagnostic tool to inform teacher decisions. Do not use it to cut funding, but, instead, to merely get a bead on kids.
*) Increase the salaries of teachers. Let’s go ahead and attract the best and the brightest. Private schools do it. They pay their teachers well. And look what happens? People aren’t going into education any more. Let’s get reasons to bring young people and, even, older ones, back into the fold.
*) Merit pay systems don’t work. Most people don’t go into teaching for cash. Think about it. Yes, this contradicts the last statement, but hold on. Knowing you have a middle class income for a while, you can focus on the non-monetary aspects of the job.
*) Look to the cultures that value education and see what happens. Europe has been enacting these kinds of things and yet, no one, no one seems to think that’s a good idea. It’s laughable. “We’re falling behind other countries in reading!” But we never sit down and ask what they are doing! If we did, we’d see a vastly different system that doesn’t seek to destroy teachers and make a buck off the plight of children. Watch the face of a Japanese person when an American tells them they are a teacher. There are deep bows and much respect. Here? “I didn’t ask you a question.” Rudeness is the respect given to an individual that is giving over her life to helping children achieve their potential.
I wonder how he’d treat other Americans? Or is this an example of what’s going to happen to the other 47%?
*) Enact the arts. Not all kids are book learners. Sports are going strong, so keep them. But where’s the Home Ec? Ah. They aren’t tested, and schools get funding for passing grades. That’s silly. Every kid is an individual. Let’s move to having more classes and more places to learn different topics.
*) Better food. Wanna know why kids are fat? Homes, not schools. But imagine if schools were offering plates of food that they need AND want?
*) Build schools. Teachers shouldn’t have to worry about the leak in the ceiling.
*) Yes, raise taxes to do this. It’d be something in the shortrun. This summer, the city of Colorado Springs sadly burned as the people there, a bastion of GOP wannabes, cut funding for fire departments. Looks like it didn’t help. Wonder how they feel about that now?
*) Cut the angry rhetoric, and yes, I’m looking at you R-Money. Wanna know why there’s shootings at schools? Open hatred. What if they fostered a willingness to collaborate?
*) Okay, I hate to bang on unions, but, truly, administration does need a bit more control over their personnel. Something does need to change over that. But how?
Ranting, done. I feel better now.
Peace,
Rooy
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