I didn't think teachers could strike

[Ratt]

My mom is an art teacher for DISD. We are all glad she is retiring from this mess at the end of this school year. There's so much god damned stress that goes into teaching that it's ridiculous.

[Dlachance]

I don't pretend to know everything about how to do this. I'm simply introducing and explaining the private industry concept and how it applies to education and defending it using capitalism concepts.

I did text message a friend of mine who is the principal of a private school about this question. She told me that private schools cannot issue truancy warrants, but they do not need to. Since they students are paying a premium for a higher education level, the retention pretty much takes care of itself. If they do not show, their punishment is being dumped back to a public school.

However, it would make sense that if a large majority of students were in the private system (no need to assume ALL of education is privatized immediately) that they would be given the ability to file truancy warrants. Similar to how a private business can have a person arrested for refusing to pay them.

Im sorry, Im not attempting to challenge you into anything. I was just having a discussion as a good discussion will lead to good ideas and I'll learn more. I am on board with privatizing education, but the task is daunting.

That does makes sense, in reference to retention. I suggest though that private nor public schools be allowed to file truancy charges. It serves o purpose to criminalize a student for not attending school for many reasons.

I would also expect that a properly run private school would allow kids to be
more engaged in learning rather than being little shits like I was. Are you familiar with a Romney plan for education? I haven't heard too much. I would hate to see what type of Obamunist platform Barry has in store for Amerika

[CJ]

Im sorry, Im not attempting to challenge you into anything. I was just having a discussion as a good discussion will lead to good ideas and I'll learn more. I am on board with privatizing education, but the task is daunting.

That does makes sense, in reference to retention. I suggest though that private nor public schools be allowed to file truancy charges. It serves o purpose to criminalize a student for not attending school for many reasons.

I would also expect that a properly run private school would allow kids to be
more engaged in learning rather than being little shits like I was. Are you familiar with a Romney plan for education? I haven't heard too much. I would hate to see what type of Obamunist platform Barry has in store for Amerika

No sweat, I'm just saying I'm sure there is someone more qualified on the board with education to answer those specific questions. I'm just working on theoreticals here. I believe a simple voucher program would help move education in the right direction - both public and private. That is where we need to start. I also believe teacher's unions should be dismantled. The last statistic I saw was the democratic party gets 1 billion dollars annually from each 1 million teachers added to the union. That is a huge problem.

[asphaltjunkie]

My wife is doing her student teaching for her cert at Owens Elementary here in Tyler ISD, one of abou 13 elem schools here in Tyler. She told me the 1st week of school that they were going around trying to get as many kids to sign up for "free lunch" because if they got a certain percentage to sign up, the school would get a big fat bonus. Shitty thing is this school is in the richer part of town, and just last year spent several million dollars rennovating and adding onto the school.

Sent from my LGL45C using Tapatalk 2

[Treasure Chest]

We're in Longview ISD and it's the same way. $269MM renovation, and they're trying to get everyone they can to sign up for free/reduced lunch to get more money.

I will say, as far as teaching to the test, my daughter made it into the magnet school, and their curriculum FAR exceeds anything I've ever seen in public school. The kids test into the school and are grade levels above their peers in some subjects, but all of the students are there to learn. It's been ranked one of the top 10 elementary schools in Texas for several years. It's a shame that other schools in our district don't have the capacity (read: parent and student motivation) to follow the same model.

[bcoop]

That is exactly why you do not want the government teaching our children.

I've never said otherwise. But it's not going to change. Everyone is too busy with their hand out to come up with an actual plan to change it.

[bcoop]

Mrs. Dixon is the name And being Irving, I an promise you she is the only Mrs. dixon there lol

Not ringing a bell, but I'm sure I do. I know her boss very well.

She told me the 1st week of school that they were going around trying to get as many kids to sign up for "free lunch" because if they got a certain percentage to sign up, the school would get a big fat bonus.

Same thing here. I had to fill out all the usual paperwork after my son's first day of school. There was a paper in there about free & reduced lunch, which I did not sign. The second day, they sent it home again. I wrote a note, and said I wasn't interested in benefits, and I made way too much for him to qualify. They sent it home a third day and said it must be filled out.

[CJ]

Receipt for tyranny: Create dependency, leverage dependency.

[Broncojohnny]

Fuck the Marxists in Chicago and their worthless union. The city deserves everything they get and more.

[Kimmypie]

I'm sure I'll catch shit, but I feel the need to weigh in as a teacher. Yeah, the admin does bullshit to get federal money. However, for all the shitty education you feel that your kid gets in public school, there really are teachers who care & work their asses off every single day, most nights, and on weekends during the school year and who train in the summers to ensure that your kid gets as much education as we can provide.

For the record, I fucking WISH I earned 76K!! Not even close. But since I chose to go ahead and enter the teaching field after being in other careers because I feel called to teach, I don't exactly get to bitch about the pay. Do I wish that I had the parental support that most private school teachers get? Fuck yeah, I wish that. However, I can't pay a mortgage or all pay out all the damn money we've spent in the last few years on in vitro to have a kid of my own on 1/2 what I make now. We are obviously tapped out $ wise due to that. So, I deal with the hang ups, the "No English", and the missed meetings and do my damndest to get their kid to learn and to feel cared for and supported for the few hours a day I have the opportunity to improve their lives via either knowledge gained or love felt. I get vast satisfaction from the relationships I build with kids that make an impact on their lives. It's part of why I do what I do. Would it be nice to get paid more to do that? Yep. But the reality is we get shitty pay & worsening by the year benefits which have to be weighed against the personal satisfaction I feel when a kid "gets it" and I have the privilege to see a "light bulb moment" happen. That's fucking amazing & it'd be nice if it happened more.

We don't have unions in TX. I think unions are going to be the death of much of America, but I would join one just to not get screwed by the admin & to protect myself against parents who can actually sue teachers personally. It sucks, but such is the reality of life.

As for the firing teachers based on the test scores of kids issue. That's total bullshit. You can have kids who understand a concept, but who suck at testing and who will fail a multiple choice test every time they take one. They can show you a project or even just tell you about the concept, but freak out on testing day due to the pressure and fail. Also, you get the kids who don't give a shit and think failing is a badge of honor. They try to fail. There are parents who refuse to help their kids to pass which would weigh in on MY evaluation. Their don't give a fuck results in me losing my job? That's a lot of BS. Is there some measure that can be taken of teachers that doesn't involve testing? Of course, but you can't rely on just admin's take either. I've worked for a principal who gave me shit reviews because her kid didn't like me. I refused to treat him any differently than any other kid which didn't sit well with either of them. I was even called in to the VP's office and told I needed to "learn to play the game". I told her it was against my ethics at which point I was told to get ready for hell. I changed schools as fast as I could & have a much better principal now. I just had an observation today & one of the comments was that the kids should be able to tell me why they are learning what they are. The kids' comments? We are learning it because you & the state tell us we have to. Sigh...

Y'all can badmouth the education system in America all you want, but remember there are some teachers out there who actually give a damn.

That is all...carry on!

[FreightTrain]

I'm sure I'll catch shit, but I feel the need to weigh in as a teacher. Yeah, the admin does bullshit to get federal money. However, for all the shitty education you feel that your kid gets in public school, there really are teachers who care & work their asses off every single day, most nights, and on weekends during the school year and who train in the summers to ensure that your kid gets as much education as we can provide.

For the record, I fucking WISH I earned 76K!! Not even close. But since I chose to go ahead and enter the teaching field after being in other careers because I feel called to teach, I don't exactly get to bitch about the pay. Do I wish that I had the parental support that most private school teachers get? Fuck yeah, I wish that. However, I can't pay a mortgage or all pay out all the damn money we've spent in the last few years on in vitro to have a kid of my own on 1/2 what I make now. We are obviously tapped out $ wise due to that. So, I deal with the hang ups, the "No English", and the missed meetings and do my damndest to get their kid to learn and to feel cared for and supported for the few hours a day I have the opportunity to improve their lives via either knowledge gained or love felt. I get vast satisfaction from the relationships I build with kids that make an impact on their lives. It's part of why I do what I do. Would it be nice to get paid more to do that? Yep. But the reality is we get shitty pay & worsening by the year benefits which have to be weighed against the personal satisfaction I feel when a kid "gets it" and I have the privilege to see a "light bulb moment" happen. That's fucking amazing & it'd be nice if it happened more.

We don't have unions in TX. I think unions are going to be the death of much of America, but I would join one just to not get screwed by the admin & to protect myself against parents who can actually sue teachers personally. It sucks, but such is the reality of life.

As for the firing teachers based on the test scores of kids issue. That's total bullshit. You can have kids who understand a concept, but who suck at testing and who will fail a multiple choice test every time they take one. They can show you a project or even just tell you about the concept, but freak out on testing day due to the pressure and fail. Also, you get the kids who don't give a shit and think failing is a badge of honor. They try to fail. There are parents who refuse to help their kids to pass which would weigh in on MY evaluation. Their don't give a fuck results in me losing my job? That's a lot of BS. Is there some measure that can be taken of teachers that doesn't involve testing? Of course, but you can't rely on just admin's take either. I've worked for a principal who gave me shit reviews because her kid didn't like me. I refused to treat him any differently than any other kid which didn't sit well with either of them. I was even called in to the VP's office and told I needed to "learn to play the game". I told her it was against my ethics at which point I was told to get ready for hell. I changed schools as fast as I could & have a much better principal now. I just had an observation today & one of the comments was that the kids should be able to tell me why they are learning what they are. The kids' comments? We are learning it because you & the state tell us we have to. Sigh...

Y'all can badmouth the education system in America all you want, but remember there are some teachers out there who actually give a damn.

That is all...carry on!

Bravo.... My wife comes from a small town and like all small towns in Texas they are being over run by illegals. The testing scores are so bad in the school because of the no habla english the state has taken over the district. Guess what. The schoool still sucks and most of the locals that could afford to do so have put their kids in private school. About a 1/3 of the local teachers have quit and now teach in different districts. It's ashame what is happening to small town Texas and small town America.

[Dlachance]

Not ringing a bell, but I'm sure I do. I know her boss very well.






Same thing here. I had to fill out all the usual paperwork after my son's first day of school. There was a paper in there about free & reduced lunch, which I did not sign. The second day, they sent it home again. I wrote a note, and said I wasn't interested in benefits, and I made way too much for him to qualify. They sent it home a third day and said it must be filled out.

Not being weird, but who are you and what do you do for them. Im assuming your talking about Michael? She is the supervisor over the Central schools and re-assignment school.

[Forever_frost]

My view is that there are far too many teachers who aren't earning their keep. They aren't teaching, they're indoctrinating if even that. Teacher should be competing, their students success should be theirs. Like we learned in basic, if the students fail (more fail than pass like in Chicago) the teachers should be fired. They also should actually test the teachers to make sure they actually know the stuff they're teaching. I've sat through classes where I knew more than the teachers in college.

If standardized testing isn't the answer, what is? What will bring education levels up? Personally, I'm all for removing the requirement that someone go to school and pay teachers based off of the amount of students who can perform the tasks taught in the class as compared to the rest of the country. I'm also 100% for outlawing unions in teaching. Teachers should have to go to the public and ask them to vote on pay raises and benefits. But then again, I think all public servants should have to actually ask taxpayers for raises

[Dlachance]

Freight Train- you can learn to take tests. There is actually an art to taking tests in subjects like physics and chemistry, etc. I had a chemistry class pre-ap at Keller High where I could score a maximum of 134 on a test. If we knew 75% of the material, we got a 100. On every question, there were often 3-5 points we had to hit, like doing the dimensional analysis, getting the proper exponents, the final answer etc. She was the only teacher that did that in the school and it was approved by admins. I never scored above a 95 on her tests no matter how much studying I did. In fact, my first few tests were in the low 20's and I did not know how to take them. After lots of tutorials, and 1.5 semesters of the same class, I passed. It was because I worked my ass off.

Now lets take a look at why 'most' kids have bad test grades. It is not because they stink at tests, that is an excuse. They either are not putting forth enough effort or they have a serious anxiety disorder. Dont come in here with your sympathetic bullshit.

[bcoop]

My view is that there are far too many teachers who aren't earning their keep. They aren't teaching, they're indoctrinating if even that. Teacher should be competing, their students success should be theirs. Like we learned in basic, if the students fail (more fail than pass like in Chicago) the teachers should be fired. They also should actually test the teachers to make sure they actually know the stuff they're teaching. I've sat through classes where I knew more than the teachers in college.

If standardized testing isn't the answer, what is? What will bring education levels up? Personally, I'm all for removing the requirement that someone go to school and pay teachers based off of the amount of students who can perform the tasks taught in the class as compared to the rest of the country. I'm also 100% for outlawing unions in teaching. Teachers should have to go to the public and ask them to vote on pay raises and benefits. But then again, I think all public servants should have to actually ask taxpayers for raises

Your issues are with the legislators. Teachers can only work with what they are given.