28 ms·
My wife is a 1st grade teacher, has been for 11 years now. She has incredible patience and genuinely enjoys helping children succeed and grow. A few years ago,
by dchuk 5y ago
My wife is a 1st grade teacher, has been for 11 years now. She has incredible patience and genuinely enjoys helping children succeed and grow.
A few years ago, she got her first salary increase in seven fucking years after her union threatened a strike. And it was 7%. This all during one of the biggest economic run ups ever. While the district and admins had all gotten consistent wage increases every year she didn’t.
She has multiple children who literally take off their clothes, flip over tables, and try to climb the fences of the school to leave every single day. Not kidding, multiple grown adults have to intervene multiple times a week to protect these kids and their peers. And literally nothing changes, absolutely no support from admin to get these kids support they clearly need. I have zero respect for the professional abilities of school administrators, I’ve regularly interacted with them and wondered how they are employed, it’s crazy.
School administrators are by and large bureaucratic idiots that are incapable of innovating or improving schooling. The pandemic proved this perfectly. My wife was required to do 3 hours of real time education a day, to 6 year olds, including filling out a physical piece of paper for attendance at the beginning of the day, then taking a photo and sending it in.
For virtual school.
For 6 year olds.
She has to perpetually pull individual children to test their progress against state standards, while the rest of the class has to occupy themselves with activities.
6 year olds.
The amount of bullshit wrapped around public education, along with completely upside down incentive structures, will be ripping apart the very concept of school over the next ten years.
She wants to educate, but we are already working on pursuing that as a small business vs being a public educator.
It’s a sad state of affairs.
- selimthegrim 5y ago
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- brnt 5y ago> School administrators are by and large bureaucratic idiots I think that the size and uselessness of the para-ecudational layer should not be underestimated. The ministry, committees, the commercial education ecosystem; they have been extremely successful in absorbing whatever money we have been trying to poor in. It's like a ship with two seamen and a council of 5 captains and 20 contractors to keep the messhall's leisure PC running in exchange for 80% of personell expenditures. It's ridiculous. And if that was not enough, some people believe even more privatisation is the solution.
- tastyfreeze 5y agoPrivatization changes the incentive structure for administration. If the school needs to turn a profit they are less likely to hire unnecessary or incompetent staff. That is just a waste of money. Public schools get away with hiring excess staff because they get paid by the number of kids in the school regardless of performance.
- the_svd_doctor 5y agoNo sure. Look at private universities. It’s like 30-50% staff. (Made up number*).
- brnt 5y agoQuite the contrary. Private schools spends even more on excess. Their business model is after all to make money, which they do, like any modern capitalist venture, with brand management.
- chasd00 5y ago> School administrators are by and large bureaucratic idiots that are incapable of innovating or improving schooling. This can’t be overstated and, unless you have first hand experience, impossible to comprehend. We’re talking the very basic levels of competence like don’t smoke weed in your car before school because you’re the principal of a middle school level of competence. /wife is a long time teacher quitting this year
- seanp2k2 5y agoMeanwhile, at least back in the mid-2000s when I was in school, they’re doing stuff like stationing cops at every school so they can run drug dogs through the halls and arrest + throw into juvie any kid they find with a jacket that smells like weed in their locker.
- tejohnso 5y ago> She has multiple children who literally take off their clothes, flip over tables, and try to climb the fences of the school to leave every single day All serious potential legal issues. Whatever happened to expulsion? No way I'd accept students like that. If your child is that out of control they're your problem to deal with.
- dchuk 5y agoYeah, my wife actually intentionally hasn't gotten certified to allow her to legally physically retain children because it's such an obvious litigation minefield. School is frequently viewed as a day care more than a house of education unfortunately.
- dwater 5y agoI was a teacher and my experience was that I always felt administration as a whole was counter productive, but almost all of the administrators I could think of were really great. They were great teachers who had great relationships with students and knew how to teach well. So it stands to reason that the problem is with the system and incentives, not the individuals.
- erosenbe0 5y agoAt least your school has a fence. My wife's school they can just head for the woods.
- scsilver 5y agoI think this is they way things are heading. Learning pods with private teachers based off a accredited college approved prep curriculums. I hope your wife does well.
- dchuk 5y agoThank you!