3 ms·

My wife has two friends who moved from Seattle to AZ to teach several years ago. Both had zero experience teaching anything and both had random unrelated colleg

My wife has two friends who moved from Seattle to AZ to teach several years ago. Both had zero experience teaching anything and both had random unrelated college degrees and both were given a classroom full of children within weeks of arriving and essentially zero training or preparation. Total pay was around $36k a year, albeit five years ago. It is clear that parents in AZ want babysitting over an actual education for their children.

woodruffw 4y ago
> It is clear that parents in AZ want babysitting over an actual education for their children. More accurately: there is a landed (or otherwise wealthy) class in AZ that would rather not pay for public institutions they don't see the need for. The average parent in Arizona is probably a reasonable human being who wants the best for their own children and the other children in their district. Very few would probably voluntarily sign onto a scheme where their childrens' education is scraped from the bottom of the hiring barrel; it's overwhelmingly a function of political alienation, civic illiteracy, and decades of disenfranchisement efforts.
- throwawaysleep 4y ago
  > The average parent in Arizona is probably a reasonable human being who wants the best for their own children and the other children in their district. You assume the average person gives much thought to their kids education at all beyond whining about the taxes to pay for it.
  - woodruffw 4y ago
    I'd like to assume a little bit better of them. Even if they don't think, per se, about their kids' education, I suspect that they (1) have their own experiences in public schools to reflect on, and (2) experience familial instincts that nudge them towards higher degrees of concern.
- spacemanmatt 4y ago
  > More accurately: there is a landed (or otherwise wealthy) class in AZ that would rather not pay for public institutions they don't see the need for. It's important to understand that about most red states.
  - drewcoo 4y ago
    And blue states.
    - Kon-Peki 4y ago
      I live in a blue state and parents never stop gushing about how great the public schools are, how their taxes are cheaper than private school tuition, and how happy they are to vote for tax increases to pay for new school stuff. And then when their youngest graduates from high school, they immediately start complaining about taxes, and many of them eventually move to a "cheap" red state where a lot of things actually cost more but at least their taxes are lower. But! I also know some guys that run an investment group that owns a few small manufacturing facilities. Whenever they get a new, complicated thing to build for someone, they start it at their factory in the blue state and work on the process and quality control. Only once they've perfected things and it no longer requires much thinking to make, it gets moved to a certain southeastern US red state where the people get paid half as much. This is basically the same thing that happens in Europe. Perhaps it is actually ok; you don't necessarily need all the factory workers to be good problem solvers.
    - spacemanmatt 4y ago
      I wish we could outlaw private schools.
geoduck14 4y ago
What is the age range of the kids they are teaching? This would make sense for kindergarten- not so much for Middle School.
- woodruffw 4y ago
  It doesn't make a lot of sense for kindergarten either -- I'd probably want someone who understands child socialization and emotional regulation in that position (if I was a parent). The younger they are, the more pressing it is for the teacher to be a professional.

woodruffw 4y ago

> It is clear that parents in AZ want babysitting over an actual education for their children. More accurately: there is a landed (or otherwise wealthy) class in AZ that would rather not pay for public institutions they don't see the need for. The average parent in Arizona is probably a reasonable human being who wants the best for their own children and the other children in their district. Very few would probably voluntarily sign onto a scheme where their childrens' education is scraped from the bottom of the hiring barrel; it's overwhelmingly a function of political alienation, civic illiteracy, and decades of disenfranchisement efforts.

throwawaysleep 4y ago
> The average parent in Arizona is probably a reasonable human being who wants the best for their own children and the other children in their district. You assume the average person gives much thought to their kids education at all beyond whining about the taxes to pay for it.
- woodruffw 4y ago
  I'd like to assume a little bit better of them. Even if they don't think, per se, about their kids' education, I suspect that they (1) have their own experiences in public schools to reflect on, and (2) experience familial instincts that nudge them towards higher degrees of concern.
spacemanmatt 4y ago
> More accurately: there is a landed (or otherwise wealthy) class in AZ that would rather not pay for public institutions they don't see the need for. It's important to understand that about most red states.
- drewcoo 4y ago
  And blue states.
  - Kon-Peki 4y ago
    I live in a blue state and parents never stop gushing about how great the public schools are, how their taxes are cheaper than private school tuition, and how happy they are to vote for tax increases to pay for new school stuff. And then when their youngest graduates from high school, they immediately start complaining about taxes, and many of them eventually move to a "cheap" red state where a lot of things actually cost more but at least their taxes are lower. But! I also know some guys that run an investment group that owns a few small manufacturing facilities. Whenever they get a new, complicated thing to build for someone, they start it at their factory in the blue state and work on the process and quality control. Only once they've perfected things and it no longer requires much thinking to make, it gets moved to a certain southeastern US red state where the people get paid half as much. This is basically the same thing that happens in Europe. Perhaps it is actually ok; you don't necessarily need all the factory workers to be good problem solvers.
  - spacemanmatt 4y ago
    I wish we could outlaw private schools.

geoduck14 4y ago

What is the age range of the kids they are teaching? This would make sense for kindergarten- not so much for Middle School.

woodruffw 4y ago
It doesn't make a lot of sense for kindergarten either -- I'd probably want someone who understands child socialization and emotional regulation in that position (if I was a parent). The younger they are, the more pressing it is for the teacher to be a professional.