6 ms·

It Will Take More Than $60K Salaries to Solve the Teacher Shortage

39 points by halabarouma 4y ago

bitlax 4y ago
> "And, now, teachers face censorship in multiple states for teaching about race, gender, and sexual diversity." Surely the United States is ahead of Singapore when measured in teachings on sexual diversity.
AtlasBarfed 4y ago
The elites see a sunk cost for the rabble and still a large labor pool doing a job for below-market-rate. Why change anything? The key to this is simple: housing values. At least in the 'burbs, education is one of the critical things driving housing value. All you simply have to do is threaten white people's housing values and the money will come POURING in. Also, a huge problem in America is transfer of money from cities (desperately underfunded school systems in cities, whodathunkit?) to rural areas. How about we change this? You know what would be a fun exercise? Some city in like Texas gets tired of the state funding shenanigans and decides to form a new state. Like Houston. Perfect example. Remove the funding from the #4 largest city from the state coffers. Burbs don't want to join? Perfect, set up some tolls and rake in the money. Oh, the burbs DO want to join (most likely case)? Sure why not. It would be interesting because if five cities in the midwest or South got sick of their state politics' shit, all of a sudden there would be ten new senators from urban areas in the senate. Look out, totally new political landscape.
- thephyber 4y ago
  > It would be interesting because if five cities in the midwest or South got sick of their state politics' shit, all of a sudden there would be ten new senators from urban areas in the senate. What policy mechanism do believe is used to do this? I don’t think this can happen without the city’s independence movement getting support from lots of other red states that dislike their own cities aligning with the city against the red state government. I don’t see those movements as being within the Overton Window right now.
- jlund-molfese 4y ago
  Cities (or any other part of an existing state) can't secede without their state legislature's consent, though. It's the same reason conservative northern Californians, or Staten Islanders can't have their own state and add more rural senators. Article IV of the US Constitution: New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
- Beaver117 4y ago
  I think you're saying better education drives higher housing prices, right? But cities generally have high housing prices, so why is the education not as well funded? Why would the money go to rural areas?
funstuff007 4y ago
Without increasing student to teacher ratios, this problem is effectively unsolvable. It's Baumol's cost disease writ large. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumol_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumol_effect
- casefields 4y ago
  Considerations On Cost Disease: https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost-disease/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost...
- afpx 4y ago
  I have a student in a school district that spends 24k per student. My daughter's class has 14 people in it. And, they have teacher's assistants. You would expect that this is the ideal public school, right? Unfortunately, her class is 60% immigrant and none speak English. Both of her teachers spend 100% of their helping time attending to the students who can't speak English. I don't blame the immigrants or the school. The school system just hasn't adjusted for the new normal.
  - bitlax 4y ago
    The "problem" being referred to here is teacher pay, not academic achievement; and the OP is stating that increasing --not decreasing-- the number of students per teacher would be one potential solution. But all that aside, how many years do you anticipate your daughter will be in this type of environment before the "school system adjusts to the new normal?"
sieabahlpark 4y ago
[dead]
vondur 4y ago
Here in SoCal we are starting to see declining enrollment in K-12 and the University systems.
jbverschoor 4y ago
I was approached by a well-known University. But I declined, even though it would've been good to teach.
Forestessential 4y ago
Just hire local women as teachers and when they don't fill the part train the next generation to do it. The job can not be paid fully in money; the teachers have to love and connect with the students. When the students are misbehaving or the teachers don't have a relationship with the students local culture then you see their concern for performing good deteriorate. And Yet, at the same time schools are teaching less while screens are raising kids more. I would expect more digital learning in school environments soon and teachers being hired with much more emphasis on behavioral management of the students. Also, this new/different expectation would attract a new crowd of applicants that don't want to "Deal with bratty kids while trying to teach them" and instead they can "Tell the bratty kid to sit and do his work or send him onto his fate". School is simple and made into a tedious process to pump up what all is happening of worth. My son ought graduate highschool at 16 because that is really the age it teaches to [at end of grade 12].
- lockhouse 4y ago
  > Just hire local women as teachers Why the sexism? I don’t see a reason local men wouldn’t also be excellent teachers?

39 points by halabarouma 4y ago

> "And, now, teachers face censorship in multiple states for teaching about race, gender, and sexual diversity." Surely the United States is ahead of Singapore when measured in teachings on sexual diversity.

AtlasBarfed 4y ago

The elites see a sunk cost for the rabble and still a large labor pool doing a job for below-market-rate. Why change anything? The key to this is simple: housing values. At least in the 'burbs, education is one of the critical things driving housing value. All you simply have to do is threaten white people's housing values and the money will come POURING in. Also, a huge problem in America is transfer of money from cities (desperately underfunded school systems in cities, whodathunkit?) to rural areas. How about we change this? You know what would be a fun exercise? Some city in like Texas gets tired of the state funding shenanigans and decides to form a new state. Like Houston. Perfect example. Remove the funding from the #4 largest city from the state coffers. Burbs don't want to join? Perfect, set up some tolls and rake in the money. Oh, the burbs DO want to join (most likely case)? Sure why not. It would be interesting because if five cities in the midwest or South got sick of their state politics' shit, all of a sudden there would be ten new senators from urban areas in the senate. Look out, totally new political landscape.

thephyber 4y ago
> It would be interesting because if five cities in the midwest or South got sick of their state politics' shit, all of a sudden there would be ten new senators from urban areas in the senate. What policy mechanism do believe is used to do this? I don’t think this can happen without the city’s independence movement getting support from lots of other red states that dislike their own cities aligning with the city against the red state government. I don’t see those movements as being within the Overton Window right now.
jlund-molfese 4y ago
Cities (or any other part of an existing state) can't secede without their state legislature's consent, though. It's the same reason conservative northern Californians, or Staten Islanders can't have their own state and add more rural senators. Article IV of the US Constitution: New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
Beaver117 4y ago
I think you're saying better education drives higher housing prices, right? But cities generally have high housing prices, so why is the education not as well funded? Why would the money go to rural areas?

funstuff007 4y ago

Without increasing student to teacher ratios, this problem is effectively unsolvable. It's Baumol's cost disease writ large. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumol_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumol_effect

casefields 4y ago
Considerations On Cost Disease: https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost-disease/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost...
afpx 4y ago
I have a student in a school district that spends 24k per student. My daughter's class has 14 people in it. And, they have teacher's assistants. You would expect that this is the ideal public school, right? Unfortunately, her class is 60% immigrant and none speak English. Both of her teachers spend 100% of their helping time attending to the students who can't speak English. I don't blame the immigrants or the school. The school system just hasn't adjusted for the new normal.
- bitlax 4y ago
  The "problem" being referred to here is teacher pay, not academic achievement; and the OP is stating that increasing --not decreasing-- the number of students per teacher would be one potential solution. But all that aside, how many years do you anticipate your daughter will be in this type of environment before the "school system adjusts to the new normal?"

sieabahlpark 4y ago

[dead]

vondur 4y ago

Here in SoCal we are starting to see declining enrollment in K-12 and the University systems.

jbverschoor 4y ago

I was approached by a well-known University. But I declined, even though it would've been good to teach.

Forestessential 4y ago

Just hire local women as teachers and when they don't fill the part train the next generation to do it. The job can not be paid fully in money; the teachers have to love and connect with the students. When the students are misbehaving or the teachers don't have a relationship with the students local culture then you see their concern for performing good deteriorate. And Yet, at the same time schools are teaching less while screens are raising kids more. I would expect more digital learning in school environments soon and teachers being hired with much more emphasis on behavioral management of the students. Also, this new/different expectation would attract a new crowd of applicants that don't want to "Deal with bratty kids while trying to teach them" and instead they can "Tell the bratty kid to sit and do his work or send him onto his fate". School is simple and made into a tedious process to pump up what all is happening of worth. My son ought graduate highschool at 16 because that is really the age it teaches to [at end of grade 12].

lockhouse 4y ago
> Just hire local women as teachers Why the sexism? I don’t see a reason local men wouldn’t also be excellent teachers?