4 ms·

The fact that they've rebranded teachers gives me concern that they're trying to further devalue teaching as a profession (if that's possible) and remove some o

The fact that they've rebranded teachers gives me concern that they're trying to further devalue teaching as a profession (if that's possible) and remove some of the professional expectations and protections that teaching still has.

realslimjd 8mo ago
That's a legitimate concern, but the "Guide" terminology actually comes from traditional Montessori schools.
- renewiltord 8mo ago
  The conspiracy runs deeper than we thought. Is the Montessori method primarily a mechanism to devalue labour unions?!
gruez 8mo ago
From the article I linked: >When I asked the head of admissions how they found such good staff he told me their compensation was fully transparent. “Associate Guides” were paid $60,000/year (vs the $40,000 average for Austin teachers), “Full Guides” made $100,000 and the five “Head Guides” in the school each made $150,000. They were able to both poach the best teachers from other schools, but also bring exceptional people into teaching that would not have considered it otherwise. It also let them have very high expectations for teachers once they were hired.
- rbhtjk 8mo ago
  Yes, I am sure all billionaires will send their children to that school instead of some Montessori school or Eton.
  - vladgur 8mo ago
    You dont need to be a billionaire to be able to afford a good school for your children if the public ones dont meet your criteria. Im not sure about this particular school, but i am greatly disappointed at baseline california core requirements for math and science in middle school and the parents choice is to either have your child be bored in school while complementing their education with RSM or Singapore Math after hours Or to choose a private school that will make your child more competitive with kids being educated by other countries systems.
    - dvaun 8mo ago
      Public education caters to the common denominator…the public. If you want higher rigor and standards set for your children, then you will need to find alternatives - which, in some areas, are no better than the public schools. I wouldn’t blame the system for poor standards. Their standards are actually decent for most children. The problem is that teachers are forced to spend a significant portion of time and energy on classroom management. Couple that with the fact that most parents aren’t reading to their children at night, so those kids grow up falling behind the curve. Reading comprehension drops -> other subjects follow suit. Rinse and repeat each year, and you eventually end up with high-school seniors reading far below their grade level. The teachers now have to scaffold all of their content. The kids who didn’t fall behind? They receive no attention from the teacher who is instead focused on helping the kid with a 3rd grade reading ability to try to understand the content. An indirect tragedy of the commons, where parents are relying on public education to raise and teach children with no input of their own.
    - johnnyanmac 8mo ago
      Not a billionaire, but pretty well off. Unlike the college loan grift that we also need to address, you're not getting a parent plus loan to help your 3rd grader. >i am greatly disappointed at baseline california core requirements for math and science Don't look at the other states, then. I agree the standards are low, but they can't even meet those marks. You don't improve that by raising bar and expecting students to keep up. All while continuing to defund education. For me, it was a matter that they identified me early on elementary and basically put me a year ahead in studies. By middle school they called it "honor students". And I only studied in public schools (well, a charter high school. But I was guaranteed in since I lived in the neighborhood).
      - vladgur 8mo ago
        I dont think California education is defunded. Mismanaged yes, wrong incentives and priorities, yes. Quick google search shows that my district has nearly a budget of $195,927,382 for years 2024-2025 serving 10,278 students. Thats nearly 20k per student. THe district employed 481(<22 student per teacher on avg) teachers and 480 admin staff. Residents of my school district constantly vote for bonds to pay for capital school upgrades(thanks Prop 13) in addition to high amount property taxes. We dont have an issue of defunding the education here. Our education is non-competitive with Asian and European ones not because we cant afford it, but because its mismanaged, incorrectly incentivised and often ideological (math is racist).
SkyPuncher 8mo ago
Eh. Montessori schools have done this for a while. It's mostly signaling, but does reenforce that it's on the student to learn - not the teacher to force it into their brain.

realslimjd 8mo ago

That's a legitimate concern, but the "Guide" terminology actually comes from traditional Montessori schools.

renewiltord 8mo ago
The conspiracy runs deeper than we thought. Is the Montessori method primarily a mechanism to devalue labour unions?!

gruez 8mo ago

From the article I linked: >When I asked the head of admissions how they found such good staff he told me their compensation was fully transparent. “Associate Guides” were paid $60,000/year (vs the $40,000 average for Austin teachers), “Full Guides” made $100,000 and the five “Head Guides” in the school each made $150,000. They were able to both poach the best teachers from other schools, but also bring exceptional people into teaching that would not have considered it otherwise. It also let them have very high expectations for teachers once they were hired.

rbhtjk 8mo ago
Yes, I am sure all billionaires will send their children to that school instead of some Montessori school or Eton.
- vladgur 8mo ago
  You dont need to be a billionaire to be able to afford a good school for your children if the public ones dont meet your criteria. Im not sure about this particular school, but i am greatly disappointed at baseline california core requirements for math and science in middle school and the parents choice is to either have your child be bored in school while complementing their education with RSM or Singapore Math after hours Or to choose a private school that will make your child more competitive with kids being educated by other countries systems.
  - dvaun 8mo ago
    Public education caters to the common denominator…the public. If you want higher rigor and standards set for your children, then you will need to find alternatives - which, in some areas, are no better than the public schools. I wouldn’t blame the system for poor standards. Their standards are actually decent for most children. The problem is that teachers are forced to spend a significant portion of time and energy on classroom management. Couple that with the fact that most parents aren’t reading to their children at night, so those kids grow up falling behind the curve. Reading comprehension drops -> other subjects follow suit. Rinse and repeat each year, and you eventually end up with high-school seniors reading far below their grade level. The teachers now have to scaffold all of their content. The kids who didn’t fall behind? They receive no attention from the teacher who is instead focused on helping the kid with a 3rd grade reading ability to try to understand the content. An indirect tragedy of the commons, where parents are relying on public education to raise and teach children with no input of their own.
  - johnnyanmac 8mo ago
    Not a billionaire, but pretty well off. Unlike the college loan grift that we also need to address, you're not getting a parent plus loan to help your 3rd grader. >i am greatly disappointed at baseline california core requirements for math and science Don't look at the other states, then. I agree the standards are low, but they can't even meet those marks. You don't improve that by raising bar and expecting students to keep up. All while continuing to defund education. For me, it was a matter that they identified me early on elementary and basically put me a year ahead in studies. By middle school they called it "honor students". And I only studied in public schools (well, a charter high school. But I was guaranteed in since I lived in the neighborhood).
    - vladgur 8mo ago
      I dont think California education is defunded. Mismanaged yes, wrong incentives and priorities, yes. Quick google search shows that my district has nearly a budget of $195,927,382 for years 2024-2025 serving 10,278 students. Thats nearly 20k per student. THe district employed 481(<22 student per teacher on avg) teachers and 480 admin staff. Residents of my school district constantly vote for bonds to pay for capital school upgrades(thanks Prop 13) in addition to high amount property taxes. We dont have an issue of defunding the education here. Our education is non-competitive with Asian and European ones not because we cant afford it, but because its mismanaged, incorrectly incentivised and often ideological (math is racist).

SkyPuncher 8mo ago

Eh. Montessori schools have done this for a while. It's mostly signaling, but does reenforce that it's on the student to learn - not the teacher to force it into their brain.