Given the current all out assault on the public school system and teachers especially... there will be teacher shortages. Who hasn't gotten the message that being a teacher is a bad and lowly career choice? The media, elected officials, special interests and general public have all attacked teachers for poor performances, missed marks, failed grades, and labeled them as 'bad apples' wasting taxpayers money.
We've ask teachers to be beholden to test scores, and abandon significant curricular content, after all ...the only resulting value to their jobs and salaries is testing outcomes. Then wonder why our kids can't compete in today's market place beyond passing a standard test. The average starting pay for a licensed teacher with a four-year degree barely covers the cost of their student loans now at $31,532 a year. How much less can they be paid and still call it a profession?Even teaching resources have been removed with students having to SHARE textbooks! Several years ago my daughter attended a Eagan elementary school with Minnesota Ex-Governor Tim Pawlenty's daughter...and they had to share a textbook due to insignificant funding. Imagine what goes on in poor school districts!
Just as we tell victims in abusive relationships to leave, so will teachers... As Dylan said "you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows"...and it blows cold for teaching careers in the future. Public education attacks have ratcheted up in the media to dimensions that are unthinkable and have brought disrespect for teachers on par with the FBI's top ten fugitive's...yeah there will be teacher shortages in the future...Currently one out of every three new teachers leaves the profession within five years....but if you want to know the real cause just go look in the mirror.
The causes are the same ones that affect all professions in our communities.... rising poverty, homelessness, vanishing public services for the disadvantaged, widespread unemployment, massive inequality in wealth and income, overcrowded classrooms and a bankrupt system of public school financing disappearing in favor of private education affordable only for super rich. Go ahead...get rid of all the smoke being blown up your arses look in the g*ddamm mirror!
3 comments:
And, don't forget, at the same time your child and Pawlenty's child were sharing a text book - he was screaming for more cuts to education because to give them more money was like pouring it into a black hole.
And, at the same time your child was sharing a text book with Pawlenty's child, he was screaming for more cuts to education.
Great post.
Isn't it sad that Congress had to enact a law allowing a tax deduction for teachers who supply their own supplies ... instead of just being responsible and funding Education.
BTW, did you know that Congress just approved H J 44 which terminates four Department of Education programs.
That said, it is not just teachers that are being targeted ... but also police ... heck in Ohio (see my commentary on the MN Political Roundtable) the State Senate passed legislation that allows police to be denied reimbursement for their own safety equipment.
In the end, it is not just that people will not want to be teachers or police, but that no one other than affluent business owners will run for the legislatures.
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