Posted on 10/03/2006 5:35:30 PM PDT by neverdem
I agree but did you see the 20/20 episode stupid in America? He showed like a 6 page drop down on how to fire a NYC teacher. The unions have ruined education just like they have with everything else.
Catholic Schools were subsidized by the local dioceses
and many are being shut down. In NYC they've shut down more than thirty.
For comparison, look at the cost of a decent prep school or the cost in an upscale neighborhood where better than 90% go on to college.
Its ridiculous for teachers to disregard the opinions of anyone other than someone who has taught in the classroom in regard to the subject of education. And, I say that as someone who used to be a public school teacher.
I'm not a teacher, but I've known a few teachers over the years. Their are many education experts whose opinions they value -- and most have not taught in the classroom.
The problem with public schools, as far as I can see is three fold:
A)On the bottom level of the spectrum, they have been asked to take on non-traditional roles, i.e. social work. They are also encountering many, many kids with varying degrees of brain damage from prenatal drug ingestion.
B)In the middle range, many communities can no longer provide a quality education. They simply can't afford it. The taxpayers are tapped out.
C)At the upper end of the scale, public schools are being asked to provide a first rate education and launch students into realistic competition for the Ivies. This is hugely expensive, so you get property taxes exceeding $25,000 or even $30,000 -- basically the same amount as a first tier prep school. Needless to say, these communities are sucking all the good teachers out of the bottom and middle tiers with high salaries.
"The unions have ruined education just like they have with everything else."
Unions are a big part of the problem, but not the entire problem. Tenure is also a big problem, as is lousy parenting.
Nobody's shutting them down because they're under-performing when compared to public schools.
They're being shut down because the dioceses no longer wants to foot the bill and the families can't afford to pay for the whole thing.
Their are many education experts
Their = there
Of course! Spend more money. Why didn't I think of that...
For the vast majority of people there isn't any more money to spend. Those with money gladly spend $30,000 a year for private schools or in property taxes and scream like banshees on meth if the SAT score averages drop a half point. However, that's not the reality for most people. The reality for the majority of school disticts is that the residents are tapped out.
There are plenty of great Catholic schools across the country that are doing quite well. There are also a great number of private schools that are not connected to the Catholic system that do well, too...on much less money than their public school counterparts.
I could be wrong, but I know of no catholic school that isn't subsidized by the local dioceses. I can't speak to private schools across the country, but several friends of mine have kids in prep schools and pay upwards of $30,000 a year.
"As a NYC school teacher I have to admit I've seen incompetence in my 20 years, BUT when Joel Klein tells me he'd let a school principal run his law firm then I'll consider taking advice from a lawyer about education."
WTF does Klein's prior lawyering or Clintooning have to do with anything? Logic like that is what has gotten NYC into the mess it's in--if a talking monkey can see the system is broken, it doesn't matter if he eats bananas and flings poop, he's still not wrong when he says the system is still broken.
"As far as Stossel, he's made a living being a gadfly and I truly respect his triumph over stuttering, but when he makes good on his promise to teach a month in a tough city school I'll listen to what he has to say."
More distraction, and in this case, utter bullshit. Here is Stossel's response to this goonion 'offer'--and demolition of your false intimation that STOSSEL ducked an opportunity to have him teach in public schools for a month:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/04/trying_to_accept_the_teacher_u.html
In reality, it was both the teachers' union and the school system that ducked Stossel. First, they refused to put him in a tough school. Second, they didn't let him teach because of fear of what the cameras in the classroom might show.
Some of the best funded public education systems in the US are also some of the worst performing schools in the country.
Really? Which ones?
Look up property taxes, SAT scores, school funding for places like Darien/New Canaan, CT, Scarsdale, NY, Lake Forest, Illinois. A ton of money in taxes, a ton of money into education and a ton of students achieving at a high level.
Okay, also, there's "hidden" stuff going on here. If you're a kid in a wheelchair with a severe emotional disorder in NYC -- you still get to go to school. You might even get your own teacher. If you're a crack baby just turning into a teenager and subject to psychotic episodes -- yep, you get to go to school and maybe get your own para/social worker, etc.
This stuff is expensive. It's expensive to teach a sevrely retarded kid or a kid with autism. Catholic and private schools don't have to take these kids. In rich communities, the retarded or autistic kid usually enters a private facility.
can you blame them?.....look at the money they pull in....and the bennies.....its almost obscene.......
You're not understanding what I'm saying when I say the diocese subsidizes the schools. You don't see the subsidies, they go straight from the dioceses to the school to pay staff, maintain the buildings, and cover the overhead.
thought...not though
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