Posted on 01/14/2008 2:33:11 PM PST by forkinsocket
In our liberal democratic society there is always a desire to separate the teaching of values from the teaching of reading,writing, and mathematics, the so-called value neutral subjects. But we have learned—and every parent who has done homework with his child knows that, like it or not, we teach values in the course of teaching these subjects. We teach, for example, the values of hard work, of doing things that we might not like, of persevering in the face of difficulty, of listening to and respecting the efforts of adults, of self-initiated effort, of postponement of gratification, and of meeting deadlines. All of these simple lessons are moral instruction, lessons about what is important and about what ought to be taken seriously. So even if what we teach is value neutral, our teaching-by the manner in which we do it and the nature of our interactions in the course of it—conveys messages to our children about how they should regard themselves, consider others, and meet their obligations. Teaching is as much a moral effort as it is an intellectual enterprise; teachers not only educate our children how to think and solve problems, they also inform children’s beliefs about what is right, good, and important in life, shaping their values in the process.
There are nearly three and a half million public and private elementary and secondary teachers in the United States, more individuals by far than in any other occupation.During the course of the 2005 06 school year, each teacher spent upward of 1260 hours working with our nation’s 54 million elementary and secondary school students. It would seem useful to know something about the values they hold. Where do America’s elementary and secondary school teachers stand on freedom of speech, family values, and economic inequality, for example?
(Excerpt) Read more at hoover.org ...
We have met the enemy and he is us.
There are nearly three and a half million public and private elementary and secondary teachers in the United States, which means there are nearly three and a half million differing opinions and values among those teachers.
They’re individuals. They work really hard and take a lot of you-know-what off kids and parents.
My experience with public school teachers as my kids have gone through school has been very positive. A few bad apples, mind you, but that would be true in any group of humans.
[each teacher spent upward of 1260 hours ]
Hmmm, I busted my ass 2000+ hours a year. (Picture small violin!)
It reflects what they teach kids.
Higher pay. Absolute tenure. No oversight. No responsibility to anyone outside of the union.
My wife is over 2080 a year..no big deal...but not “part time” either.
The median salary of $43k surprised me, along with the average 16 years of education.
I fully believe that schools, and teachers by extension, are reflective of the community in which they teach. Red state schools will generally have conservative teachers and schools that celebrate Christmas. Blue state/county schools will have more liberal teachers and celebrate "winter break" That would explain why those of us in red states with weak unions express more satisfaction with our schools and those poor souls in union states are supremely unhappy.
Sounds like a good retirement (part time) job.
I’d love to ‘only’ work 1260 hours a year. But I’m on a 196 day contract at 7.5 hours per day. Officially I work 1470, unofficially, I would say it’s closer to 1600. But no complaints. I have the summer off to watch softball.
Sort of like a 4 day a week job (without overtime) for the rest of us.
ping
Do you get paid for 196 days or 260? I work 196 days and I get paid for 196. You work 260, you get paid for 260. That’s how the system works.
Gabz, Amelia, and I have volunteered to take over the list so that Metmom can concentrate on home schooling issues.
If you want on or off this ping list, please Freepmail SoftballMominVA who is this month’s official keeper of the list
VERY well said!
However, when school teachers complain about pay levels, they usually compare their part-time (partial year) pay to the full-time (full year) pay of others.
I have no problem with school teachers getting part of the year off, but I'm not sympathetic when they complain about how hard they have to work, or when they complain about how little they get paid.
I have heard school teachers complain about low pay in the same sentence that they invoke their academic credentials, saying that their degree should be worth more. Many people are better educated than the average public school teacher, and get paid at a lower hourly rate.
It works both ways --- there are many people being paid a much higher hourly rate than the average public school teacher with far less education -- I should know, I spent many years as one of those people, same with my husband.
S0ftballmom,
Another friendly reminder to please add my name to the Public Education Ping.
You have a crazy notion of the situation. Obviously you see things from the perspective of school administrators. They are the ones with the power. During the first two or three years, they have the absolute power to fire, provided they do the necessary documentation. They chose not to oversee the teachers because that is hard work. Even first year teachers get little help, unless the students are raising the roof. To give them their due, they spend much of their time fighting off nasty parents and the he rest covering their behinds and kowtowing to their own bosses, so they basically have no INTEREST--in either sense of the term--in what is going on in the classrooms. This indifference alternatives with an obsessive intervention where the states have established state-wide testing programs, and they fear that the students might do poorly on these tests. As for the power of the union, that is not threat to the principal's control of the school unless he is an incompetent manager.
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