Educators, y'all have an exodus??

[GeauxLSU]

Things like T.E.A.M. Together Everyone learns More.

What's the 'A' stand for?

 

[leadoff]

What's the 'A' stand for?

I want to know what the "I" stands for....oh, wait, there is no "I" in team.

 

[Hunting Teacher]

What's the 'A' stand for?

"A"waste of time teachers could be using to teach!
Phil,
In my experience, most teachers who leave the field seem to do so fairly quickly.
They either realize it's not for them, or decide another career would be more wise financially for their family's needs.
Mitch

 

[Throwback]

I understand your argument, and you are correct. You are however somewhat abbrasive in your approach. You teachers are defending yourselves against what is perceived as a personal assault, and maybe it is. It is true that GRE scores for educators are among the lowest (really). And it is not true that getting into an education graduate program is harder than other fields (In most cases). My GRE and GPA would get me into Columbia or Harvard if I were studying education. In Political Science (or any other Arts and Science field) I would not get a second look.

However, the claim that teachers could only get teaching jobs is uncalled for. Of course some teachers have no business being in a classroom. Most however are very dedicated, capable, intellegent people doing the best with what they have.

The issue is that the public school "system" has morphed into a giant mass of government waste. The issue is that educators and administrators spend more time on following the latest politically correct mandate and advancing the latest social enginering agenda than they do teaching. In fact it is so bad that MANY teachers now define the job of teaching by the silly slogans put on them by a petty "academic culture" Things like T.E.A.M. Together Everyone learns More. Sombody is paid to sit down and think up junk like this, and then thousands of teachers are paid to go to some inservice where this newest and revolutionarry teaching concept is regergetated. Of course it is a bunch of nothing that could be covered in a memo but it will take three weekends and cost the taxpayers a chunk. Get the picture.

I want teachers to have the freedom to teach. Under this system you do not.

About the 40% retirement. It is a Dept. of Labor survey and I understood it to be nationwide. That may translate into 40% in Georgia as well. A note on the study pointed out that the great mass of the exodus will come from the retirement of baby boomers. Many others however expressed great dissatisgfaction at an early stage in teaching.

Sorry for the long post, I actually have a lot more to say.

Prof,

I most certainly AM NOT personally assaulting teachers as a group or as individuals. I have the utmost respect for teachers as people and for their chosen profession. I myself teach at certain levels and I understand some of what they go through. HECK, I even at one time majored in education, but since you can't strangle the little darlings, I changed my major!

When you said this:

The issue is that the public school "system" has morphed into a giant mass of government waste. The issue is that educators and administrators spend more time on following the latest politically correct mandate and advancing the latest social enginering agenda than they do teaching. In fact it is so bad that MANY teachers now define the job of teaching by the silly slogans put on them by a petty "academic culture" Things like T.E.A.M. Together Everyone learns More. Sombody is paid to sit down and think up junk like this, and then thousands of teachers are paid to go to some inservice where this newest and revolutionarry teaching concept is regergetated. Of course it is a bunch of nothing that could be covered in a memo but it will take three weekends and cost the taxpayers a chunk. Get the picture.

I want teachers to have the freedom to teach. Under this system you do not.

You not only hit the ball out of the park, you knocked the cover off of it as well. The teachers on the board automatically fight against anything but .gov schools becasue they have been taught, from childhood, that .gov schools are the ONLY and BEST way to teach children. Funny that so many of them disagree that government is the best way to do so many other things, but think IN THIS CASE it is the ONLY way. They don't know any better and I don't blame them for thinking that way--it is the way they were taught--I know, I took several education classes. The professors were from the public education system, although this was a private school, they thought the same way--that .gov schools were the best. They didn't think they were the best way to teach anything, but the best way for ALL the little children to have a chance, even if they or their parents didn't want one . It's funny the professors didn't mind THEIR children going to the college sponsored PRIVATE school. Gee, I wonder why??? Sounds familiar, don't it?

My sister is a teacher, my cousin (like another sister) is a teacher I have relatives that are pretty close to me that were BIG in .gov education in several states, one is a big wig in Washington D.C. in the dept of education,and a LOT of my friends are teachers.

But I still think .gov schools should NOT have a stranglehold on the education system. We should have a SMALL government. Government wants to grow like any other business, and .gov schools are the best way they can educate the public on their own ideas--you don't get another side.


T

 

[Snakeman]

Ya'll don't even understand what my arguement is.

.......all that private education money gone to waste.......

The Snakeman

 

[Phillip Thurmond]

Back to the original post. There simply are a very large number of teachers who are just like me. They have been teaching 25 plus years and are reaching retirement age. I'm sure the same is true in a lot of areas. Its time for all us baby boomers to quit! I am sorry if I offended anyone here. That is not my intention! I love teaching and I love kids and I always try to see the best in them. It bothers me when people jump on kids because they are our future and I believe in them just as your parents believed in you!

 

[Professor]

OK, TEAM -- Together Everyone "Achieves" More. Sorry -- I have it on a coffee cup.

"It bothers me when people jump on kids because they are our future and I believe in them just as your parents believed in you!"

Well put Phillip,

It is not the kids fault. They are kids. They get away with whatever they can -- so did we -- thats what kids do.

I here educators defend themselves on a regular basis. "It is not our fault, it is the fault of the parents who will not hold the kids responsible". This is only partially true. The real problem is in the system. Teachers and administrators have limited control over the classroom. For kids with responsible, active parents this limited power is usually enough. For the others though, the ones that do not care and have no respect for school, teachers, even other people, and themselves the school's power falls far short. So, teachers will spend the great majority of their time on one students. The class comes to a stand still because of one student wants it that way.

Give the teachers the power -- demand that the kids show respect to each other and the superiors, stand up to the parents, and kick out the dead weight.

 

[Sling]

Prof, so the "No Child Left Behind" WOULD/MIGHT be an issue, correct?
Another thing, I was surprised by what I discovered about a week. I was taking my son to scouts and we had discussed his homework earlier on the phone. I explained to him that what the teacher was looking for were examples of units of measure, i.e. pints, ounces, pounds. He responded that he just wanted to keep the answers he had (most were wrong) and that it didn't matter anyway becasue he didn't have to get them right, he only had to complete the work!!!???? Wife (teacher) confirmed same and says yep, nowadays the kids don't have to get the answers right, just do it. BOE, state, whoever, says since the teacher isn't at the home, they can't expect the answers to be correct. Anyone else hear of such a thing or have I just been in the dark?

 

[Throwback]

.......all that private education money gone to waste.......

The Snakeman

I always seem to add an "e" there for some reason.

How many posts did you have to edit to find that one?


T

 

[leadoff]

Me volunteering in a public school will do what?
T

While we are picking....how about using possessive case before that gerund.....

 

[Throwback]

While we are picking....how about using possessive case before that gerund.....

I was writing is so ya'll could understand it.

T

 

[Snakeman]

I always seem to add an "e" there for some reason.

How many posts did you have to edit to find that one?


T

Just that one.

But I did look it up in the word tech manual before I posted.

The Snakeman

(But I could go back and say something about that last post)

 

[gtaff]

Throwback how much do you think we get paid??? It sure is not a figure that you quoted and if we are paid by the hour I bet we are not even paid minimum wage.

 

[Professor]

Yes Sling I think No Child Lft Behind is a big problem. Today one of the New England states (Vermont?) challenged NCLB as an unfunded mandate and therefore unconstitutional. Should prove to be fun to watch.

About the homework, unfortunatly this is the norm now. In fact, what they are pushing now is "no homework" The idea is that some kids go home to dinner and supportive parents while others go home to prostitution and crack. Certainly we can not expect the kid in that unthinkable environment to do as well as say your child. So, giving homework amounts to giving some kids an academic advantage over others.

When young educators in training here this they all to often adopt it in their educational beliefs. Many times I have had to explain to education students (I teach Political Science) that this amounts to holding some kids back to make sure everyone is equal -- what does that sound like. That is not fair.

I know that everyone that hunts is not conservative -- I maybe coming accross to some as a nazi, but I am not. This subject is very important me. I care about these kids, and what I faced was candyland compared to what todays children are infore

 

[Throwback]

Throwback how much do you think we get paid??? It sure is not a figure that you quoted and if we are paid by the hour I bet we are not even paid minimum wage.

What figure are you talking about?

T

 

[Howard Roark]

In fact, what they are pushing now is "no homework" The idea is that some kids go home to dinner and supportive parents while others go home to prostitution and crack. Certainly we can not expect the kid in that unthinkable environment to do as well as say your child. So, giving homework amounts to giving some kids an academic advantage over others.

Our principal refers to excessive homework and home projects as setting a student up to fail.

If my son has a project we can jump in the car and off to walmart we go with the American Express. SLide the card, pay the bill, fly off on vacation. What middle classed teachers have failed to realize over the years is everyone is not middle classed and there is not help at home for all students.

We have done extensive training (which has been worth while) on poverity and its effects on students. It is a cycle that is almost impossible to break from.

Here is a link from OSU with a finding on students in poverty.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5707.html

 

[Coastie]

Our local school board and school administrator are way past due for replacement. They keep bragging about the test score results and how well the schools are doing, yet many of the teachers send their own kids to privates schools. I know teaching is a tough job, but it is even tougher when the teachers themselves are often incompetent and there is no way to get rid of them.

 

[Howard Roark]

Yes Sling I think No Child Lft Behind is a big problem. Today one of the New England states (Vermont?) challenged NCLB as an unfunded mandate and therefore unconstitutional. Should prove to be fun to watch.

There is some good and bad in the law.

One positive I have found is NCLB forces schools to not sidestep those students who are hard to teach. We are forced by the law to pay attention to every student and what they are learning.

Our middle school made AYP for the first time this year (we are in a restructuring plan presently and a title 1 school). It has about worked our staff to death but we along with our principal are committed to coming off the list because it is the right thing to do for students.

I think the overall effect of the law has been good for students, which is why I teach.

The only problem is laws of this nature should be written in state capitals, not is DC.

 

[Coastie]

Throwback how much do you think we get paid??? It sure is not a figure that you quoted and if we are paid by the hour I bet we are not even paid minimum wage.

The payscale in Georgia, posted on the internet for the 2004 school year, indicates the range of teachers salaries to be between $27,650 for starting out to $61,641 for a teacher with 19+ years of service. This is about what a Engineer could expect in a corporate setting with the same level of education. I have listened to teachers whining about salary for over 50 years, the salaries have been available for prospective teachers to see and understand in one form or another forever, yet people still make the choice to become teachers. Nobody holds a gun to your head to make you become a teacher or to stay a teacher. This makes me wonder, if teaching is such a bad job and pay is such a huge factor, why stay there? Is it that teachers are really so committed to children and education, or are they just incompetent to get and hold a job which would pay them what they truly believe they are worth? In many cases I suspect the latter.

 

[leadoff]

The payscale in Georgia, posted on the internet for the 2004 school year, indicates the range of teachers salaries to be between $27,650 for starting out to $61,641 for a teacher with 19+ years of service. This is about what a Engineer could expect in a corporate setting with the same level of education. I have listened to teachers whining about salary for over 50 years, the salaries have been available for prospective teachers to see and understand in one form or another forever, yet people still make the choice to become teachers. Nobody holds a gun to your head to make you become a teacher or to stay a teacher. This makes me wonder, if teaching is such a bad job and pay is such a huge factor, why stay there? Is it that teachers are really so committed to children and education, or are they just incompetent to get and hold a job which would pay them what they truly believe they are worth? In many cases I suspect the latter.

BRT

Everyone whines about how much he or she makes...we all believe we are worth more than our paycheck says. I put in a 15 hour day yesterday....what did you do? It went something like this:

Got to work at 7:30.
Taught from 8:00 - 2:10
Loaded up the bus at 2:15
Headed out for a 1 1/2 trip to softball game
Coached 7 inning game in 100+ heat index (I have a diabetic on the team, so this can be scary at times.)
We won, BTW...beat the 8th ranked team in the state 5-1
Loaded the bus back up, stopped to eat
Loaded the bus back up, headed 1 1/2 hours back home
Unloaded the bus, waited for parents to pick up some of my players
As last two players left with their folks, I stayed in my room for another hour grading papers.
Finally left and returned home at 10:30
Fell asleep on the couch watching Sportscenter....

I'll will do this again tomorrow.

I turned down a career change (one that would have paid me more than what I was and am currently making) a few years back so that I could continue teaching and coaching. At the top of the list of the many factors that led to my decision was the fact that I enjoy what I do. Yes, I enjoy receiving a paycheck for doing something I believe is positive and worthwhile.