Dear John Stossel:
Oh, I just love it when Fox has a program that I know something about! Because, I do a lot of research, but I am a little lazy and it saves me time when I have already done a little research on child development and education!
So, listen up, John Stossel! Get your money grubbing corporations out of our school systems!
1. It is always about the money, isn't it? Destroy our public community institutions so that corporations can take them over and make $$$$. You do not give a hoohaw about education. Teachers and unions are the scapegoats. Yeah, well, I do not want my tax money going to private corporations and private religious institutions!
2. Without unions, management hires their friends & relatives, the least qualified (to pay them less) and transfers or fires the teachers that speak out against their policies. And, if a VIP's niece wants your job, she gets it. I speak from experience. Oh, I hope I didn't hurt anyone's feelings!
3. YES, teachers can be fired. But, parents, other teachers and management have to step up. Maybe it isn't easy and it shouldn't be. Yes, we can improve the quality of teachers, and we should!
4. Teachers do NOT make more money that accountants or nurses. That is beyond silly. They do not make more money that social workers. Only 25% of the gen pop of WI has a college education. 100% of teachers have a college education, many have master's degrees and some have a Ph.d. Many pursue additional training at their own expense.
5. College is not just advanced high school. It costs about $100,000 to get a college education at a state university in WI. At current starting salaries, teachers will never pay themselves back for going to college. There are few scholarship and "student aid" usually consists of loans.
6. Teachers do not get paid a year's salary for 9 months work. When my mother first began teaching, teachers were paid monthly for 9 months. Then, the school system began offering the opportunity to get paid every month -- through the summer -- for their 9 month contract for budgeting convenience.
7. It makes no sense at all to use a factory or business model to educate our children! Where are the voices of educators and our doctors, pediatricians, psychologists, social workers, child development experts, brain scientists, etc. I DO NOT WANT BUSINESS CONSULTANTS OR FACTORY MANAGERS TELLING US HOW TO EDUCATE OUR CHILDREN!
8. There will never be consensus on what makes a good teacher for many different reasons. So, one of the magically fantastic principals that Stossel is glorifying for firing teachers (one was fired after one day), in truth, doesn't even know whether a teacher is effective after one day. Some teachers are effective for some students and not for others. Some are effective with some populations and not others. People differ on what they value in a teacher. My daughter loves grouchy old men and very strict teachers -- other students dissolve in tears.
9. And, don't give me any shit about everything depending on the teacher. Students who are hungry, cold, poorly dressed, insecure, abused, lonely, afraid, without resources (such as books, music, art supplies, etc.) at home... are not going to score well on tests even if God Almighty is the teacher. Yes, I believe that schools in poor rural and inner city schools can do better. But, cold, tired, abused hungry kids are pretty are pretty damned hard to educate.
10. Students in schools without resources are not going to perform well on tests. And, do not take my tax money and give it to a private corporation or religious school. There are schools in our country that do not have desks; do not have books; do not have supplies; and, are not safe. Put the money into our community schools.
So, Fox and John Stossel, take your business model and put it in the stock market where I hope it blows up in your portfolio.
I want people who are concerned with and knowledgeable about child development, brain science, learning theory and education AND NOT MBA'S OR FACTORY MANAGERS to be running our schools.
I want our schools run by local communities. I want teachers represented by unions. I want everyone in the USA earning a family supporting salary.
So, thank you. Thank you very much! Why, I love discussion!
Vivian
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