I agree with most all of these points but would like to stress the importance of understanding that teachers don’t get to decide how our tax dollars are spent in their districts. As funding has increased, so has the burden of teachers to be security officers, mental health counselors, concerned parents in place of actual parents, communication coordinators (phone, email, social apps, in-person), all while still spending personal money on room supplies. Money tends to be spent outside the classroom. For example, a media specialist employee for the our district earns $100,000 for “ISD Branding” and I personally know he had zero experience in marketing. We also have a very impressive collegiate level HS football field that will be getting even more construction even though it can’t fill the visitor side. ISD administrators are incentivized to grow student body numbers to capture funding, not by paying teachers what they are worth to retain talent.
Great points! I think I've mentioned elsewhere that teachers and police officers are expected to solve everyone else's failures (with a smile!).
In my view, teachers are victims of a system riddled with perverse incentives as well. A tremendous amount of money is spent on education, but very little of it trickles down to the front-line teacher level.
In many school districts, teachers struggle to implement an ever-changing array of curricula, which are sold to the district administration by high-priced outside consultants. When the curricula fail (as in the whole-word reading methods), teachers are the ones who get blamed. In states where, for example, phonics was reintroduced, the same teachers working with the same children were able to achieve drastically better outcomes.
ye hit the hammer squar' on the anvil citin' nearly all the major contributin' factors to the dumpster fire that IS our AmeriCON skool system today -- a fire that deserves ta be put out've it's misery...repeat, MISERY! (tho' admittedly massive harms were done by the homogenizin' an indoctrinatin' harms of MANiupulators Horace Mann & John Dewey--let's just say I prefer John Taylor Gatto)
We longtime homeschoolers--not ta be confused with the current deer-in-the-headlights skool-brained variation that fell bottom first inta homeschoolin' during the plandemic an' seem ta wanna imitate the WORST of skools "at home" with cardboard cut-out canned material--sub-part workbooks an' home quizzes an' all manner of junk food fer the brain--but "we REAL homeschoolers" that cheekily offer a boisterous Bronx Cheer to the established "eduMUCKcational authoritease," have stood in raw an' crunchy opposition to the regrettable entity known as gubbamint "school." In our world WE are the experts an' what we don't know--we feel confident in figgerin' out. (OR we ask an'nuther parent!)
We all roll differently but generally speakin' we instruct based on the belief that we are all teachers in the "school of life"--an' we learn with our kiddos--checkin' out moo-see-ums, sites historic, goin' on field trips, readin' in the crook of trees--an' so on. This makes us "experts enuf" to instruct our dearest "possessions" (take that lightly...) i.e. our kids. (Many of the finest minds of Western Civ. were home-educated includin' Ben Franklin, Teddy Roosevelt, & Albert Einstein...many more!)
Many've us would not entrust the punitive, oft foul-mouthed under-educated, dog-tihred, "good job" (an' of late good jab) indivictuals that dare call themselfs "teachers." Yes yes, every so often even the publick skool system produces a real educator--or used to BUT they crush the good ones down anyway! It'd make folks laff if they knew how many public skool teachers & college professors homeschool their own kids (at least in NYC they do!) In fact, given there IS real expertise in some areas.... many of us lent it where needed in leadin' group classes (still do in fact!).
IMHO the publick skool system is beyond repair b/c of the teachers... NOW if we pulled some articulate senior citizens outta reTIREmint we might git somewhar! None'a this "social IQ" garbage... read sum' Mark Twain!
Addin' too--the current public skool system (at least in many urban areas) has modeled itself after the prison system with a little Pavlov what besides. Ringin' loud bells (ouch!), demerits or whatever fer bein' even a minute late, needin' a pass or permission to take a drink'a warter OR take a leak ta git ridd've it, bein' LOCKED IN like lab mice an' bein' scanned with metal detectors & treated like perps... line up, line up AGAIN, respond "here" to yer name... it's incarceration as well as indoctrination! regiment-tay-shun! OH plus the charter skools in NYC do like these weird ritual hand-clap things... the teacher does this weird rhythm an' the kids must respond with the same rhythm an' on it goes to MAKE 'EM SHUT UP!... more West World than West Point but it's downright FREAKY ta see!
Wull, I could go on but ya've done a crackerjack job here Alex. I know ya also had her kiddos steer clear of gubbamint skools--wise choice! An' I haven't even BEGUN ta comm'mint on the woke materials / CRT, equity over merit... an' how promptness is racist. OY! Ta put it mildly, we're in deep doodoo (like I said, eduMUCKcation) an' this Lucy Calkins seems only ta be the cherry on top of the meltin' banana split --emphasis on them yes we have no "bananas!"
Thanks for the fascinating perspective, Daisy! Great point about the resemblance between education and incarceration. I don't think it's intentional, as the vast majority of teachers and administrators genuinely do seem to mean well (although there are some who seem to be in it for the power trip, and others who like being around children for even more unsavory reasons), so I suspect it's a natural byproduct of the authoritarian institutional approach. Factories, prisons, schools, hospitals ... Large institutions are, in a very real way, inhuman entities with their own needs, preferences, and appetites. As such, they tend to mold (and consume) humans in ways that are predictable and, from our perspective, undesirable.
I'd say 'bout 50% are in it fer all the right reasons (sigh, even some'a the woke ones that THINK they'll teach those kids ta be good SJW's...b/c they're already brainwarshed--and brain-watched too!)
re: so I suspect it's a natural byproduct of the authoritarian institutional approach
Yup... MOSTLY so tho' I wouldn't put it past sum'buddy way high up on the food chain actin' as a top-down warden. In NYC many of the schools had BARS on the windows--for the stew-dents' protection, natch. Everythang micro managed... not accidental. Since the WORST of the prison-like "interventions" started pos 911, I have some trouble imagin'in' that the metal detectors & "wandin's" have zilch ta do with Michael Chertoff... notta coincidence but again, those dealin' directly with the kids haven't a clue BUT they foller "ordures" (like gut chermans I gotta say...)
I've also seen a lotta power-trippy instructors (many of our homeschool "field trips" got us inta performances with the skool/stewdent discount cuz homeschoolers in NYC have a public school designation...oddly...so we witnessed & observed LOTS over the years)... teachers (behavin' badly!) actually tellin' kids to "shut up!"--my jawr dropped...some said worse. My younger one had a friend whose teacher told her Arkansas was pronounced like "Ark Can Sass"--which is both hilarious an'...sad.
In NYShitty you don't need a teachin' degree to be a public school teacher...you can be registered in a BS program in a community college (oy) an' the Dept of Ed will pay fer the rest of yer degree WHILE you hold a classroom position. (I know 2 oldschool retired teachers in their 70's--elderly choos it so happens--who did storytellin' at Scandanavia House an' they were THE BEANS... fantastic, spunky!, literate--so once upon a time there were gems in the dark cave of gubbamint skools... now those kids don't even get zircons!)
Not sure of a solution as many famblies don't have the stomick fer homeschoolin' nor the sheckels fer private an' what's left has indoctrinated at least a few generations beyond repair... (I know that's cynical)
another brilliant piece Alex. I've been using the idea of _falsification_ from Karl Popper to basically observe that the credentialing mechanism has been falsified. possibly for decades.
Thanks for the kind words! Popper's falsification concept has definitely been abused. The idea that theories should be replaced when they're proven wrong creates a perverse incentive for the entrenched authorities to prevent research or debate that proves they're wrong. We saw a lot of this in 2020-2021.
I agree with most all of these points but would like to stress the importance of understanding that teachers don’t get to decide how our tax dollars are spent in their districts. As funding has increased, so has the burden of teachers to be security officers, mental health counselors, concerned parents in place of actual parents, communication coordinators (phone, email, social apps, in-person), all while still spending personal money on room supplies. Money tends to be spent outside the classroom. For example, a media specialist employee for the our district earns $100,000 for “ISD Branding” and I personally know he had zero experience in marketing. We also have a very impressive collegiate level HS football field that will be getting even more construction even though it can’t fill the visitor side. ISD administrators are incentivized to grow student body numbers to capture funding, not by paying teachers what they are worth to retain talent.
Great points! I think I've mentioned elsewhere that teachers and police officers are expected to solve everyone else's failures (with a smile!).
In my view, teachers are victims of a system riddled with perverse incentives as well. A tremendous amount of money is spent on education, but very little of it trickles down to the front-line teacher level.
In many school districts, teachers struggle to implement an ever-changing array of curricula, which are sold to the district administration by high-priced outside consultants. When the curricula fail (as in the whole-word reading methods), teachers are the ones who get blamed. In states where, for example, phonics was reintroduced, the same teachers working with the same children were able to achieve drastically better outcomes.
ye hit the hammer squar' on the anvil citin' nearly all the major contributin' factors to the dumpster fire that IS our AmeriCON skool system today -- a fire that deserves ta be put out've it's misery...repeat, MISERY! (tho' admittedly massive harms were done by the homogenizin' an indoctrinatin' harms of MANiupulators Horace Mann & John Dewey--let's just say I prefer John Taylor Gatto)
We longtime homeschoolers--not ta be confused with the current deer-in-the-headlights skool-brained variation that fell bottom first inta homeschoolin' during the plandemic an' seem ta wanna imitate the WORST of skools "at home" with cardboard cut-out canned material--sub-part workbooks an' home quizzes an' all manner of junk food fer the brain--but "we REAL homeschoolers" that cheekily offer a boisterous Bronx Cheer to the established "eduMUCKcational authoritease," have stood in raw an' crunchy opposition to the regrettable entity known as gubbamint "school." In our world WE are the experts an' what we don't know--we feel confident in figgerin' out. (OR we ask an'nuther parent!)
We all roll differently but generally speakin' we instruct based on the belief that we are all teachers in the "school of life"--an' we learn with our kiddos--checkin' out moo-see-ums, sites historic, goin' on field trips, readin' in the crook of trees--an' so on. This makes us "experts enuf" to instruct our dearest "possessions" (take that lightly...) i.e. our kids. (Many of the finest minds of Western Civ. were home-educated includin' Ben Franklin, Teddy Roosevelt, & Albert Einstein...many more!)
Many've us would not entrust the punitive, oft foul-mouthed under-educated, dog-tihred, "good job" (an' of late good jab) indivictuals that dare call themselfs "teachers." Yes yes, every so often even the publick skool system produces a real educator--or used to BUT they crush the good ones down anyway! It'd make folks laff if they knew how many public skool teachers & college professors homeschool their own kids (at least in NYC they do!) In fact, given there IS real expertise in some areas.... many of us lent it where needed in leadin' group classes (still do in fact!).
IMHO the publick skool system is beyond repair b/c of the teachers... NOW if we pulled some articulate senior citizens outta reTIREmint we might git somewhar! None'a this "social IQ" garbage... read sum' Mark Twain!
Addin' too--the current public skool system (at least in many urban areas) has modeled itself after the prison system with a little Pavlov what besides. Ringin' loud bells (ouch!), demerits or whatever fer bein' even a minute late, needin' a pass or permission to take a drink'a warter OR take a leak ta git ridd've it, bein' LOCKED IN like lab mice an' bein' scanned with metal detectors & treated like perps... line up, line up AGAIN, respond "here" to yer name... it's incarceration as well as indoctrination! regiment-tay-shun! OH plus the charter skools in NYC do like these weird ritual hand-clap things... the teacher does this weird rhythm an' the kids must respond with the same rhythm an' on it goes to MAKE 'EM SHUT UP!... more West World than West Point but it's downright FREAKY ta see!
Wull, I could go on but ya've done a crackerjack job here Alex. I know ya also had her kiddos steer clear of gubbamint skools--wise choice! An' I haven't even BEGUN ta comm'mint on the woke materials / CRT, equity over merit... an' how promptness is racist. OY! Ta put it mildly, we're in deep doodoo (like I said, eduMUCKcation) an' this Lucy Calkins seems only ta be the cherry on top of the meltin' banana split --emphasis on them yes we have no "bananas!"
Thanks for the fascinating perspective, Daisy! Great point about the resemblance between education and incarceration. I don't think it's intentional, as the vast majority of teachers and administrators genuinely do seem to mean well (although there are some who seem to be in it for the power trip, and others who like being around children for even more unsavory reasons), so I suspect it's a natural byproduct of the authoritarian institutional approach. Factories, prisons, schools, hospitals ... Large institutions are, in a very real way, inhuman entities with their own needs, preferences, and appetites. As such, they tend to mold (and consume) humans in ways that are predictable and, from our perspective, undesirable.
I'd say 'bout 50% are in it fer all the right reasons (sigh, even some'a the woke ones that THINK they'll teach those kids ta be good SJW's...b/c they're already brainwarshed--and brain-watched too!)
re: so I suspect it's a natural byproduct of the authoritarian institutional approach
Yup... MOSTLY so tho' I wouldn't put it past sum'buddy way high up on the food chain actin' as a top-down warden. In NYC many of the schools had BARS on the windows--for the stew-dents' protection, natch. Everythang micro managed... not accidental. Since the WORST of the prison-like "interventions" started pos 911, I have some trouble imagin'in' that the metal detectors & "wandin's" have zilch ta do with Michael Chertoff... notta coincidence but again, those dealin' directly with the kids haven't a clue BUT they foller "ordures" (like gut chermans I gotta say...)
I've also seen a lotta power-trippy instructors (many of our homeschool "field trips" got us inta performances with the skool/stewdent discount cuz homeschoolers in NYC have a public school designation...oddly...so we witnessed & observed LOTS over the years)... teachers (behavin' badly!) actually tellin' kids to "shut up!"--my jawr dropped...some said worse. My younger one had a friend whose teacher told her Arkansas was pronounced like "Ark Can Sass"--which is both hilarious an'...sad.
In NYShitty you don't need a teachin' degree to be a public school teacher...you can be registered in a BS program in a community college (oy) an' the Dept of Ed will pay fer the rest of yer degree WHILE you hold a classroom position. (I know 2 oldschool retired teachers in their 70's--elderly choos it so happens--who did storytellin' at Scandanavia House an' they were THE BEANS... fantastic, spunky!, literate--so once upon a time there were gems in the dark cave of gubbamint skools... now those kids don't even get zircons!)
Not sure of a solution as many famblies don't have the stomick fer homeschoolin' nor the sheckels fer private an' what's left has indoctrinated at least a few generations beyond repair... (I know that's cynical)
Daisy, that was a pleasurable read. Made me feel "home again" (a Yank in Oz)
why thank ya muchly!
What a thought-provoking post. Well done!
Thank you!
another brilliant piece Alex. I've been using the idea of _falsification_ from Karl Popper to basically observe that the credentialing mechanism has been falsified. possibly for decades.
Thanks for the kind words! Popper's falsification concept has definitely been abused. The idea that theories should be replaced when they're proven wrong creates a perverse incentive for the entrenched authorities to prevent research or debate that proves they're wrong. We saw a lot of this in 2020-2021.