No really, there is a reality beyond the billboard dreams.

Idaho passed legislation that lowers funding for teacher salaries (with a $30,000 cap I believe), and redirects that money to funding for "technology upgrades". School's with "better results" will be funded more than schools with kids that aren't making the mark (a merit-based system). The assumption is some schools will completely be sucked down the toilet.

Not exactly the same train of thought as that article, but it definitely exhibits the same devaluation of teachers.

i just watched "waiting for superman" and "the lottery" both documentaries I suggest to you mr. soul

Just gimme some Nascar and Monster Trucks and I'm A O.K.




And stay the hell outta my lawn!

Yeah, its more complicated than any pundit or outsider wants to make it. The problem in our education system has nothing to do with those who work in it, it has to to do with those that want to mold to there agenda with out really understanding what it is like to be in the classroom.

Its not a money issue. Its not a testing issue. Its an issue of the decisions about education begin made by people who simply don't get it.

The problem is everyone in America has gone to school, so everyone has an opinion on how the system should operate. Each individual has their answer. At the risk of sounding elitist, the fact is most don't really understand how difficult educating is.

That's soooo long, I don't wanna read it.

Exactly, Jake!

You intended to be ironic but its applicable. The average high school kid wouldn't even look at that site for more than 2 seconds. They way we want our information is changing. Kids get their information in so many ways now and people feel that education should still hold kids to the standards of 10-15 years ago, things are changing so fast that education can't keep up

They way we receive process our information is changing, and education is not changing with it.

"...but more and more I suspect that a major goal of the reform campaign is to make the work of a teacher so degrading and insulting that the dignified and the truly educated teachers will simply leave while they still retain a modicum of self-respect."

Yup, that pretty much describes how I felt when I quit.

lemon, I fight that feeling daily, even tried a career change for a year. But from time to time I have great day and it makes it worth it.

That terrible to hear, Lemon, but it doesn't surprise me.

My wife graduated with 50 fellow students from the Masters Program at UCSD for Education. I believe out of those 50 only 10, if that, currently work as teachers. It's truly sad b/c their program was excellent and taught them how to "think outside the box" when nurturing young minds..... She is just so drained by the system and she has 34 ten years. It is insane, absolutely crazy. My buddy has been a math teacher in high school for 2 years now, he has lost 30 lbs! The stress, the long hours, it takes it's toll. I love it when ppl claim it's an easy job, obviously they have no clue or would not be invested teachers.

Anyway. Glad some of you read it. I feel it's incredibly important.

I'd say the issue is that most teenagers simply prefer reading facebook comments, text messages, and tweets than books, more so because of the content than length. It's because we are so accustom to reading shorter and shorter passages, we find reading something like a 300 page book or even a lengthy article( about something other than pop culture icons) to be arduous.

The problem with education is that they never bother to explain the purpose of what they're teaching. If you tell children to do work, they'll need to know why. If you don't bother explaining to them, they won't put any effort to it. Children these days don't bother with learning or doing school work because it all appears to be meaningless. Some teachers don't even seem to be aware of the importance of what they're supposed to be teaching, telling their students that the purpose of learning math is to answer a question on a test right to receive good grades and get into a good college and get a good job, which is a terrible mindset for a student that inspires minimal effort to meet expected demands, at best. What they're supposed to tell kids is that math teaches that every problem has a solution that you can solve if you look at everything closely. The importance of math has never been the answer to the equation.

I remember being in high school and the biggest and most common question I remember being asked was why we were there. This ADHD craze and "new, faster generation" always seemed a little irrelevant and insulting to me. All I ever felt students needed was purpose and a legitimate explanation of the bigger picture. I'm assuming the average good-working student graduates high school with the intent to enter college and get a good job, with minimal knowledge on how to pay taxes, how banks work, and what philosophy and politics are. And throughout school their teachers told them they were preparing them for the real world.

I can't really speak for anyone except students because that's the only experience I have. How is it from a teacher's end?

Read the editorial by Hedges, Mike, you'll see how it is from a teachers end.

"I'm assuming the average good-working student graduates high school with the intent to enter college and get a good job, with minimal knowledge on how to pay taxes, how banks work, and what philosophy and politics are. And throughout school their teachers told them they were preparing them for the real world." - I definitely agree with that. For me to understand the Israeli & Palestinian conflict, I had to do the research on my own, I never learnt about that in school. If you think about it, it has a large part to do with our countries foreign policy. As for banks and taxes, yeah, I guess that was up to our parents to teach us, ha. Politics also don't necessarily have a place in public schools, I'm sure many a teacher has been raked over the coals for expressing favor for one side over the other.

"Children these days don't bother with learning or doing school work because it all appears to be meaningless." - That have everything to do with parenting and the home environment.

Oh yeah, I read the editorial. It's a good read. I meant I'd like to know more on both sides to get a more unbiased perspective I guess.

I saw the Waiting for Superman documentary and it seems that they've successfully painted the teachers union under a bad light, but they didn't offer any point of view other than their own. But the documentary was convincing and a part of me agreed about siding with a merit-based pay system. And I know someone who's husband is a teacher and she said he also hates the union, but I forget why.

But I also understand that merit-based pay can be a terrible thing, considering that success at school is measured by how well students score on tests.

What is it exactly like for a teacher? What are they pressured to do? All I know from my high school teachers is that they hate when they have to put off their lessons to do mandatory test-prep classes. And what's your opinion of the union, and what are the benefits of the union?

And what do you think needs to be improved, from all ends? What do expect parents and the home environment to be? Because I fortunately just liked learning things. My parents pushed me to work hard, but only for the prospect of having a secure future. It wasn't so much for the pursuit of knowledge or to be a better person. I have good teachers to thank for giving me a passion to learn and do things more than anyone.

And how do you think success in schools should be measured?