Mayors back parents seizing control of schools

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

China is buying its way into universities around the world.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadian-universities-colleges-confront-questions-about-chinese-ties/article4353705/


All these broke schools are at risk of being bought. Corporate sponsorships are a bit less onerous, typically they just want their names on the building rather than control of the message.


It all seems screwy. Costs should be falling not going up. Things like edX [size=78%]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18191589[/size]


democratize access to the top schools. Frankly I think this will sink many middle tier schools as well as the crap diploma mills. The same will happen in secondary then primary. As more people work from home via things like skype, the babysitting will not be required. Poor schools will just shut.

[Gusington]

Far be it from me to defend the drooling mouth breathers out there, parents, teachers or whatever. I have learned this: do not count on anyone to do hard work for you. If you want your kids to not turn into drooling mouth breathers themselves, you as a parent have to work at it, just like anything else.

I personally live in a village where the majority of people give a crap. It is reflected in the schools (they are amazing). But at home I must work with my girls every day, even if it's just to encourage them or spark curiosity.

So, to tie it back to the article: I'm sure there are tons of communities out there in which the local schools are just horrendous. It takes participation from parents to make schools work well. Without it, well, parents reap what they sow.

This issue links into so many others, it just gets more and more complex. But at the end of the day: try not to produce more drooling mouth-breathers and leave the world a better place than you found it.

[son_of_montfort]

Funny, the School Boards are are made up of us unwashed masses that are not professional educators, and I'm pretty sure they're the ones running the school districts.

Not every state or system uses school boards and not every school board is made up the same way. And I've seen some VERY bad examples of why non-professional school boards are a bad thing (I gave you one, even). But they don't run the "day-to-day" of the school system, they run the big decisions like hires and fires and they are supposed to listen to the advice of their administrators. So I disagree that school boards run the districts, they oversee along with the superintendent. The majority of the work gets done by hired employees with professional degrees.

Please don't attribute "unwashed masses" to me. I never said any such thing.

Then you have the teachers that have no business in a classroom and should have their teachers licenses revoked, but are protected by the unions.  All the while, the unions are wondering why we just wont pass a tax levy so they can get 2.5% pay raises each year.

Protected, but not invincible. A close member of my family was in charge of firing "union protected" teachers. It can be done, and done easily, when a teacher is bad. It may be different outside the Midwest.

And finally, lets not forget about all of the experts in our state capitals and in DC.  They are constantly changing, tweaking, adjusting and overhauling everything to the point that everyone, teachers, administration, parents, and students have no idea what is going on.

No argument there! The Hoosier state house always has some idea for education. Now Mitch Daniels is getting rewarded for his mucking around with education by being given a position as Purdue University's President!  ::)

We just hired two teachers last night.  Both have Masters.  One with 6 years and the other with 10 years experience.  They're getting $41 and $48.5 plus benefits. 

That pay seems low to me. Average starting salary for a teacher in my area is ~$32K. With a Master's you can get ~$40. Hypothetically a PHd could get closer to $50K, but primary and secondary systems rarely hire PhDs because of the high initial buy-in. With nearly a decade experience for both teachers and an MA, I would have expected more in the $45K range.

Ohio, however is a little weird because of STRS and no Social Security deduction on the paycheck. I'm going to enjoy one of those things immensely, but STRS won't help unless I stay in OH for 5 years.

Teacher don't have *bad* pay, you aren't going to get rich, but you can live comfortably. The benefits help, as do the summers.