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To your first point, it's not just that the best students aren't interested in teaching, it's literally the worst students who go into education.
And I don't see that changing without massive reforms to the educational bureaucracy.
Even private school teachers don't get paid that well, I think because the government is a de facto monopsonist of teachers and therefore set the prevailing wage.
Correct. My sister in law teaches at a private school and faces a lot of the same bullshit.
I haven't looked into it closely, but somehow Arkansas' voucher program was coupled with raises for teachers.
I (a bad student) definitely considered it, because I wanted summers off. I just happened to be too bad of a student to get a teaching degree.
Although I do think there are teachers who are genuinely good at their job and care, but the incentives aren't there...
There are very good teachers, who were good students and care deeply about education. I hold them in very high esteem.
My dad was planning on making a midlife career change from construction worker to engineer. He's very bright and extremely hard working. Part way through his engineering degree, he decided that he really wanted to help disadvantaged kids and dedicated himself to that mission. So he switched to math and became an inner city math teacher.
He, and a few like-minded colleagues, made a huge difference in those kids lives. I can't go anywhere in my hometown without someone asking if I'm related to him and wanting to relay how much he helped them when they most needed it.
Amazing father. 👏
That's awesome. Did he ever talk to you about some of the challenges and struggles, as well as success stories, from his teaching career?
Teaching has a lot of highs and lows. You can really make a huge difference in some students' lives, but the attitude of others just makes you weep for humanity.
He has so many really intense stories. The conditions some of those kids were living in are hard to even think about.
One of his best students was a girl who was the primary caretaker for about half a dozen younger siblings. Despite that, she managed to still compete in our local middle school math contests and participate in athletics.
Even second hand, it was an intense glimpse into the extremes of humanity.: people triumphing over impossible circumstances, as well as people sinking lower than you could imagine.
Edit: Most of his complaints are about administrators obstructing his team's efforts to help kids.
I could tell you stories of how my wife grew up that would curl your toes. She lived in a trailer with no plumbing and an extension cord for electricity. Her mom's boyfriend was abusive. It's almost cliché
It's very confronting for someone like me who has been very fortunate to have had a fairly easy go of it.
I didn't have too bad of a time either. I was a little poor for a while but not too long
It is truly a tremendous analysis from your perspective since you are in the classrooms and I think the same as you that the educational system has many flaws, both in the teachers (there are teachers without a vocation to teach) and in the system that has standardized education at all levels.
I absolutely agree that teachers are underpaid. Even if you want to consider that they work %75 of a year, they still aren't making what their peers of comparable education levels are making.
As an American educator, I have to say yes. The students being produced by the school system, even the ones going to college, are ill equipped in basic math, reading, and writing.
What can be done? I'm not 100% sure. A few thoughts.