crowbar,
Believe it or not we agree on many areas.
Let me see what you think of this. In a local township meeting this was presented:
1. Todays children are very interested and motivated by technology--ipods,iphones etc.
2. Made a proposal to freeze the Number of Teachers at present levels but through retirements etc reduce the number by a large %.
3. In the future pay the lower number of teachers a very high salary and benefit package but make full use of computer based training to motivate and teach the children.
4. Rejected because the teacher union wants more teachers ,more union membership, more union dues.
Do not care that the use of technology would produce better results at a lower ongoing cost to taxpayers.
If you are that steeped in unions --you will agree.
Common sense would tell us to move on with the technology of the times.
In my Municipality Teachers want more money,better health care, work only 9 to 3 with two of those hours "planning time" smaller class sizes,better pension plans,get all the holidays off plus sick days, a paid week for spring break, a paid week for winter break,full paycheck June, July August while not working,
presently recieve 50 dollars per pay per hour to be in summer school four hours per day ,one hour which is planning time ????
Also add on a new gym and new football uniforms for the team. What the hell throw in pom-poms for the cheerleaders.
Many of the children graduating cannot even read or write ???
As union President Albert Schanker a long time ago in NYC stated, "When children pay union dues thats when I will worry about their education" Nice !!
I think that, while it is a novel concept, using ipads, iphones etc is very problematic in the classroom. What is the cost? Who pays for the devices? What happens when someone loses one? Are they taken home? Are all the teachers properly trained in the devices? What happens when one child has his/her device "crash", does the whole class stop while it's rebooted/fixed? How large will the tech support team need to be? How is cheating monitored? What about personal use? Is all the curricula currently compatible with the device or would new curricula have to be evaluated and purchased? This is just a small sample of the issues that could present themselves and I disagree that it will necessarily produce better results.
Having come from a family of educators, perhaps a better way to answer would be how I would run a school myself. I'll pretend I'm a Superintendent with near-autonomous authority:
I would have minimal staff: Principle, VP and some secretaries, whatever was needed to properly support the Teachers. Administrator pay could not be more than 25% above the highest Teacher pay at all levels.
I would have a "hands off" approach to my Teachers. They would be allowed the freedom to use any teaching method they felt comfortable to achieve the desired results. Personally, I would lean toward teaching by the Socratic method and look for Teachers that excelled in that classical style. Teachers would be supported in dealing with parents, and parents who expected the School to be their babysitter would not be tolerated. Class sizes would be limited to 15-20 and ideally I would like to see the kids have the same teacher throughout their time at this School. I'm leaning toward a system where children had one "homeroom" teacher for general studies, a math teacher, science, music, and computer lab time. Sort of a "high school light" for 1-8th grade. I would encourage Teachers to confer regarding their students progress and establish a system where children were grouped together that were excelling etc so that each class could maintain similar progress.
Teachers would not be expected to pay for classroom supplies out of their own pockets.
Homework would be minimal, rising as children advanced. In High School, team sports would not be emphasized over studies. "Extra-curricular" would be just that. All costs for equipment would be borne by the students with a program to assist poor families.
All teachers would be required to have a Masters degree. Contracts would be one year in length. Annual pay would be spread out bi-weekly over the whole year or a higher check for the 9 school months (School year would run from the day after Labor Day till Memorial Day, with a 2 week break over Christmas/New Years and only required Federal holidays. I see no problem with the Summer School as you stated above.
I would like to see electronic textbooks of the Kindle type variety (cheap, easy to replace) used but again it has the same issues as I stated above. Besides, you cannot highlight or write in the margins of a Kindle.
Foreign language would be taught at all levels of education.
Grades would be of the "A-friend" variety with no pressure to pass failing kids. "At risk" kids would be placed in a more personalized program to address their needs.
I would have a structured school day from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. (shorter or modified day for K-1) with at least one hour of physical activity each day. This would be structured physical activity, different organized team sports not weighted toward any particular one. Emphasis would be on skill development and teamwork not competition.
There would be minimal annual testing and only of the SAT type. "Teaching to the test" would not be allowed, emphasis would be on college preparatory. Schools would work closely with Community Colleges and State Universities to assure curricula matched this goal.
Lastly, I would bring back the school cafeteria with in-school cooked lunches. Teachers would eat with the students, no "faculty salad bar". (or anyone could brown-bag it).
It sounds like a very good and reasonable package !!!
