Political Hippo Circle Jerk - America, farg YEAH!

[MDS]

The problem with public education policies can be solved (by and large) in one simple step. Pay teachers more.

Do the country's most intelligent and capable people want to go to school for 6 years to get a job that pays less than just about every entry-level position in the corporate world? Hell no. They want to use their education and ability to make a decent living. Sure you have the occasional person who put social responsibility ahead of financial gain, but ultimately we all have to pay our bills. If becoming an educator were more financially beneficial, there would be many more intelligent and qualified people teaching.

It's one of, if not THE most important profession in society and it's a farging disgrace what teachers are paid.

This is true. But the problems with education are more cultural and societal than governmental or economical (okay, that's a lot of al's). Even if it's the best teacher in the world, the kid still has to want to learn. And that is a completley different problem than finding good teachers and paying them well.

[SunMo]

the kids always want to learn, haven't you seen Dangerous Minds?  you just have to reach them...or farg them.

[MDS]

What's The Wire?

[rjs246]

This is true. But the problems with education are more cultural and societal than governmental or economical (okay, that's a lot of al's). Even if it's the best teacher in the world, the kid still has to want to learn. And that is a completley different problem than finding good teachers and paying them well.

This is a horseshtein comment. I agree that there are cultural and societal roadblocks, but to throw "the kid still has to want to learn" in is idiotic. Humans are basically programmed to learn. Good teachers and good parents simply magnify that instinct. You can't govern parenting so all we can do is provide the best possible education in our public schools.

It should be common sense. Having an educated population can only serve to benefit the entire society. There's no reasonable argument against it, but for some reason we don't want to pay our teachers what they deserve. It's disgusting.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Kids are stupid...the college textbooks are shtein I was reading in 7th grade. My English book has words in the margin that are easy. Amazing.

[MDS]

This is true. But the problems with education are more cultural and societal than governmental or economical (okay, that's a lot of al's). Even if it's the best teacher in the world, the kid still has to want to learn. And that is a completley different problem than finding good teachers and paying them well.

This is a horseshtein comment. I agree that there are cultural and societal roadblocks, but to throw "the kid still has to want to learn" in is idiotic. Humans are basically programmed to learn. Good teachers and good parents simply magnify that instinct. You can't govern parenting so all we can do is provide the best possible education in our public schools.

It should be common sense. Having an educated population can only serve to benefit the entire society. There's no reasonable argument against it, but for some reason we don't want to pay our teachers what they deserve. It's disgusting.

I'm not arguing you on that. Teachers deserve to get paid more, especially in cities like New York, Philly, Los Angeles, etc. But simply having good teachers who are paid well will not solve the problem. It is unrealistic to expect kids who come from no kind of decent home to be productive in school. There are some cases where a kid can push through and succeed, but in many lower socioeconomic classes, there is little to no positive home reinforcement of education. No supervision. Nothing. It's basically on the kid himself to learn, and while the teacher may be good, he/she has 30 other problems in the class to deal with.

Perhaps paying teachers more could make the job more desirable which then could increase the amount of teachers which would decrease the class sizes, but all that going through in this government? No. 

[rjs246]

My point is simply that a government can't force a child have a good home life. But the government CAN do something once the child gets to school. It doesn't solve the entire problem, but it would be an effort towards improving the situation. You can only do what you can do.

[MDS]

So then what the hell are we talking about if we both agree?

[rjs246]

Shut up.

[MDS]

You suck at life.

[ice grillin you]

I'm not arguing you on that. Teachers deserve to get paid more, especially in cities like New York, Philly, Los Angeles, etc. But simply having good teachers who are paid well will not solve the problem. It is unrealistic to expect kids who come from no kind of decent home to be productive in school. There are some cases where a kid can push through and succeed, but in many lower socioeconomic classes, there is little to no positive home reinforcement of education. No supervision. Nothing. It's basically on the kid himself to learn, and while the teacher may be good, he/she has 30 other problems in the class to deal with.

Perhaps paying teachers more could make the job more desirable which then could increase the amount of teachers which would decrease the class sizes, but all that going through in this government? No. 


this is on point...you need to pay the parents of the kids more before worrying about how much the teacher makes...a kid can want to be the next albert einstein but if his parents are never home cause they gotta work three jobs to make ends meet or they cant get a job period and cant afford to buy food to feed him...or hes scared to walk to school for fear of being shot...or his school doesnt have enough textbooks for him to get one...then no matter how hard he wants to learn hes not gonna be able to overcome all that...one in a million do

fix the neighborhoods these bad schools are in then fix the schools then place better paid better qualified teachers in the schools and you will see change

[rjs246]

That is a farging pipe dream. There is absolutely no way to erradicate poverty. Every society in the history of the world has had poor people living in poor neighborhoods. If you can figure out how to solve that problem you need to get your ass off of this message board and get to work. Throughout history, the poor simply didn't get an education or even have access to it. At least now the access is there.

Let's deal with what can realistically be done. You aren't going to get rid of poor neighborhoods or poor people. But you can do something to improve the education that's available.

[ice grillin you]

its not just about poverty....its about human decency and safety in the inner cities

theres plenty of poor people in rural america but they dont have a fear of walking to school and dying....and their schools dont have metal detectors and a lack of common supplies like textbooks pens pads ect...their houses have clean running water and arent rat and roach infested...they dont have open air drug markets in front of their homes ect....ect...ect...

the man doesnt allow that shtein to go down in the suburbs/rural neighborhoods....and the rare occasions when it does that shtein makes 20/20 the next friday and is stopped with the quickness

you have to improve the basic fundemental elements of these peoples lives before you can improve their schools

[Rome]

People are preying on their own.  They shoot them, they rape them, they sell them poison... but sure, it's the government's fault that poor neighborhoods are festering hell holes.

Gimme a break.  People need to get off their asses and do for themselves instead of expecting someone else to do the heavy lifting for them.


* Just to be clear so as not to ** offend ** anyone, I realize there are certainly special circumstances where that isn't possible - but for the most part, it certainly is.

[rjs246]

It isn't about 'the man'. It's about the underlying reasons for inner city slums. It isn't oppression, it's perceived opportunity. Inner cities are more populated by the poor because there are more jobs. There is more crime and drug use because there are more people. It's the same in every city in every country in the world. The poor move to the inner city to try and get access to jobs. Some succeed. others don't. It isn't a conspiracy.