The education system thread

[leoliotigpan]

I think those policies would be in place if the courts would not interject and sue any teacher who looks at a student wrong. most teachers are afraid to say anything due to them being able to lose their job so easily

It does seem like the hands of the teacher are tied when it comes to discipline in their own classroom (again, speaking for what I've seen/heard at the schools here). The teachers have to rely on the system that the school has in place. Some of the schools here have set up a very weak discipline system, where one referral/infraction/whatever they call it now sends the student to room where he/she fills out a sheet of paper about why they think they got sent there, what they think could have been done differently, etc. Now this idea may work for a mature, self-reflecting student, but it seems to fail on a consistent basis for those "repeat offenders". I actually had a student tell me that the process was a joke and the student did not take it seriously. The student was not deterred by the process at all.

However, if a student gets written up too often, or if the offense is a little more severe, they go to the second room which is closer to what most would see as "detention". But of course it's not called that. Now I'm not sure what all happens there, but I do know that the students for which the room is a second home seem to not be too concerned if they are sent there.

It seems that teachers (and even entire schools) have lost the power struggle. The teachers do have to be careful what they say and do when addressing a disruptive student because there are a bunch of eyes on them that may report to parents/lawyers/etc about what happened in the classroom. The students know this (especially the disruptive ones), so they will push the teacher to the edge and watch how they handle the situation. The teacher is caught in a tough situation.

Now I should stress that it's not all bad all the time. I'm just touching on some of the things that bother me about the schools around here. I do not claim to have a "fit all" solution, but I do know that some of the current policies that are in place do not seem to be working.

[CoryTurner]

This is a long thread, but situations are differant in differant States....Teachers here in CA make just enough to buy a small house in a bad neighborhood and have a small family and drive a beat up car. In CA, starting salary of 25K in an elementary school and in HS not being able to teach the subject you majored in are problems and main deterrents for a lot of my friends that have thought about being a teacher here. I would think that maybe in 20-25 years i'll go back to my old HS and teach in the automotive program if it's still around and hopefully i'll have a business that can be self sufficient so I won't ahve to rely on the 35K the automotive teacher currently makes.

It's fairly ridiculous that a teachers entire budget for a whole school year for an automotive program is $800....™™™? he can buy a few lame sets of tools, or save for 3 years to get a scan tool. Right now, if money permits, my unborn kids, will be going to private school