COVID-19 has helped to point this out, but it is unclear that it has pointed it out sufficiently to the people who most need to be convinced.
And... despite my agreeing with this, the "education" "system" still needs to be overhauled to a frightening degree.
What is the average US secondary school teacher bringing down?
It really depends on where one teaches. But then you have to consider that many, many schools in the USA do not provide budgeting for classroom supplies, and teachers often do so themselves. Also, the COLA in NY is a lot different than Mississippi. And there are other forms of support in schools like in the great state of NJ---education foundations, for example. They don't exist in most states.
Here is some data for you to sift through: https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/which-states-have-the-highest-and-lowest-teacher-salaries/2019/04
If properly done any supplies bought comes back at least partially on taxes.
Call it a trade-off with perks like additional funds for coaching 7th grade field hockey.
If properly done any supplies bought comes back at least partially on taxes.
Untrue. Trump Tax Law changed that. "Perks".
Heh
Look, kid, you've strayed into something that I know way too much about.
The first mistake we make in this area is looking at school as though they are businesses. They are not. The second mistake is we run them by politicians. School board members are politicians, no matter what they say about why they wish to serve.
The qualifications to be a school board member are generally that you are of voting age, and you live in the community.
So, now, those folks with all that education, expertise, skill, understanding of their subject matter and the children with whom they are charged potentially have to report to an 18 year old plumber's apprentice who just graduated high school last June in order to justify their professional practice or to determine their classroom or school's needs.
So there is that.
And there is every governor of every state who likes to stick his or her nose into a circumstance of which they have no real comprehension.
Let's consider, too, that educators like some have mentioned here, who are in it for the "3 months vacation" are generally unprofessional in their ambitions. Sure, they are employed, and they may do an "adequate job", but they are generally not striving to be a true professional.
You see, everyone thinks they can teach because they went to school for 12-18 years and they observed teachers. That's like saying that everyone knows how to play MLB because they've been watching it for 30-36 years.
Let's consider the goal of most school boards is keep taxes down and real estate values up. That's some tricky turf, there. The incentives to make the "best schools" are to make things appear as though the schools are actually educating students. Hence, in the last 25 years, the reliance on test scores and "data collection" to show how well students are learning. That could not be more wrong-headed an approach, as the focus becomes data---and it is no longer on the individual students themselves.
Kids are not all the same. They do not share the same interests, ideas, orientation to the world, or desire to learn. They do not all respond to the same kind of teaching. The learning has to be relevant to them. Yet, school boards, parents (we don't have time to discuss their "contributions" to the current mess in so many school habitats) believe that data tells the real story of learning.
It doesn't.
When schools decide that they are truly about education, they will toss standardized tests out, they will chuck any program that is "data driven" and they will do their best to fund educators who first work from their students' interests, needs, desires, and individual strengths and weaknesses as learners.
And you won't have any trouble hiring real professionals who want to work in that environment. And you won't need teachers' unions to combat the idiocy that comes from those politicized school boards.
And you will pay your taxes without complaint, because you'll understand that real education doesn't mean that everyone needs to or should go to college. Real education means that every person learns how to recognize and maximize their
own unique talents and gifts so they can pursue their own interests and desires, and by doing so serve their community and the country as a whole.
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