Life as a public school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2021

Post by saagarjha » Sun, Jun 20, 2021, 1:08 AM UTC

marcinzm wrote: post #26

P0l83q4p1Hw3Ul wrote: post #14

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Who's responsibility is it to ensure that what is best for the management (state and district admin) is also what is best for student education? I'm not too familiar with the details of management here, but is it even possible for public schools (and other government operations) to have proper incentives given voters don't care about results? I suppose "school-choice", which happens to be vehemently opposed by Democr…

Parents who have money and care enough already pick the schools by simply buying a house in a slightly different place. Cupertino used to be the hot place for tiger parents in the bay area to go but I'm not sure if it still is. The issue is that then the rest of the schools get even worse which eventually results in bad social issues in 20 years. The kids from those schools grow up and everyone has to deal with them.

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jun 20, 2021, 1:13 AM UTC

Talanes wrote: post #190

lubujackson wrote: post #150

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This kind of narrow thinking is what has caused schools in SF to suck for everyone. Because Lowell doesn't exist in a vacuum and the arguments that privileged people have a leg up doesn't really make a difference - it is similar logic to burning libraries because some folks can't read. So what happens when you dumb down the only decent public high school for students to aim for? The parents have three options: send y…

>So what happens when you dumb down the only decent public high school for students to aim for? Vast swaths of the country get by without having any choices in high schools. The idea that need a selection of different schools with different levels of prestige and focuses is such an urban entitlement.

Post by hef19898 » Sun, Jun 20, 2021, 1:14 AM UTC

chrisseaton wrote: post #351

hef19898 wrote: post #336

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In the military, there are civilians at the top. Right below them, it's career military. Having these standards set by involving parents at a local level is ripe for disaster. As is having local sheriffs, without proper training, elected but I digress. Curriculums should be as standardized as possible. That makes everything comparable. It would be enough to have have the top brass of education elected. You can even m…

I can understand your point of view and to be honest I somewhat agree with it... But at the same time it sounds technocratic and anti-democratic, right? The teachers' job is to teach as the people want. It's not their job to set policy. It's to get on and teach as directed. Do you have a way you square that in your mind, as I'm struggling myself?

Post by WalterBright » Sun, Jun 20, 2021, 1:15 AM UTC

setpatchaddress wrote: post #311

WalterBright wrote: post #174

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> The most important thing you can to to prepare for the SAT is do lots of practice tests. Oh phooey. I never prepared for the SATs, and nobody I knew did, either. (Back in the 70s.) Wanna know how to do well on the SATs? Pay attention in school to readin, ritin, and rithmetic. As for SAT prep books, I see them all the time in the thrift store for a couple bucks. The notion that only the wealthy have access to them i…

Times have changed a lot. Your advice might have applied as late as the mid 1990’s, but not much past the turn of the century. In hindsight, boomers had a really easy time of it, even some we rightly revere for their contributions. Work hard, or be brilliant, or some combination of the two. That’s not enough today. Ken Thompson told the story somewhere of being literally chased down the east coast after graduation by…

Post by thomastjeffery » Sun, Jun 20, 2021, 1:19 AM UTC

6f8986c3 wrote: post #364

thundergolfer wrote: post #348

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Regarding the first quote, it’s not the opposite of what you’d expect if teaching was a low-status profession that could only attract weaker, lower paid labourers. Teaching doesn’t attract highly paid workers because in addition to a big pay cut those workers would be considering likely worse working conditions as well. If teaching is low-status it is no wonder that education standards are low and thus educational ac…

> Teaching doesn’t attract highly paid workers because in addition to a big pay cut those workers would be considering likely worse working conditions as well. You could double teacher pay and it wouldn't make a lick of difference. As a teacher, you have no control over your classroom. Disruptive students that destroy everybody else's learning environment? Too bad. No Child Left Behind! Wait, that's the old slogan, w…