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

adamcadre.ac

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

#521

Post by singlow »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #494
brightball wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stuff like this drives the push for things like vouchers. I’m lucky to be able to send my kids to a good private school. We chose it after a tour and discussion with the headmaster about exactly how it operates. The teachers as a group research and plan curriculum. They coordinate across grade levels and determine how to roll out changes in the most effective way possible for students and parents as well. They rolled…

Forgive my ignorance, I’m from another land. What are vouchers in this context?

Usually a government program to give parents fixed annual tuition voucher which they can use to enroll their child at a private school. The voucher may cover part or all of the tuition at the private school and the parent would pay the remainder if there is one. It often goes under other monikers such as School Choice. Parents usually don't have much say as to which public school their child goes to, as it is assigned by address. These programs aim to let parents who are in the district of a poorly performing school to transfer their kids to a school they think will benefit them. Wealthier parents already have this option, but private schools are too expensive for even most middle class parents.

It is often related to efforts to create charter schools which are essentially private schools funded by taxes but run by a commercial or non-profit management company. These schools are usually regulated similarly to other private schools, having fewer regulations than the public schools and not under any direct authority of elected officials.

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

#522

Post by Thorrez »

>Another thing I’ve discovered is that many students— not just a couple here and there, but several in every class— consistently use umlauts in place of quotation marks and acute accent marks in place of apostrophes.

>I don’t know how this happens— I had to do some poking around on character code tables just to figure out how to replicate the effect.

Look at the Spanish Mexican keyboard layout: http://kbdlayout.info/KBDLA/

It has the umlaut (actually diaeresis in a Spanish context I think) and acute accent mark pretty prominently available.

Look at the Spanish Spain keyboard layout: http://kbdlayout.info/kbdsp

It has them even more prominently available, right on the same key that an English American keyboard would have the single and double quote.

I wonder whether the students' families are from Spain or Mexico, and whether they're using the Spain vs the Mexico keyboard. I wonder how many people from Mexico use the Spain keyboard due to software confusion.

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

#523

Post by likecarter »

tolbish wrote: post #319
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s an example for teens, not 10-year olds. If you can’t imagine an age-appropriate example for 10-year olds, allow me to suggest an alcoholic, drug addict, homeless, or abusive parent that gets in the way of a 10 year old studying and getting to school on time.

And you think the solution is to give these families cash?

Seems you are nitpicking for the sake of it…

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

#524

Post by Thorrez »

rahimnathwani wrote: post #93
spangry wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because standards would hinder "equity" in educational outcomes. The SF Board of Education recently voted to end selective admissions for Lowell High School in favour of a lottery, citing lack of diversity and "pervasive systemic racism". The board positions are elected so these sorts of policies are presumably what the people of San Francisco want.

There is an effort underway to recall members of the SFBOE: https://www.recallsfschoolboard.org/ There is a father who has been out every weekend collection collecting petitions. On one occasion, someone tried to thwart the attempt by stealing some of the petitions. Even though there is clear video evidence and the public has identified the man, the police haven't arrested him, and SF politicians have not even mentio…

>the public has identified the man

The father collecting petitions or the person attempting to steal petitions?

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

#525

Post by lostlogin »

Thorrez wrote: post #522

>Another thing I’ve discovered is that many students— not just a couple here and there, but several in every class— consistently use umlauts in place of quotation marks and acute accent marks in place of apostrophes. >I don’t know how this happens— I had to do some poking around on character code tables just to figure out how to replicate the effect. Look at the Spanish Mexican keyboard layout: http://kbdlayout.info/…

You have just given me flashbacks of using a keyboard in Italy to type in English.

I eventually gave up and just accepted the typos.

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

#526

Post by rahimnathwani »

Thorrez wrote: post #524
rahimnathwani wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an effort underway to recall members of the SFBOE: https://www.recallsfschoolboard.org/ There is a father who has been out every weekend collection collecting petitions. On one occasion, someone tried to thwart the attempt by stealing some of the petitions. Even though there is clear video evidence and the public has identified the man, the police haven't arrested him, and SF politicians have not even mentio…

>the public has identified the man The father collecting petitions or the person attempting to steal petitions?

The person who successfully stole petitions:

https://twitter.com/SF_BoP/status/1405219022413590531

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

#527

Post by fighterpilot »

giantg2 wrote: post #341
glitchc wrote: post #291

In North America, teachers are grossly underpaid and their ability to discipline poor performance has been entirely eviscerated. It’s not just SF, look at what’s happening in Vancouver: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/rex-murphy-cutting-honours-... The problem is the administration: The board that sets the standards and the parents and politicians who sit on those boards. The solution is this: Ban anyone without a m…

Eh, I know a teacher in my state that is paid more than I am as a software dev, and that's not too unusual (I know other states might be different as we are in the top 10 for teacher salary). We also spend $14k per student per year at my district. The education is ok. I feel that the main issue is that the wrong things are being taught. How about things like personal finance, basic mechanical and electrical skills (l…

I'd add statistical reasoning and basic market economics to that list.

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

#528

Post by colinmhayes »

ALittleLight wrote: post #184
hellbannedguy wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The teachers were worried about Covid. Kids weren't vaccinated.

Kids don't need to be vaccinated. Adults who are concerned about it, including teachers, should be. Keeping schools closed because children aren't vaccinated is irrational.

5% of vaccinated people aren't immune. Teachers don't accept those odds.

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

#529

Post by pdonis »

tw04 wrote: post #468
brightball wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stuff like this drives the push for things like vouchers. I’m lucky to be able to send my kids to a good private school. We chose it after a tour and discussion with the headmaster about exactly how it operates. The teachers as a group research and plan curriculum. They coordinate across grade levels and determine how to roll out changes in the most effective way possible for students and parents as well. They rolled…

Well right, because they can kick out students who are disruptive and make them the public school systems problem. When the public school system becomes insolvent, what’s your solution for those students? They just don’t get an education? We hope someone else has a solution? Vouchers are a great way to permanently cement the cradle to prison cycle.

> what’s your solution for those students? They just don’t get an education?

You want the brutal truth? Yes, that's exactly the solution. Want an education? Learn to behave in class.

And note that this is the only workable answer even in public school systems that aren't insolvent. No amount of money can educate a kid who refuses to be educated.

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

#530

Post by kjkjadksj »

Judgmentality wrote: post #303
DSingularity wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say “until we are dominated by idiot majority” as if it hasn’t happened. Just look at the platforms of the peoples vote to represent Americans. Rarely are they platform that would actually matter to the people and most of the time it is identity politics, nationalism, gun rights, and religion. We can’t even have a nuanced conversation about anything in politics that doesn’t devolve into an ideological/tribal argu…

I fear I am feeding a political tangent here, but I think most of the problems you mentioned could be fixed in the US by recognizing (admittedly this would be a timely process) an official third electoral party. It's a lot easier for nuance to prevail when the system isn't designed to be binary.

The issue is not that we need n+1 political parties. Its that people don’t have time or much motivation to read actual policy.
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