Are school budget cuts leaving teachers “overstressed, overburdened and overwhelmed”?
The AJC has a good story on shrinking school budgets. The question is how these deep cuts will affect the classroom and student learning.
In their budgets for the 2013 fiscal year, which began Sunday, many of the biggest school districts cut their teaching staff, which will drive up the number of students in each classroom. Most also imposed furlough days, meaning teachers will lose time for planning lessons or hold class fewer days.
Among metro Atlanta’s biggest school systems, only Fulton County escaped significant cuts. That’s because Fulton curbed spending in prior years, shaving about $200 million since 2009. The rest of metro Atlanta’s big school districts — Atlanta and the systems in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties — slashed around $150 million collectively, cutting at least 2,000 teaching positions.
The loudest uproar was in DeKalb, where about 500 teaching positions and 600 support positions were eliminated as part of $78.6 million in cuts. Class sizes will rise by two students on average. Even with the cuts, the school board raised taxes by one mill, or about 4 percent.
Dori Kleber, a Dunwoody parent, volunteered often at Kingsley Charter Elementary School, where she has two children. The two dozen students in her daughter’s kindergarten class had to squeeze tight to fit on a rug they shared for activities like counting in turn by fives.
Kleber, who graduated from the DeKalb school system, recalls when there were 18 children in a kindergarten classroom. She wonders how big classrooms will be allowed to grow. “It just seems like it’s starting to be impossible,” she said. “My children have had some excellent teachers, but I see those teachers overstressed, overburdened and overwhelmed.”
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
146 comments Add your comment
edugator
July 3rd, 2012
9:16 am
Stressed? Sure, but once I’m in front of my class it’s showtime, and for most teachers that will not change.
What’s most distressing to me is the growing loss of faith in public education. The US has fared pretty well for the past 150 years, and the broad support of public schools deserves a lot of credit for that success. Now, we have these self-proclaimed saviors out there advocating all manner of actions to undermine public education in favor of…what? A patchwork of home schools and private education driven by fringe groups of every political stripe? A handful of kids getting quality educations, while the rest are stuffed into underfunded, overcrowded classrooms, which are then proclaimed to be “failing?” Welcome to the balkanization of America.
Stressed? No, not me. But it might be heartening to see administrators in classrooms, county office hotshots taking serious pay cuts (and a dramatically reduced staff as well), and a state legislature committed to public schools for all. I know the public schools have been their own worst enemy for the last couple of decades, but they can and must be saved.
Now I’ll stop ranting and go back to my summer reading that will make me a better educated teacher in August, assuming I’m not furloughed.
carlosgvv
July 3rd, 2012
9:18 am
Solutions – 9:03
Earning a college degree in math, physics or chemistry requires an apptitude that most do not have. People “choose” a libeal arts degree because this is where their talents lie. Making fun of those who don’t have scientific apptitude says a number of things about you, none of them good.
MiltonMan
July 3rd, 2012
9:24 am
“Solutions: Average salary for a Ga teacher is about 50K if you have a Masters degree. In the private sector that Masters would earn you about 80K annually.”
God God here we go again. Obtaining an education degree is perhaps the easiest degree to obtain. Also, the teachers on this board conveniently failed to mention that they are entitled to a pension and 401K type plan. Good luck on finding both of those in a fortune 500 company these days.
Gatchr
July 3rd, 2012
9:25 am
What is funny (really sad) if that some of the comments on this are assuming that because you are an intelligent person with a degree and college level teaching experience that you can teach in public high schools. Yes, you may have the knowledge of the subject you are teaching, but can you control a class room? Can you handle dealing with people? From some of the comments I have read, I would seriously doubt you would last very long without some serious conflicts with co-workers and parents. I’m positive you wouldn’t make it a week in middle school.
MiltonMan
July 3rd, 2012
9:28 am
“Look at the states that are doing better than Georgia, you will find that they have a better educated populace and better paid educators.”
Please do tell us all educated one, which states are doing “better” than Georgia.
Also, your analysis of better paid educators = better educated populace is laughable. Brush up and cause and effect.
All GAE members are union
July 3rd, 2012
9:29 am
@Faux; Yes, the teachers’ unions ARE in Georgia. But as a Right to Work state we wisely prevent them from causing the mayhem they do in some states.
@teacher&mom: The reason teacher unions have no influence in conservative states such as Georgia is because union bosses are joined at the hip with the Democrat Party. And with far-left causes. Any readers unaware of where that extra $168 in mandatory yearly NEA dues ends up are invited to Google “NEA” and “donations” or just reference the following:
ref: http://www.nea.org/home/18469.htm
ref: http://goo.gl/rtJIZ
ref: http://goo.gl/bNdPt
God Bless the Teacher!
July 3rd, 2012
9:30 am
I just finished 20 years in public education, serving in both teaching and administrative capacities at different times. I hope to retire after 10 more years. No, I don’t have a lot of extra spending money like many in the private sector on this blog say they earn because they apparently walk on water. But I love my job. Sure, I work 10-12+ hour days during the school year and I usually go in to work one day each weekend to try and get caught up with everything. But, I get summers off! The pay I earn during the year is spread over 12 months, so I don’t feel like I’m unemployed during summer. Absolutely, some of my students get on my last nerve but (bless their hearts) even those are less annoying than adults who bash public education and who think they could do my job without formal training. I’m paid enough to live alone, pay my mortgage, put a little into savings to help supplement my teacher retirement I’ll receive, and I don’t have to worry about how I will put food on my table or pay my utilities each month. Granted, I don’t go on fancy trips all the time, buy new clothes every month, nor give lavish gifts to everyone I know. I’m frugal without being stingy. I love my job. I’m proud to be a public school teacher. My students make my day enjoyable much more often than they ruin it. I have supportive administrators, my district has NO furlough days at least for next year, and I have a traffic free commute to work (7 miles, 10 minutes, 2 stop signs and a traffic light). I love my job and I feel sorry for anyone who, regardless of his/her job, can’t find happiness in it.
Jordan Kohanim
July 3rd, 2012
9:37 am
This strikes at the heart of the teacher myth– that is that teachers should be martyrs. After all, if they were “truly in it for the kids” they would not only do more, they would do it for less money. A real teacher lives off the well wishes of his students–not money.
For those of you who are continuously harboring on the stereotype of the lazy teacher, with his 180 day salary and summers off, I ask you this: what is your point? The question is whether or not mass amount of fiscal and policy-inflicted stress affects kids’ education, not whether or not teachers are evil.
Fine- a concession. Let’s try it your way. Pay teachers less. Give them more and more to do with less time to do it. Continue to watch the effect it has on schools. You can scream “quit whining” all you want, but the fact is that you will drive away teachers and will be left with a few hunger artists (forgive the Kafka reference) and a few people who have no place else to go. Is that what you want?
No. I don’t think so. I think you Teacher-BeMoaners are a small, vocal minority who simply want to tell teachers that because you are being hit in the face with a cinderblock (your job is hard) that teachers should be happy to hit themselves in the face with a cinderblock too (teaching is hard). That’s not the point. Most parents who actually have a child in the classroom want their teachers to be able to give 100% to that student. They don’t want classes of 40 or people who are miserable at their job. They want educators to model professionalism and dedication to their pursuit of academia. They understand, ultimately, you get what you pay for.
The Teacher-BeMoaners just want to do what they like best–BeMoan teaching. If it troubles you so much that teachers get all these perks and all they can do is complain, why not write an article (with your actual name on it, you fraidy-cat) and explain why you think teachers should get paid less, do more, and not complain about it. Put your money where your mouth is, so to speak.
Wake Up GA!
July 3rd, 2012
9:42 am
Georgia is a “right to work” state. There is no public unions with collective bargaining power. Most states with teacher/faculty unions with collective barging power do better in national ranking & educational achivements than those without.
claytondawg
July 3rd, 2012
9:46 am
@Entitlement Society and Solutions…I taught for 34 years in the Secondary classroom while teaching for 32 years part time at the local college. I’m not a fan of Mass Education and never have been (especially my last 15 years). Some teachers are at fault for the decrease of educational standards; however, looking at the society as a whole, my blame is solely on society itself. As I have stated so many times, “Schools can’t cure the ills of society, but education can certainly help.” Look at the teachers who are illiterate, can’t write a coherent sentence/paragraph, and (uh oh, here comes the flack) can’t speak proper English nor use correct grammar. These teachers were products of the school system that catered to the philosophy of “don’t hurt the students’ feelings.” So, now, the teachers embody that very same, asinine mentality. The public sees what’s happening now…but, I see what’s been happening far too long. Entitlement and Solutions, you have a point to a certain extent. But, remember, there may not be great teachers as a whole, but there are individual teachers working diligently to improve the ignorant status quo.
robert
July 3rd, 2012
9:55 am
Oh Yeah, for those who say teachers have 3 months to breathe and take a break. Why dont you wake up and smell the coffee. That is exactly the ignorance that suggests those who are not in education know ABSOLUTELY nothing about the profession. We do n ot get paid for days we dont work. Why dont you pay our bills so we dont have to work in the Summer. Stop being a moron and become informed.
Howard Finkelstein
July 3rd, 2012
9:58 am
“overstressed, overburdened and overwhelmed”
Well who isnt. Its part of being an adult.
Cheryl
July 3rd, 2012
10:04 am
My husband is a teacher and I graduated with my teaching degree two years ago. I can’t find a teaching job, so I work as a substitute teacher and make what amounts to minimum wage while being expected to pay my student loans. This summer I am staying home to take care of our children while my husband works the summer program at his school to make extra money.
As class sizes are getting larger, my husband grows more overworked and stressed from the amount of paperwork that he has to complete. I don’t enjoy substitute teaching as much because discipline is growing more difficult as class sizes increase. We spent ten years or more improving our school systems and with the recent blows to education we are destroying everything we have built.
mathematics4fun
July 3rd, 2012
10:09 am
True, in the good old days there were 33 students in elementary classes, but that was a homogenous student body: kids with 2 married parents, most with SAHM, 8pm bedtimes after playing outside, not videogames. Teachers did not have the ESOL, or Inclusion students requiring different lessons to be instructed at the same time. I have subbed & student-taught in classes for the past 5 years. I know Plato was correct when he wrote that the optimal class size is 19.
May I suggest: Equal furloughs for all! How many furlough days are mandated for the Governor? Our students are deserving of good stewardship across the board. They will be in power or in prison when we are in nursing homes.
educator & scientist
July 3rd, 2012
10:10 am
To Solutions and other critics:
You are also comparing apples to oranges trying to benefit yourself in this conversation.
You mentioned that you were a graduate teaching assistant for a most likely small class of foreign folks who PAID and WANTED to be in your class. You even said it, “they were smart.” What about the students in public school that are on the lowest level? Would you know what to do with those? It doesn’t compare.
You apparently like to generalize so I will state that yes, I HAVE had other offers from the private sector for jobs using my science and math degree. Yes, I have turned them down because I want to teach. NO, I am no incompetent at my job, quite the contrary, I am a state award winner.
Like you, I earned my bachelor’s degree from a prestigious engineering school. I was also a graduate TA with tuition waived. That did not EVEN come close to experiences I’ve had in my 10 years of public K-12 teaching. I chose to take my science credentials and make a difference in the lives of other students who would otherwise hate science/math/engineering and turn them on to our fascinating world. I hope that after you retire that you consider doing the same. Your experiences would be very valuable to the classroom.
I come from a family of engineers and while they, as well as all of my college friends, are out working as engineers they watch and listen to my everyday work life and immediately have respect for what I do and admit that they couldn’t do what I do.
I love how education seems to be one of the few careers that every non-educator has an opinion on simply because they went through the education system. You were funneled through the educational system and now you have an opinion. Would you do the same to doctors (have an opinion because you simply went to the doctor once in your life), lawyers, engineers, or scientists? No, you trust what they have to say. You trust in their experiences and credentials. Could you please offer educators the same respect until you live in our shoes? I respect what you do because I could be doing what you do but choose not to.
The truth is, I love being a teacher. I teach a subject I love, I lead others as a department chair and I found fascinating ways to share my experiences with other teachers and students around the state. I have had a 190-day contract that paid me for 8 hour days/40 hour weeks. Our “contract time” was from 7:45-3:45 every day, which really means nothing. My typical day was to arrive at school early and to leave school late (probably later than most engineers would leave work) to help students, plan labs and lessons or to sponsor after school activities. Not to mention my 10 minute lunch time (literally). I would get home, eat dinner and then get busy on planning my lessons or grading papers until about 11:00 PM when I would literally fall asleep on the couch from exhaustion. I don’t need your sympathy or your comments, it is a choice and I am simply pointing out the misconception that teachers get out at 3:00 everyday.
On my “breaks” which are unpaid time, I would often still work 40+ hour weeks or attend mandatory trainings. Those trainings were either unpaid time or they were paid for out of my OWN pocket just to keep my credentials and my job. Over the summers I teach in another prestigious state program because I love teaching and I also need to make ends meet. So, breaks? What’s that? Vacation? Can’t tell you the last time I was able to take one. Teaching is really not a job, its a vocation.
Teaching is a tough career. Everyone has moments of “tough” in their careers, including you engineers. I see my dad have to work 80 hour weeks prepare for project reviews and be on conference calls to China in the evenings. I get that. You obviously don’t get what teachers go through. It’s more than the hours that are put in, it’s about the unsupportive atmosphere, and having to be held accountable for things out of your control. It’s about your job evaluations being partly based on 130 moody teenagers or the lack of help from parents. It is about people in the community, like you, who are against instead of for – because “it takes a village…” There are many external factors that contribute to the “tough” part of our jobs. We are responsible for more than just ourselves or what we ourselves can control.
I am not complaining. I don’t need pity. I don’t even need your response. I am thankful for a way to earn a living. You, however, need to think. You need to consider and see past the end of your nose. You need to stop being the exact problem and start helping. Do you know how many STEM classes could use a guest speaker to show them how cool engineering can be? Do you know how many engineering teams need mentors? Obviously not. As an engineer, you are taught to get all the data and to find the solutions, not to make the problem worse.
Proud Teacher
July 3rd, 2012
10:21 am
If you think teaching is a “cushy” job, then you obviously have not spent any time in charge of a classroom of children. I love teaching and I love the subject area I teach. What I do not love is the ridiculous mandates, numbers driven administrators, and illogical criticisms of the most precious commodity our country has – our chilren and their future! What is wrong with you people? Teachers are not fair game for a punching bag for society’s ills. Be reasonable. I
I have no desire to be a martyr. My desire is to teach and have a better educated adult population than those who constantly criticize teachers and education. I want my students to be able to think, communicate effectively, and make better decisions than the nay-sayers of public education.
SEE
July 3rd, 2012
10:21 am
Solutions,
Let me explain that I went to college on a full scholarship and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in English. I then got my MA in TESOL. I taught ESL to adults, a lovely job that I enjoyed, but I wanted to teach in the public schools. I got my MAT in secondary English education. The master program was much more rigorous than the TESOL due to state mandated curriculum guidelines for teacher programs. I still graduated with a 4.0 because I demand a lot myself.
My first teaching job was two years ago in middle school Language Arts. I had 35 students packed so tightly into the room that there were problems just navigating around all the desks. Administrative support for disciplining disruptive students was non-existent. If you had a student problem, you had to stop class to deal with that individual student. Furthermore, If a student did not turn in his or her work, we were to give him/her until the end of the semester to turn in work. You can guess how much student work I had to grade at the end of the semester!!! I had a couple of students who refused to take the CRCT. That refusal, of course, reflected on my students’ testing scores and, hence, my evaluation. Are you evaluated by another’s refusal to do his/her work? However, it was not classroom management that drove me from the classroom.
I had to come in an hour before work every morning and leave an hour later because all my “planning time” was taken up with meetings. Not to mention PTA and curriculum meetings beginning at 6 and lasting until 8 which were mandatory. My husband clocked my hours one week. I worked 55 hours…with NO DOWN TIME! I capped the last phrase because I have worked in an office before. You may be there for 10 hours, but you get coffee breaks, shooting the breeze with co-workers, etc. In teaching, your time is taken up with work every minute you are there. However, it was not the long hours that drove me from the classroom.
In order to give my students a full learning experience, I had to spend buy supplies. I spent about $10 a week just on copy paper, since what we were provided was insufficent. I also had to purchase pencils and paper for my students as well. The students who never had pencil and paper were the same students who were disruptive. I wasn’t about to give them the excuse that “I don’t have a pencil” for disrupting the class. Anything that made learning fun, such as buying beads so students could “create” meter such as iambic pentameter to help them visualize the concept, I had to purchase out of my own money. I spent about $60 a month on supplies and I only made $41,000 a year.
No, it wasn’t even the lack of pay that drove me from the classroom. It was the combination of all three that simply made my working conditions miserable. Frankly, there were plenty of people willing to take my place when I left. The person who replaced me did not spend any money on supplies and, apparently, didn’t spend any time on lesson plans, either. The students who were in my class and went to my church told me about how unruly the class had become. The teacher gave them busy work from the book to do (or not do) while she sat at her desk. The teacher who replaced me seemingly made her working conditions less taxing by reducing her working hours and class disruptions by limiting her actual teaching. Sure, learning suffered, but I guess you get what you pay for.
TimeOut
July 3rd, 2012
10:32 am
Solutions and others are disillusioned with the performance of public school teachers. Is it possible that public school teaching is nothing more than a pink-collar ghetto overseen by losers masquerading as administrators? What other professions are funded almost entirely by tax dollars and staffed disproportionately by women? This may be the source of most of the extreme disregard for this line of work; the deterioration of the profession and its reputation coincides with the decrease in the number of males who occupy teaching positions and the establishment (by whom?) of a pay scale that is based on number of adults supervised, level of degree earned, and number of years of experience. Those who enter the profession with the desire to rise to the top of the pay scale must anticipate leaving the classroom as soon as possible to do the bidding of elected officials most interested in perpetuating their own posts and perks. Who created the scaffolding on which this system hangs, both literally and figuratively? Why is teaching both a coveted and respected professional choice in Finland but not here? Is it their more homogenous population? Is it differences in the ’scaffolding’? When I first started teaching, my pay was not divided into 12 monthly payments. I was paid at the end of each teaching month and had to save a portion to cover the 6 to 8 week summer breaks. I am uncertain as to why systems made the change in payment structure, but I wonder if it allowed them to earn interest on the money they received but did not disburse until much later. I do know that most of the younger, unmarried teachers with whom I worked did as I and worked at another job during the summer, and throughout the year on the weekends. Other young professionals in other fields often did the same thing, but it did not seem as pervasive among them. The positions of administrators are often used to protect the positions of those above them. They don’t really perform many useful functions on behalf of students or teachers. A great deal of their work could be discarded and learning would continue. So, if Solutions and others are dissatisfied with the teaching profession, with our academic institutions, then perhaps we should start holding accountable those with the real power: the legislators, the business people with the contracts for the products and services, the developers and brokers and all the others who make considerably more money than the teachers and who benefit so much more than most students. This system is as it is because those who have the power to change it do not wish to do so. Most teachers with whom I’ve worked are competent, capable, and have value systems that include trying to do the best possible for their students whether they receive good or bad press. We have bad apples. –So do all of the other professions. One’s choice of profession does not explain one’s character. I do wonder about legislators, though. It seems to be almost impossible to perform this service and maintain one’s ethics. I greatly admire anyone in public office who does not climb forever onward by stepping on the rights of others. I admit that I have few ideas on how to succeed in the restructing of our public education system. We have an underclass, not always poor, that values daily disruption of our schools. We have so many self-serving individuals with incredible power to manipulate hte system for personal benefit. I would love to see our schools and the teaching profession surpass those of other first-world nations. They could and they should. Today, I am stymied as to how to promote effectively such a change.
Proud Teacher
July 3rd, 2012
10:52 am
See, you just described classrooms all over Georgia. I wonder how many of these bloggers who complain about teachers would like to have their children sit in these classrooms of bedlam?
Solutions
July 3rd, 2012
10:57 am
carlosgvv – Better get us to the cognitive elite moving both physically and intellectually away from the average. If your IQ is not at least two standard deviation units above average, then your future in America is strictly limited. This is not the world I created, it is the way our world has naturally evolved, where the cognitive elite are the prized recruits, and everyone else is just so much baggage. The last refuge on the merely average is government employment, and that includes public school teachers. Jobs formerly performed by labor are now performed by robots and automated systems, and that trend is accelerating. Charles Murray believes the real danger is when the cognitive elite decide that the rest of the population is more trouble than it is worth, and takes steps to solve that problem. Think that is unlikely? Look at the weather lately, it seems to confirm a massive shift in climate similar to what global warming simulations predict. If that is the case, the solution is to reduce the earth’s human population from approximately 7 Billion to maybe 100 Million, and to do so swiftly and without warning.
I_teach!!
July 3rd, 2012
10:59 am
This IS a rhetorical question, right?
With the new higher class sizes, and greater demand on teachers to create PLPs and ensure that differentiated teaching/individualized teaching-with less planning time?
Recipe for disaster. Burnout. Exhaustion. We are already doing as much as we can while at school, and taking home plenty of work.
I am teaching nearly 20 years. I can’t recall a time when teachers felt more downtrodden and under fire than we feel right now. Because of cut backs on “specials,” there’s less planning time…maybe 2 days. Meetings, and “training” for the new Common Core Curriculum will be mandatory (and no stipend for the extra training required).
It is no wonder that the attrition rate for teachers is about 4 years..and I personally know so many veteran teachers who have thrown in the towel.
I love teaching; I hate what has become of the profession.
Love Education
July 3rd, 2012
11:00 am
If one cannot handle the rigors of teaching, then don’t even think about working in the corporate world. It’s not for the fane of heart.
Shell
July 3rd, 2012
11:04 am
@See, I understand your sentiments and those of other teachers.
I finished my student teaching this spring and I came away with a feeling of exhaustion. I experience the exact same thing. My daughters were suprised how many nights I stayed up until 11pm doing the exact same thing. I spent hours each day trying to figure out unique and interesting lesson plans. No ‘real’ teacher leaves school at 4pm. It’s impossible. Even as a student teacher I found myself spending my own money on supplies.
As a career changer, I come from both sides of the teacher/non-teacher angle. I realized as a corporate worker I never knew how lucky I had it. I didn’t have to wait to go to the bathroom, yes some days I took a long lunch, and on my vacations I didn’t bring home work. I only had one boss, not 120 (that’s the number of parents you have to deal with each year). People really don’t know how hard it is to be a ‘good’ teacher.
NTLB
July 3rd, 2012
11:04 am
@MIltonMan—Fulton “survived” due its school board anti teacher policies:
-by not giving any of their teachers a step or cost of living increase raise in the past 5 years
- by furloughing it’s employees for 3 years.
–by decreasing the salaries of counselors and administrators
–by increasing class sizes
Yep—all Republican moves. Failure to invest in public education.
I_teach!!
July 3rd, 2012
11:06 am
Two years ago, we spent an insane amount of time being trained on the new teaching assessment-CLASS Keys. All of our planned professional learning was thrown aside in order to do this. After a full year of training sessions-about two hours, minimum, a month, we find out that it would only be used for this year, and this coming school year, we will be using a NEW “Teacher Keys.”
All that wasted time could have been put to much better use, but the State DOE mandated this intensive “training.”
What. A. Waste. Of. Precious. Time.
Another Math Teacher
July 3rd, 2012
11:07 am
Solutions is coming close to taking the Get Trolled title from Good Mother.
I_teach!!
July 3rd, 2012
11:08 am
NTLB…
So did our county (south metro)…step raise? What’s that? Art/Music, cut in half…furlough days (which even impacted student contact days)…
I adore people who do NOT do this job, yet think they know what’s best…
mumm
July 3rd, 2012
11:15 am
People like to say bad behavior begins in the home. Given the comments of the adults here, is there any wonder that so many students have little respect for their teachers?
concerned for the future
July 3rd, 2012
11:35 am
solutions I am a former engineer and scientist who took a job to teach precisely for the reason that it had impact on so many lives, it was and still is rewarding. Please the chest thumping over who could do which job is ridiculous. Nurses jobs are hard and stressed- does it help them to be better nurses when there are bad work conditions, constantly in flux schedules and hard to manage work loads. No same for teachers, any many other in the public sector.
Could many of us save people from a burning building, go into a crime infested area to investigate potential crime, can most of us manage 35-40 young adults in teaching them how to be adults while also teaching them that will help them in their future careers. There are many ways to spin this- could you? It isn’t whether you could or not, it is about what do you value/ Do you value firemen and police and nurses and teachers and a myriad others having respectful work conditions or do you not value that because your job is ‘more valuable’ your qualifications are more ‘important’? The smartest person I knew was a fry cook raising 6 grandchildren on his own and one of the most brilliant scientist I have ever worked with, Nobel prize winner, was one of the most blindly ignorant person I ever had the pleasure of meeting/working with.
It all comes down to what you value and if your value is more than another than that speaks volumes.
Amy Rice
July 3rd, 2012
11:44 am
MD- to answer your original question: Yes.
Which is one of the main reasons why my children are in private school, and will be for as long as we can afford it. And trust me there are problems with some private schools. The main reason being that in this economy, most schools will accept anyone who can write a check. Including the checks from parents whose children were kicked out of public school.
But I find that our private school problems are FAR less damaging than the garbage the GADOE is handing out. Which system one attends in metro Atlanta does not matter. Bottom line: all of the metro county school systems are overcrowded and teach to the test.
I love teaching. I hate what it is becoming...
July 3rd, 2012
11:47 am
@Solutions A little full of yourself, aren’t you?
“If your IQ is not at least two standard deviation units above average, then your future in America is strictly limited.”
Gee, I think I’ve heard that kind of talk before…someone named Hitler, wasn’t it?
“Charles Murray believes the real danger is when the cognitive elite decide that the rest of the population is more trouble than it is worth, and takes steps to solve that problem.”
And that would be assuming the “cognitive elite” actually have the power to do so – however, judging from our politicians, the ones with the power are hardly “two standard deviations above the mean.”
Oh, by the way, I am those precious “two standard deviations above the mean” you seem to value so much – and a public school teacher.
3schoolkids
July 3rd, 2012
11:48 am
Fulton is surviving due to their Republican representation? Wonder if he’ll still feel this way after the private schools are done siphoning off talent? This is not just Fulton, do a comparison of private school growth to drop in test scores and graduation rates at the public schools in those neighborhoods. I’m not opposed to private schools, just PUBLIC funding of them. Take a look at the decline in graduation rate at Roswell and Centennial High Schools in the time that Blessed Trinity and Fellowship Christian have grown. Call it “brain and brawn” drain and as our legislature helps to make it more affordable for parents to send their kids to private school it will have a major impact on public schools. All those parents screaming about being redistricted out of Roswell High in order to keep the football program intact and in the end, sport scholarships from neighborhood private schools will have the biggest impact there. Maybe they should have been demanding answers as to why their graduation rate was taking a dive? The Republican delegation? Their answer is if you don’t like it then get on their voucher bandwagon.
living in an outdated ed system
July 3rd, 2012
11:58 am
This is what happens when you work in an anachronistic system. It’s unfortunate for the teachers, but the system is broken. What did you expect to happen? Did you expect the teachers to be jumping up for joy and happy about seeing their colleagues get terminated? This is regrettably the natural side effects from failing to fix a broken system.
Digger
July 3rd, 2012
12:02 pm
I get scared every time a teacher spouts how high their IQ is. Take them out of the equation, and the average IQ gets even lower for teachers. Scary.
high school teacher
July 3rd, 2012
12:04 pm
Oh for Pete’s sake, let’s get the facts right:
1) We get two months of summer vacation, not three.
2) We don’t have a 401(k); we have a 403(b).
Now, continue to bash away; just get your facts straight first. Thanks.
William Casey
July 3rd, 2012
12:32 pm
@SOLUTIONS: There you go again….. “The last refuge on the merely average is government employment, and that includes public school teachers.” Upon what basis do you make this generalization? Do you have statistics comparing the IQ’s of teachers and let’s say, real estate professionals? However, given the current lack of public support for education, what you merely assert as historical fact may indeed come to pass. I, too, am a member of the “two standard deviations +” club. (I copied/pasted the quote. The “on” mistake was in the original and I realize that it’s a mere typo. I make them, myself.)
William Casey
July 3rd, 2012
12:40 pm
@JORDAN: I love the phrase “Teacher BeMoaners.” It’s perfectly descriptive.
Jordan Kohanim
July 3rd, 2012
12:47 pm
William Casey– TBM’s for short.
Irisheyes
July 3rd, 2012
12:53 pm
What’s the point of posting this? All we’re going to get when teachers post about how things have changed for the worse in the last decade is that we’re whining, and we should see how tough it is “out in the real world”. Of course, how many of you “out in the real world” have to spend close to $200 of your own money to ensure that you have the materials you need to do your job? How many of you “out in the real world” have to buy your own printer paper, staples, stapler, tape, scissors, etc?
Just asking.
living in an outdated ed system
July 3rd, 2012
12:56 pm
This is how bad Georgia’s public education system is. @Maureen, you chastised me last week for feeling like Georgia did better than Delaware because it got $300M more in Race to the Top funds; however, Georgia is now at risk of losing $33 million of its award, if you saw today’s Education Week article. Georgia has a broken system, period. When we all recognize it’s not about funding but how the $ are used, maybe we can get all stakeholders rowing in the same direction!
high school teacher
July 3rd, 2012
1:19 pm
William Casey, I am two standard deviations above the normal IQ too, and I am a public school teacher as well! Wow! We must be the exception
NTLB
July 3rd, 2012
1:36 pm
@MiltonMan–States with REAL teacher unions (not associations) that outrank Georgia’s overall performance: Massachussetts, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut….. to name a few.
Just Sayin'
July 3rd, 2012
1:40 pm
The funny thing is, Solutions and his ilk undermine their own point!
If the teaching profession is full of “mediocre” individuals and ne’er-do-wells who teach because it’s the only thing they can get, then it would seem that Solutions’ tactic of disparaging the profession and demanding they all stop whining and enjoy the cruddy pay and cruddy conditions that worsen each year only reinforces that.
Why would anyone “good” want to go into that sort of profession that Solutions and others seem to portray? How is taking money, prestige, and sanity away from the job, bit by bit, piece by piece, supposed to attract anyone worthwhile to the job? There are a few bad cops out there– lets defund the police department. There are roads that need repaving every six months– lets force the DOT employees to work double-shifts during the summer heat, and chastise them if they complain. You want to know why it’s so hard to find and retain talented teachers? It’s simple, unless they’ve committed to altruism and martyrdom, why should someone talented go into that profession?
Tired
July 3rd, 2012
1:46 pm
Irisheyes, MANY state and local government workers purchase supplies out of their own budget. Social workers end up buying meals for underfed kids and diapers for neglected elderly individuals. Clinic staff and public health nurses end up buying supplies. From what I’ve heard, DFCS case workers are not reimbursed for mileage on their own cars for home visitations. None of these people get gift cards at Christmas. Most clergy are out of pocket. Shall I go on?
I’m not saying teaching is a cushy gig. It’s absolutely not, and it requires significant training and special talent. It’s not compensated well, either. But that doesn’t make it different from many other service professions.
Prof
July 3rd, 2012
2:08 pm
@ Former Educator, July 3, 9:06 am: “As far as furlough days, employees at Georgia State University who earned $25k a year were asked to take 8 furlough days because of budgets.”
Not true. That was in 2008–for one year only–and employees making less than $40K a year were exempt. Higher administration took 12 furlough days, as an “example.”
GwinnettParentz
July 3rd, 2012
2:08 pm
@Irisheyes: If teaching is no longer worth it for you … GO FIND A NEW JOB.</b) It's what the rest of us do when we're unhappy. Why do you continue avoiding it?
Yes, you'll have to work 12 months per year rather than just 9 and no, private sector jobs don't come with taxpayer-subsidized pension and healthcare benefits for life.
But you'd apparently be happier without all that and there are hundreds of qualified graduates out there willing to replace you.
NTLB
July 3rd, 2012
2:12 pm
Can someone tell which job/profession–besides medical— provides teaching, counseling, and mentoring services to an average of 150-200 individuals multiplied by their parents daily… in addition to receving no pay increase or “annual bonuses” or extra perks?????
As teachers we are still under contract and “on call” even during the 8 weeks of summer, with no time and a half pay either.
Beverly Fraud
July 3rd, 2012
2:23 pm
What the “teachers have it easy” crowd would be wise to consider. Teaching conditions are DIRECTLY related to LEARNING conditions.
If your child’s teacher’s teaching conditions are garbage, what do you think YOUR CHILD’S LEARNING conditions are like? Roses?
Entitlement Society
July 3rd, 2012
2:23 pm
From all of the chatter seen on this blog, it would appear that these teachers DEFINITELY have the spare time to go out and find a part time job. Doesn’t really seem to fit the mold of summers are too busy planning, training, grading, etc. They claim not to have summers off and not a minute to spare, but it sure looks as if they’ve got plenty of time to chat it up on blogs while they’re “on call” as one teacher states. That IS news to me, I didn’t realize that public school teachers were on call during the 8 week summer break. I, too, would complain, if my job required me to be on call for an 8-week vacation. Being on call for a 1-week vacation is bad enough.
Entitlement Society
July 3rd, 2012
2:27 pm
Hey Bev – that’s why we have to fork out the $’s to send them to private school. We realize conditions are horrible and nothing is going to change while our kids are still students, so the only alternative is to eat Ramen noodles and run far far away from the mess that GA has created in its public schools. Unfortunate, but true.