Thursday, May 20, 2010
Busy--Work
End of school activities are keeping me busy. Posting will be light for a few days. Meanwhile, Megan McArdle informs us that because New York can't solve its school problems, teachers' unions are preventing school reform. When people talk about reforming parenting, then we'll know they are serious about school reform. Everything else is about busting Democratic union power and privatizing schools. And, since we are depending on anecdotal evidence, we can see how well that turns out. Also.
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2 comments:
There was a really good article about this in the Boston Globe yesterday or today (I saw the paper lying around somewhere). Kid from Cape Verde comes here three years ago, learns english in the public school, works hard and graduates and heads for college thanks to his public school teachers. Meanwhile, without consulting the students, his city decides to fire most of the teachers to "turn the school around." He gets interviewed by a local editorialist and says two important things: if the excuse is that the kids aren't learning, well, obviously some of us are they should have asked us which teachers were performing well and which weren't. Because we know who shows up and who doesn't, who stays late to help kids and who doesn't. But some kids don't want to learn. And its the fault of the families. And since they can't fire the parents they decide to fire the teachers.
We are heading into negotiations between the city of boston and the teachers union and this seems to be a point that needs repeating over and over and over again. Kids in these schools need more than the average or even the great teacher can give them. They need tons more attention, money, health care, etc.. You can't get that by firing people indiscriminately.
aimai
It's amazing how we are "forced" to cut services for the very old and very young, while giving billions to bankers. It's almost like the rich want a permanent underclass to do their bidding for little or no money.
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