[HN Gopher] Teachers are leaving and few people choosing the fie...
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Teachers are leaving and few people choosing the field. Experts
sound the alarm
Author : Victerius
Score : 29 points
Date : 2022-02-05 19:51 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.cnn.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.cnn.com)
| peter303 wrote:
| That could dovetail with the pandemic demographic contractions
| where births have declined 25% during the pandemic. This is
| compounded by the fertile generationX is smaller than normal. And
| immigration has been politically reduced. This could wreck havoc
| on institutions that depend on youth cohorts like schools,
| colleges and low-skilled jobs.
| xqcgrek2 wrote:
| Good.
|
| Education is ripe for disruption. The US should move to a South
| Korean model where a few very good superstar teachers lecture
| thousands of students simultaneously.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrDfCy5Q9wI
| mythrwy wrote:
| In the USA though we'd need another couple hundred "enforcers"
| to make sure kids stayed in their seats and didn't hit one
| another during lecture.
|
| And that (in my opinion) may be part of the reason so many
| teachers are leaving the field. Teaching is very rewarding,
| playing social service aid giver and municipal cop not as much.
| tomdell wrote:
| Individualized attention and small class sizes are important
| for socializing and educating children.
| pydry wrote:
| I guess that could work if most of those students never had to
| ask a question ever again.
| pavel_lishin wrote:
| Or had any unique or special needs.
| turndown wrote:
| I think the most infuriating thing about "growing up" and
| becoming an adult is that obvious problems you think should
| simply be _fixed_ without any particular ideological emphasis end
| up becoming bogged down by people who know the least about a
| problem(and, in my view, the kind of people least likely to be
| experts on anything) trying to make sure the solution conforms to
| their uninformed world views.
| eggsmediumrare wrote:
| There's also the equal and opposite force of experts who have
| such tight ties to their slice of everything they fail to see
| alternatives.
| kylehotchkiss wrote:
| I don't understand why usa is so adverse to metal detectors at
| the door for public institutions like schools. I spent a few
| years in India having to be metal detected to enter any metro,
| mall, or hotel. And they have far fewer weapon and terrorism
| concerns than USA does. It's annoying and you get used to it.
|
| Small steps like these could improve the confidence of those
| working in schools and the many parents trusting schools to
| safely educate their children
| closeparen wrote:
| Like other physical security measures (tall fences, razor wire,
| bars on windows, steel doors) it's a sign that you are in a
| low-trust, high-crime environment.
|
| If in fact you are, then those things are important, but most
| Americans don't want to think of their local communities this
| way and resent developments that reify such a perception.
| Especially when it comes to children. We really don't like
| young children being cognizant of evils and threats and other
| such "adult" concerns. Innocence is important.
| olliej wrote:
| They do have metal detectors.
|
| My wife's school had:
|
| * metal detectors
|
| * police
|
| * drug dogs
|
| * 12 foot fencing
|
| * no doors on toilets
|
| * active shooter drills
|
| * no on-site medical staff
|
| * restrictions on access to medication, including inhalers
|
| That is what public schools in America are. They are prisons,
| and the on-site police treat the children as criminals.
| xhkkffbf wrote:
| There's probably some truth to this-- but I think people should
| look at these kind of notices with some skepticism.
|
| Consider who is quoted as an expert: someone who makes money
| training teachers. Seems like someone who will profit from
| greater funding of the general system.
|
| A while ago, a friend of mine read articles in the newspaper
| about a dire shortage of math teachers. So he enrolled in a
| teacher training program, put in the hours and couldn't find
| anything anywhere. He's a personable guy. Polite and very
| sociable. So when he couldn't find anything anywhere, I started
| to believe that this is one of those self-serving fibs circulated
| by the unions and the teacher prep programs. There may be some
| truth to it, but it may be wildly inflated.
| halpert wrote:
| I don't know who in their right mind would want to be a teacher.
| Bad pay, hard work, ungrateful students and parents, and limited
| opportunities for growth.
| vanusa wrote:
| Maybe you were ungrateful.
|
| I am extremely grateful for the talents of several of my public
| school teachers (and until they were downsized) counselors.
| touisteur wrote:
| > Maybe you were ungrateful
|
| That wasn't really necessary? Your point is taken and some of
| us are indeed grateful (and I don't doubt GP is or was), but
| I think we're in the minority. And it seems a general thing
| in Western societies? There's a lot of teacher bashing in
| France too, and also a difficulty to find ones. The pay, the
| teaching conditions, the permanent bashing and ridiculing by
| the elites, the ruling class, and any class really...
|
| I mean, when your secretary of education tells teachers
| during the first covid lockdown, most of them fighting to
| keep classes running, to go help pick strawberries instead.
| Err... When you can't even fund 5 kn95 masks (to be reused)
| for every teacher and you relax all covid constraints because
| the economy is grinding to a halt. 15 euros... Not even that.
| Even my company pays for 2 daily kn95 masks and I'm not
| exposed to kids.
| xqcgrek2 wrote:
| Unfortunately, exactly the kind of people who shouldn't be
| teachers: rent seekers or "education" majors with sub-1000 SAT
| scores
| staticman2 wrote:
| The median wage for teachers seems to be equal to the median
| pay for college graduates, maybe a bit higher if you account
| for benefits.
|
| It's not terrific by Hacker News standards, but should be a
| living wage in most places especially if you marry or room with
| someone who can split housing costs with you.
| euroderf wrote:
| Kinda starts to sound like the closing act of a decades-long
| death spiral. Rarely is the question asked: Is our children
| learning?
| emptybottle wrote:
| > Is our children learning?
|
| Oh the irony
| slavik81 wrote:
| > Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?
|
| ~ George W. Bush, during a campaign speech in South Carolina
| (2000)
|
| That particular question had probably not been asked much
| before, but it's been asked more frequently ever since.
| d12345m wrote:
| In case you missed the reference, this was a quote spoken
| without irony by a US president.
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushism
| ColinWright wrote:
| People (rightly) ask: Why would anyone be a teacher?
|
| For some it's genuinely a calling, a vocation. The buzz you get
| from seeing the lights go on, from making a difference, from
| seeing a student blossom, is unequalled.
|
| But external pressures are squeezing that out, and the utter
| neglect of the teachers and utter contempt for the profession is
| finally catching up.
|
| The warning signs have been there for decades, the momentum is
| growing, and it may now be too late.
| olliej wrote:
| I think the biggest indicator of a problem is that now even
| those people for whom it's a "calling" are leaving the field.
| Epecially those in public education
| meristohm wrote:
| It's a difficult job for not enough pay and an expectation to
| work far more than 40 hours per week, and that was before the
| COVID-19 pandemic. (I got out to raise my child and support my
| employed spouse)
| timbo1642 wrote:
| Day1 wrote:
| Public school is overrated. I would choose Khan Academy, the
| South Korean model, or Charter schools over public schools any
| day of the week.
| paulryanrogers wrote:
| Except charters these don't scale down to kindergarten or lower
| elementary grades
| Day1 wrote:
| That's true. If public schools only focused on lower grade
| levels that would free up resources tremendously.
| olliej wrote:
| Who wouldn't want a job that pays a pittance while also being so
| underfunded that some of that tiny salary has to be used to buy
| resources needed for the job? While also being continuously
| attacked for everything and being threatened with fines for doing
| your job properly
| mythrwy wrote:
| 50-60K a year with summers off and a generous pension is an
| acceptable salary in many areas of the country.
|
| Many people who teach would have trouble at other jobs from
| what I've observed.
|
| I don't think it's about the money.
| [deleted]
| timbo1642 wrote:
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