As we continue to gush billions of dollars for Afghanistan and Iraq as well as giving $100 million buildings to Israel, our school system continues to decline and our student school continue to rank below a long list of other countries. The most recent reports of fourth and eighth graders shows the United States lagging behind Asian and European countries in math and science. Nevertheless, we will continue to give billions to wealthy countries like Israel with better schools and increasingly hostile countries like Pakistan and Egypt. The real threat to this country is the collapsing educational system and erosion of our competitive labor force.
The two new reports, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, show South Korea and Singapore leading in science in the fourth grade and Singapore and Taiwan leading in the eighth grade. The U.S. ranked 11th in fourth-grade math and 9th in eighth grade math. We ranked 7th in fourth grade science and 10th in eighth-grade science.
I am less worried about the ranking as I am with the fact that only 7 percent of students reached the advanced level in eighth-grade math compared to 48 percent of eighth graders in Singapore and 47 percent of eighth graders in South Korea.
I have been admittedly harping on this issue for years. I fail to understand how our leaders can get away with the lack of priority shown toward education which plays directly into our competitiveness in the world market.
Source: New York Times
Newsweek ranks on how many ap courses a school offers. It does not take into account how a student performs on an ap exam. There are a few good schools district in Texas but the majority are underfunded. The legislature cut 4.6 billion out of school funding last year.
nick,
You’re talking to the wrong person … at one time in my many faceted career life I was an International Rep for CWA.
An employer can cut costs and improve profits by not providing health care, safe working place, low wages and abusing workers through verbal and physical means … hell, they can even have workers thrown in jail for refusing to accept those conditions … but that sort of cost effectiveness is at the expense of human dignity.
Unions stand for human dignity. My mother-in-law knew that and having been a teacher for many years, she also had lots of exposure to lazy/incompetent colleges but … she was willing to endure the indignity of jail to stand up for the human dignity of her colleges … all of them.
There’s an old Irish saying: “If you want to know what God thinks about money, just look at the people He gives it to.”
SWM, Newsweek rates the best schools in the country and Texas annually does better than states like Wi.[where I live], Mn., etc. where ALL teachers are in the union. Texas was I believe in the top 5 last year. And, Newsweek is not some conservative rag! My sister taught in Texas for 15 years and loved it. She had taught in Dunwoody, Ga. for 10 and hated it. Her 2 daughters got a great education in high school[Lake Travis] and @ UT. One of them is in grad school @ UT.
Mississippi has no full fledged teachers union.
Elaine, We just disagree. I jumped up and down when Obama hired Arne Duncan. The way the head of the Chicago Teachers Union made fun of Duncan’s lisp showed what it’s come down to vis a vis unions.
Is Texas known for good public schools? not. The unionization rate for teachers is 1.8%
ap, LOL! I love border collies. He was just trying to herd those balls. I think you’ve grown a pair!
nick,
I think both Obama and Duncan don’t have a good understanding of how to address the problems of failing schools. One of the things that is destroying the good schools in this country is the mania for high stakes testing. And what is being done with test results goes beyond the pale.
I think children with behavioral issues–especially boys–will do worse in schools where there are fewer hands-on exploratory experiences and fewer field trips because teachers are being required to focus their curriculum on teaching to “paper-and-pencil” tests. Schools are being forced to become more rigid…to try to make square kids fit into round holes. That is not the way to meet the needs of our children and to improve education in this country.
Elaine, False choice. Be intellectually honest. Treat teachers like all other professionals. The great ones get paid great, good get paid good, etc. and the incompetent ones get fired. Hell, get rid of school systems bureaucrats and put the money for great teachers. I’ll be happy to fire some asst director of treatment modalities and give that salary to a great teacher. Myself and many people..I bet mespo among them, would pay healthy 6 figure salaries to great teachers. The union is not protecting you, it’s limiting you..that is if you’re good! The only one who benefits are the union executives..making a helluva lot more then teachers. They got folks like you brainwashed.
Nick? This one’s for you.
http://youtu.be/3rkEdUJXeq0
The morale of this story, IMVHO?
Don’t judge a person by the size of their balls… or their absence altogether.
I guess it’s better to treat all teachers as if they are lazy and shiftless than to pay some incompetents a living wage.
Blouise, I don’t doubt that for a second. What do you think your mother-in-law would think of public education today? And, I will repeat what the great Bill veeck said about collective bargaining, and as you know Veeck was a blue collar guy. He said, “I don’t mind paying big dollars to the superstars, they produce. It’s the high price for mediocracy that kills you.” I’ll be happy to pay taxes for the good teachers, but I also have to pay the same tax dollars for the lazy, incompetent ones. All unions eventually devolve into protecting the worst. My old man saw that in his factory.
My mother-in-law, God rest her Sainted Soul, was an oft nominated and once recipient of the state Teacher of the Year award. She taught fourth grade.
In the late 70’s she was in her late 50’s when a judge put her in jail for 2 weeks for refusing to cross her union’s picket lines. During that two weeks the strike was settled and all … ALL … the demands made by the teachers were met. She exited the jail with a smile on her face and told the gathered reporters that she was close to retirement and certainly didn’t spend 2 weeks in jail for herself but , rather, for all the young men and women who were her colleges and whose future should include a livable wage in a profession that was so vital to the success and stability of society.
The following year she was once again nominated for Teacher of the Year and the judge who had put her in jail lost his bid for reelection.
nick and mespo … you both would have gained much from knowing this woman.
Elaine, yawn..heard it too many times from you. If you read what I’ve written I have said NUMEROUS times, there are a multitude of problems causing the decline of public education. However, teachers have to accept responsibility for their contribution to the problem and stop alibi’s and pointing fingers. Our president and Secretary of Education agree w/ me. Trying to discuss this w/ you is like watching the flick, Groundhog’s Day.
nick,
I disagree. There are many excellent schools in this country. There are also many failing schools. One has to examine the problems that cause failing schools. Few seem to want to address those problems–one of which is poverty. It’s easier to blame teachers and the teachers’ unions for all the problems facing public education these days–just as you do.
So does SWM. But, Blouise has the biggest set of lady balls, bigger than most mens. Jag’s got a good pair as do bettykath and Malisha. So grow a pair ap and I’ll be more than happy to bust them.
ap, I don’t bust your balls because you have none! wink, wink. Elaine has lady balls.
Elaine, Your rose colored experience does not comport w/ the dismal record of public education, my experience does. So, there’s that.
anonymously posted,
Why don’t you come join me here in Nirvana? No one busts balls around here–not even me, The Exalted High Haughtiness of Nirvana.