Corporate America wants inexperienced teachers in the classroom
It’s true! The big money people want to put the rookie squad into our classrooms. Corporate funded attacks on public education and teachers’ unions have portrayed higher paid, more experienced teachers as the villains of the current financial crisis. It’s good-bye, Mr. Chips and sayonara, Ms. Frizzle.
In 1987-88 the typical primary or secondary teacher had 15 years of experience. But by 2007-2008, the typical teacher had 1-2 years of experience. Not only that, but 50% of teachers leave the profession within 5 years. Veteran educator Larry Cuban has estimated how long it takes to actually learn the job.
“Only by the end of the fourth or fifth year of teaching do most newcomers become competent and confident in figuring out lessons, knowing the ins-and-outs of classroom management, and taking risks in departing from the routines of daily teaching.”
Brad Juppe of the US Department of Education is blunt:
“The crisis is upon us. The mode of experience being one to two years should be the most alarming thing we have come upon.” Read more
The new Chicago school budget strangles public education
Filed under: Global Economy & Politics, Society & Economy, Unions
“When you wage war on the public schools, you’re attacking the mortar that holds the community together. You’re not a conservative, you’re a vandal.” —Garrison Keeler
The 2013 Chicago Public Schools(CPS) budget received a resounding thumbs down at a community forum held at Malcolm X College on the West Side the evening of July 11. Over 200 people filled the auditorium to listen to an explanation of the budget from Chief Operating Officer Tim Cawley and then ask questions and make their own recommendations. The reaction of those who spoke from the audience was overwhelmingly negative. Cawley was loudly booed several times. Similar meetings were held at Kennedy-King and Daley colleges on the South Side. No meetings were held on the city’s North Side.
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) described it as a “fantasy budget at best.” Read more
Medicaid for all poor people? Don’t count on it.
State governments across the USA have been cutting Medicaid and health care-related funding faster than Smithfield butchers hogs. These programs were supposed to help low income people, many of whom already suffer from the poor health that often comes with poverty.
When care is restricted or cut off altogether, some people are going to die prematurely. They will most likely die quietly, perhaps mourned by their families and friends. Some will die alone.They may die in great pain or they may pass away in their sleep, but inevitably, some deaths will result from decisions made by politicians who don’t worry about choosing between food and medicine. One of the persistent myths in the USA is that poor people can “always get free health care” if they want it. We need to dispel that myth. Somehow. Read more