Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote in
:

On 8/11/2011 3:39 PM, Han wrote:
Leonlcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote in
:

On 8/11/2011 11:54 AM, Han wrote:


The counterargument is whether you'd want your kids to be educated
by high school teachers who make 40K/year.

I was educated by teachers that made far less and were far superior
to most today. Our educational system throws more money at the
problem than ever and yet the results are far worse. A higher
salary is not going to get a better teacher. I guarantee you that
if all teachers were given a 50% raise today that in 5 years the
same teachers would still be teaching and the kids would not be
learning any more than they are right now. If you want the kids to
learn more the teachers will have to be held to a higher standard,
be re-certified periodically, and paid for their performance.

Agree. Teachers should be more motivated (especially the ones doing
it already for a long time) and kids should be more willing to learn.
Ask the Brits were the parents were ...

The work rules now stink. Get tenure, and you're practically set for
life. OTOH, capricious or malicious firing is very difficult now.
It goes both ways, but I agree, it should be easier to "grade"
teachers and remunerate accordingly. Of course, if you get dealt a
bunch of really unruly and stupid kids one year, life sucks.

I often think and believe that we are in this lousy situation because
95% of us live beyond our means. Yes I can afford that house if I get
a 40 year mortgage with interest only/no principal on the front 10
years but should I? If only the schools would teach and require
students to learn the true cost of borrowing money, how to make good
financial decisions, and learn that borrowing money should be done as
a last resort. This is absolutely as important as any subject being
taught in school. With few exceptions if you have to borrow money to
buy something you probably need to reevaluate you life style. If the
wife works to help make ends meet you need to reevaluate your life
style. IMHO one parent needs to stay home, plain and simple. When
both parents are working, WHO is watching the kids????? The teachers
would have a lot more success in teaching if a parent was at home when
the kids got home.

Rant well-taken. My mother was always home, and so was my wife's, but
her mother is another story. (See, it doesn't always work the way it
should). For us, we both had to bring in money if we wanted to live.
When the kids came, my wife went into daycare (times were easier on the
regulations way back then, but the pay was lower too). At first, we had
had a babysitter, but after the third time that she said, by the way,
next Monday you have to find someone else because I quit, my wife started
to take in kids. Then we moved to New York, and we got a babysitter.
Wife went to work early, I dropped the kids off later, and my wife picked
them up around 4. Made for less family time, but it worked well. Both
my kids became good people. So, that situation also can work. Now, both
my daughter and SIL have to work, and my wife wlks over in the morning to
help the granddaughters off to school, and is back there when they come
home. We think they'll be big enough to be a few hours after school by
themselves, and if not, the other grandparents live arounf the corner and
can do something too.

--
Best regards
Han
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