Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote in
:

On 8/11/2011 8:01 PM, Han wrote:
Leonlcb11211@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.



My wife and I had our first and only child after being married 6
years.
She was always ready, I was not, but it was meant to happen. almost
24
years ago our son was born. We did the personal baby sitter/nanny
thing and that led to day care, private school/day care, and then one
day when our son, Bryan, was 7 and in a private school I had had
enough of my job, I hated it. I have always been in automotive
management, I had my own tire store at 21. The last formal job I had
I was the GM of a wholesale AC/Delco distributor. Finally I said I
had had enough and turned in my resignation, I was asked to take a 2
week vacation and reconsider, I came back an quit.

I became the at home parent and began this custom design and furniture
building business at home to keep me busy. Not going to a job every
day went against every survival instinct that I had. We probably took
a 60% income cut when I quit working the 9 to 5 routine. My son
immediately started going to public schools when he started third
grade. He had a great teacher that helped him transition from an 8
student classroom to a 35 student class room. Bryan did well in
school, strictly an A,B student, certainly better than his parents
ever did in school but my wife and I had to battle with the
incompetent teachers that would take home work and immediately throw
it in the trash can because some one was out of line. We saw this
type teacher behavior time and again and had one on ones with the
principal and teacher way too often. All of the students were treated
this way but we seemed to be the only parents that cared. I was the
first to tell the teacher that I wanted to hear of any problems that
my son might be causing, that never happened. Teachers would seek us
out at PTA meetings to compliment us on how well behaved Bryan was.
I don't think so much that we did any thing special other than one of
us was at home every day when Bryan came home from school. Other kids
did not have that benefit.

Bryan flourished. He was invited to attend a special high school in a
poor school district. We thank God for that school and the
opportunities Bryan had at that school. Unlike the typical baby
sitter school this school was by invitation only. This school
operated much like a college and many of the students had a hard time
coping with the first few weeks of school. Each class passed out the
semester itinerary and it was totally up to the student to perform all
the work, attend the seminars, and schedule their own tests. The
school taught time management and responsibility. College bound
graduates consistently averaged above 97%. This school was not
looking for smart kids, as the only requirement to attend was that
applicants conduct grade be satisfactory or better. On the other
hand, the teachers had to have much better qualifications to teach at
that school. There was never a shortage of teachers waiting in the
wings to fill a position should one come up.

College was an easy transition for Bryan, because of his SAT scores,
so so in the grammar/English section, pretty high in the math section,
he was invited to apply to the Honors College at the U of H. He,
shall we say, was lucky to be accepted. I warned him that the
curriculum would be more rigorous but the benefits would be long
lasting. He made his first C his first semester. That never happened
again. Three of his professors tried to get him to change his major
including a strong offer to go towards working on his doctorate and
teaching at the college. Another wanted him to change to investment
management, and another wanted him to work towards a federal tax
degree. He stayed the course and ended up graduating with a bachelors
in Accountancy, Summa Cum Laude. One year later he had his Masters
degree, 4 months later he had filled all requirements to become a CPA
except the for the required year of work experience. He passed all 4
CPA exams with a 94 average, first try.

Today, 10 months later he has almost gotten his year behind him and he
works for KPMG. They recruited him in January of 2009 and he went to
work "very full time" last October. He loves his job although he does
have long hours during the busy season, Jan -April. He logs
approximately 300 -350 hours per month during that period. Not
unusual for him to work 7 days a week, get home at 1:00-2:00 am and be
back at work at 7:00am.

I attribute a lot of his of his success to good work ethic and some
one being at home when he got home from school.

Bryan is still single, is a home owner and hopes to be "totally" debt
free by the end of next year. Not too bad for a 23 year old guy.


OK,OK,OK, I'll stop bragging! I've had TWO beers. ;~)

Great story. We need to clone you, your wife and Bryan many times
grin.

CONGRATULATIONS!!

--
Best regards
Han
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