RFC: saving the world
May. 28th, 2007 01:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexr_rwxAndrew ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sault came and visited this weekend, always a pleasure :)
And last night, we were talking about public education and how it can be improved, so we can make people less miserable. And I don't think it's very controversial to say that we could use smaller class-sizes and schools with generally fewer students per school, so they're not giant and prison-like -- which would imply more individual schools, more densely packed in the world.
That's not a complete solution, though -- how do you staff more schools?
And we present a few possibilities for that. What if everybody has to be a schoolteacher for a year or two? Israel, for example, has fairly-compulsory military service, for both men and women. Maybe we make it part of the deal with getting a bachelor's degree -- when you're done, you go teach grade school for a while. This may coincide with subsidized higher education, and would have the effect that there'd be a high turnover rate in public school teachers. Also, smaller class sizes...
(man, if you gave me ten fourth-graders for a year... at the end of the year, I would hand you back some awesome fourth-graders. I don't know how I'd do with thirty or forty.)
Alternatively, and perhaps less heavy-handedly, we could provide programs where you can pay for college by agreeing to teach school for a while, sort of like ROTC or the GI Bill.
In general, we see teachers as taking on an undesirable job. Our perception is that public school teachers are grizzled, tired veterans that have to deal with screaming hellions, their screaming (or uninvolved) parents and endless regulation and oversight. Doing Teach for America is akin to being a martyr (and possibly misguided -- do you think you're Jaime Escalante? It took him years of practice...); this strongly suggests that we're doing something wrong.
How can we fix things, O readership?
sault came and visited this weekend, always a pleasure :)And last night, we were talking about public education and how it can be improved, so we can make people less miserable. And I don't think it's very controversial to say that we could use smaller class-sizes and schools with generally fewer students per school, so they're not giant and prison-like -- which would imply more individual schools, more densely packed in the world.
That's not a complete solution, though -- how do you staff more schools?
And we present a few possibilities for that. What if everybody has to be a schoolteacher for a year or two? Israel, for example, has fairly-compulsory military service, for both men and women. Maybe we make it part of the deal with getting a bachelor's degree -- when you're done, you go teach grade school for a while. This may coincide with subsidized higher education, and would have the effect that there'd be a high turnover rate in public school teachers. Also, smaller class sizes...
(man, if you gave me ten fourth-graders for a year... at the end of the year, I would hand you back some awesome fourth-graders. I don't know how I'd do with thirty or forty.)
Alternatively, and perhaps less heavy-handedly, we could provide programs where you can pay for college by agreeing to teach school for a while, sort of like ROTC or the GI Bill.
In general, we see teachers as taking on an undesirable job. Our perception is that public school teachers are grizzled, tired veterans that have to deal with screaming hellions, their screaming (or uninvolved) parents and endless regulation and oversight. Doing Teach for America is akin to being a martyr (and possibly misguided -- do you think you're Jaime Escalante? It took him years of practice...); this strongly suggests that we're doing something wrong.
How can we fix things, O readership?
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-28 09:16 pm (UTC)I wouldn't call Teach for America akin to being a martyr. I've known people who do it. I think they ask less than the Peace Corps. here's the link:
http://www.teachforamerica.org/
It's actually a pretty huge program. i even considered doing it but missed the seminar. They hire recent college graduates to work (as if in the Peace Corps I suppose) at low budget and inner city schools as teachers. For those who aren't interested in grad school, and the job prospects are looking a little slim (which face it, sometimes they are, even if you are qualified) it's a good opportunity to do some work and make connections. *shrugs* it's not like they are asking you to live in the african jungle for four years with no running water.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-28 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-30 02:15 am (UTC)Point taken: given the choice between inverted crucifixion and Teach for America, most folks would probably choose Teach for America. But the job options available to most of us are often so enticing that you've got to be some Whacked-Out True Believer in order to choose public school teaching whether through Teach for America or not.
The teach-for-two-years-after-college plan is sounding better and better.