Did you know Washington D.C. spends the most per pupil in the country, yet has pretty much the worst test scores in the industrialized world?
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Did you know Washington D.C. spends the most per pupil in the country, yet has pretty much the worst test scores in the industrialized world?
BlueSoxSWJ
Veteran X
Seems to be mostly a regional thing - parents and guidance counselors push their kids to do what everyone else is doing, unless one of their specific colleges requires the other test. This is another reason evaluating teacher quality by SAT/ACT results is problematic - for most states where taking both isn't the norm, one of those tests is going to have skewed results. Wisconsin ranks 3rd on the SATs, for example ... except that only 4% of high school graduates in Wisconsin take them. Massachusetts has the reverse: number 1 in the ACT, but taken by only 18% of high school graduates. Whichever test isn't the "norm" in a given state will only be taken by students who plan on going to (or at least applying to) a specific college that only takes one of the exams, so they're a self-selected group, not a representative sample.
BlueSoxSWJ
Veteran X
I'm sure that Washington D.C. has low test scores because of all the money that is spent, and it has nothing to do with D.C. having the highest extreme poverty rate (10.7% as of 2009) in the nation.
His point is that you can't teach poor people no matter how much money you through at the school. There is merit to this, but the government prefers to throw money at problems no matter what it is.
I did not know that they spend the most per pupil. . .that's crazy.
Then again, student achievement is multifactorial. I don't want to summon Absent in here to crap on everything and tell us how this whole mess is the Jews fault, but I don't think the prevalent culture in that city is any big secret. Worse, as it stands now, that culture is probably worse than white red-neck culture at promoting, and being proud of ignorance. I said it. Worse than red-necks.
I hate to go back to sucking Asian dick, but think about your Asian friends, and any generalities you could formulate about their parents, and the attention those parents pay to homework. It is inherent in THAT culture that schoolchildren are not just getting it done, but get it done in meticulous/assiduous fashion.
The high school where I taught in Anchorage was maybe 40% black, but they performed well as they were almost all army brats. Again, culture and parents dictate they study and do homework.
Now I'm going to have Ender and Triple back in here accusing me of saying teachers have no effect on learning, which is obviously not true. How much a child learns is multifactorial. The teacher, the parents, the culture, the child's innate intelligence, motivation and a host of other things all affect how much a kid will gather and retain.
So doesn't that marginalize your argument about collective bargaining that you posted earlier about which states have highest SAT/ACT scores and no cb?
Wait are you seriously trying to argue there is a direct link between collective bargaining and teacher quality?
Secondly, you quoted a blog from the Economist, that is not "the Economist".. Jesus you really try to spin everything.
Again.
You haven't answered the question.
1) How are public unions good for our economy?
how about more importantly, what place does public unions have in our society today?
Economically, it doesn't make sense.
Using common sense, it doesn't make sense.
We pay tax dollars to have government employees, who pay unions who pay politicians to advocate for more spending to ensure more benefits/pensions and generally are there to protect the government employee.
I think any model supporting that chain reaction... is absolutely retarded. If teachers wish to stop teaching because of their horrible benefits, let them. Let the market decide wages, let the market decide benefits.
Government should be looking towards privatizing.
if it were really about families they'd happily "redistribute" that money to those less fortunate who really need it--which is what the governor is attempting to do.
And the Democrat state congressmen go & stoop to breaking the law and interfering with legislative process? They're not heroes. They're no example for sure.
And the Democrat state congressmen go & stoop to breaking the law and interfering with legislative process? They're not heroes. They're no example for sure.
None of this can ever be changed because of dumb niggers/spics.
Salaries based off of student performance? Teach to take the test (and they'll still fail).
Lower the standards? Less performance on ACT/SAT.
Raise the standards? Best option, but looks bad with statistics.
BZZZZZZ, wrong again. It's for weak people when the reason you're using ignore is because you don't like the person. If you're ignoring a non-stop troll or retard (see sig for examples), you're not weak.
Niggers and spics vs white population.
QED
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As a math educator, I'd say there's a desperate need for innovation in methods of teaching, at least at the college level. Everyone gets stuck with bullshit useless textbooks that cost 20x more than the should, and nobody even reads. (And make no mistake: older textbooks are even worse)
I'd say the biggest problem is we don't present the material in any sort of organized manner, and don't clue anyone in on the aim or application of any of material. As a result, nobody learns how to take a partial derivative to use it as a tool in more advanced math, engineering or economics; they learn partial derivatives because they're part of chapter 3. Which is a good way to have them lose all interest and forget the information next year.
Right now I'm resorting to rewriting entire chapters of the books in ways that illustrate the concepts more and delve into practical applications, and posted them as google docs that everyone can read, comment on and distribute. I've reconstructed lesson plans to show the concepts as a "tech tree", and thus why each concept is important, instead of just one plodding section after another from an endless treadmill of a book.
I received so much better reactions from this I'm beginning to wonder why others aren't doing it. The most likely explanation to me is that we're stuck with the idea of these same-old brick-and-mortar textbooks, and base our entire lesson plans on whatever they say, however they say it.
Anyway, this is all kind of off-topic. You just mentioned innovation in teaching math and I took it as my cue to rant.
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link if possible/appropriate?
NightTrain
Veteran XX
I live in SC and being non-union isn't why we are a bottom feeder.
I would also put my daughter's elementary school up against any in the country and my son's middle school is just as good.
It all goes back to the parents. Too many of them just don't give a shit and the cycle is never broken. The ones that do care just do the best they can but short of moving to a different school district, there aren't many options.
I keep seeing people mentioning the inability to teach children in poor school districts. There are some very poor, rural areas of my state with very expensive new facilities and they aren't improving. There are kids from poor backgrounds that do quite well but for the most part, the poorer school districts drag down the averages. It's a broad brush to wield I'm sure but many poor people are poor because they have no job and no work ethic and it isn't much of a reach to say their kids will have a similar attitude in the classroom. You're also dealing with an area of the country that values yards per carry a lot more than GPA but that's another thread.
I honestly think teachers and the sort would get paid more if the unions were not there adding to the overall cost. It would be no different than any position on the market. Supply and demand would dictate the rate as well as qualifications, education and experience.