The state of our education system is truly inadequate in Georgia and in Richmond County. My sister and I are both high-school teachers, and it has become nearly impossible for teachers to impart to students the information they need to pass End of Course Tests and Georgia High School Graduation Tests.
One of the biggest reasons is financial. I am amazed that every year the budgets for education are decreased while demands on teachers and students are increased. The obvious solution would be to raise school taxes, but no one wants to pay an extra few dollars a month so that the next generation will be properly educated to run our country.
The same people who scream about a few dollars a month extra for school taxes are the same ones who don't complain about the cost of their homes, cars, movie tickets or dinner out. I would happily pay a few dollars a month if it would allow students to have decent computers, books, etc.
Every teacher I know pays out of pocket to provide items their students need, but as we don't make enough money, we are limited to practical items like paper, pencils and ink cartridges for county-owned computer printers. I even bought my own pencil sharpener, stapler and other supplies that should (and maybe would) have been provided by my employer if funds were available.
For the sake of our children's futures, we need to provide the funds our schools need to prepare our children for the world of work -- especially where technology is concerned.
Every day I see money being raised for various causes. Haiti, cancer, you name it -- there's an organization raising money for it. Why is it, then, that we aren't raising money so our schools can be properly funded? We should be ashamed of ourselves for cheating our children out of a proper education just because it would cost us a few dollars more a month!
".....demands on teachers and students are increased." How are they increased any more now than when any of us were in school? Wasn't it k-12 for most all of us? So if it's still k-12 then how has it increased? Some teachers now-a-days project their own bias' whether liberal or conservative (mostly liberal) instead of just TEACHING your kids. Maybe it is increased for students because they have to learn the teacher's bias' and project those to get a good grade instead of thinking for themselves.
I strongly disagree. The school boards are constantly crying for more money and for years have received it in the form of bonds or increased taxes. The federal government, through the ineffective Department of Education has squandered untold billions of taxpayer dollars with what result?
High school graduates on the whole are less prepared to enter the real world than were their parents. They have been coddled and pampered by school boards afraid to enforce rules and regulations, teachers who give A's for homework submitted three days late out of fear of angry parents, ( God knows, the administration will not back the teachers ) and doctors who consider any tantrum a disorder to be treated with medication.
Yes, far too much is expected of teachers in todays schools. Parents, for the most part appear to want to ship little Johnny off to pre-k and get him back with a college degree. Just don't damage Johnny's self-esteem, inflict any punishment or restrict his advancement regardless of Johnnys behavior, social skills or performance.
If money is lacking for the classroom, it is because of the unfettered monstrosity called administration. It does not escape notice that whenever a school wants more money the first threat is to cut teaching positions. Why? Perhaps because threatening to cut administration positions would be greeted with cheers by everyone except the administrators themselves.
Basic education should not have changed. Social experimentation is eating up all of the "funds". Socio-Political indoctrination is eating up he budget. Bankrupt the country with "government entitlement programs". Forced busing patterns are "consuming too much money and fossil fuels. Where is Al Gore" on diesel buses"? Community schools ar what we need. Teaching "to the test" is robbing our children and grandchildren of the tools they need for a "productive life".
This LTE certainly represents a perspective. I don't think it takes the responsibility of the parent into consideration, or the responsibility of the government to GET OUT OF THE EDUCATION MANIPULATION business as just another form of social engineering. This LTE doesn't even address the assault on America represented by the Department of Education.
The failure of schools today is not related to funding. Misuse of funds may be. Why have a superintendent in every county. Ga has 159 counties. Does that mean we should have 159 Dr Beddens earning $159,000? Surely these guys could handle 2 or 3 surrounding counties. If we could return to neighborhood schools, we could park many buses. Stop any breakfast programs. Stop any lunch programs. Schools spend over $200,000 per school for their initial kitchen equipment. Much of which is never used. There are $8000 cutter mixers in many schools that the workers never wanted, and never use. Simply provide a cafeteria where kids will have a place to eat their lunches that they brought from home. Stop the waste now.
Look at the selfishness in Ms. Redman's letter! She wants to use the force of government to take money from all taxpayers and funnel the money into her industry. So to shore up her industry she is happy that others have to do without. When our customers spend less voluntarily at our stores, the store's employees have to spend less. When tax collections go down because incomes go down, the schools have to spend less. I guess basic free market economics is not one the things Ms. Redman's students need to know to pass the End of Course test and the High School Graduation test.
Georgia's teachers and principals make well above the national average. It's especially more if the cost of living is factored in.
The schools don't need more money. They need more mommy and daddy.
Ms. Redman, we the taxpayer, already spend more per student than any other developed nation and we turn out students who rank at the bottom of the pile. That tells anyone with a little common sense that money is not the problem. Maybe too much of our money goes into administration, building shiney new schools and sports stadiums, salaries, benefits, and retirement plans. Maybe we have lot of unqualified and/or non-performing teachers who are protected by their unions. Maybe we have parents who came out of the same "progressive" school systems who are too stupid or too disinterested to help their kids at home. There may be many reasons our students are not performing but money spent per student, money spent on salaries, money spent building schools, and money spent paying administrators is not the reason. You complain about buying pencils and paper for students. Not your job and not the taxpayer's job. That is the parents job. If a student comes to schools without the proper supplies, call their parents to come get them and tell them not to bring them back until they have the proper school supplies. What you are doing is enabling irresponsible parents and is a self-inflicted wound. You have probably been buying supplies for years, the parents know it, and now you have created your own entitlement program. But the bottom line here is that we already pay too much and we get nothing for it. There is a problem but it is not money. It is with the non-student related spending in our school systems and the incompetent parenting in our homes. If you doubled the spending we would still get the same results. Overpaid administrators and staff and huge, shiney new uncontrollable consolidated schools do not improve education. Ms. Redman, we have seen how the educators handle our money and we have seen what they give us for a product and we are not satisfied. When you recognize that we already spend more than any other nation per student, and when you reciprocate by turning out students who score at the top of the pile ,then come back and talk to us about getting a little more money for an even better system.
Not an easy fix but I am not sure money is the problem.
We were spending $200,000,000.00 on 37,000 students in 2000.
So that is about $5,500.00 per student. I wonder how much private school costs when compared?
Are we getting our money's worth?
Brad
Here's a few ideas to save money:
1. Eliminate the pre-K public school program. Every school has one or two pre-K (4 year old classes). Why are we now taking care of 4 year olds?! Babies next? Cradle to grave government care.
2. Cut back on the free & reduced lunches. Raise the standards.
3. Stop building state of the art schools. We all learned just fine in standard, run of the mill buildings with blackboards. Did Stallings Middle really need a stacked stone exterior in order for the kids to learn better?!
4. Cut back on bus transportation. Since when was it the governments responsibility to get the kids to school? Change the law. Put the burden on the parents, after all they are their kids, not the governments kids or the taxpayers kids. Or, you could charge the parents who want to use a bus an annual fee to cover 100% of the transportation costs.
5. Kick out all illegal aliens & turn them and their families over to INS for deportation. You must prove that you are a US citizen or provide a parental work visa to attend our schools.
I vote no more money for the schools, let them learn how to live within their means like everyone else does.
Brad, actually Georgia as a whole spends almost $9000(corrected from a second ago, I mistyped) per student (I did a bunch of research the other day). Other school systems spend less & some spend more (some significantly more).
Here is a graph with costs per state - look at page 13 http://www2.census.gov/govs/school/07f33pub.pdf Its a couple of years old but probably pretty accurate (low if anything)
Private schools in Augusta range from about $4500/year to $12,000/year for high school. Elementary and Middle school are typically a good bit less.
Y O U...H A V E N ' T...S A I D...A...T H I N G.......
U N T I L...Y O U ' V E...W R I T T E N...I T...D O W N...
I coined that phrase by the way, so you'll have that to remember me by when I get 'raptured' on up to the holy gates...
But I say it for this reason. The philosophical underpinnings of the conservative movement today are based on two ideas that are being widely pushed by the Talk-Bombers [I coined that one too.]
First, we should totally end public education and second America isn't really a Democracy and there should be some type of qualifications other than citizenship and age, in order to have a voice, a vote in the USA. A means test and or an intelligence or civics test should be required...so say the Talk Bombers.
So my challenge to the right is this...put it in writing how these plans would work.
Explain how without public education we would not revert back to the state that all nations were in before they adopted public education, where even the most basic literacy was a rare commodity amongst the citizenry.
And show me the test that people would be required to take in order to vote and tell me who would be in charge of that.
You haven't said a thing until you've written it down.
chipshirly,
Good postings. Funny and I can see you are smart too. I sense some good pot maybe as well.
Anyway, welcome and thanks for making this otherwise serious and boring comment section interesting.
Brad
"Lilly white cornpone racist morons breed with each other" according to chipshirley who does appear to be smoking something.
I'm glad to know that the AC has reduced its posting standards. Yesterday someone's post was deleted just for typing ha-ha-ha ho-ho-ho at a riduculous comment someone made. But its OK to call white people racist morons. I could think of some choice words for chipshirley but I'm sure mine would be deleted. Some of us have to be PC, some obviously don't.
southernguy you are right, difficult decisions do have to be made. I for one would be willing to personally pay for my child to participate in high school athletics in school if funding were cut. Their grades are always better when they play a sport for some reason. Those who can't afford to pay can do weekend fundraisers. This very well may be another area that they need to look at. But, some sports like football boast pretty good ticket sales so it might pay for itself.
Cost wise it doesn't make sense the way the GHSA sets up some of the regions. Lakeside & Evans used to be in the same region with Richmond County schools. Now Lakeside, Evans & Greenbrier will all be travelling to Statesboro & Effingham County for games. Maybe it's just me but a short bus ride to Westside seems a lot more cost effective. And I wonder where all the Richmond County schools are going to have to travel to now? I will certainly cost a lot more than coming over to Columbia County.
chipshirley, your ignorance is showing. The USA is not a democracy we are a Republic. We are ruled by laws. We had very good public schools when they were controlled mostly by the counties before the federal government took them over in the name of integration. Now we have the government schools Boortz was talking about which are very poor at best. Obviously chipshirley you are a product of the government schools.
southernboy08, if you cut all athletic programs even more of the black kids would be lost to the gangs. At least a few are saved by sports.
Why not collect pennies for the Richmond County School System instead of all the other fund raisers the county does for other countries and organizations.
southernguy08
You're right, that was stupid for me to say.
I'm lilly white and I was just using 'inbred' to push back on some of the racist stuff on the prez.
I take it back.
class1, no matter how much you give them they will always want more. The schools have more administrators than they do teachers.
By the way chipshirley, the reason we don’t like Obama has nothing to do with race. He is a socialist idiot.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2012. All Rights Reserved.
