Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Never Enough . . .

The state is increasing the funding of pre-K programs according to todays O-D. But, as the headline says, "Schools want more ..."

It's always this way isn't it? There is never enough, because schools can always dream up something to do - - like making movies and dreaming of celebrity families in language class. While new technology in the classroom can be a help, it can also be a distraction. It's better to spend time learning to conjugate avoir in French than learning "Power Point" which might be obsolete in 5 years (and can be learned on one's own anyway -- presuming that one is able to read, of course).

Before extending more money, extending the school day or school year, or extending the years of schooling that we must finance, how about ensuring that we get some value for what we already pay?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Pretty soon we are going to have one (1) teacher to five (5) children. Why? Because of some bureaucrat who has been duped by New York State Education Commissioner and his Committee(s) on Education.

I am not sure who is more ignorant on educating our children - administrators or those who fund unnecessary programs in the "name" of the children.

Educators need to get back to the basics (i.e. the 3 r's). BOCES too, is just another breeding ground of students whom the local school officials refuse to accept responsibility for.

Instead of increasing funding to our schools; we need to demand more accountability and recruit resource personnel not credentialed administrators.

It would not surprise me to learn that we have school administrators who do not even know how to add 2 + 2. You think I am kidding? Just look at the low test scores in math, verbal skills, etc. Who do you think is teaching our children? Better yet, what skill sets are these teachers and administrators teaching them?

I would like to see both administrators and teachers be on probation for five years and removed far more often for incompetence than they have been over the past twenty years.

Lastly, I think it is long overdue that we start consolidating school districts and reducing overhead by (at least) 30%. It can be done, however, there will be a lot of screaming and yelling by those who have for years "fed" from the public trough.