Spring, Chapters 6 & 8

“Traditionally, community members exercised their control over public schools by electing representatives to local school boards.” (Spring, 148)

      Ha!  This seems to be true for small communities, but I do not see this happening with big districts.

      As we discussed in class residence of New York City did not get a say as to who was on the school board back in 2002; Mayor Bloomberg simply appointed several CEOs to the school board back at that time.

      The other issue with a board of education is that they also do not always listen to the public.  This does not make sense because the public really does not get a say in the students’ education.

“Ask people in your community to name the members of the local school board.” (Spring, 150)

      This is just as funny as the first quote.  The book goes on to explain that most people will shrug their shoulders when asked this questions because, they don’t know.  In reality do the members of the community know who they are voting for when they get to elect the school board?

      The school boards typically get the final say in what happens in schools.  As a member of the public, I feel as though it would be good to know at least one member of the local school board because this way if someone wishes to make a suggestion he/she knows who to go to.

“Home schooling is one answer for parents who want to take charge of their children’s education.” (Spring, 155)

      This completely makes sense because school boards are not always making the best decisions for students’ education.  This takes many variables out of play and the parent’s know exactly what their child is learning.

      The issue with this is that the parents now have to put together a curriculum for their child(ren)’s education and this take a lot of time.  Simply sending a kid to public schooling is easy but he/she may not learn everything the parents wish for him/her to learn.

“If we assume that high salaries attract the best teachers, then difference in teacher salaries between school districts might reflect differences in equality of educational opportunity for students.”  (Spring, 221)

      This is upsetting.  Teaching should not be about the money but educating students.

      If teachers are going for the money then the better teachers are all going to end up in the same districts and the districts that cannot afford the better teachers are going to end up with the not so good teachers.  Without having the best teachers the students may not get a strong education.

      Unfortunately, districts cannot turn away and recruit teachers for their staff.

“A national study of teachers’ working conditions found that full-time public school teachers at both the elementary and secondary levels are required to be at school for an average of 33 hours a week.” (Spring, 221)

      So according to my calculations this averages to 6.6 hours per day.  To me, this makes sense.  Most school days are about 6 hours and teachers typically spend up to an hour afterschool grading papers and getting ready for the next school day.

      These working conditions do not seem to be that bad.  A businessperson typically works 40/week for almost all 52 weeks in a year.  So not only do teachers average a shorter work week but they also don’t work 52 weeks/year, they actually work around 36 weeks/year.

“The 2002 school year opened with its usual cycle of teacher strikes.” (Spring, 202)

      I never fully understood what a strike was but from what I do understand, these teachers were not happy with something.  In my opinion teachers have it really good and what are they always complaining about.  Most teachers even have tenure and it would take a major foul to lose their job.

      I do feel as though there are some issues with teaching but I believe these issues should be settled within the school.  It is not always necessary to get the public involved with teachers’ affairs.