Attitudes on Teachers

OK, I just made two post about teachers and the California Teacher's Association. I want to clarify something about my beliefs on teachers. They are for the most part wonderful people who have an often thankless and underpaid job.

Most teachers do what they do because they love it. I truly appreciate and respect hem for that. Anything I may say from this point on is directed not at teachers but at the administrations they work for. I'm 100% in favor os supporting, defending, and helping teachers.

However I have some real problems with the structure and organization that most of them work for. I personally think that the worst part of the public school system in this country is the teacher's union. I believe that the last thing the Teachers Union is interested in is educating our children. The only thing they care about is protecting their jobs, swelling their sphere of influence and making sure that they stay in control of the education monopoly that they currently hold.

That is why I support private schools and some sort of voucher system. I think a properly implemented voucher system would benefit the children to be educated and the teachers doing the educating.

You can't fix what is wrong with today public educational system by focusing on the teachers, the students, or grades. They are in most cases not the problem. The problem is with the administrators and the bureaucracy that is soaking up a major portion of the money that should be going to the teachers.

The private school that my children attend has an expense level that is about half of what the State of California pays per year per pupil for kids in the public schools. Yet every grade in the school tests, on average, a full grade point above the national standard. That is what good teachers who are unencumbered with an overbearing administration are capable of accomplishing

So when the teacher's unions start screaming that they need more money to fix what is wrong with the schools what they are really saying is there will be problems but if you give us more money we'll think of something or someone else to blame them on next year.

I you really want to fix the educational system in this country you need to do four things:

• disband the National Teacher's Unions
  
• Institute a voucher system to allow all parents to pick and chose where their kids go to school.
  
• Take an organization chart of each state's school system, with the class room teachers at the bottom level and the principals at the next level up. Then go up one level in the organization and from there up, fire every other person.
  
• Institute a salary system that mandates that no administrator may earn more than 85% of the salary of the highest paid classroom teacher who works for them.
  

The teachers are the key to our education system it's time we made them the focus of our time, efforts, and education dollars. Not the administrators who just keep messing it all up.

Just my opinions.....