A teacher's rant

Allen, TX high school band requires 18 to 21 buses just to get their entire band to a performance. The last I heard they were 800+ band members and the largest high school band in the country. They also have only one high school with 5,300 student population. In contrast, Mesa USD has six high schools with a total student population of 18,304.

 

Oh my! That is really uncool!

 

Holy smokes..
Do they serve beer?

 

Bureaucrats always pay themselves first. Cut the unions out of the deal as they all have political agendas, have complete transparency in the school curriculum and budget, and give people in the district the school serves the power to remove the useless asses. Until then, you'll only have a few people that go into teaching. Those with an agenda to push on kids (see current events), those who want summers off (though that's not how it works they still show up thinking it does), those on a power trip, and those who actually want to teach the kids how to think (rather than what to think) and are willing to do it for the crap money that teaching usually pays.

In the end, nothing changes if nothing changes.

 

Fair enough, might just be an idiot.

 

I find it hilarious when I pay with cash at the store. Half of the cashiers don't know what to do with cash.

 

Teachers are undervalued by the board and administrators because they are politicians and they need to justify a way to make the money they make in the process. It's a racket for sure. I wish we could rid ourselves our our board and the administration we have in our school district.

 

I will give him credit; he was dressed nice, polite in how he spoke, and obviously had a job trying to earn his way. Perhaps he is just somewhat new and was never taught how to count money? Hopefully he will learn this skill at work. Still, just irks me when basic skills like this are not taught in school, especially with how much $ the districts soak their tax base for year in and year out.

 

I had to sit in on my son's class once; as did my wife. (Son was doing dumb stuff, but not misbehaving.)

Kids started going buck wild in there. It got bad enough that I myself spoke up and told people to knock it off with the profanity.

One of the 'kids' (who was taller than I by about 2 inches) said "You're not the teacher."

I told him "You're right. The difference between the teacher and I is that she's not allowed to take action physically and otherwise if you step too far out of line" and just looked him in the eye.

Problem solved (at least that day).

 

I will refrain from political comments as best I can....

School admin & it's associated staff are demonstrably awful.

massively wasteful, ass-kissing beaurocrats
some/most Admin Secretaries make more than teachers!

most everyone does nothing (like NASA)...except make sure the state reports get updated.

Having audited a few schools districts & Police unions....life is not what it appears. It's nasty.

I wish there was a media presence strong enough to convince us all to vote for the right people on School district boards.

I would love to be able to go into any School district admin dept & take a fiscal flamethrower to it. I could easily cut 50% of the HR cost of each and every one of those shitholes.

the worst are the "urban" districts...they take advantage of EVERY aspect of spending.
EX La Marque ISD....got shut down & liquidated to the neighboring district.
HISD is a massive shit hole & the newly installed "state take-over" staff is exceptionally shitty.

 

This is whole heartedly accurate. The shenanigans with our board are ridiculously wasteful when it comes to budgets. And I don't live in an urban area. I'll stop here to keep the politics out of this.

 

I believe a lot of these children need their back porch painted red!! along with mom and dad!! These are the children that grow up without discipline or order in their household! I do not know how it all got turned sideways but it is not helping out these young children. They are in for some tough times!
I must stop here. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Since it's teacher appreciation week, things should be better but nah lol students are done with the STAAR test and ready for summer. Behaviors get really testy at this point in the year.

I can offer some insight into the source of the unruly kiddos' behavior - lack of parental involvement and that is it 99.9999% of the time. Where I currently teach, I've never seen so many kids being raised by grandparents (and it's usually just granny). Mom is in rehab or jail, dad is too (or dead), and the poor grandma has to step in or the state does.

Then there are the parents who are against the teachers no matter what their sweet little Johnny does.... Those are the worst. It's the reason I won't ever teach at a non-Title I campus. The affluent schools have them in the droves.

 

My motto is messed up kids messed up parents!

 

Agreed. I mean, sure, it's not *always* the kids, but with that said, when you discipline your kid for something he does wrong (and by that I don't always necessarily just mean spanking LOL) and find out that you are, by far, the most strict parent in the entire school (and in a high school of 1500 that's saying a lot), that tells me the issue isn't that I'm too strict. It's that no one ELSE is.

I've flat had friends of my son tell him, when he complains about punishment, "Man...honestly, that doesn't sound like he's strict. That sounds like he gives a crap about you, bro."

 

I'll bring some more root cause into the discussion...

welfare state.

as mentioned above, we, the tax payers, enable the fatherless homes thru our federal tax support of the welfare state.

more babies without a dad = more $. it's that simple.

I think it would be as simple as limiting child based welfare support to 2 children.

and if you are able to work, you have ONE YEAR of welfare support.

then, lather on social media, and it's effects on the smooth brains of our present moms.

This generation is being mentored, via a phone, by very nefarious media empires.

kids have a phone in their hands ALL THE TIME.

All of this crap manifests itself onto the teachers. they take the brunt of this generational shit show.

 

Drawing from over two decades of experience within the "urban" education system, and with my entire family either retired or still actively engaged in the field, certain truths emerge regarding the origins of poor behaviors and distorted worldviews.

Primarily, the pervasive influence of social media stands as a alarming force shaping the minds of both children and parents alike. In their pursuit of digital parenthood and virtue signaling, many unwittingly subject their offspring to a bombardment of harmful influences. It is imperative to shield our youth from these harmful effects, intervening when they stray into the realm of nonsensical rhetoric that undermines American values of pride and freedom of thought. Social media's sinister grasp has a real impact, apparent in the stark contrast between children raised with prudent guidance and those entangled by its appeal.

Additionally, the rise in mental health disorders, exacerbated by the recent pandemic, merits our attention. While we praise our nation as the pinnacle of opportunity, a troubling culture of victimhood and the normalization of delusion threatens to undermine this narrative. Amidst this turbulence, we must instill in our youth a belief in something greater than themselves, steering them away from the shallows of narcissism and self-pity towards the beacon of faith and resilience.

Finally, the indispensable role of the traditional family structure cannot be overstated. Every child deserves the stabilizing presence of both parents beneath one roof. It is within the crucible of familial unity that values are imparted, resilience is cultivated, and the seeds of a just society are sown.

In summation, fostering a functional and just society requires a concerted effort to address these underlying issues. By safeguarding our youth from the pitfalls of social media, nurturing a spirit of resilience and faith, and upholding the sanctity of the family unit, we lay the groundwork for a future characterized by unity, prosperity, and genuine fulfillment.

 

I couldn't agree more! You've nailed it with those statements. Unfortunately, I feel like logic and reason are losing the battle and no longer have a voice.

 

Hard facts being talked about here. I talk about logic and reasoning all the damn time and people look at me like I'm crazy.

 

sir, we are simpatico.

When I start talking the truth...I get looked at as the bad guy.

Clown world.

 

snowflake generation 101. It's easier for people to blame others than accept it. I'll be their bad guy.

 

If I remember correctly, Katy ISD actually “forgot” to build the school expansion. Spent it all on the stadium.

 

- 71% of young people who do not finish high school come from homes without fathers.
- 85% of everyone in prison come from homes without fathers.
- 70% of suicides in young people happen in homes without fathers.
- 90% of homeless people come from homes without fathers.

Both parents in the home are extremely important and affect the outcome of a child in their adult lives. Not saying there aren't successful single parent households.

I also saw a statistic somewhere, can't remember where, but anxiety and depression significantly increased in youth since the introduction of the smartphone and social media.

 

I'm not trying to diminish your concerns, but it's one single position in charge of a lot of stuff. Just a quick search of the Houston ISD shows 10,993 full time teachers (not including other positions within the district). If the superintendent is making $500k and suddenly decided to work for free so their salary could be dispersed among all teachers, each teacher would make another $46 per year. That's obviously a very large district, but even a district with 1/4 the amount of teachers would only increase salaries by about ~$190 per year in a similar scenario.

Again, I'm not saying whether those salaries are justified, but it's not like they're making that much at the expense of every other employee. It's similar in large corporations, where my company of ~80k employees would only make another $250/yr if our CEO worked for free.

 

Interesting way to look at it.

If pay is commensurate to importance of a job position/title, would you say the Superintendent's job is that much more important than a teacher's?

 

I'm not really qualified to answer that specifically, but it comes down to the level of responsibility. I'd say a police chief's job isn't necessarily more "important" than a patrol officer, even though the chief isn't always out there on the streets responding to calls or patrolling. I do understand why the chief gets paid more than an officer, however, since they're in charge of ensuring the department runs smoothly, and it's their butt on the line for a lot of things department-wide.

I do think many teachers deserve much more than they're paid, but I've also seen some teachers that definitely don't.

It's a tough topic, in general, but I'm just trying to put it in perspective a bit. The CEO of the company I work for made 133x my salary last year, which looks bad at first glance, but I'd also not want his responsibilities. Whether he's actually worth 133x more than me is really up to the market. It really comes down to the question of what teachers are worth, and comparing teacher salaries to a superintendent doesn't really answer that question. In my example above, would paying the superintendent the same as a teacher and giving teachers ~$100 more per year (before taxes) really make anyone happy?

Anyway, I know I'm probably coming off like a d-bag, but I just wanted to throw this out there.

 

Well, I guess the main difference with your comparison is that education is not corporate America. When taxes fund your existence, everything is scrutinized, and teacher salaries seem to be the primary target when budgets are hammered out. On the other hand, school boards seem to have no problem setting lofty numbers for Superintendent pay.

CEOs also get lofty pay and it doesn't seem to matter how badly they run a company into the ground, they'll eventually leave when they want to and parachute out with a tidy sum. Luckily, most Superintendents don't have this luxury, but never fear because another Ed. D will easily be found to accept their mid-high six figure salary.

 

It is truly a bummer, disheartening to learn that elementary also acts like such :/

I have seen middle and high schoolers sure do all the above mentioned items just on a way more escalated, “new level-unlocked” gusto mentality. Just last month, I have even jumped in to break up several physical altercations… I have even had the unfortunate/displeasure of happening upon some students skipping to get high in the restroom and others in the recess under a corner stairwell, “getting busy”.

Those incidents are just from 2022/23 & 2023/24 school years (we are not even done with current year yet either). Oh, the stories that I can relay in the “field” :/

 

You work for WISD? I did too.