Say Anything Blog

Great Post.  By this graph we are spending FAR more in real dollars than any other country in the world.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

By this graph we are spending FAR more in real dollars than any other country in the world.

And getting FAR less for out education dollar spent as well.  I have never understood the patently ridiculous argument that to improve our children’s education we should pay more money to the same people who obviously aren’t doing a very good job in the first place.

America’s children, our children, learned a helluva lot more, and learned it better, when they were taught by teachers, rather than being supervised by educators.

Did you notice that there are no Arab and/or Muslim countries listed anywhere on either chart?  Other than Turkey, there are no middle eastern countries.  Also, China is not listed. Why is that I wonder?

Bopper…

One possible reason is that, In the Islamic world, education is simply not the same as it is in the west. Madrassas, or Islamic schools are more common in many of the countries than the traditional public school system. Just guessing, but that could be the reason. It would be very difficult to chart those schools. China - I have no idea.

Election ‘08 - We Are So Screwed

This list doesn’t have any black countries either.

“If a conservative is still a republican after the last 13 years, he is blind to the fact that his party of choice has failed him utterly.” – Realitybasedbob

Aha!  This explains Anonomisly’s inability to spell!

...and r108s inability to argue logically.

Aha!  This explains Anonomisly’s inability to spell!

LOL

It’s just so hard to pinpoint the education problem in the USA; but we need to look at how the other countries are doing it and adopt similar techniques.  I have done some substitute-teaching, and I can tell you that when people say there’s no discipline in schools, they aren’t joking.  Most of you would DIE if you saw how kids behave, and they have no fear of ANY authority.  Worst of all, you can’t kick them out, partly because there’s too many of them, and partly because being in school is the law.  Their parents don’t back-up the teachers or administrators, and needless to say there are no consequences for them at home - the parents aren’t even home anyway.

It’s just so hard to pinpoint the education problem in the USA; but we need to look at how the other countries are doing it and adopt similar techniques.

Actually, all we have to do is to look at how our own private schools to see what needs to be done.

Media uncovers more Palin stories in one weekend than Obama stories in two years. Still no bias detected

Obama: more experienced than Bristol Palin

Private schools:  they CAN kick you out for bad behavior!  Hmmmm . . .

Private schools only appear to be working because they’re selective. If they were forced to accept everyone, as public schools are, they’d have the same problems.

There are a number of problems with education in this country, and money may not be the only one, but it’s the main one. You get what you pay for, and public school teachers don’t get paid very much. It’s like anything else - if you want better talent, you’re going to have to pay more. I’d love to be a teacher, but there’s just no money in it.

I just have one question about school choice and vouchers.  It’s an extreme example, but if 500 parents decide to send their kids to a High School with an enrollment of 250 kids, is there a cutoff of how many can get into that school or can all 500 kids attend?

I have a bit of a different take. I think that parents in other countries put a premium on education. They tell their children that it is important and back it up by the way they act. I think parents need to be incentivized, somehow, to participate in their children’s existance.

It’s like anything else - if you want better talent, you’re going to have to pay more.

Two words sum up my opinion on this:  bull and crap.

You can pay more and more and more until the cows come home and you won’t improve education.  When I was growing up, teachers made no money at all yet we got a good education.  I am a firm believer that 95% of the problems schools face start in the home.

When I was a kid, if you got in trouble at school, the punishment the school dealt out was the least of your worries.  Your parents were far more scary than any school teacher or administrator.  Now, the exact opposite is true.  Parents excuse the bad behavior of their kids and argue with anyone who might suggest that the child did anything wrong.  Let me give an example.

Recently, a high school student had been given a project to update a Veteran’s Day presentation.  I always help the school that does the presentation with the logistics of it.  I contacted the student about the presentation and was told it was finished and that her mother was delivering it to the school.  I will leave out the gory details, but ultimately, the presentation was not finished and I was lied to at least three times about the status of it.  Ultimately, we had to use another, older presentation for the program.

The student’s mother refused to believe that her daughter could possibly have done anything wrong.  Her daughter has good grades therefore, she couldn’t have lied.  From what I later learned, this is just one in a long string of incidents like this.  The mother doesn’t think that the rules that apply to ordinary students should apply to her daughter.

When parents display such a lack of respect for the school officials, why should the kids?  Got in trouble?  Momma will come along and threaten a lawsuit and everyone backs down.  Just read the papers.  It’s in there every day.

Until we as a society are willing to step up and support the people we expect to teach our children, we will never have good schools no matter how much we spend.

"Although I can accept talking scarecrows, lions and great wizards in emerald cities, I find it hard to believe there is no paperwork involved when your house lands on a witch.”
- Dave James

So as a sign of support we should pay them less?

Talent is inborn, although it can be either developed or stunted by the “educational system”.  We don’t have a talent problem; our problem is a socialist education system that punishes excellence, instead choosing to produce a uniform, mediocre product.  It is not designed to nurture the talented kids; it’s designed to protect the feelings of the less talented kids, and so far, it is succeeding in both respects.

Private schools work because they reward talent and effort.  Period.

Media uncovers more Palin stories in one weekend than Obama stories in two years. Still no bias detected

Obama: more experienced than Bristol Palin

So as a sign of support we should pay them less?

We seem to keep paying them more and more for doing a worse job. 

Apparently the teachers are smart enough to realize that the worse job they do they more they get paid.  Fortunately some of the teachers actually care about the kids.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

Private schools only appear to be working because they’re selective. If they were forced to accept everyone, as public schools are, they’d have the
same problems.

In a market economy, the supply expands to fill the demand.  You are stuck in the “one big school” model of public education.  Private schools would undoubtedly be smaller and more numerous.  Duh

Media uncovers more Palin stories in one weekend than Obama stories in two years. Still no bias detected

Obama: more experienced than Bristol Palin

Chad said, You get what you pay for, and public school teachers don’t get paid very much.

They often get paid better than private school teachers. Rob has made numerous posts on this site detailing this fact.

Now what Chad?

Teachers are very well paid.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

I also like how Chad says, “you get what you pay for”.

I guess he forgot to check out the graphs above. He would have seen that we spend the most on education and that we’re very clearly not getting what we paid for.

I’d blame him, but he’s just a typical product of our education system. He’s not too bright.

Teachers have been lying forever to their students that they are “underpaid.” As a student you almost have to believe them. 

Of course some of us grow out of it.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

Whose idea was it to use the same two colors in both graphs, even though they mean two completely different things (you’re supposed to read the legend of the second graph and note the distinction (different/not-different vs. 1995/2002 apparently))?  Obviously a product of an American education designed these graphs…

Or maybe a wise student of CNN who knows that graphs are best used to confuse, rather than inform.

[Feet make good soup!]

Dittybopper’s question about the lack of Arab/Muslim countries and China is answered at:

http://www.oecd.org/document/58/0,2340,en_2649_201185_1889402_1_1_1_1,00.html

Basically, the graphs above list the member countries of the OECD.

SteveL:  a star for you, and go to the head of the class!

The Myth of the Underpaid Teacher rears it’s corpulant head.

http://swz.salary.com/salarywizard/layoutscripts/swzl_compresult.asp?jobcode=ED03000011&jobtitle=Teacher+High+School&jobtitlecomp=&narrowcode=ED01&narrowcodecomp=&narrowdesc=Education&zipcode=&metrocode=&statecode=&geo=the+United+States&geocomp=&pagenumber=4&iscompare=&comparetype=&openlink=&state=&metro=&city=&searchpage=&isgeometro=0&isforcompanalyst=0&sr25=39,161&sr50=49,425&sr75=58,056&r=salswz_swzttsint_psr&p=050205_psr_495&paycheckcalc=0

Crappy teachers * crappy parents = crappy students.

Money is not a factor in the equation.

Crappers - sorry about that.

And why is it that you get crappy teachers? For the same reason the service sucks at fast food resturants - the money sucks. Are any of you teachers? Of course not, because the money sucks, and you know it.

Once again, private schools, despite the fact that they pay teachers less, only appear to be doing better because they’re selective. They don’t have the problem of having to teach everyone. You’re not going to magically get rid of all the bad students in the country by privatizing education.

And why is it that you get crappy teachers? For the same reason the service sucks at fast food resturants - the money sucks.

If the money sucks, then why are there waiting lists to become teachers?

You’re not going to magically get rid of all the bad students in the country by privatizing education.

Of course not, but by giving parents the power to choose schools there is more flexibility to put bad students in better situations.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

They don’t have the problem of having to teach everyone.

There are many examples of private schools that specialize in helping kids that have failed in the failed public schools. 

The kids in those schools do much better than they did in private schools.

Why do you hate kids so much?

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

The Myth of the Underpaid Teacher rears it’s corpulant head.

Good pay for part time work.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.