As someone just starting a teaching career here is my concerns:

lack of parent/student involvement in understanding what education is about (to worried about grades less worried about learning the material)
a mandated scripted curriculum that makes everyone bored as shit, that is not built by people who know what the fuck it means to be in a classroom, and cuffs us
constant hostility towards my professional judgement when I have a job that is so cognitively demanding its a crime that my salary is a meek $40k. I legit should earn 75k+ for what I must do in order for my students to truly succeed - I should earn even more since they come in so ill prepared as they tell me about their previous teachers or curriculum being complete trash
such minimal support in professional development and practices that I feel so alone in doing this


Just like in any other profession, the professional should be the one doing the research and so forth. And when I mean the professional I mean the people in the classroom. I do not like all of this administrative stuff that happens at the district level by people who are disconnected from the classroom. Yes, they can go around and observe and share and research on their own time but as far as I am concerned you do not learn something about a field unless you are actively in the field on the regular. I feel HORRIBLE that as a math teacher I am not involved in developing curriculum and standards and courses for students and leaving it up to people who have been out of the game or have minimal time in the game as people who first become teachers join in and then realize after a few years that they cannot handle it and move onto something else in education that is not in the classroom. THE ONLY THING ABOUT EDUCATION IS THE CLASSROOM. I DO NOT CARE WHAT ANY PERSON ON THIS planet can say about that. You use the classroom as the basis for all other things that happen outside and as far as I am concerned the only way to use that basis is to be in it on the regular.

I could add a lot as this probably is my passion in life and I do not want to give it up but if it goes the way it is I am both excited and scared.

p.s. I would be happy to put in 100-120+ hours a week for 52 weeks a year just like a corporate lawyer or investment banker or any other elite professional that makes 150k++ out of college... but im not going to do that for $40k because a bunch of Neanderthals want to tell me what I should make, how I should teach, and what type of teaching I do. It's a good reason why I am concerned that my Doctorate will not be in education but instead mathematics.

This post was edited by Duckling on Sep 22 2016 03:32pm

do you think it would be better if it was easier to fire bad teachers? It would raise the standard for teachers and lower the supply of teachers -- the free market would naturally increase the wages of teachers in that case and give incentive for quality teachers such as yourself to do your best. This is obviously assuming removal of huge government regulations

This post was edited by majorblood on Sep 22 2016 04:35pm

bad teachers are on there way out i think by teachers being evaluated so critically these days its insane.
its hard to apply this to markets similar to law & medicine & finance that attract top talent. private sector has the initiative for profit. I can compare what I do to a prosecutor in that my initiative is pushing the common good. But perhaps I am not aware of what it takes to be a good government prosecutor.

the treatment of the profession though must change otherwise you only get people that do it for the students and not for the profession itself (even though the profession itself is primarily for the students there are other things involved).

i still think some regulation might be there though as this is something that is needed to help "combat inequality" and all other social injustices...

do you think an increase in private schools might create more ideal circumstances?

This post was edited by majorblood on Sep 22 2016 05:17pm

idk already been asked why I dont work at 1 by my students. told them I'd rather work with those that are "strugglers" because imo they need the support more

i think its a shame tbh that private one's even need to exist and that the public ones offered are not sufficient enough. it just shows imo that they're not ran their best

government ran systems are often not as efficient as free market private industries

i think there are things that need to be used to support our public such as education, law enforcement & makers, and other safety protocols and these should be operating efficiently for the good of the public

they dont though because of corruption?

Often this is the result of self-fulfilling prophecy. Take the fertilizer plant explosion in Texas. They claim the government can't properly regulate, then cut funding so they can't inspect a plant but every few decades, then when the plant explodes (last time a government building exploded like that?) it's pointed out as a failure of regulation.

why do you think they need to be government ran institutions for the things you said?