re: #202 marjoriemoon

hehe I know the Right hates the Dept of Education. I hear that here a lot. I’m not a scholar, but I’m sure I could come up with many benefits. I’ll make it my project for 2010, k?

It’s not just buying the kids laptops and schoolbooks. It’s changing the system. Teachers have a hard time teaching in many schools, primarily because of fear of lawsuits. Class sizes are too large, salaries too small.

In the Catholic schools here, the teacher salaries are set at 2/3 of the public school salaries; and a class of 30 is normal.

They have no lack of applicants for the teaching positions; and the kids actually learn; classes are ahead of their public school counterparts, and by the 6th or 7th grade, they are a whole YEAR ahead in coursework.

So - I’m sort of thinking the problem is more along the lines of:
1. Lack of discipline in schools (resulting from a fear of lawsuits against school officials when they discipline a kid).
2. Rowdy classes from the lack of discipline.
2. Teachers are afraid in some schools, from the lack of discipline.
3. Parents who don’t care as much as they could about the benefits of a good education.