Chicago Public Schools Announces Hundreds Of Teacher Layoffs, Pending And Pension Cuts

a reply to: Willtell

Like the Chicago Public School System.

Chicago -- the Left Wing cream dream come true.

Massive Failure without answers.

a reply to: xuenchen

And we are all still here. Chicago is still here. Debt is a prison of the mind that we have let corporations torture us with. All those bankruptcies by Trump must not have destroyed too many lives. He might be President. We have sustaining wars for years and still have money. Money comes in every day.

a reply to: beezzer

Private schools are highly selective of who they accept.

Some forms of discipline in private schools wouldn't be allowed in the public school system.

Public school teachers are most likely paid more than their private school counter parts. Than again, do you think teachers should be paid poorly for the work they do? Teachers are important in society, they help mold and direct our career choices. A country like the U.S. can't be an economic leader in the world if our education system produces incompetent and unskilled workers.

We have a public school in our city which out performs many private schools and is one of the top high schools in the state and in the country. However, students have to apply to be accepted. You can't have lower than a 3.0 GPA to be considered. I can't begin to tell you how many awards this school has received. Guess what, all the teachers at this high school came from low performing public high schools in the city. So what does that tell you?

I'm retired from teaching, thank God! I worked in private industry as a Tech Illustrator and have heard all the complaints about teachers having a cushy job. Summers off etc...I was one of them until I was offered a position to teach. After the first week, I told my wife I didn't want to teach because of the apathetic nature of my students, but she told me to stick it out. (I closed my Graphic Design studio a few months earlier so financially I needed something to keep us going). Twenty and half years later I can easily say teaching is an extremely stressful job and teachers deserve every penny they get.

We've had many student teachers change their majors once they've done their student teaching at our school. I've always said to family members who don't teach, if you think teaching is an easy job, spend a week with a teacher in an inner city school. Most suburban schools don't have the same problems as inner city schools. I can't imagine the problems they must have in the larger metropolitan cities.

Kids are not products off an assembly line. They all have their own personalities and each has their own personal problems to deal with. They're all different type of learners and come from different home lives. As a teacher you have to address each of these personalities and learning disabilities on a daily basis. In the mean time the teacher is addressing behavior problems and disruptions in a classroom of 30 or more students. Students today no longer respect their teachers nor authority. So it's not like years ago if someone acted up and disrupted class you would be threatened to be paddled. It was a consequence a majority of kids didn't want to experience. So teachers had more control of the classroom and it was more conducive to learning.

I'm just trying to explain the perspective of public schools and what teachers are up against.

a reply to: beezzer

So nothing to do with what I said.

I said to cut spending from something with a massive budget to pay for it.

I don't see spending more money to get smaller classrooms and better teachers and resources for those teachers to use as buying more buckets.
I see that as stopping the leak.
Cutting the funding sure doesn't stop anything.

You just can't get past the spending more part.

a reply to: Sremmos80

If more teachers and smaller classrooms would have solved the problem, then we wouldn't have the problem now.

The problem is not with the classrooms.

But if I say anymore, I'll be banned.

So have a nice day.

originally posted by: MOMof3
a reply to: xuenchen

And we are all still here. Chicago is still here. Debt is a prison of the mind that we have let corporations torture us with. All those bankruptcies by Trump must not have destroyed too many lives. He might be President. We have sustaining wars for years and still have money. Money comes in every day.

And the big governments keep failing more and more....and more.



And what does Trump have to do with the Chicago government failures?



Ever get that sinking feeling?

This is not nuclear physics folks it’s all about poverty and uninvolved parents

It’s not liberal policies or conservative policies it’s a combination of many things that is responsible for “failing schools”


I personally think the concept of modern education is overrated

So a lot of kids fail these stupid tests


I mean they can read and write and count a little bit….right?

SOLUTION:

Massive tutoring to the failing kids

or educate the parents first

a reply to: WeRpeons

So you are suggesting there's a big enough difference in children to make public schools and governments fail so badly?

a reply to: xuenchen

Because maybe Trump would be the one to wipe the debt clean and Chicago can start over.

a reply to: Willtell

Everything you describe is caused by government failures.

originally posted by: MOMof3
a reply to: xuenchen

Because maybe Trump would be the one to wipe the debt clean and Chicago can start over.

Well finally we have an answer !!!!

I wonder how the debts will be wiped clean?

Or do we leave that up to the failed governments?

a reply to: xuenchen

I am watching what happens to Greece. They keep ignoring their debt, but banks keep wanting to lend them money. Yes, education needs to remain in the control of the government. I trust you a lot more than CEO's.

originally posted by: xuenchen
a reply to: Willtell

Everything you describe is caused by government failures.

Will all due respect you think too much of this “government” thing


Any “government” is only as good or bad as the people usually

As well the people usually get the government they deserve


It might be an obsession with some people…

Remember “government” is made up of human beings


And one more thing


Where on this planet is an example of a non government you like

Nazi Germany and the confederacy are gone so you can’t choose those

a reply to: Willtell

So which governments are successful?

There must have been one somewhere right?

a reply to: xuenchen

Not just public schools but any other school for that matter. Even colleges and universities are lowering the bar to adjust to the apathetic nature of today's students. Instead of raising the bar were lowering it because of government influence on public education. We are dumbing down America. Heck, I would be on board with all private education, but you do know not everyone would be able to afford it. So the families who can't afford it would be left with a subsidized failing school.

How do you set-up a private school system yet keep it fair. diversified and balanced? Poor kids shouldn't have to attend a poor private school which most likely will have more behavior problems due to inner city gangs.

It really comes down to parent's stressing the value of education. When our school would have a parent teacher conference, the average number of parents attending would only be around 10%. If a teacher saw 30-40 parents over 2 days period out of a class enrollment of 180 students, that was considered really good! It's really sad.

To be honest, I'm scared about the future of education in this country. We're graduating students who can't read at a 5th grade level, who can't spell a simple 4 letter word or do 4th grade math. I'm not exaggerating.

a reply to: Kali74

but of course it's the teachers fault for wanting security and a good salary. I mean they're only responsible for educating our kids... nothing major.

What has the teacher's union brought these teachers?
Pay cuts.
Sounds like a pretty sucky union.
The teachers ought to fire them.

originally posted by: WeRpeons
a reply to: Reallyfolks

Charter schools are not bound by the same state laws and testing requirements as public schools. I say if charter schools can do a better job let them try. The only catch is make sure they have to meet the same requirements as existing public schools. In addition, they can't be selective on what type of student they can accept. They should also have to accept the hoodlums, the low achievers, and the I don't care students. If they disrupt their classrooms, tough, work around it because if they expel a kid they'll lose funding for their charter school. Yep folks, every kid in the public school system has a price on their head.

If Detroit is any example, most new charter schools close after a year. Maybe the grass always looks greener on the other side? If you want public schools to work, get the Federal and state control out of these schools and start letting teachers teach. Schools should be managed locally and the bar should be raised and kept in place without political influence and pressure for social promotions. Teachers across this country have been complaining about the apathetic climate among students. Years of social promotion and pressure to improve graduation rates has caused this. Politicians and school administrators care only about statistics and they don't address and ignore the root cause.

Blaming teacher's is an easy scape goat. ...I'm glad I'm retired.

They should have to accept the hoods, the I don't cares, and the troubled students? Your solution is to put kids in class to make it harder for the non trouble kids to actually have success? How is that fair to the kids wanting to learn? Seems that you feel that the way to go is drag everyone else down instead of forcing the others to rise up. Nice model of success

How about schools also quit trying to teach kids to learn and instead teach them to think.

Or we could start treating education like we do sports:

a reply to: Reallyfolks

You didn't get my point. That's the public school system. They have to accept everyone. Your comparing apples to oranges when you compare public schools to private schools. They're not on the same level playing field. We have a public school that only accepts kids who want to learn. That school is ranked in the top of the state and nationally.

It's not fair to put kids in class who don't want to learn, but that's exactly what is happening in the public school system.

How about schools also quit trying to teach kids to learn and instead teach them to think.

So you can think without learning the material? That's like telling a 5 year-old to recite the alphabet without first learning and identifying the letters.

Look, I know all about teaching kids how to think. I taught a CAD engineering lab for 20 1/2 years and worked in industry for 13 years doing the exact same thing. Engineering is all about thinking and designing and creating to solve a problem. I can't teach a kid to think about designing a mechanical device if he doesn't learn the basics of physics or how to read or draw a blue print. I can't teach them how to wire electronics unless they learn about electronic components and their functions.

originally posted by: WeRpeons
a reply to: Reallyfolks

You didn't get my point. That's the public school system. They have to accept everyone. Your comparing apples to oranges when you compare public schools to private schools. They're not on the same level playing field. We have a public school that only accepts kids who want to learn. That school is ranked in the top of the state and nationally.

It's not fair to put kids in class who don't want to learn, but that's exactly what is happening in the public school system.

How about schools also quit trying to teach kids to learn and instead teach them to think.

So you can think without learning the material? That's like telling a 5 year-old to recite the alphabet without first learning and identifying the letters.

Look, I know all about teaching kids how to think. I taught a CAD engineering lab for 20 1/2 years and worked in industry for 13 years doing the exact same thing. Engineering is all about thinking and designing and creating to solve a problem. I can't teach a kid to think about designing a mechanical device if he doesn't learn the basics of physics or how to read or draw a blue print. I can't teach them how to wire electronics unless they learn about electronic components and their functions.

I am happy for you, I also teach everyday . I have a technical team I lead. Biggest problem I have is too many people who have learned and not enough thinkers. Hot shot college grads who have learned a ton but can't think through basic steps to go from point a to point b. I literally have to take these people and walk them through the concept of thinking through a problem. Of course you need basics, that point was beyond ridiculous and you know it. By high school though you really need to start switching focus from learning to thinking. You of course expand on learning but by high school, students should have a learning base and move more towards thinking. Simply spewing back what you have learned is only half the battle and leaves a lot of required skills on the table. Guess well agree to disagree.