Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Monday April 16 2018, @01:36PM   Printer-friendly
from the going-nationwide dept.

Common Dreams reports

Colorado's teachers' union expects more than 400 teachers at a rally that's planned for Monday at the state's Capitol in Denver.

[...] Englewood School District, outside the capital city, announced on Sunday that schools would be closed the following day as 70 percent of its teachers had indicated they wouldn't be working Monday. It was unclear on Sunday whether more school districts would be closing.

"We are calling Monday, April 16th a day of action", Kerrie Dallman, president of the Colorado Education Association (CEA), told KDVR in Denver.

[...] According to[1] KMGH in Denver, "The CEA estimates that teachers spend on average $656 of their own money for school supplies for students." The state's teacher salaries rank 46th out of 50, with educators making an average of $46,000 per year.

Public schools are underfunded by $828 million this year, Dallman told the Post, and lawmakers have said they could inject at least $100 million more into schools--but they have yet to do so.

[...] The planned protest follows a trend that was seen in West Virginia and Kentucky before moving west this month to Oklahoma and Arizona as well as Colorado. In all the states where teachers have walked out and rallied at their Capitols, teachers have reported paying for school supplies out of pocket, working second and third jobs to make ends meet, and coping with funding shortages while their legislators hand out tax cuts to corporations.

[1] For a laugh (or perhaps a deep sigh), check out all the whitespace in the source code of the page.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 16 2018, @11:47PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 16 2018, @11:47PM (#667854)

    I know plenty of successful people who went through public education. Actually pretty much all of the people I know did. You're being ridiculous about the state of education. Bad? Yes. Bad as you make it out to be? No.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @06:56AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @06:56AM (#667961)

    I know plenty of successful people who went through public education.

    It was not my position that no successful people went through public schooling, so that's just a straw man. However, were they successful because of public schooling, or in spite of it? Perhaps they went above and beyond what was required of them and, to some extent, took their educations into their own hands. Or, perhaps your definition of 'successful' simply means that they make a decent amount of money; in that case, they could be quite uneducated and still be capable of such a feat. Our school system pumps out worker drones in massive numbers, so that would be no surprise. Just being able to earn money is not a sign that someone is highly educated.

    Either way, I suspect we have radically different standards. As our school system (as can be demonstrated by the tests and the standards) is mostly based on rote memorization, I believe things are every bit as bad as I have said. Under no circumstances could such a horrendous system ever be adequate to me.

    Actually pretty much all of the people I know did.

    Since the first group of people you brought up were "successful people," that appears to mean that these other people are not part of that group. Why even bring them up if they're not "successful" by your own standards? That adds nothing to your argument.

    You're being ridiculous about the state of education.

    No, I simply value real education, and I do not think that our current system comes anywhere close to providing that. It has some success teaching the absolute basics, but little else.

    Bad? Yes.

    So even you believe that a bad school system can produce "successful" (however you're defining that) people. So, again, what was the point of bringing up the "successful" people that you know of if such people can arise even in bad schools systems?

    It is good that you recognize that our school system is lacking, however. Quibbling over how bad it is exactly probably isn't all that useful.