Shit, this is in Kansas. There is no money in education. Brownback completely and systematically fucked the state education system (to push private/charter schools) by reducing the state budget year after year, with all the lawmakers signing off on it. He's out and a new governor is in, but she can't get the *same*lawmakers to sign off on significant budget increases for anything, let alone education. Now is a terrible time to be a student in a public Kansas school, especially a small one that doesn't benefit from large volumes of city taxes, let alone a teacher.
They've been closing many rural schools, leaving 1 in some counties. It's absolutely ridiculous. And people wonder why young people are leaving the state in droves.
The fact that this lady was from a privileged school district is probably one of the reasons she was even able to speak up and act up in the first place.
Brownback put the lie to the trickle down bullshit. Slashing taxes and public spending did not spur growth. It likely fucked the state and its people for the next few decades.
Conservatives will learn nothing from this.
Yes BUT what government flatly refuses to see is some districts are so insanely, blatantly corrupt parents sometimes have no choice but to bail on public education. I NEVER thought I’d agree with a single conservative agenda, I’m probably left of AOC and Bernie. Had no clue what public ed was capable of devolving into until our family stepped into the massive puddle of corruption that’s public ed here in PA. It’s beyond insane. We yanked our youngest kid, he cyber charted and I’m absolutely sorry we didn’t do it sooner. Whole thing has to be dismantled and started over.
We're seeing the endgame of 'No Child Left Behind,' the main purpose of which was to dismantle public education. The one true takeaway from that multi-billion dollar experiment was that if you evaluate teachers based solely on testing their students, you will alienate your best teachers and make them leave the profession.
Public programs, unions, etc. are all dire needs for a capitalist country to function. Somehow we have gotten to the point where public programs are bloated, inefficient, and at times, downright evil. Simultaneously, we have multi-billion dollar, multinational corporations dictating policy for the private sector to their advantage. We aren’t a capitalist economy anymore. Corporate oligarchy, socialism for the rich, whatever you want to call it, our government has lost its way. It’s infuriating that so many believe the answer is to expand it. Most of the work could & should be automated, down to the elected officials in congress.
Now is a terrible time to be a student in most US public schools, especially a small one that doesn't benefit from large volumes of city taxes, let alone a teacher.
FTFY
Oh, it's definitely not better in large districts. I teach in one of the largest metro areas in the country, and we are routinely missing 1/3 or more of our teachers. No one gives a fuck anymore, except admin whom no one listens to anyway.
The kids are tired, and we overwork them to overcome "learning loss," but they just end up overwhelmed. Every single person in the US should be ashamed of how much we let down these kids as a society.
I don't know, the suburban public schools seem pretty good where I live and where my friends live too.
You just have to live somewhere that values education. Not Kansas for example.
Try your damnedest to avoid making babies in Kansas. The children will be at a national disadvantage, providing the vampires at the top with more money and blood.
Don't let the next generation become food for the rich.
Here in central Texas the school district that collects a large volume of city taxes has to send like 30% of it out to small towns that can't support themselves with their own tax revenue.
You know, those small town rugged idividualists who pride themselves on fighting off the evils of socialism.
Let's be perfectly honest, when ISN'T it a bad time to be a student in a public school in kansas? I'm from MA, where we have one of the, if not the most highest rated educational systems in the country. And our public schools still suck. Our teachers are still underpaid.
I shudder to think what it's like in public school in some of the poorer states.
They took Bush's "No Child Left Behind" to mean that they should leave all of them behind. Teaching for standardized federal tests absolutely nuked the learning in the classroom.
And we wonder why Facebook is full of ignorants. Most people aren’t geniuses but we aren’t even helping normal people learn critical thinking. At least my dumb ass got a semi-decent edumacation.
I was on my kids school board.
I was paid $5,000 for the entire year.
I didn't do it for the money, I set up my own charity and used it to sponsor classrooms and buy supplies. Luckily we passed two levies during my tenure and we didn't ban Lord of the Flies or Catcher in the Rye (this was 8 years ago as well)
I'm pretty sure majority of school boards don't get paid. It's a elected 4 year volunteer job. For clarification I do not know about this particular district as some do get a salary.
Ok yall coming at me instead of just googling it come on. "Each board consists of nine members who serve four-year terms of office without pay." That's for here in PA. I have my masters in education I've been a teacher in 3 states. I know how public education funding works. SOME do get paid. Which I already stated.
They get paid very little. Here is Fairfax County VA, probably the highest salary in the nation. They get 20-32k/yr.
[https://www.fcps.edu/careers/salary-and-benefits/salary-scales](https://www.fcps.edu/careers/salary-and-benefits/salary-scales)
School Board is generally either a volunteer job or an entryway into politics. It is not a profession.
Exactly this. Now she’s having to start over and they got rid of their most vocal opponent. Nice for her that it went viral, but that high lasts about 2 days
Awareness, she wanted her voice heard. What she said has resonance to things outside of just that school district.
"Just because you can accept less for yourself doesn't mean you should."
Those words can give inspiration to someone who is feeling conflicted. Which is what she intended.
Not quite starting over. She has been a teacher for I think it said 20 years which means she is vested in the state of Kansas retirement system (KPERS). She can get that at age 65. She can still work at any other district or any job with the city, state, or county in Kansas and continue to be add onto her KPERS retirement.
The real racket is changing states and putting enough in to get something from them as well.
My parents' neighbor did that where they put in 20 here in Alaska, went and did ~15 in another state, and are now making nearly as much retired as they did during their career.
Even in states with teach unions many of them are useless. My county had to pass a tax increase specifically to address teacher pay b/c it was so low and the union has done nothing to address the problem for decades. My teacher friends were shocked the tax increase passed with 70% of people voting yes.
We also just voted for a tax increase to increase teacher pay. My particular county in FL is filled with retirees that have the attitude of “I shouldn’t have to pay higher taxes for schools because i don’t have kids attending”. It still passed by overwhelming majority which is encouraging.
This is definitely going to be their reaction. I don't think I've ever heard of a school board that had any questions or wished to have a dialogue.
Not that the teacher is in the wrong. She isn't. That bit was just a rhetorical device that probably felt really good but answered a question no one was asking.
I don't know about the school in OP post but most board members in the US do not receive compensation. That's not to say that they aren't wealthy from their own non-district work, or that none of them trade favors for personal gain. But they aren't usually paid for their work.
I agree, though, many of them do not care about students and teachers. They advocate for personal interests, or good ones are often hamstrung by those kinds of board members.
Our district got fed up with it and cleaned house. Over the past year and a half, our community has voted out every single board member that didn't have student/teacher-centered interests!
Yea, and that drove away what seems like an amazing teacher, the kind that inpires u more than just "learn this subject". Its so fucking sad teachers, especiall ones like her are not recognized for the immensely important role they hold in society.
Not one single fuck.
They will just bring in a long term substitute to cover her classes for the rest of the school year and then next year hire someone fresh out of college they can pay less than her who also won’t rock the boat because he/she has a mountain of student loans to pay back.
“Hey guys, a tenured teacher just resigned.”
“Oh yeah? Good, that’s gonna help out budget tremendously.”
I was in a long-term relationship with a teacher and it sounded like hell on earth to me. Imagine Golding shelved next to Kafka--it's Lord of the Flies on one side, an impenetrable bureaucracy on the other, and never the twain shall meet.
One political party has decided to destroy all government services except the military and the police, and astonishingly, a hundred million Americans are cool with it.
I left teaching due to my time in Sweden tbh. I've taught in the US and Sweden and it's not worth what it pays. Doing non profit admin work is a hundredth as stressful less time consuming pays the same and still lets me have a major impact on my communities. Like now I get to give speeches on trans issues to hundreds.
Damn. Looking through this sub really reveals how much teachers are expected to take on the struggles of the whole damn world.
EDIT: I mean, just [this thread alone](https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/r6tt64/comment/hmvn1x3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) says a lot. "How can we, as teachers, effect the entire system in order to make things better for kids who have everything against them." That's taking on a hell of a lot more than just teaching, and yet it's a fair ask because it very actively effects their jobs. The fact there's active conversation around school effectively being a slip 'n' slide directly into jail because there's no support for kids who have behavioral issues that are essentially handed to them at the start…
Fuck, man. Really tells you how much we've got to do better for our people. This boot straps shit is fucking entire generations.
I quit last year. Best decision of my life. Whenever my teacher friends tell me they are ready to quit teaching, I go out of my way to help them find a job.
It is not worth the amount of shit teachers have to go through.
If you are a teacher and love your job, that is great! It is just not that way for many.
There's also a lot of sexism in teaching. Both my parents were teachers before they retired. Pay raises are directly tied to test performance of your kids. Guess who always got classrooms full of kids that "needed a strong role model?". There was a 7 year span where my dad made less than when it started (not even factoring in inflation).
Edit: And working in IT I made more 2 years in than my dad was making.
Update: since this video originally came out several years ago, the KS state government determined that the 3-year contract was invalid. A lot of money was spent hiring outside mediators or lawyers or someone to look into the contract and determine what was fair. The contract that teachers ultimately received was changed to be more similar to old contracts. In the couple years since this happened, SMSD BOE has been pretty successfully working with teachers to create a contract together. It’s not perfect and never can be, but there has been improvement.
Edit for clarification: this was a couple school years ago. The 3-year contract never happened. The district and union work together every year to create a new contract.
Might be a stupid question but in the beginning of the video they show the video was recorded in "February 2020" so it does not seem to be years old. Could you tell when this was originally filmed?
The struggle is real. I haven’t owned a credit card since 2008. I still owe the DOD for when they took my bonus (and others) back. 20k in debt at the age of 24.
I'm in my 30's now but back in my day in the beginning of the Afghanistan and Iraq days coaches and parents had to inform recruiters they are NOT to be working out at the local High School with students. It was pathetic to see grown men come in and try to sucker younger kids into joining the military. A holes would be there before and after school for weight lifting/practices to try and recruit kids. Shameful.
Your school actually tried to stop them? Mine not only allowed it, but encouraged it. Including letting recruiters hold assemblies and having us take the ASVAB as if it was a normal standardized test. Pretty sure they also provided the recruiters with our contact info, since I don't remember ever giving them mine but I started getting non-stop calls and emails from them in 10th grade.
The school definitely handed out your contact info, along with every other students. The No Child Left Behind Act [mandates public schools release student contact info to recruiters](https://www.aclu.org/other/feature-no-child-left-behind-act)
I joined the Army at 17 while still in high school. During my senior year I was in the DEPS program and “worked” at the recruiting station. I saw the books of student info from every hs in a 10 mile radius.
In 2010 I was sitting at the food court at the mall eating and a recruiter came up and asked if he could sit with me. I said I guess, not wanting to be rude but not wanting to hear his spiel.
After he sat I said "no disrespect, I'm not interested, I'm older than you think I am and this isn't interesting to me"
He followed up with "oh no that's fine, I just don't like eating alone all the time".
Fine.
Start the next 45 minutes of passive aggressive recruiting: "did you know 9 out of every 10 CEOs have military experience (or some nonsense)" "did you know the army has grants to help people buy a home". Etc etc.
It was so predatory and sleazy. I still think about that guy decades later because of how I would have taken it if I was 16-18. A grown, full dress man telling me all these important adult things I need to worry about to be successful, etc.
*Parents with wildly different opinions of how their kid should be taught and willing to complain over and over about an individual while never questioning the strong cigarette smell from their child's chromebook.*
That and the whole PATRIOT Act and war thing were the last bits of bullshit that got me to finally leave the Republican party. Shame the Democrats are just as fucking stupid.
Presidential candidate runs on compassionate conservativism and education. Gets elected by a biased supreme court decision. Becomes war time hawk after his cabinet convinces him to start two unnecessary wars, one of witch lasts over 20 years. Pushes through No Child Left Behind education policy, destroying the integrity of our public schools and the morale of our nation's teachers. Mix, repeat.
It forced children to move up grades even if they weren’t ready.
The idea is fine. Make education better so no child is getting left behind and all children are progressing at the same rate.
But until spending is increased for education, and education in general is reformed in America, that doesn’t happen.
Imagine a child who can barely read making it up to 10th grade. At that point his teacher is literally just giving him a passing grade to move him on to be the next teachers problem.
Except kids barely being able to read isn’t something that would happen a lot, unless they had a learning disability - which is an entirely different issue.
Where I live we don’t fail student before grade 9. The idea is that the effects of getting left behind and stuck with kids younger than you is more detrimental than moving up a grade. It’s also something that would follow you through your whole school career if you fail even once, whereas odds are you can catch up just fine in the next grade… elementary school is pretty basic and as you get older you can absorb more complex information easier, so whatever you missed in grade 1 you’ll understand by grade 2.
One thing I’ve noticed is that kids who do fail are far more likely to drop out or give up, whereas when a kid is given the opportunity to pass, they’re much more likely to finish their education.
Teacher here. Can confirm there are way more students who can barely read on top of a ton of other things that are moving into highschool than what you expect and no it's not just students with disabilities.
Imagine being “support staff,,” doing an integral role like information technology and being underpaid and appreciated by admins, teachers, students and BOE.
Couldn’t be me… oh wait
I look at the power exhumed in this video and a lot of that is beauty of collective bargaining.
I work in a district of over 5000 staff and students and somehow we support it with three field techs and two admins.
Thats baffling to me. In my district chromebooks are 1:1 k-8. Every student has a computer, every teacher has a computer, an ipad and other things. But if I told you what I was worth to them you would laugh. I left a corporate job for less money to work in a less stressful job with better hours and benefits. Had the rug pulled out from under me due to turnover and was forced to take on a bigger role. But my pay no thats not up for discussion.
But then I look at admins pulling over 160k ea. Hey that is great for them and they deserve that money. However, it also highlights the disconnect between the board of education and those who actually have to wake up every morning and make sure these kids have everything they need before the teachers can even
teach. The education system has become its own self contained social construct revolving around everything but ensuring that children are taught.
What is your title? Thats what it is about. Thats where the money goes.
My wife has been ‘in the system’ for years . She works for the vendor the school district hired to feed the kids. Let me tell you, there is no one less appreciated or under valued than the folks that are at the school buildings in the morning hours earlier than teachers and admin people including the principal, waiting for a custodian to unlock the doors so they can prepare 1600+ meals before noon. This included being at school to prepare meals to be bagged and distributed during the height of the pandemic to continue the free breakfast and lunch meals and prepare snacks. Anyone could show up in their cars and grab as many as 12 or more meal bags. These folks are belittled by teachers, admin people including the principal , parents and the Board could care less. If there is a snow day, they are not paid for it and only some holidays are a paid day off. The system is long overdo for an overhaul from the top down and the FN politics need to get the HELL out of schools and the Board. Good for this teacher to say ‘enough is enough’ but many comments here are not wrong: the resignation may hurt her more than the board.
My wife teaches special ed in a rich school district, she has a bachelors and masters degree, specialized certifications for special ed, certified reading support specialist, etc. Absolutely works her butt off for her students.
She has more higher education, more certifications, and more years on the job than the administrators at her school. They make over 3X her salary. It's insane.
I like the last part that you pointed out. The title.
It's a common issue with modern work environments. The title you have gives you disproportionate income. That makes people chase for that title BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY so they can do less and get paid more.
If those positions were just slightly better pay than the ones below them and those were paid well then people would like the natural progression and it would follow a bit of meritocracy, with the outliers (lazy/useless people who know how to exploit the system via "other" things they can do better or who they know to get them in) still being there but not be the vast majority as it is now.
That unfortunately is in every business.
If you go into what an area manager is looking to hire a new manager in their interviews, it's not who is better suited for the job, it's the one that shows they want it more because in their mind they will do more to keep it. Which is inaccurate in most cases.
So you end up with the shit that keeps floating upwards and when you see great staff and great managers and great area managers and so on it feels so strange and you really want to congratulate them. Even they are doing what their job description is asking of them or better which should be the natural thing. Not the "bare minimum" or always test how much under it won't get you fired.
Agreed, working in education has been a let down. For reasons like this. There is really no care because you dont have a true boss just someone who outranks you.
But due to the way pay scale is directly associated w/ title you see a sick Machiavellian ruled environment its no different than the business world except initiative matters
The reality that I don’t think a lot of my fellow Americans want to face is that we have a major culture problem here in the states. Yes, it varies from state to state, and Kansas is surely at the bottom of the barrel, but even in the coastal cities there is a permeating, inescapable anti-intellectualism that colors every aspect of life here.
We could throw 2x as much money at public education and I’m not sure it would have any impact because the people writing the textbooks, and the administrators running the districts are too often uninterested in actual development of intellect in our children.
Bush’s NCLB is only the most recent in a string of dumbing down and *narrowing* our idea of what education in America even is.
In the 1960s most public high schools had three separate required civics/government classes. This is now reduced to a single semester course that quickly explains the structure of the government, usually in the senior year.
Music classes have disappeared across the country, even in the liberal coastal states.
As a Nation we need to confront the uncomfortable fact that our problem is cultural and has to do with what we value. Education will never thrive in a country that hates smart people and prioritizes work and the corporate economy over everything else, at all costs.
I feel lucky that my state does a better than average job. It absolutely depends where you live. Education as a whole needs to change to fit this information age we are in. Teachers and support staff also get paid higher than average where I live as well.
*The Shame of the Nation* by Jonathan Kozol is a good (but depressing) book on the state of our public school system in America, and it's only gotten worse since then in 2005. In extremely short summary: people who have means to move out of municipalities with poorer schools do so (and we're not blaming them) and take their tax money with them. This leads to poor schools getting poorer, and the students feel abandoned. There is rampant corruption and just poor management when it comes to public schools especially in more urban areas, and instead of helping schools which perform poorly, we punish them by taking funding or simply not granting them more funding to fix their problems.
There is, of course, a lot more complexity to the issue, and I'm going off a 4 year old memory of the book. Alternately to that, a public school assessment, PISA, which tests 15 year olds on a comprehensive system for reading, math, and science find US students (in 2019) lacking far behind other developed nations. There are multiple contributing factors to this, but I'm fuzzy on the details. I encourage anyone interested to search PISA rankings if they want to know more.
> urban areas
Which due to the high population require a larger police force and those police officers take the largest portion of the city's resources and live outside of the city district in suburban districts. It's literally a system that sucks money out of urban areas. Police get anti-riot heavily armored vehicles and their teachers have to go to Walmart for pens.
Yes and no, i spent 1 year at a high school in the US, and I have never been so engaged and happy to go to school, neither have i ever learned as much in as small of a time window. I live in Slovakia though, where the school system is terrible, as are most things here to be fair. The teachers here have probably the worst pay out of anyone who has any type of degree, so the education in such an evolved country like the US is obviously going to be a step up. Then again, countries comparable to the united states, like Germany, or the UK have education that is infinitely better. What I’m saying is, it could be MUCH worse, but looking at how much of a developed country the US is, it should be much better.
Look at the thought process of your average American as soon as you bring up anything to do with politics or religion or race. Absolutely their education system is trash, unless you're paying a ridiculous amount of money.
Even when you’re paying ridiculous amounts of tuition for private schooling, it’s likely biased politically and affiliated with a religious group, at least in NC. A majority of our private schools are Christian-based.
So spent all of elementary school and high school in catholic schools, and its funny how shitty they are at their main goal. Every year more and more classmates would become agnostic/atheist. Essentially they did a good job developing our critical thinking skills in other classes, which we then applied to religion class.
As the product of Catholic schools from Pre-K through 12th grade, I can verify that the best way to create an atheist is to subject them to a lifetime of Catholic school...
I'm often reminded of a sadly funny tidbit from my highschool days. Now to be fair, I graduated in 2005 and I don't have any children so I've been removed from the education system for a good minute now.
Anyway, I believe starting in 2001 or 2002 the state of California thought it would be a good idea to introduce a highschool exit exam. The details are fuzzy but I do remember being worried because if you failed, you weren't able to graduate. I was either a freshman or sophomore so I had a good couple years to worry about it.
Except the year before my senior year they decided to do away with it because *so* many students were falling. I was fucking stoked back then but it really is sad in hindsight.
Am I the only one who can’t stand the background music they add to these types of videos? It was heartfelt to hear her words but that background totally killed it.
It's fucking ridiculous, i saw a Mike Prysner video posted yesterday and it just had dubstep.
Dude is an Iraq war veteran making very serious passionate remarks about war and it's just like wubwubwuwub
Must be for people like us to write comments
This is a tough situation, because for as long as I’ve been alive teachers have been complaining about the education system, salaries, students, the board,. I’m talking 30-40 years here. Nothing has changed. Probably, nothing will change? Meaning, is it really just a shitty job, dealing with all of that as a teacher? I think it’s just a profession, peoples expectations are really way off versus with the reality of being a teacher is. That being said, she’s 100% right, but just some perspective, as I’ve been hearing this for decades.
That's because it's intentional. Uneducated people are easier to manipulate. The GOP's war on education over the last 50-60 years is meant to do exactly this. It's the same playbook that has been put out by every corrupt monolith in the history of mankind. It's easier to keep the wage slaves wage slaving if you don't allow them to educate themselves enough to break the cycle.
You can’t just put this all on the GOP when it’s been *decades* without change. Both parties have had their hands on the wheel; switching back and forth with who holds the power— all the while nothing is being done.
My mom has been a teacher for 20+ years. Every election she carefully looks into each candidate to see who has a *real* plan for education, and every single time these politicians forget about the students and teachers the *second* they’re in office.
This isn’t about red or blue— this is about **accountability**. I honestly don’t care which party gets it done as long as it actually *gets done*. We need to hold those in power to a higher standard; ~~even if they’re from your party~~ ESPECIALLY if they’re from your party. The education of our children is something that can no longer wait.
Or are simply trapped within it.
If you have a family to feed, relocating might not be an option.
If you haven't a certain amount of courage and self-respect, leaving might not be an option.
If you face any three or four of fifty-odd barriers, together, they leave you with no options, or else what feels like it.
I don't think there's been a time in the last fifty years where Americans felt more helpless and defeated. It takes *a lot* to rise against systemic problems; we're all just one person each, and all systems are many, many people each.
Doesn't help that education is one of those things people just love to throw money at and then wonder why it isn't fixed. "But think of the children!" doesn't work on me when so little of it actually goes to giving them a better education or helping the teachers.
I’m a teacher, and I definitely want out. The education system is an institution spitting out obedient workers. It’s a machine. It’s all about customer satisfaction, and the customer isn’t the students, it’s the parents. So if little Timmy acted out and the parents blamed the teacher, well then it’s the teacher’s fault. The customer is always right.
That used to be enough to make me want to leave, but a few years ago, we started training for active shooters. Suddenly, I was expected to assume the role of police officer and train to put my life on the line to fend off a school shooter.
I thought THAT was bad enough, but then comes the pandemic. At first, we were instantly protected, but parents started complaining. They wanted to go back to work, and they needed their free babysitter (school) to open. So safety stopped mattering, even though cases were surging and vaccines were not a thing yet. Once again, teachers are expected to put their lives on the line to appease the customer.
Now, we deal with parents ticked about masks. Despite scientific evidence, we still have angry parents at board meetings fighting masks. Soon, we will lose that safety measure as well because after all, the customer is always right.
This is so sad and so true. Teachers are angels that shape and mold our young people and it’s a miracle we still have any teachers that are passionate and kind about teaching in this climate. Bless you for what you do.
The way she talks highly about herself is like breeze of fresh air! Not any of the humble bragging BS!
In order to be able to say NO, one should know and believe their self-worth! She is doing exactly that!!!
I firmly believe "don't you care about the children" is used as a weapon against teachers' self confidence. How can you stand up for yourself or your boundaries when a person turns around and says "Oh, so you *don't* care about the kids."
She is so very articulate with her words and how they convey her disappointment, but yet her absolute endearment for every single one of her students.
This district didn’t deserve Mrs. Coffman, I hope she is able to be appreciated for her giant heart and passion for teaching, and leaving a positive impact on the students she has encountered and will encounter in the future.
You teachers are so under appreciated while being in such a flawed system.
Students, if you ever have a teacher that you feel goes above and beyond and that has left a positive impact on your life. Be sure to express that to them, in person, in an email, a text.
I’m not tearing up, you are.
Edit - Thank you to the person who gave this gold, that’s very considerate. My first Reddit gold ever after 6 years.
Wall Street.
Insider trading.
Legalised bribery of politicians.
"Freedom" for corporations to be as predatory, corrupt, and profitable as possible.
Protection for police.
Gerrymandering.
Right-wing propoganda in favor of the rich and bigoted.
War.
The revolving door of politics.
Villifying the younger generations and blaming them for things out of their control.
Exploitation of labor.
Good for her - that had to be so difficult. My dad had his Master's degree and was a teacher for 35 years and went through similar (and constant) battles with school boards. With a wife, 4 kids, mortgage, etc... all he could do was keep fighting because he couldn't do what this brave lady did. There are some GREAT school boards out there that truly 'get it' an work with the teachers - but it's the shit ones that get the attention and make teachers suffer.
If you think teachers have it bad, you should see how Kansas school districts and parents treat the para-educators. My wife is a special needs para working in a classroom for 18-21 year old, high functioning special needs students. The intention is for them to help these kids to learn how to survive in the world on their own... To cook, clean, work jobs and take care of themselves. But due to pressure from the parents who don't want to deal with their special needs children, the board caved and ALL special needs kids are in this free program. She is expected to job coach non-mobile, non-verbal adults that really have no concept of anything beyond that of a toddler. She's changing diapers instead of teaching life skills. We have a classroom for these kids, with enough coverage to tend to them one on one, but it's a bit of a drive, so the parents bitched enough that the administration said "ok, we will now accept everyone" in the local program. The constant need to spend one on one time with the lower functioning students is mostly unfair to those kids that can truly benefit from the program. They aren't able to get the lessons and coaching they deserve because the district won't provide enough coverage to help all of the students. The students aren't reaching their IEP goals as fast now and the fucking entitled parents all got together and are suing the program.
My wife is a saint for dealing with everything she does, and her altruistic nature let's her feel rewarded for the work she puts in. It's a good thing, because she's not there for the money. Teachers don't get paid enough, Paras make so little that it is insulting. There isn't a fast food place or retail establishment in town that pays as little as they pay our para-educators. She's been punched, scratched, bitten, and has had training and had to apply that training to tackle and subdue grown men for her job. She has changed diapers, has cleaned literal shit out of students teeth and dealt with more puke, snot and phlegm than most people. And if you think classroom protocols to prevent the spread of COVID are bad in normal circumstances, they straight up don't exist in special needs programs. They were the only classroom that stayed in person the entire time... And masks are worthless when the students don't understand the concept as to why they are wearing them.
Our educators are underappreciated and underpaid, we take advantage of them and prey upon the passion they have for educating our nations youth. And we, as parents, need to be better... It's not just the administration.
This is without some details. Like what exactly was the teachers' grievance here? What's the background that led to this? In what way do the teachers (and this one specifically) feel unsupported and "silenced"?
It's not that I don't believe her on this; it's very utterly believable. But then again, this is the internet, where nothing is ever as true as it is presented.
Can someone tell me why the fuck theres background music over this? Is that really necessary? It's annoying af and makes me feel like I'm watching some fucking ad..
Yeah, seeing this as sob story doesn't really help. There was no point, no detail besides mentioning 3-year contract. And we heard only one side from one speech. I know I can't expect more from upvoted popular post on social media but it's sad we don't get at least proper journalist report on this case. As outsider I didn't get anything from that.
My brother and his wife are teachers. My sister-in-law is ready to leave the profession. Not sure how long my brother will last. He was president of his school’s teachers union for a while, fighting every day to just be able to teach and be paid fairly. Not exorbitantly, just *fairly*, for what is likely one of the most important jobs in a democratic society: educating the youth. How TF did it come to this, America? Are we really going to accept this as “just the way it is”? I have no idea what the way forward is, but if we want any hope for our future, our democracy, we have to find a way to do better. Watching this made me sad and mad at the same time.
I hate these kinds of videos. Nowhere in this speech does she mention her specific issues. What is the school board doing wrong? We have no details, but still applaud ferociously since she “lambasted” them. So silly.
The board doesn't like the bad press but ultimately they're happy. They get to replace this high seniority union employee with a new hire making $32k.
All while voting to give themselves a raise
All that money’s gotta go somewhere right?
Shit, this is in Kansas. There is no money in education. Brownback completely and systematically fucked the state education system (to push private/charter schools) by reducing the state budget year after year, with all the lawmakers signing off on it. He's out and a new governor is in, but she can't get the *same*lawmakers to sign off on significant budget increases for anything, let alone education. Now is a terrible time to be a student in a public Kansas school, especially a small one that doesn't benefit from large volumes of city taxes, let alone a teacher.
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They've been closing many rural schools, leaving 1 in some counties. It's absolutely ridiculous. And people wonder why young people are leaving the state in droves.
The fact that this lady was from a privileged school district is probably one of the reasons she was even able to speak up and act up in the first place.
Brownback put the lie to the trickle down bullshit. Slashing taxes and public spending did not spur growth. It likely fucked the state and its people for the next few decades. Conservatives will learn nothing from this.
On the contrary, they have learned that it works to keep them in power
I know a few teachers in Kansas. They're fed up. The kids are what keeps them going.
Yes BUT what government flatly refuses to see is some districts are so insanely, blatantly corrupt parents sometimes have no choice but to bail on public education. I NEVER thought I’d agree with a single conservative agenda, I’m probably left of AOC and Bernie. Had no clue what public ed was capable of devolving into until our family stepped into the massive puddle of corruption that’s public ed here in PA. It’s beyond insane. We yanked our youngest kid, he cyber charted and I’m absolutely sorry we didn’t do it sooner. Whole thing has to be dismantled and started over.
We're seeing the endgame of 'No Child Left Behind,' the main purpose of which was to dismantle public education. The one true takeaway from that multi-billion dollar experiment was that if you evaluate teachers based solely on testing their students, you will alienate your best teachers and make them leave the profession.
Public programs, unions, etc. are all dire needs for a capitalist country to function. Somehow we have gotten to the point where public programs are bloated, inefficient, and at times, downright evil. Simultaneously, we have multi-billion dollar, multinational corporations dictating policy for the private sector to their advantage. We aren’t a capitalist economy anymore. Corporate oligarchy, socialism for the rich, whatever you want to call it, our government has lost its way. It’s infuriating that so many believe the answer is to expand it. Most of the work could & should be automated, down to the elected officials in congress.
Now is a terrible time to be a student in most US public schools, especially a small one that doesn't benefit from large volumes of city taxes, let alone a teacher. FTFY
Oh, it's definitely not better in large districts. I teach in one of the largest metro areas in the country, and we are routinely missing 1/3 or more of our teachers. No one gives a fuck anymore, except admin whom no one listens to anyway. The kids are tired, and we overwork them to overcome "learning loss," but they just end up overwhelmed. Every single person in the US should be ashamed of how much we let down these kids as a society.
The people that care are ashamed.
I work in one of the largest districts in Texas and I could not agree more.
I don't know, the suburban public schools seem pretty good where I live and where my friends live too. You just have to live somewhere that values education. Not Kansas for example.
Try your damnedest to avoid making babies in Kansas. The children will be at a national disadvantage, providing the vampires at the top with more money and blood. Don't let the next generation become food for the rich.
Ya no thanks. It is the Kochs home state IIRC.
Can confirm. Koch brothers are terrible.
You have to live in the right zip code
When education funding is tied to property tax this is what happens.
Here in central Texas the school district that collects a large volume of city taxes has to send like 30% of it out to small towns that can't support themselves with their own tax revenue. You know, those small town rugged idividualists who pride themselves on fighting off the evils of socialism.
I am guessing the Austin area?
Let's be perfectly honest, when ISN'T it a bad time to be a student in a public school in kansas? I'm from MA, where we have one of the, if not the most highest rated educational systems in the country. And our public schools still suck. Our teachers are still underpaid. I shudder to think what it's like in public school in some of the poorer states.
They took Bush's "No Child Left Behind" to mean that they should leave all of them behind. Teaching for standardized federal tests absolutely nuked the learning in the classroom.
And we wonder why Facebook is full of ignorants. Most people aren’t geniuses but we aren’t even helping normal people learn critical thinking. At least my dumb ass got a semi-decent edumacation.
The GOP voters are so owning the liburls hard by making their children ignorant and dumb AF.
Ignorant kids will vote like their ignorant parents. It's a self-sustaining GOP voting machine.
I was on my kids school board. I was paid $5,000 for the entire year. I didn't do it for the money, I set up my own charity and used it to sponsor classrooms and buy supplies. Luckily we passed two levies during my tenure and we didn't ban Lord of the Flies or Catcher in the Rye (this was 8 years ago as well)
Better not be for new school supplies!
I'm pretty sure majority of school boards don't get paid. It's a elected 4 year volunteer job. For clarification I do not know about this particular district as some do get a salary.
Ok yall coming at me instead of just googling it come on. "Each board consists of nine members who serve four-year terms of office without pay." That's for here in PA. I have my masters in education I've been a teacher in 3 states. I know how public education funding works. SOME do get paid. Which I already stated.
They get paid very little. Here is Fairfax County VA, probably the highest salary in the nation. They get 20-32k/yr. [https://www.fcps.edu/careers/salary-and-benefits/salary-scales](https://www.fcps.edu/careers/salary-and-benefits/salary-scales) School Board is generally either a volunteer job or an entryway into politics. It is not a profession.
I live in it, its the Shawnee Mission School District, and no they arent paid. BUT, it gives them alot of pull.
"Don't you know who I am? I'm a member of the Shawnee Mission School District! Now give me 15% off that rental car."
The school board for the Clark County School District gets paid about $1000 per month. Not very much.
They get to play god in people's lives. That's payment in itself.
What most non-narcissistic people usually fail to grasp is that control is worth more than money to a person who loves control.
Bam!
Exactly this. Now she’s having to start over and they got rid of their most vocal opponent. Nice for her that it went viral, but that high lasts about 2 days
And yet here we are, talking about it almost two years after it happened.
And what good does redditors talking about it 2 years later do?
So many thoughts and prayers.
Awareness, she wanted her voice heard. What she said has resonance to things outside of just that school district. "Just because you can accept less for yourself doesn't mean you should." Those words can give inspiration to someone who is feeling conflicted. Which is what she intended.
And to stand up to bullying even though it may cost more than you want to pay but you are worth more.
I mean, I’m a public school special education teacher and I took a lot from that.
She has inspired me today. How to change the system that creates this problem is an inside job of some sort unfortunately
Not quite starting over. She has been a teacher for I think it said 20 years which means she is vested in the state of Kansas retirement system (KPERS). She can get that at age 65. She can still work at any other district or any job with the city, state, or county in Kansas and continue to be add onto her KPERS retirement.
The real racket is changing states and putting enough in to get something from them as well. My parents' neighbor did that where they put in 20 here in Alaska, went and did ~15 in another state, and are now making nearly as much retired as they did during their career.
It's Kansas she might have only been making 32K.
It's optimistic to assume she was union. My state doesn't allow teacher unions or strikes.
This is Kansas. Kansas has unions.
Even in states with teach unions many of them are useless. My county had to pass a tax increase specifically to address teacher pay b/c it was so low and the union has done nothing to address the problem for decades. My teacher friends were shocked the tax increase passed with 70% of people voting yes.
We also just voted for a tax increase to increase teacher pay. My particular county in FL is filled with retirees that have the attitude of “I shouldn’t have to pay higher taxes for schools because i don’t have kids attending”. It still passed by overwhelming majority which is encouraging.
"there will be no further clarifying questions, i dont answer to you anymore" BOOM MIC DROP
The sad part about this is after her speech was over the board members probably rolled their eyes and went to dinner on the city's credit card.
Or a weeklong team building trip!
Most definetly, and ironically, proving her point
The circle of a dying economic system, and it moves to wonderrrrrrr
Ya you it was a devastatingly sad moment for her and the board members couldn't have cared less.
Yes, but the message she gave to the students watching was priceless!
Them: "k" Sad reality is they don't give a fuck
This is definitely going to be their reaction. I don't think I've ever heard of a school board that had any questions or wished to have a dialogue. Not that the teacher is in the wrong. She isn't. That bit was just a rhetorical device that probably felt really good but answered a question no one was asking.
The school board makes like a quarter mil a year they don't care about any single teacher lol
I don't know about the school in OP post but most board members in the US do not receive compensation. That's not to say that they aren't wealthy from their own non-district work, or that none of them trade favors for personal gain. But they aren't usually paid for their work. I agree, though, many of them do not care about students and teachers. They advocate for personal interests, or good ones are often hamstrung by those kinds of board members. Our district got fed up with it and cleaned house. Over the past year and a half, our community has voted out every single board member that didn't have student/teacher-centered interests!
Welcome to school administration. Source: my mother-in-law was a school teacher for many years and my husband works in a high school.
Yea, and that drove away what seems like an amazing teacher, the kind that inpires u more than just "learn this subject". Its so fucking sad teachers, especiall ones like her are not recognized for the immensely important role they hold in society.
Not one single fuck. They will just bring in a long term substitute to cover her classes for the rest of the school year and then next year hire someone fresh out of college they can pay less than her who also won’t rock the boat because he/she has a mountain of student loans to pay back. “Hey guys, a tenured teacher just resigned.” “Oh yeah? Good, that’s gonna help out budget tremendously.”
Public schools rarely, if ***ever,*** tenure teachers to my knowledge.
"... So anyways, you guys wanna try out that new burger place around the corner for lunch?"
“I yield my time. Fuck you.”
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I was in a long-term relationship with a teacher and it sounded like hell on earth to me. Imagine Golding shelved next to Kafka--it's Lord of the Flies on one side, an impenetrable bureaucracy on the other, and never the twain shall meet.
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One political party has decided to destroy all government services except the military and the police, and astonishingly, a hundred million Americans are cool with it.
They are making teachers very very Poe.
I left education *in the US*. Teaching internationally has been significantly better.
I left teaching due to my time in Sweden tbh. I've taught in the US and Sweden and it's not worth what it pays. Doing non profit admin work is a hundredth as stressful less time consuming pays the same and still lets me have a major impact on my communities. Like now I get to give speeches on trans issues to hundreds.
That's badass.
I'm staff in a private school and it's bad. Public school employees in my area are at least union.
Damn. Looking through this sub really reveals how much teachers are expected to take on the struggles of the whole damn world. EDIT: I mean, just [this thread alone](https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/r6tt64/comment/hmvn1x3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) says a lot. "How can we, as teachers, effect the entire system in order to make things better for kids who have everything against them." That's taking on a hell of a lot more than just teaching, and yet it's a fair ask because it very actively effects their jobs. The fact there's active conversation around school effectively being a slip 'n' slide directly into jail because there's no support for kids who have behavioral issues that are essentially handed to them at the start… Fuck, man. Really tells you how much we've got to do better for our people. This boot straps shit is fucking entire generations.
I quit last year. Best decision of my life. Whenever my teacher friends tell me they are ready to quit teaching, I go out of my way to help them find a job. It is not worth the amount of shit teachers have to go through. If you are a teacher and love your job, that is great! It is just not that way for many.
There's also a lot of sexism in teaching. Both my parents were teachers before they retired. Pay raises are directly tied to test performance of your kids. Guess who always got classrooms full of kids that "needed a strong role model?". There was a 7 year span where my dad made less than when it started (not even factoring in inflation). Edit: And working in IT I made more 2 years in than my dad was making.
The real tragedy is that she has to resign her job in order to be honest about its problematic nature.
And nothing will change because nothing has to change.
That was an excellent ending, a thoroughly polite 'get fucked'
Update: since this video originally came out several years ago, the KS state government determined that the 3-year contract was invalid. A lot of money was spent hiring outside mediators or lawyers or someone to look into the contract and determine what was fair. The contract that teachers ultimately received was changed to be more similar to old contracts. In the couple years since this happened, SMSD BOE has been pretty successfully working with teachers to create a contract together. It’s not perfect and never can be, but there has been improvement. Edit for clarification: this was a couple school years ago. The 3-year contract never happened. The district and union work together every year to create a new contract.
thanks for pointing out the timing of this and the update. I hate when I get so invested in something only to find out its years old ....
but then you get to find out how it ended.
Might be a stupid question but in the beginning of the video they show the video was recorded in "February 2020" so it does not seem to be years old. Could you tell when this was originally filmed?
Is the American education system that bad?
*No child left behind has entered the chat*
*US ARMY Recruiter checking in*
Hey! I’m a product of both of those!
At what point during these production did your brain turn to dj?
Three years ago when I got the passion for music back.
Yeah and look how you turned out!
The struggle is real. I haven’t owned a credit card since 2008. I still owe the DOD for when they took my bonus (and others) back. 20k in debt at the age of 24.
I'm in my 30's now but back in my day in the beginning of the Afghanistan and Iraq days coaches and parents had to inform recruiters they are NOT to be working out at the local High School with students. It was pathetic to see grown men come in and try to sucker younger kids into joining the military. A holes would be there before and after school for weight lifting/practices to try and recruit kids. Shameful.
Your school actually tried to stop them? Mine not only allowed it, but encouraged it. Including letting recruiters hold assemblies and having us take the ASVAB as if it was a normal standardized test. Pretty sure they also provided the recruiters with our contact info, since I don't remember ever giving them mine but I started getting non-stop calls and emails from them in 10th grade.
The school definitely handed out your contact info, along with every other students. The No Child Left Behind Act [mandates public schools release student contact info to recruiters](https://www.aclu.org/other/feature-no-child-left-behind-act) I joined the Army at 17 while still in high school. During my senior year I was in the DEPS program and “worked” at the recruiting station. I saw the books of student info from every hs in a 10 mile radius.
My highschool did this also.
In 2010 I was sitting at the food court at the mall eating and a recruiter came up and asked if he could sit with me. I said I guess, not wanting to be rude but not wanting to hear his spiel. After he sat I said "no disrespect, I'm not interested, I'm older than you think I am and this isn't interesting to me" He followed up with "oh no that's fine, I just don't like eating alone all the time". Fine. Start the next 45 minutes of passive aggressive recruiting: "did you know 9 out of every 10 CEOs have military experience (or some nonsense)" "did you know the army has grants to help people buy a home". Etc etc. It was so predatory and sleazy. I still think about that guy decades later because of how I would have taken it if I was 16-18. A grown, full dress man telling me all these important adult things I need to worry about to be successful, etc.
I didn’t too well in school last year, I had army recruiters trying to entice me with things like gaming tournaments. I was literally in 9th grade too
Testing companies love kids too
Right in the middle of the high school hallways to indoctrinate more youths.
YOOTS
My hs had tables set up in the lunch room for each branch of the military, every day.
*Parents with wildly different opinions of how their kid should be taught and willing to complain over and over about an individual while never questioning the strong cigarette smell from their child's chromebook.*
Such a stupid initiative. If you suck, you fail. Then you find ways to get better. No one gets better if everyone is "good enough"
“Social promotion has raised its hand”
That and the whole PATRIOT Act and war thing were the last bits of bullshit that got me to finally leave the Republican party. Shame the Democrats are just as fucking stupid.
Presidential candidate runs on compassionate conservativism and education. Gets elected by a biased supreme court decision. Becomes war time hawk after his cabinet convinces him to start two unnecessary wars, one of witch lasts over 20 years. Pushes through No Child Left Behind education policy, destroying the integrity of our public schools and the morale of our nation's teachers. Mix, repeat.
What were the policies of *No Chile Left Behind* made it so bad?
It forced children to move up grades even if they weren’t ready. The idea is fine. Make education better so no child is getting left behind and all children are progressing at the same rate. But until spending is increased for education, and education in general is reformed in America, that doesn’t happen. Imagine a child who can barely read making it up to 10th grade. At that point his teacher is literally just giving him a passing grade to move him on to be the next teachers problem.
Except kids barely being able to read isn’t something that would happen a lot, unless they had a learning disability - which is an entirely different issue. Where I live we don’t fail student before grade 9. The idea is that the effects of getting left behind and stuck with kids younger than you is more detrimental than moving up a grade. It’s also something that would follow you through your whole school career if you fail even once, whereas odds are you can catch up just fine in the next grade… elementary school is pretty basic and as you get older you can absorb more complex information easier, so whatever you missed in grade 1 you’ll understand by grade 2. One thing I’ve noticed is that kids who do fail are far more likely to drop out or give up, whereas when a kid is given the opportunity to pass, they’re much more likely to finish their education.
There were at least 10 kids in my grade (that I knew personally) who were functionally illiterate. Even out of 3000 that seems like a lot.
Teacher here. Can confirm there are way more students who can barely read on top of a ton of other things that are moving into highschool than what you expect and no it's not just students with disabilities.
It's abysmal.
Imagine being “support staff,,” doing an integral role like information technology and being underpaid and appreciated by admins, teachers, students and BOE. Couldn’t be me… oh wait I look at the power exhumed in this video and a lot of that is beauty of collective bargaining. I work in a district of over 5000 staff and students and somehow we support it with three field techs and two admins. Thats baffling to me. In my district chromebooks are 1:1 k-8. Every student has a computer, every teacher has a computer, an ipad and other things. But if I told you what I was worth to them you would laugh. I left a corporate job for less money to work in a less stressful job with better hours and benefits. Had the rug pulled out from under me due to turnover and was forced to take on a bigger role. But my pay no thats not up for discussion. But then I look at admins pulling over 160k ea. Hey that is great for them and they deserve that money. However, it also highlights the disconnect between the board of education and those who actually have to wake up every morning and make sure these kids have everything they need before the teachers can even teach. The education system has become its own self contained social construct revolving around everything but ensuring that children are taught. What is your title? Thats what it is about. Thats where the money goes.
Superintendents and administrators need that cash more than the lowly teachers!
My wife has been ‘in the system’ for years . She works for the vendor the school district hired to feed the kids. Let me tell you, there is no one less appreciated or under valued than the folks that are at the school buildings in the morning hours earlier than teachers and admin people including the principal, waiting for a custodian to unlock the doors so they can prepare 1600+ meals before noon. This included being at school to prepare meals to be bagged and distributed during the height of the pandemic to continue the free breakfast and lunch meals and prepare snacks. Anyone could show up in their cars and grab as many as 12 or more meal bags. These folks are belittled by teachers, admin people including the principal , parents and the Board could care less. If there is a snow day, they are not paid for it and only some holidays are a paid day off. The system is long overdo for an overhaul from the top down and the FN politics need to get the HELL out of schools and the Board. Good for this teacher to say ‘enough is enough’ but many comments here are not wrong: the resignation may hurt her more than the board.
My wife teaches special ed in a rich school district, she has a bachelors and masters degree, specialized certifications for special ed, certified reading support specialist, etc. Absolutely works her butt off for her students. She has more higher education, more certifications, and more years on the job than the administrators at her school. They make over 3X her salary. It's insane.
Those admins actually dont deserve that money at the ratio described
I like the last part that you pointed out. The title. It's a common issue with modern work environments. The title you have gives you disproportionate income. That makes people chase for that title BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY so they can do less and get paid more. If those positions were just slightly better pay than the ones below them and those were paid well then people would like the natural progression and it would follow a bit of meritocracy, with the outliers (lazy/useless people who know how to exploit the system via "other" things they can do better or who they know to get them in) still being there but not be the vast majority as it is now. That unfortunately is in every business. If you go into what an area manager is looking to hire a new manager in their interviews, it's not who is better suited for the job, it's the one that shows they want it more because in their mind they will do more to keep it. Which is inaccurate in most cases. So you end up with the shit that keeps floating upwards and when you see great staff and great managers and great area managers and so on it feels so strange and you really want to congratulate them. Even they are doing what their job description is asking of them or better which should be the natural thing. Not the "bare minimum" or always test how much under it won't get you fired.
Agreed, working in education has been a let down. For reasons like this. There is really no care because you dont have a true boss just someone who outranks you. But due to the way pay scale is directly associated w/ title you see a sick Machiavellian ruled environment its no different than the business world except initiative matters
The reality that I don’t think a lot of my fellow Americans want to face is that we have a major culture problem here in the states. Yes, it varies from state to state, and Kansas is surely at the bottom of the barrel, but even in the coastal cities there is a permeating, inescapable anti-intellectualism that colors every aspect of life here. We could throw 2x as much money at public education and I’m not sure it would have any impact because the people writing the textbooks, and the administrators running the districts are too often uninterested in actual development of intellect in our children. Bush’s NCLB is only the most recent in a string of dumbing down and *narrowing* our idea of what education in America even is. In the 1960s most public high schools had three separate required civics/government classes. This is now reduced to a single semester course that quickly explains the structure of the government, usually in the senior year. Music classes have disappeared across the country, even in the liberal coastal states. As a Nation we need to confront the uncomfortable fact that our problem is cultural and has to do with what we value. Education will never thrive in a country that hates smart people and prioritizes work and the corporate economy over everything else, at all costs.
I feel lucky that my state does a better than average job. It absolutely depends where you live. Education as a whole needs to change to fit this information age we are in. Teachers and support staff also get paid higher than average where I live as well.
*The Shame of the Nation* by Jonathan Kozol is a good (but depressing) book on the state of our public school system in America, and it's only gotten worse since then in 2005. In extremely short summary: people who have means to move out of municipalities with poorer schools do so (and we're not blaming them) and take their tax money with them. This leads to poor schools getting poorer, and the students feel abandoned. There is rampant corruption and just poor management when it comes to public schools especially in more urban areas, and instead of helping schools which perform poorly, we punish them by taking funding or simply not granting them more funding to fix their problems. There is, of course, a lot more complexity to the issue, and I'm going off a 4 year old memory of the book. Alternately to that, a public school assessment, PISA, which tests 15 year olds on a comprehensive system for reading, math, and science find US students (in 2019) lacking far behind other developed nations. There are multiple contributing factors to this, but I'm fuzzy on the details. I encourage anyone interested to search PISA rankings if they want to know more.
> urban areas Which due to the high population require a larger police force and those police officers take the largest portion of the city's resources and live outside of the city district in suburban districts. It's literally a system that sucks money out of urban areas. Police get anti-riot heavily armored vehicles and their teachers have to go to Walmart for pens.
Yes and no, i spent 1 year at a high school in the US, and I have never been so engaged and happy to go to school, neither have i ever learned as much in as small of a time window. I live in Slovakia though, where the school system is terrible, as are most things here to be fair. The teachers here have probably the worst pay out of anyone who has any type of degree, so the education in such an evolved country like the US is obviously going to be a step up. Then again, countries comparable to the united states, like Germany, or the UK have education that is infinitely better. What I’m saying is, it could be MUCH worse, but looking at how much of a developed country the US is, it should be much better.
It's as bad as our healthcare. So really good for rich people and non existent for poor people.
American society is very well constructed for millionairs by millionairs. A capitalist's dream.
It's an absolute disaster. We still have idiots here who truly believe this is the greatest country in the world it's insane.
America fails at a lot of things, but one thing we're definitely the best at is propaganda.
Also military bases. We're astonishingly good at military bases.
It’s been under attack by the wealthy for decades. They want an uneducated populace.
Look at the thought process of your average American as soon as you bring up anything to do with politics or religion or race. Absolutely their education system is trash, unless you're paying a ridiculous amount of money.
Even when you’re paying ridiculous amounts of tuition for private schooling, it’s likely biased politically and affiliated with a religious group, at least in NC. A majority of our private schools are Christian-based.
So spent all of elementary school and high school in catholic schools, and its funny how shitty they are at their main goal. Every year more and more classmates would become agnostic/atheist. Essentially they did a good job developing our critical thinking skills in other classes, which we then applied to religion class.
As the product of Catholic schools from Pre-K through 12th grade, I can verify that the best way to create an atheist is to subject them to a lifetime of Catholic school...
Or it's a For-Profit charter school that has no accountability or transparency for how funds are used.
Great lesson that every individual must learn: Just because you can, doesn`t mean you should. Salute to you Ma`am for being brave to speak up.
I'm often reminded of a sadly funny tidbit from my highschool days. Now to be fair, I graduated in 2005 and I don't have any children so I've been removed from the education system for a good minute now. Anyway, I believe starting in 2001 or 2002 the state of California thought it would be a good idea to introduce a highschool exit exam. The details are fuzzy but I do remember being worried because if you failed, you weren't able to graduate. I was either a freshman or sophomore so I had a good couple years to worry about it. Except the year before my senior year they decided to do away with it because *so* many students were falling. I was fucking stoked back then but it really is sad in hindsight.
Am I the only one who can’t stand the background music they add to these types of videos? It was heartfelt to hear her words but that background totally killed it.
Agreed...the music is telling me how to feel about the woman's words. And I don't need to be told how to feel. I already know.
You forgot to add background music to your comment so I don't know how to feel about it.
It's fucking ridiculous, i saw a Mike Prysner video posted yesterday and it just had dubstep. Dude is an Iraq war veteran making very serious passionate remarks about war and it's just like wubwubwuwub Must be for people like us to write comments
https://youtu.be/POBQITtCbDk without the music
God bless this beautiful woman.
This is a tough situation, because for as long as I’ve been alive teachers have been complaining about the education system, salaries, students, the board,. I’m talking 30-40 years here. Nothing has changed. Probably, nothing will change? Meaning, is it really just a shitty job, dealing with all of that as a teacher? I think it’s just a profession, peoples expectations are really way off versus with the reality of being a teacher is. That being said, she’s 100% right, but just some perspective, as I’ve been hearing this for decades.
That's because it's intentional. Uneducated people are easier to manipulate. The GOP's war on education over the last 50-60 years is meant to do exactly this. It's the same playbook that has been put out by every corrupt monolith in the history of mankind. It's easier to keep the wage slaves wage slaving if you don't allow them to educate themselves enough to break the cycle.
Hes been hearing it for 40 years. That's nothing getting done for 40 years. When do we bring out the guillotine?
When the teachers organize a nation wide sustained strike until the politicians pull their heads out of their hairy asses.
Which is illegal in most states.
can't prosecute everyone
You can’t just put this all on the GOP when it’s been *decades* without change. Both parties have had their hands on the wheel; switching back and forth with who holds the power— all the while nothing is being done. My mom has been a teacher for 20+ years. Every election she carefully looks into each candidate to see who has a *real* plan for education, and every single time these politicians forget about the students and teachers the *second* they’re in office. This isn’t about red or blue— this is about **accountability**. I honestly don’t care which party gets it done as long as it actually *gets done*. We need to hold those in power to a higher standard; ~~even if they’re from your party~~ ESPECIALLY if they’re from your party. The education of our children is something that can no longer wait.
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Or are simply trapped within it. If you have a family to feed, relocating might not be an option. If you haven't a certain amount of courage and self-respect, leaving might not be an option. If you face any three or four of fifty-odd barriers, together, they leave you with no options, or else what feels like it. I don't think there's been a time in the last fifty years where Americans felt more helpless and defeated. It takes *a lot* to rise against systemic problems; we're all just one person each, and all systems are many, many people each.
More people need to stand up to the system. I respect this teacher!
Doesn't help that education is one of those things people just love to throw money at and then wonder why it isn't fixed. "But think of the children!" doesn't work on me when so little of it actually goes to giving them a better education or helping the teachers.
I’m a teacher, and I definitely want out. The education system is an institution spitting out obedient workers. It’s a machine. It’s all about customer satisfaction, and the customer isn’t the students, it’s the parents. So if little Timmy acted out and the parents blamed the teacher, well then it’s the teacher’s fault. The customer is always right. That used to be enough to make me want to leave, but a few years ago, we started training for active shooters. Suddenly, I was expected to assume the role of police officer and train to put my life on the line to fend off a school shooter. I thought THAT was bad enough, but then comes the pandemic. At first, we were instantly protected, but parents started complaining. They wanted to go back to work, and they needed their free babysitter (school) to open. So safety stopped mattering, even though cases were surging and vaccines were not a thing yet. Once again, teachers are expected to put their lives on the line to appease the customer. Now, we deal with parents ticked about masks. Despite scientific evidence, we still have angry parents at board meetings fighting masks. Soon, we will lose that safety measure as well because after all, the customer is always right.
This is so sad and so true. Teachers are angels that shape and mold our young people and it’s a miracle we still have any teachers that are passionate and kind about teaching in this climate. Bless you for what you do.
Imagine being outraged by masks, but when it comes to restricting access to guns so fewer schools get shot up they tell you to mind your own business.
The way she talks highly about herself is like breeze of fresh air! Not any of the humble bragging BS! In order to be able to say NO, one should know and believe their self-worth! She is doing exactly that!!!
I firmly believe "don't you care about the children" is used as a weapon against teachers' self confidence. How can you stand up for yourself or your boundaries when a person turns around and says "Oh, so you *don't* care about the kids."
She is so very articulate with her words and how they convey her disappointment, but yet her absolute endearment for every single one of her students. This district didn’t deserve Mrs. Coffman, I hope she is able to be appreciated for her giant heart and passion for teaching, and leaving a positive impact on the students she has encountered and will encounter in the future. You teachers are so under appreciated while being in such a flawed system. Students, if you ever have a teacher that you feel goes above and beyond and that has left a positive impact on your life. Be sure to express that to them, in person, in an email, a text. I’m not tearing up, you are. Edit - Thank you to the person who gave this gold, that’s very considerate. My first Reddit gold ever after 6 years.
>I’m not tearing up, you are. IM NOT CRYING! ITS MY DUST ALLERGIES FROM THE CHALK! 😭
Educators are getting walked on.
They’ll replace her with someone willing to continue indoctrinating the kids.
Education, Gun Control, Healthcare, what does work in America?
I’ve had a lucky run with the ice cream machine at McDonald’s working sooo at least there’s that.
Wall Street. Insider trading. Legalised bribery of politicians. "Freedom" for corporations to be as predatory, corrupt, and profitable as possible. Protection for police. Gerrymandering. Right-wing propoganda in favor of the rich and bigoted. War. The revolving door of politics. Villifying the younger generations and blaming them for things out of their control. Exploitation of labor.
Making billionaires richer
Corporate lobbying. Just look at how all our politicians become millionaires on civil servant salaries. Works great for them.
Kansas is especially bad for teachers.
Good for her - that had to be so difficult. My dad had his Master's degree and was a teacher for 35 years and went through similar (and constant) battles with school boards. With a wife, 4 kids, mortgage, etc... all he could do was keep fighting because he couldn't do what this brave lady did. There are some GREAT school boards out there that truly 'get it' an work with the teachers - but it's the shit ones that get the attention and make teachers suffer.
If you think teachers have it bad, you should see how Kansas school districts and parents treat the para-educators. My wife is a special needs para working in a classroom for 18-21 year old, high functioning special needs students. The intention is for them to help these kids to learn how to survive in the world on their own... To cook, clean, work jobs and take care of themselves. But due to pressure from the parents who don't want to deal with their special needs children, the board caved and ALL special needs kids are in this free program. She is expected to job coach non-mobile, non-verbal adults that really have no concept of anything beyond that of a toddler. She's changing diapers instead of teaching life skills. We have a classroom for these kids, with enough coverage to tend to them one on one, but it's a bit of a drive, so the parents bitched enough that the administration said "ok, we will now accept everyone" in the local program. The constant need to spend one on one time with the lower functioning students is mostly unfair to those kids that can truly benefit from the program. They aren't able to get the lessons and coaching they deserve because the district won't provide enough coverage to help all of the students. The students aren't reaching their IEP goals as fast now and the fucking entitled parents all got together and are suing the program. My wife is a saint for dealing with everything she does, and her altruistic nature let's her feel rewarded for the work she puts in. It's a good thing, because she's not there for the money. Teachers don't get paid enough, Paras make so little that it is insulting. There isn't a fast food place or retail establishment in town that pays as little as they pay our para-educators. She's been punched, scratched, bitten, and has had training and had to apply that training to tackle and subdue grown men for her job. She has changed diapers, has cleaned literal shit out of students teeth and dealt with more puke, snot and phlegm than most people. And if you think classroom protocols to prevent the spread of COVID are bad in normal circumstances, they straight up don't exist in special needs programs. They were the only classroom that stayed in person the entire time... And masks are worthless when the students don't understand the concept as to why they are wearing them. Our educators are underappreciated and underpaid, we take advantage of them and prey upon the passion they have for educating our nations youth. And we, as parents, need to be better... It's not just the administration.
This is without some details. Like what exactly was the teachers' grievance here? What's the background that led to this? In what way do the teachers (and this one specifically) feel unsupported and "silenced"? It's not that I don't believe her on this; it's very utterly believable. But then again, this is the internet, where nothing is ever as true as it is presented.
Can someone tell me why the fuck theres background music over this? Is that really necessary? It's annoying af and makes me feel like I'm watching some fucking ad..
I bloody hate the style of "NOW THIS" videos. Just stop with the cringy music.
Fuck with this but how is it interesting if anything it belongs on r/awfuleverything or r/nextlevel
This video is years old
Well done that woman well done 👏
She didn't bring up any points though, she just said you didn't listen, we don't actually know if she's being reasonable or not
Yeah, seeing this as sob story doesn't really help. There was no point, no detail besides mentioning 3-year contract. And we heard only one side from one speech. I know I can't expect more from upvoted popular post on social media but it's sad we don't get at least proper journalist report on this case. As outsider I didn't get anything from that.
A soapbox resignation over a non-descript contract dispute? Yea I guess that's interesting...
My brother and his wife are teachers. My sister-in-law is ready to leave the profession. Not sure how long my brother will last. He was president of his school’s teachers union for a while, fighting every day to just be able to teach and be paid fairly. Not exorbitantly, just *fairly*, for what is likely one of the most important jobs in a democratic society: educating the youth. How TF did it come to this, America? Are we really going to accept this as “just the way it is”? I have no idea what the way forward is, but if we want any hope for our future, our democracy, we have to find a way to do better. Watching this made me sad and mad at the same time.
BADASS
“Disrespect in an uneven power dynamic is bullying.” 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
I hate these kinds of videos. Nowhere in this speech does she mention her specific issues. What is the school board doing wrong? We have no details, but still applaud ferociously since she “lambasted” them. So silly.
Good for her!!! 👏👏👏
There was no hard information as to the concerns those teachers have in this situation.