"American teachers are the most productive among major developed countries, according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development data from 2008 â?? the most recent available.
Among 27 member nations tracked by the OECD, U.S. primary-school educators spent 1,097 hours a year teaching despite only spending 36 weeks a year in the classroom â?? among the lowest among the countries tracked. That was more than 100 hours more than New Zealand, in second place at 985 hours, despite students in that country going to school for 39 weeks. The OECD average is 786 hours.
And thatâ??s just the time teachers spend on instruction. Including hours teachers spend on work at home and outside the classroom, American primary-school educators spend 1,913 working in a year. According to data from the comparable year in a Labor Department survey, an average full-time employee works 1,932 hours a year spread out over 48 weeks (excluding two weeks vacation and federal holidays)." — Wall Street Journal
You’re joking right?
A forty hour work week ends up being about 2000 hours in a year.
Here, teachers get ~2 months off in the summer, ~1 week at spring break, and ~1 week at Christmas. Nevermind weekends, regular holidays, field trips, etc. Here also, afaik, they can choose to take their 2 month vacation pay during the ~10 month work year, or to have it deferred so they have an income during the summer months(Heard this from my uncle who’s a teacher).
In the end, that’s the price they pay for the job they have. They do a years work in ~10 months time, and are paid for a years work.
Khan academy has an idea of the learning of new material being done at home, while the practice is done in the class room where the teacher can help the student troubleshoot any problems they’re having difficulty with, instead of parents working ‘X’ hour days, and either being ‘too tired’(poor excuse IMO), or just simply not knowing how to solve the problems. Again, IME, was that the new material was taught in the classroom, then practiced at home, and the next day something new was to be learned. It was a little too fast for me when learning pre-calculus and physics in high school. I do feel that the above mentioned way would result in higher grades and understanding of the material.
I do feel that good teachers, which I have only encountered a handful of(the kind that teach to the student, not the class), are grossly underpaid for the impact they can have on many people’s lives.
On the other hand though, IME, is the curriculum needs to be readjusted. Too much time is wasted in k-12.
There’s no reason algebra, critical thinking, life skills, and others shouldn’t be taught at a young age, as this is when these important(in different degrees) skills can be made into lifelong habits.
High school would be better spent moving in the direction of a certain field of interest, with electives kept in mind in case that field doesn’t feel right later on. Sort of like a block system where everyone has the same base, and each one branches off to a certain field(like a tree if you’d like a graphic representation).
[quote]garcia1970 wrote:
What do you know about it, Zeb? Do you home school your kids?[/quote]
I know that liberals like yourself stereotype things that you don’t understand. To you all republicans are red necks, and if anyone home schools their child they automatically fall into a group of closed mind people. And no I don’t home school my children. But after so many years dealing with the public school system, which is a gigantic inefficient dinosaur, I can see why there is a growing number of people who do choose home schooling.
Zeb,
Then why don’t you pull them out of school and do the homeschool them then? What’s stopping you?
LVT…(whatever the hell your screen name is):
You said you were homeschooled and said you didn’t learn anything from public school. What’s the story there? Were you initially in public and then pulled out by your parents? Just curious. Why was the homeschooling employed in your case?
[quote]garcia1970 wrote:
Zeb,
Then why don’t you pull them out of school and do the homeschool them then? What’s stopping you?[/quote]
As you know being a (clears throat) a “Professor” there is a great deal involved in such a decision. Far more than one can explain to those who don’t have children.
[quote]garcia1970 wrote:
Zeb,
Then why don’t you pull them out of school and do the homeschool them then? What’s stopping you?
LVT…(whatever the hell your screen name is):
You said you were homeschooled and said you didn’t learn anything from public school. What’s the story there? Were you initially in public and then pulled out by your parents? Just curious. Why was the homeschooling employed in your case?[/quote]
My parents sent me to public school but they also taught me at home because the schools could not handle me. I was a bored and disobedient student.
My parents, while not practicing traditional homeschooling on me, believed that education begins and ends in the home.
[quote]garcia1970 wrote:
Zeb,
Then why don’t you pull them out of school and do the homeschool them then? What’s stopping you?[/quote]
As you know being a (clears throat) a “Professor” there is a great deal involved in such a decision. Far more than one can explain to those who don’t have children.
[/quote]
Why don’t you try? You are never too busy to post other things, why not this? Seriously, pull them, out and teach them all you know. English and Literature, Science(dirty word), Math to include at least Trig., and history. Then just let them take the test for GED. What’s the problem?
[quote]garcia1970 wrote:
Zeb,
Then why don’t you pull them out of school and do the homeschool them then? What’s stopping you?
LVT…(whatever the hell your screen name is):
You said you were homeschooled and said you didn’t learn anything from public school. What’s the story there? Were you initially in public and then pulled out by your parents? Just curious. Why was the homeschooling employed in your case?[/quote]
My parents sent me to public school but they also taught me at home because the schools could not handle me. I was a bored and disobedient student.
My parents, while not practicing traditional homeschooling on me, believed that education begins and ends in the home.[/quote]
Intersting. You were a discipline problem. This is a surprise because of all the criminals allowed in schools today. This must have been a while ago.
[quote]garcia1970 wrote:
Zeb,
Then why don’t you pull them out of school and do the homeschool them then? What’s stopping you?[/quote]
As you know being a (clears throat) a “Professor” there is a great deal involved in such a decision. Far more than one can explain to those who don’t have children.
[/quote]
Why don’t you try? You are never too busy to post other things, why not this? Seriously, pull them, out and teach them all you know. English and Literature, Science(dirty word), Math to include at least Trig., and history. Then just let them take the test for GED. What’s the problem?[/quote]
One problem is that I don’t especially like your bigotry. One more time, just because someone chooses to home school (and the numbers are rising by the way) does not mean that they are against science. So your narrow minded comment about science being a dirty word only shows you for the narrow minded bigot that you are.
It’s ironic that liberals, those who claim to have an open mind are some the most bigoted group of people. I guess it fits them since they were the ones to begin the war on free speech.
[quote]garcia1970 wrote:
Zeb,
Then why don’t you pull them out of school and do the homeschool them then? What’s stopping you?[/quote]
As you know being a (clears throat) a “Professor” there is a great deal involved in such a decision. Far more than one can explain to those who don’t have children.
[/quote]
Why don’t you try? You are never too busy to post other things, why not this? Seriously, pull them, out and teach them all you know. English and Literature, Science(dirty word), Math to include at least Trig., and history. Then just let them take the test for GED. What’s the problem?[/quote]
One problem is that I don’t especially like your bigotry. One more time, just because someone chooses to home school (and the numbers are rising by the way) does not mean that they are against science. So your narrow minded comment about science being a dirty word only shows you for the narrow minded bigot that you are.
It’s ironic that liberals, those who claim to have an open mind are some the most bigoted group of people. I guess it fits them since they were the ones to begin the war on free speech.
[/quote]
Just what I thought. Insults instead of the truth. The truth is you will NEVER homeschool your kids because:
You and your wife (if you are married) actually work for a living and do not have time to do all that is inviolved and you need a free babysitter.
or…
You are UNABLE because you don’t know these subjects yourself! I would LOVE to see you try to understand advanced math or science.
I said nothing about liberal or conservative. I just asked some questions. I did not insult you, but this is all you ever do when someone comes up with a point that you cannot respond to. This totally exposes you as the mindless fuck you are. BTW: Republicans usually are religious, or wealthy. If they are neither, they are just voting against their own economic interests. You are obviously not rich, so we we’ll go from there.
It is obvious that you resent education (and educators) because you are STUPID and did not do well in school.
LIFTICVSMAXIMVS, hope this doesn’t discourage you from sharing your experience. How did homeschooling work out for you? I read at a very early age, as well and was generally bored in school.