The Education Omnibus Blog, Part III, Send in the Clowns

Happy Monday. I thought momentarily about stopping the extended rant that is The Education Omnibus Blog. I honestly thought for a moment that I had just about hit all the major points and had ranted myself out. Then I realized that I had not even scratched the surface when it comes to addressing the ills that beset the public schools in America today. There are layoffs and firings looming all over America. There are budget cuts resulting in larger classrooms and fewer resources. Meanwhile administrations of large school districts still function in bloated states with copious numbers of people doing who knows what for salaries in the 6 figure range.

Apparently the entire country is in financial distress just now, and the answer, as always, seems to be to get rid of teachers. As has been noted before in this space, the feds have cut funding that is going to the states. The states have cut funding that goes to the local school districts. The local school districts are cutting funds to individual schools. The schools are cutting back on the numbers of teachers. This results in fewer teachers teaching the same numbers of kids, and subsequently increased class sizes. The Chicago Public Schools is proposing a classroom size of 35 for next fall.

I don't even have 35 desks in my classroom. How about we do away with desks altogether and sit them all on the floor. I already have a shortage of textbooks. What will happen in the fall? How about we do away with textbooks and have the teachers create all lessons from scratch, except for those that will involve students using computers to do research on topics. Oh wait! There aren't enough computers for all students, and certainly not computers that would be accessible to students who are sittting on the floor.

Better yet, we could just do away with school buildings and teachers and have all students get their learning online. Oh wait! We don't have enough computers for all kids to take home with them. This is not to mention the fact that without teachers to monitor most kids all they'd do with the computers, even if they had them, would be to constantly e-mail each other, play video games, and check their Facebook or My Space pages.

And then when you think it cannot get any more absurd, there are the central office administrators who seem to be hiring more administrators every day. Apparently, in the minds of those who oversee the schools, the need for actual teachers, books, computers, and assorted accessories of education are not nearly as important as overseeing the operation of the schools and their mission. Just this last week I saw advertised online, among others, job openings for College and Career Preparation Officer. The salary range is from $118,700-$169,000. Got news for these people, I am a college and career preparation officer. I am a high school teacher. What exactly is it that people think I do? Hey I could stand to double my salary. Maybe I'll apply. Of course, not being politically connected and a loud-mouthed blogger might be disadvantageous to attaining such a position.

Okay, just one more of these administrative postings, for your perusal. They also advertised for a Management Support Director (MSD), salary range $78,700-$111,000. The MSD's "duties allow for the successful development, coordination, implementation, and maintenance of educational programs designed to improve student academic achievement." Anyone got a clue what this sucker does? Want to coordinate, implement, and maintain some educational programs? How about you hire some teachers to teach.

Meanwhile the state and local governments are claiming that they can't possibly meet the required payments for teacher pension systems. This is despite the fact that, in many cases, the payments are mandated by law. Let's see, someone passed a law that said if I served the community for X number of years I could pay into a pension system and the government would pay a certain matching amount into said system and I would be rewarded with a decent living wage when I retire. Now the government wants to renege. Let's see, this was put into law. I break laws and I get fined or imprisoned. The government breaks laws and teachers lose their pensions. That sounds fair, doesn't it?

Let's face facts boys and girls. Despite all the tea party grumblings, all the griping and moaning, we are going to have to raise taxes to meet our obligations. And we're not talking about property taxes. We are talking about the federal and state governments following through on what they promised. We are talking about meeting fiscal obligations so that America's children can have an education that is not on a par with some backwater 3rd world country. America still has the largest GNP in the world. We can afford to pay for education, and the sad thing is that if we do not fund our public education we will pay. We will pay through the nose by having unprepared citizens trying to compete with the citizens of nations who do invest in education.

And yet, when I think about the deplorable state of education in America today, I hear one little voice in the back of my mind. When I listen very carefully, I can just make out what the little voice is saying. It is singing, "Send in the clowns......."