[geeks] New Tech Schools: Digital Harbor in Baltimore

[wa2egp at att.net]

-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Charles Shannon Hendrix <shannon at widomaker.com>
>
> Mon, 16 Apr 2007 @ 14:58 +0000, wa2egp at att.net said:
> 
> You answered twice.

Sorry, the local phone company rerouted the lines and the
DSL has been flakey.  Can't tell if the reply got sent.

> You'd end up making less money, most likely.
Might cost less to live there too so it might not be as bad
as it seems.
 
> Tidewater pay scales can be good, but most are below averages.
> 
> Of course, you might do well in the outlying communities. They have
> better schools, supposedly have better teachers, and might have better
> pay. Not sure about the last part. It could well be less.
> 
> Their schools are better because they are run better, and parents
> actively work with them. In one case, nearly 100% of parents kept their
> kids home in protest about new testing regulations, until the board
> relented. Cost the community a lot of money in state funding, but the
> community rallied to make up for it, for the sake of their kids.

Daaammmmn! (Sorry, I teach in the 'hood.)
 
> In most of the area though, parents either can't or aren't willing to
> do things like that. One problem is that being military, a lot of our
> population is transient, so they won't be here long enough to either
> care or do anything about it.

Sounds like an urban district....same problem.
 
> There are parents who, if they can afford it, cheat the system by giving
> their kids domocile outside of their own district, and in those with the
> better schools. They even do things like rent homes for them, or even
> make people in them legal guardians.

Seen that happen too.  My younger son will be going to my school which is
in a different district but I'm paying that district the cost of educating
him as if I lived there.  Still a lot cheaper than non-public school.

> The problem is that when they increase the pay, you don't necessarily
> get those better people. You end up paying a lot of the duds the higher
> salary too.

But there will be more "qualified" applicants so the duds will be less 
likely to be hired for the limited position openings.
 
> I'm not saying teachers shouldn't get paid well, but at least you have
> to see it does cause a problem.

Just hav to be more selective in hiring.

> Of course, if my other ideas were implemented, it might be OK (efficient
> firing of the duds).
>  
> What I said was there are welders out there who have had more coursework
> than any teacher, and that's true. I've known them. And yes, they could
> do your job, and at least one of them did.

Doubt it.  Three Physics Honors, two AP Environmental Sciences classes and 
one Biology Honors class.
 
> My point is that people like that don't get credit for being either
> educated or being educators.

True.  I respect people that can do trades because I have tried to do the
same.  I have a wire welder and have done some small pieces (ask your
friend what "bird s**t" means :) ) so I admire someone who can do that.

> Likewise most computer programmers are in school, either in a formal
> school or self-study, almost constantly.
> 
> We never get credit for that.

I'm required to have 100 hours of professional development in five years
or my license gets pulled.  Of course reading any scientific journal
doesn't count eventhough I'm "keeping up with the new discoveries".
 
> > but not necessarily good.  I've seen "retired" engineers come into a
> > system and "teach" physics.  The students didn't learn a damn thing 
> > about physics.  
> 
> Meanwhile, my best physics professor was an engineer, and my worst was a
> theorist.

Betcha college, not high school.

> One of the best lab instructors I had was both.
> 
> > There ARE too many teachers who have no practical experience in the
> > subject they teach.
> 
> Not just that, but a lot of them don't even understand it.
> 
> Combine that with teachers who don't like kids, don't like teaching, and
> have no teaching skills and you get quite a mess.

Can you say "burn out"?  I knew that you could.
 
> But if you look at professionals with 4 year degrees, teachers don't
> come out bad at all.

Oh really?  I guess in your neck of the woods, professionals get s**t
pay.
 
> More importantly, unions and regulations protect teachers, even those
> that absolutely suck. Most other workers have no job protection at all.

Those were put in place when districts would hire a teacher for four 
or five years then fire them to hire a new teacher.
 
> That might be part of the issue.

Jealousy usually is.  I've done this battle with many who started with
higher pay, collected more money during their career, my top scale
started to approach their salary and they lost their job.  Not fair!

There are teachers I would like to get rid of but I can't do 
anything about it.  I'm not a union man eventhough I was a building
rep for about six years.  They (the union) didn't do crap in the
important areas and now they want me to fight the battles they
get paid to fight.  In the words of Bill the cat, "pffffft!"

Bob