Education Funding, why so low? Educational Crisis in US

Of course it is. It's fair to question all kinds of things every day in education in America.

I didn't say it wasn't fair to question. But, generally speaking, I don't put it on the parents all that often. Of course there are bad parents. There are bad teachers. There are good and bad 3-pointers, too. But, on the whole, the 3-point shot is better than the long 2-point shot. And that's where I tend to lie with parents - more grace than less.

 

I'm not opposed your idea.
But I am opposed to money ear-marked for "education" being used for these programs and resources.

 

None of those I know have hero complexes, wouldn't be offended if you called them that, maybe they would. One guy I went to hs with is now an AD at an inner city
hs. About 10 years ago when he was teaching I asked him why he didn't transfer to a suburban hs. In NJ many suburban hs teachers at the top step are over 110k.
He said at those schools the parents are calling and asking why junior didn't score higher on his SAT and why he/she wasn't accepted to Columbia. At the time in his
8 years there he said he never had a parent call about a kid's academic problems.

 

What state are you talking about?

 

Parent involvement and expectations are probably the number 1 factor.

Society needs to tell parents it’s not acceptable to drop kid in front of TV while mom/dad gets to party take time for themselves.

Society also needs to tell parents that it’s more important to have raised a great kid than to have a nice car/home/phone. Look around, that message has been lost. Parents used to sacrifice for kids; that’s been lost. Everywhere not just inner city.

Society can start by showing parents society cares about education by spending on education.

$20k a student? Sounds like a lot but not really when you look at real 1960$$ and does that include capital and main costs?

 

A portrait of despair. A problem hardly relegated to shitty parents.

 

Not just a problem here:

Teachers in Britain forced to wash and feed pupils who aren't getting basic care at home | Daily Mail Online

 

Some of those cities also have a few mil donated by Marky Zuckerberg. Teachers in one of those cities have told me kids still lack books and supplies.
Is there ever any accountability for how money is spent, or is the answer always more money needs to be spent?

 

What's raising a great kid get you today? Very little. You will not be recognized as a good parent for having done it. You will not have more friends. You will not have more opportunities. You will not be a celebrity, have Facebook posts that make other people jealous, and it's quite possible your kid, who's so great, will not get more opportunities and open doors for having been a great, well-rounded kid.

Badgering teachers will get your kid opportunities. Hovering over your children and micromanaging their lives gets them opportunities. Money gets them opportunities.

You know who was roundly applauded for his parenting skills? Who wrote a book about it?

Earl Woods. A horrible parent to his "second-string" kids and, by the end of life, a fairly rotten guy by most accounts.

You know whose father was slumlord racist? Who taught his son all kinds of rotten messages?

Donald Trump's dad.

When American society has turned education into the vehicle by which you make money - money then used to buy all the shit that supposedly makes you a good American - and the higher education system itself is a cynical maze of grants and fundraising, you get what you get.

You're not wrong about the message society needs to send. But society isn't sending anything close to that, because goodness has little-to-no value in America. Success is the real currency. And how do you show success? By buying stuff.

 

On another thread, forget which one, someone said being good and doing the right thing should be a reward in itself. Would think most parents don't need
to be recognized for raising a good kid. How about it's good enough to raise a good kid who isn't a celebrity but doesn't end up like an Amy Winehouse, River
Phoenix or Heath Ledger.

 

I just saw an interview with a teacher in Kentucky who said that the state did not contribute to Social Security for the teachers. The pension that the Ky. lege is screwing with is her only income when she retires, and it's not like they make enough to save a significant nest egg.

 

There's a lot of science demonstrating children learn better when they're well nourished.

New York City provides free breakfast, lunch and snacks to any kid pre-K through 12th grade who signs up.