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Ongoing NC GOP debacle thread

I have a lot of friends I went to either high school or college with who taught in NC for a year or two after school and then either moved to another state to teach or left the profession all together. From conversations with a few of them it was clear that the prevailing opinion was you would have to be batshit crazy to be a teacher in NC in the current political climate.
 
Because the climate here is very hostile towards public school teachers and administrators. It's crazy. Republicans are pushing so hard right now for free market, cost cutting methods in public education, but there is no clear reasoning or hypothesis as to how these changes are going to improve anything. It's as if spending less money is supposed to be some obvious solution in itself. Maybe the thinking is that since poor kids are already failing there is no harm in taking the teachers and funding from their schools?
 
Wakeforest22890 said:
I have a lot of friends I went to either high school or college with who taught in NC for a year or two after school and then either moved to another state to teach or left the profession all together. From conversations with a few of them it was clear that the prevailing opinion was you would have to be batshit crazy to be a teacher in NC in the current political climate.
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I have a good friend who is halfway to retirement as an NC public school teacher and he's already planning to go to VA after he reaches 30 years in his early 50s. He can make more money there and get vested into their retirement program.
 
because you can definitely tell a lot about a person based on what he/she posts on the tunnels under a fake name
 
My wife is a fucking awesome teacher and she quit and is doing something else now. Lack of support, increased class size, shit pay, and much more drove her away. Her thought is she can always go back to teaching when the climate improves but right now while we are young, she's going to try something different. Good for her I say. That is all.
 
Look if poor kids will just finish their education, get a job, and not have kids before they are married they will be rich.

We certainly don't need to give them teachers, opportunities for employment, or information on how not to have kids before they are married.
 
With the court’s OK, the state is free to spend public money to subsidize some children’s attendance at nonpublic schools. And those schools are bound by none of the quality standards the Supreme Court itself has said are necessary to fulfill the right to an education that means something.

...

Their whole take, as explicated in Martin’s opinion, boiled down to a finding that the program might pass constitutional muster in some instances – so what choice did they have but to let it continue? If a 30-page ruling ever conjured up an image of eight upturned palms and a shrug of eight shoulders, this was the time.

...

▪ Private schools receiving scholarship funds don’t have to be accredited by the State Board of Education or anyone else.

▪ Teachers or principals at those schools don’t have to be licensed “or have any particular credentials, degrees, experience, or expertise in education.”

▪ The schools don’t have to meet any requirements as to their curricula.

▪ They don’t have to meet any required minimum instructional times.

▪ They’re not prohibited from discriminating against applicants or students on the basis of religion.


...

As Hobgood put it, “The General Assembly fails the children of North Carolina when they are sent with taxpayer money to private schools that have no legal obligation to teach them anything.”
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Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article30475674.html#storylink=cpy
 
DeacHawk said:
3 constitutional amendments proposed for presidential primary

bill text: http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2015/Bills/Senate/PDF/S607v2.pdf

- Constitutional amendment reducing the maximum State income tax rate from ten percent to five percent

- Constitutional amendment establishing an Emergency Savings Reserve Fund in the State Treasury

- Constitutional amendment limiting the growth of State spending to inflation plus population growth
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The above were combined into a single ballot question, which would read as follows:

Constitutional amendments adding the Taxpayer Protection Act to the North Carolina Constitution that would limit the growth of State spending to inflation plus population growth, establish and require yearly deposits in an Emergency Savings Reserve Fund in the State Treasury, and reduce the maximum allowable income tax rate in North Carolina from ten percent (10%) to five percent (5%).

http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2015/Bills/Senate/PDF/S607v3.pdf

3/5 majority needed to get on the ballot should be a breeze in the Senate, no idea where the House stands on this.
 
This insulting notion reeks of the malfeasance motivating political voucher advocates. Communities in poverty have poorly performing schools because their students must overcome greater obstacles to perform at their educational best. Their not scoring as well on bubble tests as wealthier schools is not due to some intrinsic fault in those students or their teachers, and poverty certainly isn’t a problem that began inside a school.

Do voucher supporters think it’s a coincidence that all of the “failing” schools in our state have unacceptably high degrees of poverty? Do they believe that poor communities are unable to educate their children and that the teachers, students and parents in those communities are to blame for their difficulties?

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article30475161.html#storylink=cpy
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...
 
WFFaithful said:
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This insulting notion reeks of the malfeasance motivating political voucher advocates. Communities in poverty have poorly performing schools because their students must overcome greater obstacles to perform at their educational best. Their not scoring as well on bubble tests as wealthier schools is not due to some intrinsic fault in those students or their teachers, and poverty certainly isn’t a problem that began inside a school.

Do voucher supporters think it’s a coincidence that all of the “failing” schools in our state have unacceptably high degrees of poverty? Do they believe that poor communities are unable to educate their children and that the teachers, students and parents in those communities are to blame for their difficulties?

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/...#storylink=cpy
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I called it! Can't blame the teachers, can't blame the students, can't blame the parents. So who is left to blame? Blame the bubble tests! Yes!
Listen, is not being able to read or add the fault of a bubble test? No, it isn't. Sorry to say, but people have been learning to do those two simple things without "more resources" for centuries. As much as they don't want to hear it, it is the combined fault of the teachers, students, and parents. And until we recognize that pointing the finger at bubble tests isn't going to fix those basic problems, nothing is going to get fixed.
 
2&2 Slider To Leyritz said:
I called it! Can't blame the teachers, can't blame the students, can't blame the parents. So who is left to blame? Blame the bubble tests! Yes!
Listen, is not being able to read or add the fault of a bubble test? No, it isn't. Sorry to say, but people have been learning to do those two simple things without "more resources" for centuries. As much as they don't want to hear it, it is the combined fault of the teachers, students, and parents. And until we recognize that pointing the finger at bubble tests isn't going to fix those basic problems, nothing is going to get fixed.
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Well, except that the bubble tests (or rather, the NCLB emphasis on standardized testing with "accountability") were supposed to fix the problems. They don't, they just drain resources and drive a certain political narrative. It wasn't the teacher's organizations and poor parents, and it certainly wasn't the children, that claimed standardized testing was going to fix public education.
 
You can teach a kid to read and add with, without, and/or regardless of bubble tests. So no matter how much blame you want to throw on the NCLB and the bubble tests, the teachers are with the kids for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 8 months a year. If they can't do those things then the teachers suck and the parents suck. End of story.
 
2&2, I can't decide whether going through life with a mind as determinedly reductionist as yours would be depressing or liberating.
 
2&2 Slider To Leyritz said:
You can teach a kid to read and add with, without, and/or regardless of bubble tests. So no matter how much blame you want to throw on the NCLB and the bubble tests, the teachers are with the kids for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 8 months a year. If they can't do those things then the teachers suck and the parents suck. End of story.
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I would pay money to watch you try and last a week in an elementary school classroom of kids, poor or otherwise.
 
2&2 Slider To Leyritz said:
You can teach a kid to read and add with, without, and/or regardless of bubble tests. So no matter how much blame you want to throw on the NCLB and the bubble tests, the teachers are with the kids for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 8 months a year. If they can't do those things then the teachers suck and the parents suck. End of story.
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And their job has been reduced to teaching bubble tests.
 
There are a lot of political conversations out of my depth, this is not one of them. 2&2 doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about. Holding impoverished schools to the same standards of improvement as wealthy schools is beyond ignorant, and its a disservice to the children in those poor schools.
 
Anyone who overlooks or ignores the effects of poverty on school children shouldn't be involved in the decision making process.

Here is a breakdown for teachers in poor schools:


What % of students came to school hungry, tired, or highly anxious?

What % of students came to class unprepared, without supplies or books?

What % of students have multiple tardies or absences?

What percentage of class time do they spend calming their classrooms down?

How much more time do they need to review homework?

What percentage of their children did their homework?

How many outbursts or fights will the teacher have to deal with?

How much longer will it take to get through the standard curriculum because of students dragging behind?

What % of students parents will be involved with their progress?

All of these things add up to drastic differences between a impoverished school and a wealthier one. An average teacher who would easily manage and succeed with a normal SES class could easily fail to meet improvement standards at a lower SES school.
 
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myDeaconmyhand said:
There are a lot of political conversations out of my depth, this is not one of them. 2&2 doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about. Holding impoverished schools to the same standards of improvement as wealthy schools is beyond ignorant, and its a disservice to the children in those poor schools.
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You are missing the point. I am not focusing on bubble test standards at all. I am not blaming them or giving them credit, I do not care about them. My point is that in the bottom schools, kids are not getting out with basic reading and math skills. That is not the fault of testing or standards or bubbles or anything but the schools, the parents, and the kids. Is there any general attendance public school in the state whose curriculum does not include basic reading and math? If not, then there is no excuse for not teaching it and learning it. Other than that the teachers suck and/or the parents suck. It has nothing to do with bubbles or impoverishment or wealth or whatever is going on in Raleigh.
 
2&2, how often do you give bubble tests to your employees?
 
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