Reply to Why does no one acknowledge how overworked teachers are?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So now you want teachers to have even less education. Get an AA degree like the other trades?  :shock: [/quote]

I don’t think that’s a bad idea, at least for the younger ages.   Were you being sarcastic?[/quote]

You mean like when they learn to read? Develop math and reasoning skills? When some of the first signs of learning disabilities and processing disorders are apparent?

We invest so little in the first 5 to 10 years of a kid's life as a country that it's despicable. [/quote]

In those other countries that DCUM aspire to be like with well paid and educated teachers and kids starting formal school at 7 (like Finland for example), the kids all start school being fluent readers. Their parents teach them at home in the early years. And parents could have even less than AA degrees. They care about their kids though and make sure to teach them to read and whatever else is expected before school starts.

The despicable thing in the US is how bad the parenting is and how little people care about their own kids.[/quote]

Do you know any Finnish people? I do, and none of them independently taught their kids to read. Their kids attended high quality, subsidized daycares where reading basics are incorporated into the mostly play-based curriculum, and parents supported at home by reading to their kids and reinforcing reading concepts. All the Finnish families I know are dual income and rely heavily on the substantial support they and their children receive before their kids start school. This includes: extensive parental leave for both parents, which allows one parent or the other to be home with babies during the first year of life, subsidized childcare, excellent post natal care for babies and mothers including home visits to make sure everyone has what the need, monthly stipends for each child to cover costs like clothes and food, which Finnish families receive regardless of income.

Parents in Finland do not care more about their kids than American parents. They receive support from the government that allows them to channel their energy into quality time with kids and supporting them emotionally, socially,  and yes, sometimes academically. In the US where parents are expected to return to work almost immediately after their kids are born, find quality childcare in a system that is not designed to provide it (and definitely not affordable), absorb the costs of children with no state support, and navigate a healthcare system where standards of care are based on your income and location and there are few guaranteed benefits.

[b]Honestly, teachers in Finland could make considerably less than in the US and have much higher quality of life because they don’t have to spend all their income on procuring basic social services like healthcare or childcare, like we do in the US.[/b]
[/quote]
The bolded part I think is key. In the US, schools (especially in lower-income areas) have defaulted to be the social services provider to kids (and their families, to a lesser extent). In a place like Finland, where a robust publicly funded social services safety net exists, kids don't come to school hungry or without access to healthcare. A teacher in Finland can focus on what their job actually is, rather than having to deal with issues that our teachers need to cover because of our spotty social safety net.  [/quote]

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