You can argue it either way. If the students were clients we'd be providing them a service by educating them according to their standards - more like the University level, which is tremendously flawed as well, but fodder for a different discussion.
My point is that every student of every caliber are now forced to attend school through the age of 17 or 18; they are put together into a single classroom because it is bad news to pull out the lows (tracking) or give the highs more advantages (discrimination to the lows.) My job is to shove as much of the standardized curriculum into these students as possible and get them through to the next level. My job is nominally to provide the service of an education, but realistically I'm supposed to give them enough to pass a standardized test and get them through to the next part of the educational factory. I refuse to do this by the way, and I make the other teacher/factory workers very uncomfortable. I was told so again today as a matter of fact.
Your point about complaining is correct. It actually mirrors my original post's intent. Parents who pay more for good school districts (which do very much exist) complain endlessly. They want the best for their children and they work to get it. The article cited even mentioned this. The communities who don't complain are the ones who wind up with poor school districts. Of course the type of complaining matters. Bitching and moaning on a forum is unlikely to directly change in your school districts - bitching and moaning at a school board meeting will get far more attention.
Nope. I'm telling you that some are decent. I know a good deal about how the "NCLB (No Child Left Behind)" legislature is applied to schools and can read those school report cards like a pro. I have exceptionally high standards for schools and nixed all but two high schools in all of the Houston area as not being good enough. Judging by my personal experience in my community, many other parents have done the same.
I teach in a Title One school in an totally different, industrial-based school district. 80% of my students are on Government Free and Reduced Lunch. 90% of them are minorities. 60% of them didn't speak English until they were in 3rd or 4th grade despite being born in the country. I work with some pretty horrible teachers, and they are there because nobody ever complains about them. You wouldn't find these teachers anywhere near a "good" school where parents would have them out on their ass in a matter of days. I'm there because I choose to be - there are some seriously smart kiddos in the mix, and I figure my job is to give them as much of an advantage as possible, despite their background and poor schooling to date. Many other teachers fail to share that opinion.
As the article mentions, there are good schools and bad schools and you can't lump all of public schooling into a category or one or the other. Public schools vary tremendously by state, city and neighborhood. Ask someone in Louisiana or Mississippi to describe their schools and then get the same from someone in Michigan or North Carolina. You'll hear very different responses.
Teacher unions do have a big voice and there is a high level of protection through the unions for teachers. As a member of one, I'd argue that I actually need more protection from bad students then the typical student needs from bad teachers. I have insurance through the union so that when/if I'm ever sued by an angry parent for "failing" his child, my whole life is not wiped out.
I can't tell you how many teachers work their asses off to help children and then are ruined when a child starts spreading a rumor or lies about the teacher. I have had male teacher friends forced to quit despite legal protection after female students deliberately started rumors about their actions in the classroom. Even though it was obviously a prank and proven to be so, the teacher's reputation was ruined because of it. As for what unions do at the higher levels, I have as much control over that as I do over my congressman.
I would absolutely love to see schools full of teachers who care and students who are ready to learn any number of things. I'd love to see the privatization of schools come true as it's shown in the article. Will it happen - perhaps, but that article describes an ideal. Utopia exists only in the minds of sociologists. Refer to any other country in the world - how are those churches and civic organizations doing to help the students who aren't allowed to go to public or private schools?
The US educates everyone - ready or not. Taxes are a part of that. Of course we could legalize gambling like Louisiana and have that pay for education. I think it's done really well there....
The people just voted for almost pure socialism - we've been doing it for years.
