America Has Too Many Teachers

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1...20588.html

Since 1970, the public school workforce has roughly doubled—to 6.4 million from 3.3 million—and two-thirds of those new hires are teachers or teachers' aides. Over the same period, enrollment rose by a tepid 8.5%. Employment has thus grown 11 times faster than enrollment. If we returned to the student-to-staff ratio of 1970, American taxpayers would save about $210 billion annually in personnel costs.

That also means that close to 1 MILLION administrators and paper pushers are now on the dole as well!

If we want to get serious about reforming schools, the cancer at the top needs to be trimmed big-time. Sure, we can send an extra $1 to the schools, but by the time it gets funneled through the DOE and 100 other administrators, the school gets $0.20 and then we wonder why everything is going to hell.

This is the greatest article written in a long while.

Teachers unions are a heavy Democratic constituency who got their parasitic hooks into local government. As a result, the taxpayer bleeds.

Quote from MISHNAH : That also means that close to 1 MILLION administrators and paper pushers are now on the dole as well! If we want to get serious about reforming schools, the cancer at the top needs to be trimmed big-time. Sure, we can send an extra $1 to the schools, but by the time it gets funneled through the DOE and 100 other administrators, the school gets $0.20 and then we wonder why everything is going to hell.

Along with a ton of specialized educational consultants, performance auditors, trainers and seminar providers both in-school and outside, etc.. etc., most of which charge daily rates that would make a big 5 firm blush. If you ever have an opportunity to actually look at the annual contract expenditures for stuff like this within a typical school system you will be truly shocked.

Quote from Mike A. : Along with a ton of specialized educational consultants, performance auditors, trainers and seminar providers both in-school and outside, etc.. etc., most of which charge daily rates that would make a big 5 firm blush. If you ever have an opportunity to actually look at the annual contract expenditures for stuff like this within a typical school system you will be truly shocked.

I agree with this mostly.

I find it hard to say there are too many teachers if each teacher is responsible for 20-30 kids.

Problem is, there are so many specialists, department heads (who don't teach a class), and other admins, it just doesn't make sense.

But heck, I'd fine if they just let each town pay for their own schools, and left the bigger governments out of it entirely.

Quote from Danman114 : I find it hard to say there are too many teachers if each teacher is responsible for 20-30 kids.

Wasnt that long ago that class sizes of up to 50 kids were normal, however the teacher also held a stiff ruler and the principal had a wooden paddle. Get out of line and there were visible consequences. The lack of rule and respect towards teachers and other people in power and letting kids run the school is another major problem thats overlooked.

Although, I have known and dated a few teachers, and what really needs to be done is to have a large percentage of PARENTS taken to the principal's office and given a good paddling to knock some sense into them big time!

Quote : The Institute of Education Sciences, the research arm of the United States Department of Education has concluded that class size reduction is one of only four, evidence-based reforms that have been proven to increase student achievement through rigorous, randomized experiments — the “gold standard” of research.

The above quote is from: http://parentsacrossamerica.org/w...e-matters/

Quote from zzyzzx : If we returned to the student-to-staff ratio of 1970, American taxpayers would save about $210 billion annually in personnel costs.[/i]

And what happens to the quality of the education when the teacher:student ratio drops? Observer1984 beat me to it.

Quote from CyberGuy : And what happens to the quality of the education when the teacher:student ratio drops? Observer1984 beat me to it.

so more teachers per number of students increase achievement and there are the most teachers to students ever.. but at the same time schools (and children) are failing more than ever??

http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=28

Quote : The number of public school teachers has increased by a larger percentage than the number of public school students over the past 10 years, resulting in declines in the pupil/teacher ratio. In the fall of 2010, there were a projected 15.6 public school pupils per teacher, compared with 16.0 public school pupils per teacher 10 years earlier.

Quote from CyberGuy : And what happens to the quality of the education when the teacher:student ratio drops? Observer1984 beat me to it.

It goes up?? Who knows, but we know it's not good now.

Quote from DJPlayer : so more teachers per number of students increase achievement and there are the most teachers to students ever.. but at the same time schools (and children) are failing more than ever??

How are you gauging that they "are failing more than ever"?

Quote from sanfran22 : It goes up?? Who knows, but we know it's not good now.

No, it doesn't go up. Just look at the extreme: hiring a private tutor for your kid. That's a ratio of 1:1. The kid will be better educated in that environment because the tutor will have the time to tailor their lesson plan to the kid directly, address his weaknesses and monitor his progress.

Every time I read about how bad American students have it because we're not spending enough or teachers aren't getting paid enough..... I think about Africa. I mean, if our students are being left behind generally because "we're not spending enough" (which I have a feeling no amount is ever going to be "too much" for the left), I just think about Africa and how that continent must be beyond f'd.

Quote from Danman114 : I'd fine if they just let each town pay for their own schools, and left the bigger governments out of it entirely.

Of course, that would mean that the children of the rich would get fabulous educations and the poor, of course, would get suck-tastic educations. That's already the case, of course, but this gulf between rich and poor would get only wider.

Dare I suggest that there are also more schools? Ok I will, THERE ARE MORE SCHOOLS!

I'll take words that end in -amburger for $1200, Alex.