You know what drives me crazy? In every place I have lived, people brag about how amazing their city/state is. Of course every place has something to brag about. In Minnesota it's the lakes, in Utah it's the mountains, etc. But people also like to brag about things that are just silly or not true. I wish I had a picture, but right now I am remembering a billboard in Utah, about the University of Utah School of Business. It said something like "Top Business Program in the Intermountain West." I remember thinking, "wow, if that's all you've got, you should probably hire new PR people.
And in Minnesota, people love to brag about education. They love to tell you it's hard to get licensed here because the standards for teachers are just SO high. And people here really care about education, so it's SO well-funded. I've only been here 6 months, but let me tell you something: the teachers here are the same as teachers everywhere. And if there's more money for education in Minnesota, someone should tell me where I can find it for the classrooms I was working in recently.
I did notice that Edison seemed to have a lot of social workers, nurses, deans, and academic/college support programs. There seem to be more non-profits doing work in schools here... but then there are glaring problems, like how do you have an ESL program without classroom libraries in each room? Without headsets for every student to listen and speak into? Without dictionaries? Without phonics flashcards? And why are there no supplies for teachers? Besides white paper in the copy machine, the only materials I had were the personal items left behind by the teachers I was subbing for. If I had run out of their staples, I would have needed to go buy some more. Teachers did tell me about a program where you get 45 minutes once a year to do a supermarket-sweep-style shopping trip for free classroom supplies. But seriously, we're supposed to be excited about this? Providing teachers with the materials needed should not be dependent on our speed-shopping skills, especially when plans change throughout the year and you don't know what you'll need ahead of time.
(Blast from the past: Remember when I worked at a school where we ran out of paper, the principal refused to get more and we had to beg for it on Craigslist? And some nuns came to the rescue with paper that said "faith" "hope" and "love" on it?)
When I first arrived in Utah and heard there were "school fees" my sensibilities were offended. How can we possibly charge students at a public school? The longer I was there, the more I realized this made sense (given the alternatives). In other cities I've taught, we ask students to bring in notebooks, folders, loose paper, tissues, colored pencils, etc. And when they don't, the teacher typically goes out and purchases them. In Utah, basic school supplies were covered by these school fees. Students on Free/Reduced Price Lunch (our measure for poverty) were not expected to pay. So instead of some kids coming with supplies while others didn't, in SLC every kid had access to the supplies we had purchased as a school. Don't get me wrong, there were still issues with students not having other important things, like a backpack, food to eat on the weekends, and heat in their house, but in terms of school supplies, we had what we needed.
In a perfect world schools would be well-funded so they had everything needed to help kids learn. Until then, asking people to contribute money to school supplies, rather than giving them a personal shopping list makes a lot of sense to me.
And in Minnesota, people love to brag about education. They love to tell you it's hard to get licensed here because the standards for teachers are just SO high. And people here really care about education, so it's SO well-funded. I've only been here 6 months, but let me tell you something: the teachers here are the same as teachers everywhere. And if there's more money for education in Minnesota, someone should tell me where I can find it for the classrooms I was working in recently.
I did notice that Edison seemed to have a lot of social workers, nurses, deans, and academic/college support programs. There seem to be more non-profits doing work in schools here... but then there are glaring problems, like how do you have an ESL program without classroom libraries in each room? Without headsets for every student to listen and speak into? Without dictionaries? Without phonics flashcards? And why are there no supplies for teachers? Besides white paper in the copy machine, the only materials I had were the personal items left behind by the teachers I was subbing for. If I had run out of their staples, I would have needed to go buy some more. Teachers did tell me about a program where you get 45 minutes once a year to do a supermarket-sweep-style shopping trip for free classroom supplies. But seriously, we're supposed to be excited about this? Providing teachers with the materials needed should not be dependent on our speed-shopping skills, especially when plans change throughout the year and you don't know what you'll need ahead of time.
(Blast from the past: Remember when I worked at a school where we ran out of paper, the principal refused to get more and we had to beg for it on Craigslist? And some nuns came to the rescue with paper that said "faith" "hope" and "love" on it?)
When I first arrived in Utah and heard there were "school fees" my sensibilities were offended. How can we possibly charge students at a public school? The longer I was there, the more I realized this made sense (given the alternatives). In other cities I've taught, we ask students to bring in notebooks, folders, loose paper, tissues, colored pencils, etc. And when they don't, the teacher typically goes out and purchases them. In Utah, basic school supplies were covered by these school fees. Students on Free/Reduced Price Lunch (our measure for poverty) were not expected to pay. So instead of some kids coming with supplies while others didn't, in SLC every kid had access to the supplies we had purchased as a school. Don't get me wrong, there were still issues with students not having other important things, like a backpack, food to eat on the weekends, and heat in their house, but in terms of school supplies, we had what we needed.
In a perfect world schools would be well-funded so they had everything needed to help kids learn. Until then, asking people to contribute money to school supplies, rather than giving them a personal shopping list makes a lot of sense to me.