Yes, Public Education in America is in crisis

That’s true even when you exclude the problems exposed by the Pandemic and Mass Shooting Events at schools. I’ll put it like this: The media is underreporting the mass exodus of teachers either to early retirement or other professions. Why? The lack of respect, stress and being underpaid for what is expected of them. Even the most passionate teachers are leaving because they do not feel supported on all fronts.

This is a uniquely American problem that goes back decades. Culture Wars and Politics being forcefully inserted into the equation made things worse and is speeding up the collapse of Public Education in America. These are facts private schools (most of them religious) and charter schools have been exploiting for the better part of the last 15 or so years.

Charter schools have been making a lot of money off of school districts by lobbying for education grants, siphoning money away from already underfunded school districts. Mostly school districts that predominantly serve students of color and students with special needs. The thing about Charter Schools most families find out when something happens is by design, they can choose their own students like a private school. In principle and on paper Charter Schools offer a “premium” education but only to those who they want.

One tactic used by charter schools for the better part of the last 20 years is the way they make their schoolwide test scores look “good”: They transfer students who consistently test low or are expected to consistently test low to a public school, usually one in an urban school district. That way, they can exclude those who scored low from the schoolwide averages. Which students were often the ones to be transferred out? Students of color and students with special needs.

I’ve talked to several families during my time working in education and they were direct with me. They wanted their kid to go to a charter school because they’re better funded and have higher expectations for their students compared to “traditional” public schools, usually the parents working in education themselves. They don’t care. The charter schools send signals pretty early one they want the student gone because they would be a liability for the school’s test scores. High test scores make it easier for them to siphon more money from the school district.

That brings me to private schools and especially faith-based ones. Many Christian and Catholic schools in the U.S. started to close ranks in recent years after some used a loophole to get taxpayer money over the last 20 years in particular. What happened was while faith-based schools were taking taxpayer money, they were also using their status as faith-based schools to fire or expel staff or students who were outed as LGBTQ+ or were suspected of being LGBTQ+. To be clear, it would have been fine if they weren’t taking taxpayer money.

The family of a student in Florida had the courage to sue the school and won the case when they were able to prove in court since the school in question was receiving taxpayer money, their child was discriminated against. The judge sided with the family and orered the school to pay restitution to the family. It wasn’t required but the school also immediately returned all the taxpayer money it received, nearly going bankrupt in the process. That case sent shockwaves across the churches of all demonimations in the U.S. and they scambled to do audits and warn schools to not apply for federal grants and pay back any money they received otherwise.

This happened in 2018 on that note. Many Republican politicians were angered by the ruling and claimed the christian school’s rights were being violated. That would have been true if the school wasn’t getting taxpayer money. Once you do, you have to comply with Title IV which states in part schools receiving taxpayer money can’t discriminate against students or staff on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation among other things.

Getting back to school staff shortages.

Legally, most public schools in the U.S. are required to have just 4 types of staff to function: Principal, Secretary, Janitor/Custodian and Teachers. That’s it. While obviously not a good idea to not have one, schools are not required to a Nurse. For most of the years I worked in education, the nurse was only there a few days a week. Yes, really.

This is of course nevermind paraprofessionals, cafeteria staff, guidance counselors and so on. All those other staff most reasonable people expect or want for their child’s school. Wanted and needed but legally not required. This is how and why some schools are operating with just the bare minimum.

Just so folks understand. Even after a new teacher does 2 to 4 years of college and student teaching, it still takes about 6 to 10 years of working in a classroom before most have really settled into the job. By that 6th to 10th year, the teacher’s seen and done enough to throw away the training wheels for good. Take it from someone who worked with three new teachers. It’s not as easy as it looks. Like athletes, what you see them do in the classroom is just what they learned and trained for being applied.

There is a reason the world will always need teachers and that is because most reasonable will agree the human factor is important. There are limits to how much you can learn practically with just books and technology. The reason other countries are much better at Education is because they actually care about it. That’s certainly not the case here or there wouldn’t be 300,000 teachers leaving the classroom for good just this year.

Working in education is very stressful overall. It doesn’t help when politics and culture wars are forcefully injected into the mix. I know a few former teachers who told me no amount of money in the world was worth dealing with parents demanding they not have certain books in their classroom  “or else”, being asked about their political views and being “asked” to give their child special treatment “or else” among other things. I’ve seen and experienced it myself so…yeah.

Do most of those who leave teaching miss it? Yes, absolutely. Many usually turn to tutoring or teaching at a college/university though some find work at a museum. Some even go to another country where they teach English. I know quite a few who have gone to Latin America, Southeast Asia, China, Japan and parts of Africa or South America. When they come back, they always tell me the same two things: They value education and the host country and they were made to feel valued.

…Sadly, the same can’t be felt here in the U.S.

 

 

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