WTF is wrong with you, Abilene?

[Captainant 27,512]

https://ktxs.com/news/local/parents-outraged-after-aisd-staff-suggests-tracking-students-menstrual-cycles

ABILENE, Texas — Students at Clack Middle School were allegedly told by a staff member that they would begin tracking menstrual cycles for female students.

Parents have expressed that they are outraged that this comment was made to their kids.

...

The comment was allegedly made to the students in a classroom setting and several parents have contacted the school. They were told to email the assistant principal with their concerns and complaints.

[Deej 76,626]

It's Texas. Female bodies belong to the State. Moose out front should have told you. 

[HenryJames 65,919]

Quote

"This is a violation of their first amendment rights," one parent said.

wut

[South Austin 52,186]

[Brisketexan 104,779]

"Abilene ISD is aware of allegations regarding an inappropriate comment made by a staff member at Clack Middle School."

Translation: "That staff member shouldn't have told you what we intend to do.  We didn't want you to find out that we're implementing A Handmaid's Tale as actual policy."

[RPM 26,267]

33 minutes ago, Deej said:

Moose out front should have told you. 

The judges would also accepted "Hot Wheels, Washed-up Sportscaster, Goucheyed Shyster or any combination thereof."

[Scraps 13,552]

I am sure this was a "man yall are all being a bunch of little fucking bitches today.  Yall must all be on your periods.  I will take note of that so next month I will know when you fucking whores will be a pain in my ass again" 

which translated into "I am going to track your periods" 

[Frank Drebin 5,632]

We should have separate threads for every stupid thing a middle school teacher or admin in this state says.  

[Deej 76,626]

6 minutes ago, Scraps said:

I am sure this was a "man yall are all being a bunch of little fucking bitches today.  Yall must all be on your periods.  I will take note of that so next month I will know when you fucking whores will be a pain in my ass again" 

which translated into "I am going to track your periods" 

[Samson's Wig 3,182]

7 minutes ago, Frank Drebin said:

We should have separate threads for every stupid thing a middle school teacher or admin in this state says.  

Facebook has that covered.

I don't envy the folks working in middle schools, because kids that age are fucking nuts.  However, having two kids in a public middle school right now, I can tell you the quality of staff would shock most people who haven't been around education in a while.   Experienced teachers bailed during the pandemic and took all of their institutional knowledge with them.  What's left is a bunch of millennial and Gen Z teachers (with a smattering of Gen Xers who got emergency certification - the lifers from Gen X mostly left the profession) with little experience, no work ethic, and subpar educations themselves. The turnover rate is insane, with the average new teacher bailing from the profession within 3-4 years.  Texas has one of the lowest (maybe the lowest) average years of experience per teacher in the United States.  It's a constant battle.  Some of the young teachers are shockingly lazy and will completely ruin a student, not out of spite but out of indifference.   

The ratio of quality teachers to those doing the bare minimum was never spectacular in public education, but wholly crap is it bad now.  It used to mostly be the math teachers who dialed it in, as that subject lends itself to it (five minutes explaining a topic on the board followed by handing out worksheets and having the kids grade their own papers, basically just following a textbook all year and never working outside of classroom hours - what a tough gig). Now, it's every subject.  As teachers have been saddled with more regulatory busywork, they (perhaps understandably) do less and less actual teaching.   And, in Texas, at least, the old tradition of having coaches who can barely spell their own name teach academic courses is still alive and well, and it's as shitty as it ever was.  We had one goofy Gen Z football coach teaching Texas History carry a baseball bat around like he's Morgan Freeman in "Lean on Me", slamming it on desks if students weren't paying attention.  His bat was taken away from him like a dangerous toy is taken away from a child.  However, every kid in his class has a 100 because he's just that good /eye-roll/.  Jaime Escalante he is not.

[DalTxHornFan 3,088]

8 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

Facebook has that covered.

I don't envy the folks working in middle schools, because kids that age are fucking nuts.  However, having two kids in a public middle school right now, I can tell you the quality of staff would shock most people who haven't been around education in a while.   Experienced teachers bailed during the pandemic and took all of their institutional knowledge with them.  What's left is a bunch of millennial and Gen Z teachers (with a smattering of Gen Xers who got emergency certification - the lifers from Gen X mostly left the profession) with little experience, no work ethic, and subpar educations themselves. The turnover rate is insane, with the average new teacher bailing from the profession within 3-4 years.  Texas has one of the lowest (maybe the lowest) average years of experience per teacher in the United States.  It's a constant battle.  Some of the young teachers are shockingly lazy and will completely ruin a student, not out of spite but out of indifference.   

The ratio of quality teachers to those doing the bare minimum was never spectacular in public education, but wholly crap is it bad now.  It used to mostly be the math teachers who dialed it in, as that subject lends itself to it (five minutes explaining a topic on the board followed by handing out worksheets and having the kids grade their own papers, basically just following a textbook all year and never working outside of classroom hours - what a tough gig). Now, it's every subject.  As teachers have been saddled with more regulatory busywork, they (perhaps understandably) do less and less actual teaching.   And, in Texas, at least, the old tradition of having coaches who can barely spell their own name teach academic courses is still alive and well, and it's as shitty as it ever was.  We had one goofy Gen Z football coach teaching Texas History carry a baseball bat around like he's Morgan Freeman in "Lean on Me", slamming it on desks if students weren't paying attention.  His bat was taken away from him like a dangerous toy is taken away from a child.  However, every kid in his class has a 100 because he's just that good /eye-roll/.  Jaime Escalante he is not.

Homeschooling Dad here.  Preach!  (P.S.  both of my kids ended up getting 4 years degrees at the university of their choice and are adulting very well.) 

[Keef 758]

As someone who is from Abilene, Abilene is pretty much just a less scenic, fatter Kandahar.

[Bevo 13,534]

Probably a football coach - Boys I gotta tell ya', I'm gonna start trackin' y'alls menstrual cycle, cuz you're layin' like a bunch of pussies. The cheerleaders are thataway. This here is the football field (as he spits out a big ball of chew).
 

Edited October 29 by Bevo

[Bevo 13,534]

 

1 minute ago, Keef said:

As someone who is from Abilene, Abilene is pretty much just a less scenic, fatter Kandahar.

 

 

I hear Kandahar is lovely this time of year, if you have the means, I highly recommend it.

[futureman 22,434]

what a ridiculous story.  dumb school employee makes dumb comment.  settle down. 

[Nivek 16,875]

How else they gonna track all the sex change operations?

[fattyflattie 4,637]

Fwd:fwd:fwd: litter boxes in classrooms.   This is the version for the other side.   

[jeevsie 3,725]

Lost in this is the nice story that Kris Clack apparently got a school named after him.

[High Plains Drifter 10,989]

On 10/29/2024 at 9:24 AM, Samson's Wig said:

Facebook has that covered.

I don't envy the folks working in middle schools, because kids that age are fucking nuts.  However, having two kids in a public middle school right now, I can tell you the quality of staff would shock most people who haven't been around education in a while.   Experienced teachers bailed during the pandemic and took all of their institutional knowledge with them.  What's left is a bunch of millennial and Gen Z teachers (with a smattering of Gen Xers who got emergency certification - the lifers from Gen X mostly left the profession) with little experience, no work ethic, and subpar educations themselves. The turnover rate is insane, with the average new teacher bailing from the profession within 3-4 years.  Texas has one of the lowest (maybe the lowest) average years of experience per teacher in the United States.  It's a constant battle.  Some of the young teachers are shockingly lazy and will completely ruin a student, not out of spite but out of indifference.   

The ratio of quality teachers to those doing the bare minimum was never spectacular in public education, but wholly crap is it bad now.  It used to mostly be the math teachers who dialed it in, as that subject lends itself to it (five minutes explaining a topic on the board followed by handing out worksheets and having the kids grade their own papers, basically just following a textbook all year and never working outside of classroom hours - what a tough gig). Now, it's every subject.  As teachers have been saddled with more regulatory busywork, they (perhaps understandably) do less and less actual teaching.   And, in Texas, at least, the old tradition of having coaches who can barely spell their own name teach academic courses is still alive and well, and it's as shitty as it ever was.  We had one goofy Gen Z football coach teaching Texas History carry a baseball bat around like he's Morgan Freeman in "Lean on Me", slamming it on desks if students weren't paying attention.  His bat was taken away from him like a dangerous toy is taken away from a child.  However, every kid in his class has a 100 because he's just that good /eye-roll/.  Jaime Escalante he is not.

 

I mean, its a very difficult job, with shitty pay, no respect and now outright hostility and threats. Of course you are going to get shitty teachers. 

If we want good teachers, we are going to have to pay a lot more, give them support, training, continuing education, and as a society treat them with respect. Good luck with all that. 

Also, you aren't going to get rid of coaches teaching just so they an coach unless you get rid of sports in K-12. Lots of good luck with that. 

 

 

Anybody bagging on teachers should go sub for a week. 

[Samson's Wig 3,182]

19 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

I mean, its a very difficult job, with shitty pay, no respect and now outright hostility and threats. Of course you are going to get shitty teachers. 

If we want good teachers, we are going to have to pay a lot more, give them support, training, continuing education, and as a society treat them with respect. Good luck with all that. 

Also, you aren't going to get rid of coaches teaching just so they an coach unless you get rid of sports in K-12. Lots of good luck with that. 

 

 

Anybody bagging on teachers should go sub for a week. 

Once upon a time, I subbed quite a bit.  It's a tough gig.  My mom was a public school teacher for 50 years before finally retiring in 2022.  She also managed the academic UIL program for her school, which was one of the best in the state. Even in retirement, she is still brought down to Austin to consult on academic UIL activities, testing standards, etc.  She worked her ass off her entire career, and I know well what a quality educator looks like.  I spent much of my childhood hanging around at school until 7:00 at night while she prepared lesson plans and put in the effort required to properly educate students, all without ever being paid nearly enough for it.  I completely understand that side of the argument, but those types of educators are rare anymore.  Daily, I witness teachers at my kids' middle school stumbling in at the first bell and racing to see who can get in their car first at the last bell.  There are still a few good ones, of course, but the pandemic was the final straw for most of the experienced talent, and they're gone now.  We're left with young teachers who don't know what they're doing and are some of the laziest people I've ever dealt with.  I don't see how any of them would function in any other career where they would be allowed to do basically nothing all day and still keep their job.  I guess the tech industry has some crossover there.

I agree entirely with the general notion that teachers should be paid more, just not most current teachers.  That nuance should be involved in any discussion about pay raises.  Giving this lot a pay raise across the board would be foolish, as you would reward many people who work fewer (and easier) hours than a part-time fry cook.  High pay should be attached to job performance (and no, I don't mean test scores).  I also agree that what kids are getting these days is the direct result of years of underpaying teachers and generally treating them like shit.  As you said, it attracts shitty teachers, and that's primarily what we have now.      It's all moot as the state isn't going to do shit, especially when the only way to fix it starts with completely restructuring the funding system and stopping the theft that happens from inner city taxpayers. 

I am tired of the sanctification of teachers anytime these conversations come up.  That argument may have carried some water thirty years ago, but right now, the conversation needs to shift away from "Those poor teachers, they work so hard and get so little pay!"   That's just not a factual statement, and besides, it hasn't gotten us anywhere in decades of muttering it.  One can argue that many of the teachers are overpaid based on performance, even though a small percentage of talented teachers are indeed underpaid.  They need to be targeted and rewarded, for sure, but lumping in the dead weight with them won't fix anything.  We need a complete restructure of the education system, and yes, that should include higher pay for teachers but should also include a purging of the absolute crap workforce currently in place.   We need to encourage more of our best and brightest to want to teach.  Misogyny benefited us for a long time when attracting capable talent because women had very few options for work.   By default, many of the brightest and most competent women became teachers and kicked ass at it (what better options were out there?).  Those same types of women today have many options in any field, and we're left scraping the bottom of the barrel for the bare minimum of qualifications for new teachers.  It's a pathetic state of affairs.

As for coaches teaching classes, that is an abomination, and perhaps the biggest indictment on Texas public schools there is.  Anyone who ever had a coach for a teacher knows what a joke it is.   We value competitive athletics over academics to a degree of complete stupidity, and boy, is it evident in the education level of the public in this state.  Until we fix our academic woes, I think that competitive athletics should go by the wayside in public schools outside of intramural activities.   If competitive sports stick around, they should be privatized, and coaches (outside of one or two PE-type coaches to teach physical fitness at each school. perhaps) should be removed from the public payroll.  It's insane that the highest-paid individual at any public school (including universities) is a fucking coach.  And we think we will continue to thrive in the future when our priorities are this out of whack.  We're fucked if things don't change.

[Dewey 3,284]

Does tracking the cycle do any good? My last wife, i knew here cycle like I knew my route to work and it still didn't help me.  All I could say was "you're going to have to sleep outside if this is the attitude you're going to have" 

[Samson's Wig 3,182]

14 minutes ago, Dewey said:

Does tracking the cycle do any good? My last wife, i knew here cycle like I knew my route to work and it still didn't help me.  All I could say was "you're going to have to sleep outside if this is the attitude you're going to have" 

"Last wife" tracks.   

[High Plains Drifter 10,989]

40 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

Once upon a time, I subbed quite a bit.  It's a tough gig.  My mom was a public school teacher for 50 years before finally retiring in 2022.  She also managed the academic UIL program for her school, which was one of the best in the state. Even in retirement, she is still brought down to Austin to consult on academic UIL activities, testing standards, etc.  She worked her ass off her entire career, and I know well what a quality educator looks like.  I spent much of my childhood hanging around at school until 7:00 at night while she prepared lesson plans and put in the effort required to properly educate students, all without ever being paid nearly enough for it.  I completely understand that side of the argument, but those types of educators are rare anymore.  Daily, I witness teachers at my kids' middle school stumbling in at the first bell and racing to see who can get in their car first at the last bell.  There are still a few good ones, of course, but the pandemic was the final straw for most of the experienced talent, and they're gone now.  We're left with young teachers who don't know what they're doing and are some of the laziest people I've ever dealt with.  I don't see how any of them would function in any other career where they would be allowed to do basically nothing all day and still keep their job.  I guess the tech industry has some crossover there.

I agree entirely with the general notion that teachers should be paid more, just not most current teachers.  That nuance should be involved in any discussion about pay raises.  Giving this lot a pay raise across the board would be foolish, as you would reward many people who work fewer (and easier) hours than a part-time fry cook.  High pay should be attached to job performance (and no, I don't mean test scores).  I also agree that what kids are getting these days is the direct result of years of underpaying teachers and generally treating them like shit.  As you said, it attracts shitty teachers, and that's primarily what we have now.      It's all moot as the state isn't going to do shit, especially when the only way to fix it starts with completely restructuring the funding system and stopping the theft that happens from inner city taxpayers. 

I am tired of the sanctification of teachers anytime these conversations come up.  That argument may have carried some water thirty years ago, but right now, the conversation needs to shift away from "Those poor teachers, they work so hard and get so little pay!"   That's just not a factual statement, and besides, it hasn't gotten us anywhere in decades of muttering it.  One can argue that many of the teachers are overpaid based on performance, even though a small percentage of talented teachers are indeed underpaid.  They need to be targeted and rewarded, for sure, but lumping in the dead weight with them won't fix anything.  We need a complete restructure of the education system, and yes, that should include higher pay for teachers but should also include a purging of the absolute crap workforce currently in place.   We need to encourage more of our best and brightest to want to teach.  Misogyny benefited us for a long time when attracting capable talent because women had very few options for work.   By default, many of the brightest and most competent women became teachers and kicked ass at it (what better options were out there?).  Those same types of women today have many options in any field, and we're left scraping the bottom of the barrel for the bare minimum of qualifications for new teachers.  It's a pathetic state of affairs.

As for coaches teaching classes, that is an abomination, and perhaps the biggest indictment on Texas public schools there is.  Anyone who ever had a coach for a teacher knows what a joke it is.   We value competitive athletics over academics to a degree of complete stupidity, and boy, is it evident in the education level of the public in this state.  Until we fix our academic woes, I think that competitive athletics should go by the wayside in public schools outside of intramural activities.   If competitive sports stick around, they should be privatized, and coaches (outside of one or two PE-type coaches to teach physical fitness at each school. perhaps) should be removed from the public payroll.  It's insane that the highest-paid individual at any public school (including universities) is a fucking coach.  And we think we will continue to thrive in the future when our priorities are this out of whack.  We're fucked if things don't change.

 

I agree with about 95+% of all that. 

Here's one thing to consider: If we went through K-12 schools and fired all the shitty teachers Terminator-style, who would we replace them with?

We're going to have to pay more to attract more talent, then we can start the purge. 

 

 

[Samson's Wig 3,182]

48 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

I agree with about 95+% of all that. 

Here's one thing to consider: If we went through K-12 schools and fired all the shitty teachers Terminator-style, who would we replace them with?

We're going to have to pay more to attract more talent, then we can start the purge. 

 

 

 I agree with that, of course.  We couldn't just dump them all at once.   But we would need mechanisms in place for weeding them out, or we'd just end up with higher-paid loafers whose primary skill seems to be doing the bare minimum to not get fired.  The slightest increase in responsibilities and/or accountability would likely have most of the running for the hills reasonably quickly.  The phrase "work-life balance" is too often misused as a euphemism for sanctioned laziness by that crowd.

It will be a huge hill to climb, and I'm not confident it will happen in our lifetimes, if ever.  I don't see the social will to fix it, and no figure in leadership has proffered anything other than gutless money grabs like voucher programs, which will do nothing but make things worse. 

[Brisketexan 104,779]

56 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

I agree with about 95+% of all that. 

Here's one thing to consider: If we went through K-12 schools and fired all the shitty teachers Terminator-style, who would we replace them with?

We're going to have to pay more to attract more talent, then we can start the purge. 

It would help if the dominant segment of our society didn't relentlessly characterize teachers as demons bent on hurting our kids.  Do a job that doesn't pay well?  I mean, maybe.  Do a job that doesn't pay well...AND have crowds of screaming banshees calling me the devil?  Fuck that shit.

Teachers are the enemy now.  That's a guaranteed recipe for disaster and the destruction of public education.  Which, of course, is the goal of the people actually driving that agenda.

We aren't going to make life better for public school teachers, because we want to end public education.

[Frank Drebin 5,632]

99 percent of the problem with public education is that way too many parents are indifferent and do not value education or raise their kids to act right.  

 

[Captainant 27,512]

Abilene is really getting some good headlines lately

https://wgme.com/news/nation-world/texas-megachurch-youth-leader-arrested-for-child-pornography

(Could go in the pedophiles of God thread as well)

[ztejas 43,380]

On 10/29/2024 at 9:24 AM, Samson's Wig said:

Facebook has that covered.

I don't envy the folks working in middle schools, because kids that age are fucking nuts.  However, having two kids in a public middle school right now, I can tell you the quality of staff would shock most people who haven't been around education in a while.   Experienced teachers bailed during the pandemic and took all of their institutional knowledge with them.  What's left is a bunch of millennial and Gen Z teachers (with a smattering of Gen Xers who got emergency certification - the lifers from Gen X mostly left the profession) with little experience, no work ethic, and subpar educations themselves. The turnover rate is insane, with the average new teacher bailing from the profession within 3-4 years.  Texas has one of the lowest (maybe the lowest) average years of experience per teacher in the United States.  It's a constant battle.  Some of the young teachers are shockingly lazy and will completely ruin a student, not out of spite but out of indifference.   

The ratio of quality teachers to those doing the bare minimum was never spectacular in public education, but wholly crap is it bad now.  It used to mostly be the math teachers who dialed it in, as that subject lends itself to it (five minutes explaining a topic on the board followed by handing out worksheets and having the kids grade their own papers, basically just following a textbook all year and never working outside of classroom hours - what a tough gig). Now, it's every subject.  As teachers have been saddled with more regulatory busywork, they (perhaps understandably) do less and less actual teaching.   And, in Texas, at least, the old tradition of having coaches who can barely spell their own name teach academic courses is still alive and well, and it's as shitty as it ever was.  We had one goofy Gen Z football coach teaching Texas History carry a baseball bat around like he's Morgan Freeman in "Lean on Me", slamming it on desks if students weren't paying attention.  His bat was taken away from him like a dangerous toy is taken away from a child.  However, every kid in his class has a 100 because he's just that good /eye-roll/.  Jaime Escalante he is not.

There have been shitty teachers forever. Gmafb acting like it's a generational thing. 

Like someone else said the issue is that the job fucking sucks.

[Samson's Wig 3,182]

2 hours ago, ztejas said:

There have been shitty teachers forever. Gmafb acting like it's a generational thing. 

Like someone else said the issue is that the job fucking sucks.

I touched a nerve, I guess, but you clearly didn't bother to read what I wrote and just got hung up because I used the word "millennial." If you're relatively young and came up in Texas public schools, I appreciate you inadvertently bolstering my argument for me.

I, too, said the job sucks.  And yes, there have always been shitty teachers.  For anyone old enough and involved in public education directly to have witnessed what things were in the past compared to what they look like now, there is, without question, a much higher percentage of shitty teachers today than in the past.   Many factors are creating the situation, and it has been exacerbated mightily by the pandemic, so it's not a "young people are bad" thing.  It's that young people, particularly young women, have better options now than they used to. The many high-quality individuals among Millennials and Gen Z are, by and large, not going into teaching.  In contrast, it was a viable option (sometimes the only option for women) for Gen X, Boomers, and beyond. We're left with a bunch of folks who are barely functional adults working in these roles because that is all the job can attract.  The turnover rate is high, so the experience level is extremely low (the lowest in America).   That's not an indictment on the generations involved; it's an indictment on the specific people in those roles today and, more importantly, an indictment of the system itself.  Saying the "job fucking sucks" and wiping your hands of it isn't exactly adding anything of value, and this is one of the most critical problems facing our country today.  We're not going to solve it by blaming it on something overly simplistic and then ignoring it.  That's what we've been doing and look where we're at.

Brisket touched on the attacks from political nutbags on teachers and the system.  Make no mistake, I am very much not in that crowd, not even a little bit. I also agree that the nonsense that crowd perpetuates is a massive part of the problem with attracting quality teachers.    It doesn't mean we should ignore the reality that public school teaching quality has degraded tremendously in recent years.  They're not a bunch of devils out to brainwash your kids, but a bunch of them are indifferent bums who don't care if your kid is educated at all.  Blaming parents is shortsighted as well.  Parents are more heavily involved now than ever, and by a significant amount.  Half the teachers in the profession today wouldn't get their work done if parents weren't up there carrying half the load for them.   Ultimately, we have to stop destroying our public schools for personal profit as our state leadership and their buddies are trying to do,  but we also need to stop sanctifying teachers and find a way to return teaching to an attractive profession that draws in quality individuals.  Because right now, they're hiring from the bottom of the barrel, and it isn't pretty. 

Nothing will change so long as one side exclusively blames the lack of pay and bad parents as the only problems or so long as another side demonizes teachers and administrators as indoctrinators or whatever weird crap those nutbags are worried about.  This is a bottom-up rebuild situation, and it can only start in Texas by restructuring how we fund our schools.  That is the ONLY place this discussion should be focused until it happens.  Everything else is fluff, but nothing will change so long as everyone focuses on the fluff - which is precisely what state leadership wants.  In the meantime, kids currently in school are getting an inferior education from the lowest quality group of educators in the history of public schools.  Find yourself one of the quality teachers left in the profession, and you'll find someone who agrees with me. 

 

[Brisketexan 104,779]

9 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

I touched a nerve, I guess, but you clearly didn't bother to read what I wrote and just got hung up because I used the word "millennial." If you're relatively young and came up in Texas public schools, I appreciate you inadvertently bolstering my argument for me.

I, too, said the job sucks.  And yes, there have always been shitty teachers.  For anyone old enough and involved in public education directly to have witnessed what things were in the past compared to what they look like now, there is, without question, a much higher percentage of shitty teachers today than in the past.   Many factors are creating the situation, and it has been exacerbated mightily by the pandemic, so it's not a "young people are bad" thing.  It's that young people, particularly young women, have better options now than they used to. The many high-quality individuals among Millennials and Gen Z are, by and large, not going into teaching.  In contrast, it was a viable option (sometimes the only option for women) for Gen X, Boomers, and beyond. We're left with a bunch of folks who are barely functional adults working in these roles because that is all the job can attract.  The turnover rate is high, so the experience level is extremely low (the lowest in America).   That's not an indictment on the generations involved; it's an indictment on the specific people in those roles today and, more importantly, an indictment of the system itself.  Saying the "job fucking sucks" and wiping your hands of it isn't exactly adding anything of value, and this is one of the most critical problems facing our country today.  We're not going to solve it by blaming it on something overly simplistic and then ignoring it.  That's what we've been doing and look where we're at.

Brisket touched on the attacks from political nutbags on teachers and the system.  Make no mistake, I am very much not in that crowd, not even a little bit. I also agree that the nonsense that crowd perpetuates is a massive part of the problem with attracting quality teachers.    It doesn't mean we should ignore the reality that public school teaching quality has degraded tremendously in recent years.  They're not a bunch of devils out to brainwash your kids, but a bunch of them are indifferent bums who don't care if your kid is educated at all.  Blaming parents is shortsighted as well.  Parents are more heavily involved now than ever, and by a significant amount.  Half the teachers in the profession today wouldn't get their work done if parents weren't up there carrying half the load for them.   Ultimately, we have to stop destroying our public schools for personal profit as our state leadership and their buddies are trying to do,  but we also need to stop sanctifying teachers and find a way to return teaching to an attractive profession that draws in quality individuals.  Because right now, they're hiring from the bottom of the barrel, and it isn't pretty. 

Nothing will change so long as one side exclusively blames the lack of pay and bad parents as the only problems or so long as another side demonizes teachers and administrators as indoctrinators or whatever weird crap those nutbags are worried about.  This is a bottom-up rebuild situation, and it can only start in Texas by restructuring how we fund our schools.  That is the ONLY place this discussion should be focused until it happens.  Everything else is fluff, but nothing will change so long as everyone focuses on the fluff - which is precisely what state leadership wants.  In the meantime, kids currently in school are getting an inferior education from the lowest quality group of educators in the history of public schools.  Find yourself one of the quality teachers left in the profession, and you'll find someone who agrees with me. 

 

Sorry, you speak of a complex situation with multiple dynamics in play.  This is Texas, we only do simple-minded solutions.  I recommend closing the border, that will fix everything.  Alternatively, mandate teaching of "biblical principles" as the primary curriculum, and all will be good again.

[Sawbonz 27,460]

3 hours ago, ztejas said:

There have been shitty teachers forever. Gmafb acting like it's a generational thing. 

Like someone else said the issue is that the job fucking sucks.

How old are your kids?

[ztejas 43,380]

21 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

I touched a nerve, I guess, but you clearly didn't bother to read what I wrote and just got hung up because I used the word "millennial." If you're relatively young and came up in Texas public schools, I appreciate you inadvertently bolstering my argument for me.

I, too, said the job sucks.  And yes, there have always been shitty teachers.  For anyone old enough and involved in public education directly to have witnessed what things were in the past compared to what they look like now, there is, without question, a much higher percentage of shitty teachers today than in the past.   Many factors are creating the situation, and it has been exacerbated mightily by the pandemic, so it's not a "young people are bad" thing.  It's that young people, particularly young women, have better options now than they used to. The many high-quality individuals among Millennials and Gen Z are, by and large, not going into teaching.  In contrast, it was a viable option (sometimes the only option for women) for Gen X, Boomers, and beyond. We're left with a bunch of folks who are barely functional adults working in these roles because that is all the job can attract.  The turnover rate is high, so the experience level is extremely low (the lowest in America).   That's not an indictment on the generations involved; it's an indictment on the specific people in those roles today and, more importantly, an indictment of the system itself.  Saying the "job fucking sucks" and wiping your hands of it isn't exactly adding anything of value, and this is one of the most critical problems facing our country today.  We're not going to solve it by blaming it on something overly simplistic and then ignoring it.  That's what we've been doing and look where we're at.

Brisket touched on the attacks from political nutbags on teachers and the system.  Make no mistake, I am very much not in that crowd, not even a little bit. I also agree that the nonsense that crowd perpetuates is a massive part of the problem with attracting quality teachers.    It doesn't mean we should ignore the reality that public school teaching quality has degraded tremendously in recent years.  They're not a bunch of devils out to brainwash your kids, but a bunch of them are indifferent bums who don't care if your kid is educated at all.  Blaming parents is shortsighted as well.  Parents are more heavily involved now than ever, and by a significant amount.  Half the teachers in the profession today wouldn't get their work done if parents weren't up there carrying half the load for them.   Ultimately, we have to stop destroying our public schools for personal profit as our state leadership and their buddies are trying to do,  but we also need to stop sanctifying teachers and find a way to return teaching to an attractive profession that draws in quality individuals.  Because right now, they're hiring from the bottom of the barrel, and it isn't pretty. 

Nothing will change so long as one side exclusively blames the lack of pay and bad parents as the only problems or so long as another side demonizes teachers and administrators as indoctrinators or whatever weird crap those nutbags are worried about.  This is a bottom-up rebuild situation, and it can only start in Texas by restructuring how we fund our schools.  That is the ONLY place this discussion should be focused until it happens.  Everything else is fluff, but nothing will change so long as everyone focuses on the fluff - which is precisely what state leadership wants.  In the meantime, kids currently in school are getting an inferior education from the lowest quality group of educators in the history of public schools.  Find yourself one of the quality teachers left in the profession, and you'll find someone who agrees with me. 

 

Okay. Not trying to take this thread this seriously. 

You wrote some lame Gen X >>> rhetoric and I called you out on it.

[ztejas 43,380]

13 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

How old are your kids?

Do better.

[Sawbonz 27,460]

47 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Do better.

Wat

Edited October 31 by Sawbonz