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Left Behind

2011 is going to be interesting in education. In his State of the Union address, the President asked people to become teachers… apparently unaware that thousands will be laid off in the next six months. Good, bad, young, old – probably even yours truly – there just won’t places for them at their previous schools. Those daring have a life (home, family, children, spouse, etc.) will probably be hit the hardest, as they also will not be able to move to areas where jobs are available. Houses cannot be sold (we lost a principal last year because he/she could not sell the house in a timely manner without incurring a huge loss), Rental markets are all time highs (all those previous home owners gotta live somewhere) and who has the money to pay for moving anyway?

Class sizes next year will rival the average African shanty school. And the amount of supplies available to teachers will be about the same… I’m predicting fewer consumables, like workbooks or handouts for students. Much asking parents to pony up more cash for supplies (like copy paper and chalk). Some teachers will try to supplement, but the well will run dry long before Thanksgiving. For this year, the money has already run out and in fact, Washington state will be allowing schools to cut up to four days from the school for budget balancing. Staples may want to start offering a “back to the grind” school supply sale.

New legislation coming down the pipeline (or already in place) is forcing districts to institute new evaluation policies. Are these any good? No one has actually done any research to see if they are, but it does fall in line without our national education policy of “throw shit on the wall and see what sticks”. What the heck is “meaningful change” anyways? And how is it to be measured?

And let’s not even ponder the compensation issue. News reports seem to portray teachers as the ungrateful beggars of the population and that teaching should become some sort of monastic order, complete with evangelists and bleating sheep. Tell me you don’t feel like Oliver Twist.

It’s going to be an interesting ride, that’s for sure.

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