Over Haul Of Our Public Education System

Get rid of Tenure: No job has ultimate security based on longevity any longer. Teachers should be kept or fired based on perfomance not length of time in position.

Salary caps just like professional sports. This should be based on the safety of the area that teachers as well as administrators work in. More dangerous the area, the tougher the job, higher the salary cap. IE: Hazard pay.

No more roll over of sick and vacation time. Use it or lose it just like for profit organizations have gone to. No more administrators or teachers collecting a salary for 2-5 years not working before they retire.

Cameras in all schools in every room. Treat it like a retail organization where it is monitored on a local and national level. This will keep costly law suits from parents from occurring based on fraudulent claims and it will also ensure that every teacher is doing their job at all times.

No more free education for teachers or administrators unless it will be used for their current position or a contracted future position. IE: Kindergarten teachers do not need PHD's in Special Education paid for by the tax payers. You want it - earn it by signing a contract to work in a special needs school in an area that is lacking educational support. Or earn it by working in a dangerous or undesirable area. While you are in school you can not work full time to ensure: 1) Your education doesn't go to the way side and 2) The children you are teaching are not suffering because of your educational choices.

No more Summers off. Teachers should be planning and preparing for the next school year all Summer long. If they did so our education system would not be the mess that it is currently. Every industry in this nation has slow periods and during those times there is essential planning and preparing going on. No one gets a free pass to just stop working. Being that the education process of our children is key this should have been something that stopped a long time ago.

No more full school mandatory testing. I propose random surprise testing administered by an outside source. If a child's social security number was used to select the students at random it would also assist in weeding out students who are entered in the system illegally. I would recommend that children be tested on their weakest subject matter at random singularly or in small groups. If enough students of one teacher perform sub standard then the teacher would be disciplined and/or terminated based on the severity of the lack of education. If enough students perform substandard the administration of the school and school system would be subject to the same or similar course of action.

Bonuses based on their class's performance and parent surveys. I do believe that education is a team effort. But that means that the educators need to be open to working with the parents. Quite often I have felt left out of my daughter's education process and trust me it is not due to lack of concern or initiative on my part. I think each year parents should be given a survey that they can fill out. Not unlike a customer service survey, about their child(ren's) teacher(s). I think bonuses based on the performance of the class (not compared to other classes or types of classes but in general how all the children performed and were engaged in the learning process) as well as how well the educator was able to include and team up with the parents for the education process should be issued to successful teachers.

I feel these reparations would keep people from becoming educators who are more interested in their own comfort and needs then actually educating children. Our education system is very badly mismanaged at this point not unlike other government agencies and institutions. Financially speaking it is on the same course as other public entities set up to assist the poor and indigent.

Remember folks public education was set up so ensure that all persons were given an equal chance at education. Having gone to both private and public schools during my life time I would have to say that private school teachers despite their lack of benefits and salary care a lot more about their students then most of their public counter parts.

I struggled in 6th grade because my 5th grade teacher Mrs. Joyce was more concerned about getting her masters degree then teaching her class. She had tenure and she knew she could not be terminated based on her lack of performance. Similarly I have experienced the same situation with my daughter's 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Ten Kate this year. She was more concerned about writing her masters thesis then teaching my daughter the first half of this year. Only after I hired a private tutor to work with Guinevere did she offer her after school help. I believe it was mostly to avoid a law suit.

I know I have several friends who are educators and that some of my opinions are disagreeable to them. But honestly if you are good at what you do and your head and heart are in the right place, none of what I propose would effect any good educator in a negative way in the long run. 

Other Drugs and Love

While every one is focusing on the newest way that kids seem to be getting high I want to pose a question to parents. Why is life in the US so hard for teens that they feel an intense need for escapism? Or is it a learned behavior from addicted parents?

We spend all this time making sure they are well rounded - dance, soccer, girl and boy scouts. Pressuring them to get good grades to go to a good college. It's living the American dream, working extra hours for the new big screen TV or the vacation we can barely afford. So focused on the new cast of which ever Housewives is on TV.

Yes, I will get on my soap box today because ever since I have been a teen I know the exact answer to why young people do drugs. And the simple answer is that parents are not involved in their children's lives or too involved to allow their child to live life.

I would say to all parents love your child and let them be who they are meant to be. Gay, straight, bisexual or transgendered. Let them express themselves in dress whether they are a punk rocker, nerd, skater, jock or what ever other label they want to be or none at all.

Most importantly: LOVE THEM WITH OUT CONDITION. Love them with out your own set of morals and precepts and ideas you have for them. God created them as an individual and he gave them life and free will. Guide them, teach them, befriend them and pay attention to their wants and needs but stop placing your ideas and values of who they should be upon them. They are not you nor do they ever need to be like you. They need to make their own mistakes to grow as a human being.

I have an amazing child and I say that not being cocky because it has really taken a village thus far to raise her. She gets guidance and love from many sources. But one of the small things I do know is that the strength and honesty of our relationship will lessen her risk for self diminishing behaviors as she moves through difficult phases of life, especially her teenage years. Let's face it teen use, drugs, alcohol, sex and other vices just like their parents to pacify the lack of love and acceptance they feel from the people who are suppose to be there to support and comfort them during times of need.

During my years of being a youth minister and even after I dealt with so many teens who struggle with depression. 99% of it was in direct correlation with their relationship with their parents. 

Change is never easy and during the teenage years when the human body starts it's transformation from childhood to adult hood there is a disconnect in the parent/child relationship over all. That is when parents need to be better involved. I use that term, better because it does not mean more or less it means gracious and patient. Two terms most parents are not accustomed to using with their children. 

This is when parents have the most impact and effect on how a young person can and will relate to the world through out their adult life. They are developing not only emotionally and physically but this is when their moral compass and their ability to relate to others is also being grounded. These aspects of who we are as humans are at the fore front of this phase of life. Parents play a key role for most people in what kind of person they will become and their place in the world. It is a tough journey of knowing when to step in and when to step back. Almost like a dance and the years of prior practice with your dance partner will make a world of difference. 

This is my opinion and I would love to hear if people agree with me or if others have a different point of view please respond either in posting or message. Thanks and God Bless ~.o xoxo