Do Public Schools Really Suck? Don't Ask Me, Ask the Teachers.

A few weeks ago, I went after teachers unions and the immense harm they do to our kids’ education. Your comments have been rolling in ever since, from teachers and parents alike. I’m diving into the best ones—some supportive, some critical—to clarify some of my original points, take your perspectives into account, and further explain why I feel so passionate about this topic. Whether it’s school choice, teachers unions, or the future of education, these comments prove my point—we all know that our public school system is in serious trouble. Let’s dive in and see what you had to say.

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Dad Saves America is a channel dedicated to celebrating heroic fatherhood while teaching the next generation of fathers strategies they can utilize in parenting their children. We believe strong children come from a strong family. We’ve had many experts in the studio, including Jonathan Haidt, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Troy Kotsur, John Mackey, Ben Askren, and Adam Carolla.

#publicschools #teachersunion #education

[DadSavesAmerica]

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[stevewoitas]

The public school system acts in the interest of the public school system, not the public in general.

[ltarmeniaever]

Equality in failure vs inequality in success.

That's a great mini quote.

[rorypotatochip]

They always claim to be against bullies.
Oh the irony

[noahjwhite]

The amount of money and resources spent “educating” the bottom 1% of students is obscene.

[JP-xqfo]

I was going to school to be a teacher as a TA in public schools… Every single teacher told me to RUN! Thank goodness I listened. They saved my sanity.

[mickeyd]

My Mom taught in public schools for more than 4 decades before retiring, with a doctorate, because first grade was what she LOVED to teach. When she started teaching, she says that other than teachers you had only a very small number of non-teaching school employees in a typical school (e.g. principal, asst. principal, receptionist, janitors, cafeteria workers). By the time she retired, her school had over 14 people in "administration" at the elementary school, even though the school was virtually the same size as it was when she started. All of these roles were counted in the "teacher" part of the student/teacher ratios that were touted publicly. My Mom had no idea what many of these people did. Public schools have, sadly, become a money-pit largely because the teacher's unions treat them as nothing but a money-grab. There are many amazing, wonderful teachers in the public schools, but I suspect that group is slowly being ground down (and out) by the machine that wants mediocrity (or worse) in order to mask the abject failure that our public schools have largely become.
FYI - my Mom thought the union was a valuable resource when she was early in her career, but she came to loathe the union and its misplaced goals as her career progressed. She now considers the unions as the number one adversary of excellence in schools.

[perrykeshahwalker]

We need to bring back trades in high school. Most children are not going to be College material as we have seen by the useless degrees that some of these young people have gotten through the years. They would have been better off getting a trade as an electrician, HVAC tech, a auto mechanic or any other service type of blue collar job. They would have been happier as well with no debt from student loans.

[hoi-polloi]

A couple thoughts...
* The key advantage of private (and most charter) schools is that they can send disruptive students and bad teachers away
* The key weakness of public schools, besides the above, is that they can't discipline the kids
* Basing all salary/promotion on time-in-service is a recipe for mediocracy at best

[gator]

The problem with public sector unions is that nobody is at the negotiating table for the taxpayer.

[helixxharpell]

I look at this simplistically.. Most public schools ARE WAY TOO LARGE.. Absolutely WAY TOO LARGE. When the ratio of kids to teachers goes down then we will see a return to accountability. On the kids, the teachers and the school board!
People may disagree with thus but most schools are way too large.

[elizabethnichols]

I'm a former public school teacher who now teaches for free in my kids' weekly homeschool co-op. It's full of extremely educated and engaged moms who do the same. That's at least one good alternative to the terrible challenges within the public school system.

[derekwhite]

Basic Logic, When 1 side has monopoly, it will go awful..

[thundermolloy]

as a teacher, the big issues is parents refusing to parent, unions protecting idiots who don't teach, and admins being more obsessed with school image and buzzwords than results.

[davidsingh]

I was a School Teacher at the Gerald R Ford Job Corps Center in Grand Rapids Michigan and was fired after I defended a child that was Raped by a staff member and then forced to get an abortion.

The Rapist continued to be employed, my family became homeless.

[Commock]

I've been an educator for almost a decade. I teach at a public school, but I do not have a sycophantic devotion to the public school system. One important dimension of the conversation of educational rights that is often missing is the responsibility of the learner. I have worked in title 1 schools with immense financial resources but low levels of academic achievement. The vast majority of these students fail to achieve academically because they are incorrigible. They don't attend to lessons, don't complete classwork, homework (many of my colleagues have stopped assigning it altogether because students never complete the work), and fail to take accountability for their learning. The attitudes of the students, parents, and the community also play a huge role in the success of a school.

[sdrc]

$0.5M is spent on every class. $17, 500/student X 24 students per class. Where is all of the money going? I could teach 4 kids in my living room for $80k/year and guarantee that they'll pass the GED by the 8th grade.

[UteHeggenTranswidowHeals]

As a retired NYC public school teacher, I tell you, I had direct contact with Randi Weingarten when she was the head of the UFT, the city teachers union. She defended an assistant teacher who was sleeping during the school day. We teachers were supposedly this woman's supervisors, but we literally could not wake her up. Then said woman accuses us of stuff, harasses us in the hallways about it, and our school union rep would do nothing about it. Would not schedule a meeting even. I left that school and landed in a place where the parents complained that I "taught too much science." Just crazy. But, I taught children to read, write, do basic math with confidence and my speciality, I taught them the basics of science observation and scientific method.

[solavita]

Hand in hand with 'no taxation without representation' we should have every expectation that education, which we pay taxes for, follows the same point. Education should reflect the desires of the parents, not The Government.

[SuperHellonwheels]

As a former public school parent and now going into the 4th year of homeschooling parent, our education system is a mess. I truly feel sorry for public school kids. Thank you for speaking out on this and being a voice for the voiceless. Homeschooling gets a bad name from public school pressure. Public schools take the freedom out of our life. Get rid of teacher unions, they work for the teacher not the child.