Education Rant (I warned you)

I was watching the news this morning and ended up shaking my head.  Yes this happens often as evident in this post from a few weeks ago.

It seems like every spring we go through the same battle here, and I'm sure in other states too, education cuts.  Yes, I know I'm not in the classroom right now, but education cuts effects everyone... yes everyone.  I never understand why the country is so up in arms about the education our students receive, and then turn around and say... but lets cut the money that the schools get.  Doesn't that seem backwards?  We think the children are not recieving the best education possible so lets take money away from the schools?  Is anyone following this logic?

Now do I think there are areas in the education system that should be cut... oh yeah!  But, most of those are not the areas that get cut when the money comes up in shortage.  A few years ago, a law was passed mandating class sizes in Florida, this is a good thing.  They also passed a law that said that the state will provide funding for four year olds to get pre-K, provided in schools and qualified day cares/preschools.  These are all things going in the right direction to gain educational strength.  But, then you pass these laws and cut the funding... ummmm wait!

The newest thing they are debating on is performance pay for teachers.  I think this is one of the most backwards thinking of them all.  In my opinion we should take our top teachers, give them extra money and put them in the poor performing school.  Put them in the inner city schools, where the students are more concerned about where their next meal is coming from than learning the difference between their, there and they're.  Put them in the schools with the migrant workers, yes we have lots of those down here.  But, if your pay is based on student performance why would any teacher want to teach in these "harder" schools?  Especially in the high school grades where the students are just putting in their time before they can get a full time job to support themselves and/or their family.

We as a country need to look at what we can do to provide every child the best education out there.  We need to find ways to motivate students to stay in school.  We need to find a way to get strong students out there to become educators.  We need to find a way to change the country's perception of teachers.  In many countries being a teacher is a privilege, it is held in high esteem, and here?

Things like this just tick me off... can ya tell?