This country needs to get serious about funding public school education. Paul Newman created a multi-million (billion?) dollar company to fund charities. Why can't we figure out something like this? Why can't we have a lottery/lotto that funds public school ed.? I know there are legal issues but c'mon -- this is just too important to screw up. Casinos? I'm open to anything. Why can our society fund sports venues in abundance and screw education? With more money, teachers can be paid a living wage in some states and competition would be increased. Forgive student loans (or a %) for teachers who teach a minimimun of 3 years in a school that is in the inner city or has fallen on tough times.
I think we need to fund education, too, but to me that means we need to actually pay for it instead of looking for sneaky ways to get other people to pay. If that means higher taxes, so be it (although I'd happily go about shredding other parts of state budgets to get the money instead).
I'm reading this with interest as someone who has been applying to education school. I agree 100% about the lack of respect for teaching as a profession - when I told my mother that I was thinking of becoming a teacher, her response was, "but you can do so much better than that!" Keep in mind here that SHE IS A TEACHER.
Also, for what it's worth, all Colorado licensing programs require a year post-undergraduate degree. There are alternative certification programs, but you have to be working for a while. So I actually think it's getting harder to just jump into teaching without any training. At least in public schools.
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