[nerdponx]

I have become convinced that inadequate public schooling is the reason why America has come to rely so much on college to make people "ready for society".

Teachers are criminally underpaid, unsupported, and overworked, while parents are not engaged with their children's learning. It's a bad mix. Not to mention the politicization of teacher unions.

[javajosh]

>Teachers are criminally underpaid, unsupported, and overworked

My impression is that public school teachers have been un-empowered to fail out kids, or punish them for bad behavior in class.

[nsxwolf]

If they’re overworked, what is it they’re working so hard and so ineffectively at?

[mellavora]

I notice that you have perverted the meaning by adding the word "ineffective" which was not in the statement you are replying to, though you imply it was and that teachers are.

As if the only way a person can be overworked is by not being effective at their job.

And thus it is the teacher's failing that they cannot keep up with the workload, not the people assigning the workload.

It seems you have had a very rare and fortunate life. I am happy for you, though I wish you had more respect for others.

[nsxwolf]

OP didn’t say it but an overarching theme in the comments here is that traditional public education is ineffective. So if teachers are overworked, they’ve got energy to expend but they’re expending it ineffectively.

You took this a little far with the personal attack.

[nerdponx]

When you phrase it like this, you are implying that somehow the teachers directly are at fault for misdirecting their labor. So even if you are "technically correct" in some sense, you are phrasing it in an inflammatory way. Don't be a troll.

[nsxwolf]

I didn’t mean to say it was their fault. I’m assuming they’re operating within the parameters required of them by their administrations.

[brtkdotse]

Don’t know about the US but in Sweden teachers are plagued by mandatory administrative task, as well as a myriad of small tasks all unrelated to teaching.

[dylan604]

I hear this a lot, but what exactly is administrative tasks they are being burdened with that is not part of being a teacher?

[brtkdotse]

From what I’ve heard from acquaintances who work(ed) as teachers, there’s a lot of of documentation of the students’ progress that takes a lot of time to enter but usually is write-only.

[dylan604]

If it's known to be write-only, then only they are to blame for wasting time. They could literally write anything, or nothing, and nobody would ever know, right? Otherwise, it's not write-only.

[nerdponx]

Or maybe it's write-only except for random audits.

[BeFlatXIII]

They're ineffective precisely because they're overworked.

[chmod600]

Accommodating students unwilling to learn or unprepared.