[mangecoeur]

there is also not that much money in the state run that the majority of people education follow. Teacher salaries are already squeezed. Its ironic, everyone says get a good education, old grumps complain the kids don’t know anything, but when it comes to actually paying for it its crickets. Software could help make teaching more efficient but requires up front investment that no one wants to make. State run software projects tend to suck because they are based on minimising cost. Maybe if the act and job if teaching had the same social status as doctors and lawyers it would be different.

[rahimnathwani]

My local school district has fewer than 48,000 students, and an annual operating budget of $1.2bn.

This money is used to pay for 13,500 adults (government employees).

Their total compensation is higher than you'd think. You can look it up on the Transparent California web site.

Paying those people seems to be a higher priority than children or learning outcomes.

The problem is not a lack of expenditure.

[BlueTemplar]

(School)teachers used to have that kind of social status, not even a hundred years ago. It would be interesting to understand how that changed into the current situation (up to the worst case of the parents calling out for the lynching of a teacher).

[em-bee]

going out on a whim here, i think it is lack of trust. in the past teachers and students came from the same community, so everyone knew each other, and had the same beliefs. but now school is more distant and the education curriculum sometimes no longer reflects what parents expect. just look at the popularity of homeschooling. "we have to send our children to that school because the government demands it (and we can't afford homeschooling), not because we think that this is a good school."