I am not going to respond to any of the comments; mainly because I have stayed up late, I am tired, and have not read them. Perhaps I will tomorrow.

Thomas, I would first like to say that I am a staunch Democrat and I agree with MOST of the political implications you give. The problem of education has one that has been handled only minutely by both Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals.

But then you say this:
“As conservatives, we should push for school choice and speak passionately about lessening the influence of teachers unions so more bright people feel its a legitimate and fulfilling option to teach in our public education system.”

I am fine with you trying to lessen the influence of teachers’ unions. (And, quite frankly, I agree as a liberal they should be lessened, too. Maybe not lessened by as much as you think, but at least a little.)

“school choice,” though, really? That’s the Republicans’ answer to Democrats throwing money at the problem. It simply allows a redistribution of money, more than anything else. You can fight for school choice, but keep in the same context as liberals fighting for more funding to schools.

Your most illuminating paragraph on the political consequences of what you have seen is the one where you say you do not know if there are any political solutions.

You say, “There needs to be a cultural shift in low-income areas to the point where everyone sees something in the schools, whether they are places where kids are training for professions, learning right from wrong or preparing for college. Schools, more than anything, need to be places where kids learn to take pride in themselves, their communities and families.”

Sometimes culture wars are bad, even in education. In Texas, all of us Democrats are quite upset with the way social conservatives have created a social war out of the education system — but they make it a social war that we feel infringes on separation of church and state grounds.
I think it is perfectly fine for politicians to fight a culture war that is entirely constitutionally sound. And I think it is a viable solution in schools. I’m not entirely sure how we would go about it, but then again that is why I am still an undergraduate student who does not plan to run for office any time in the very near future. But that’s really where the discussion should be, the culture shift. And I think whichever party gets it started — Democrats or Republicans — will have a lot to gain from it.

My only ideas thus far is that we are PROBABLY doing things wrong. I don’t have extensive knowledge on the subject, but I know many places in Europe, and probably Asia too, do things very differently. Perhaps we should endorse charter schools and a study on which charter school methods end up working the best? But that’s just an idea I am throwing out there. I really don’t know.

All we know is something is not working. And money, whether it be through increased funding or through vouchers, isn’t going to solve anything.

Excellent essay – as usual.

I was away on vacation or else I would have responded earlier.

Mike K: I have to disagree with you on the pay issue. Or rather, partially disagree.

Here in NY suburbia new teachers start in the mid-high $30’s depending upon the district and whether they’re coming in with a bachelor’s or masters. Within five years or so they’re in $40’s, perhaps 50’s; within seven to ten years in $60’s or above and those teachers with 15 years or more under their belts… they can be making six figures.

Not too shabby for a 180 day a year gig, maybe six hours a day.

(*SHRUG*)

Yeah, yeah… outside hours. Boo-hoo. How many outside hours does the average physician spend “working” outside of patient hours? What kind of overtime does an accountant put in over tax season? What professionals don’t put in multiple “off the clock” hours on professional activities outside “9-5″ hours?

Throw in the benefits… the pensions… I don’t wanna hear about how tough teachers have it; they don’t, not in absolute material/financial terms.

Where teacher pay is inadequate it’s for science, math, and technical teachers. English and philosophy majors looking for teaching jobs are a dime a dozen; not so biology, chemistry, physics, and math teachers grades 8-12. These are the positions we should fund at higher salaries in order to attract the necessary talent.

Should we add “hazard pay” to the more (in terms of being quantitatively measurable) dangerous, stressful schools? Sure. Should the best English teachers and social studies teachers and art and music teachers be paid more than the mediocre teachers in these fields… sure – but again I note… in broad terms where the money should be focused is on supply vs. demand inequities.

Anyway… just picking one aspect of the post/thread to comment on. At this point (it’s now 6/10) I’m not even sure if anyone will read this post let alone address it.

Tom… if you’re reading… keep up the good work!

BILL

Way to go, GOP! Classy!

A standard lie from the left. Dan, why don’t you send Leo High a check ? Hundreds of Republicans do.’

I’m not saying individual republicans don’t care. I’m saying the platform and the message is basically, “if you’re from the city, especially the poor part of the city, don’t bother checking us out because we ain’t for you.”

Write off the urban poor; write off African Americans; write off college educated under-40’s; write off women; write off everyone but southern white males and Christian conservatives.

That is not a winning coalition.

Re: ‘Heroes’ vs. ‘Martyrs’

It occurs to me that I may be over-dramatizing here, so if you or someone else calls me out on it, I won’t quibble.

But yes, I do believe these teachers, such as this author, are heroes.

Why?

Because he was willing to go to work every day even though it made him sick to his stomach. Because it was scary and hopeless and he wanted to quit. And because he readily admits all this.

He’s done an excellent job of illustrating that many of these inner-city schools are to teachers as war zones are to soldiers: abominable infrastructure, security threats, chaos (his term). Someone’s gotta do the job. It may be thankless and hopeless, they may even disagree with every policy and execution, but they still show up and do their job to the best of their ability.

Yes yes yes, public education needs an overhaul. No argument from me on that.

But this teacher was brave enough to admit he doesn’t think he even made a difference, that he just managed to survive- and with a gaping void in terms of ‘job satisfaction’ that would leave most of us nothing more than cerebral mush, he’s going back.

Yes. This man is a hero.

You haven’t really looked into the bureaucratic requirements that NCLB imposed on school districts, have you? That’s not going to happen anytime soon.

Additionally, Catholic Schools have a huge advantage – self-selecting population, and the ability to expel those who clearly don’t want to be there.

In particular, I think that cuts have hit the “assistant Principal” ranks too heavily – and those assistant Principals were always the first line of discipline. As schools saved money by reducing their numbers, teachers had to pick up more of the responsibilities for discipline (see above), both forcing them into a different relationship with their students, and detracting from their teaching time – not to mention requiring an entirely new skillset, and as we know, each time you require a workforce to master additional skillsets, you need to be willing to pay more for the people who have the capability of mastering additional skillsets.

I don’t disagree, and pointed out that teachers could be paid more if the bloated administrative staffs of school districts were cut in half. The New York Archdiocese taught 600,000 students with a staff of about 50 a few years ago. Critics accused them of skimming the best students so they offered to take handicapped students.

http://tinyurl.com/lekh8s

I have also been involved in the development of several private schools in Orange County, CA and found excellent teachers willing to work for less than they could earn in public schools, even though the local public schools are quite good.

I am also involved in supporting the Catholic high school I attended over 50 years ago. It has an excellent record with boys from blue collar backgrounds. Most of the Catholic schools in CHicago, and other cities, have closed and it survives only through heavy alumni support.

http://www.leohighschool.org/html/index.html

“When is the last time you heard a Republican say anything even remotely meaningful or relevant about life in the inner city? It’s as if they don’t know or care that these places exist.”

A standard lie from the left. Dan, why don’t you send Leo High a check ? Hundreds of Republicans do.

Me suspects they weren’t classes in English grammar…

LOL – another discussion. Railroads are in fact having a big resurgance because of their tremendous fuel efficiency for long hauls of heavy cargo – and for urban transit where people have gotten tired of hour-long commutes in single-passenger vehicles when they could be reading or working for the trip.

One of the daunting challenges is the overcrowding of existing rail lines – particularly frustrating when you consider how much more rail existed 100 years ago in this country. The cost of replacing a fraction of that former infrastructure (particularly the right-of-way costs) are a huge impediment to expanding rail service to meet current demand.

Some “heroes” who would have saved more of those rights of way would have save America billions going forward.