Investing in Education

[A Can of Man]

The problem with investing excessively in education is the spending where it's not needed. Teacher's would spend more on their luxury items while working than on actual education material. I don't know if more education money is required vs. better micromanaging of how it's spent.
However, so I don't too far off topic, I'll stop there and recommend going to buy more SUV's and guns since we cling to them.

Okay now we're not off topic.
Well what would you expect when a teacher gets a pay cheque? Start buying books for students? The quality of life you can provide for a teacher DRAWS highly qualified people into that line of profession. This isn't that hard to figure out. If I know that by teaching, every day I'll be standing in front of pesky little kids who have adopted their parents' "I'm not satisfied with the service" attitude and know I'll have to come home to a small ass apartment where I have a bunch of things that I only have because of credit which I think will take over ten years to pay for... that's not including the house by the way. Forget it.
But, if you get good pay, get financial security and a good retirement package, that EMPOWERS you. Heck, if you think things are getting out of hand at school, the teachers can hire their own damned lawyer to battle it out and maybe even stand a chance.
It means they can have the flexibility to do what they need to get the job done, not shiver at the prospect of losing their job and their meager wage and getting shafted for life for doing the right thing.
Over-investing in education? I think that's the last thing we need to worry about at this point.

 

[major liability]

I agree with redneck. I recently got out of the American high school system myself and I must say the reason so many are failing is not because we don't have adequate supplies (oh, there's WAY more than enough in that high-tax suburban area). From what I saw, it was a combination of disinterest and apathy in the failing students and incompetence in the teaching staff. I had a total of three worthwhile teachers in my entire time as a student (7th grade history, 10th grade english, 12th grade psychology). So yes, higher quality teachers would be a major plus. But so would a more practical and less academic curriculum. If you're going to be a scientist, take science courses. If you're going to work on cars, take shop and automotive engineering. The age where people become aware of what they want to do and where they want to go in life has dropped. It may be time to start making the majority of high school classes electives like I hear they do in Germany.

 

[A Can of Man]

Most of the world has two systems in high school - liberal arts for those wanting to be historians, lawyers, writers, etc. what have you and the sciences for those who want to be scientists, engineers, etc.
Then you have the other high school for the kids that can't quite make it. Here they learn to at least operate a sewing machine so they're not completely useless.

 

[The Other Guy]

I agree with redneck. I recently got out of the American high school system myself and I must say the reason so many are failing is not because we don't have adequate supplies (oh, there's WAY more than enough in that high-tax suburban area). From what I saw, it was a combination of disinterest and apathy in the failing students and incompetence in the teaching staff. I had a total of three worthwhile teachers in my entire time as a student (7th grade history, 10th grade english, 12th grade psychology). So yes, higher quality teachers would be a major plus. But so would a more practical and less academic curriculum. If you're going to be a scientist, take science courses. If you're going to work on cars, take shop and automotive engineering. The age where people become aware of what they want to do and where they want to go in life has dropped. It may be time to start making the majority of high school classes electives like I hear they do in Germany.

I'm stuck in a dumpy school that was built for 800 students 30 years ago, and it currently houses about 1300. The science classrooms are literately falling apart. Our school has to borrow money to repair cracks in the floor. Teachers have been asking for certain teaching tools for years and have yet to get them.

I agree with Major Liability. For example, I STILL have no idea as to what I want to do with my life. I've got to pick a college to apply to, but how can I apply to a school that has things I'm interested in when my high school holds no courses in said subjects? How do I know I'm going to like computer tech stuff when my school's classes run Windows 98?

I've always wanted to take a foreign language. Russian, Polish, some sort of Slavic language so I can sort of understand relatives if I try to track them down in Europe. However, my school can only afford 3 foreign languages; Spanish, German, and French. If it wasn't for the super low education budget, and the backlash against American children learning another language, I could be taking a trip to Moscow, Prague, or Warsaw next summer. Instead, I'm sitting in a temporary classroom learning German...

I'll give you, some of the teachers are incompetent. But the system's incompetence is beyond the blame of the person at the blackboard.