You hear Obama and his liberal brethren constantly invoking “the children” as the reason for anything they want to inflict upon the American people. Obamacare is for the children. Taking away guns is for the children. The $800 billion porkulus program was for the children. We needed to keep teachers in the classroom to educate our children and make them fine productive citizens. The storyline is a load of crap. Most of the billions spent annually “educating” our cherubs is pissed down the drain on massive bureaucracy, gold plated union benefits, and social engineering bullshit. There are 3.7 million teachers and 3.3 million are public school teachers. Among full-time and part-time public school teachers in 2007–08, some 76 percent of public school teachers were female, 44 percent were under age 40, and 52 percent had a master’s or higher degree.
We hear about how overburdened these poor teachers are, but some facts shed some light on that workload. The pupil to teacher ratio in 1970 was 22.3. Today, the pupil to teacher ratio is 15.4. The chart below is adjusted for inflation. In 1970 we were spending $5,000 per child. Today we are spending $13,500 per child. The average class has 30% less students and we are spending 170% more per student than we did in 1970. These facts would lead you to believe we are producing brilliant scholars across the board.
More
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
I don't know where these schools are with 15 students to 1 teacher but definitely not around here. Our classes sizes go up higher and higher every year. Close to double this figure and in some cases more than double. And that $13,500 per student... That doesn't translate to dollars for the school directly. These numbers are definitely inflated.
ReplyDeleteThe average per pupil expenditure is very deceiving. Some get an incredible amount spent on them for interventions for bad behavior and poor performance. Average and above average students get almost nothing, and that paltry amount is complained about by those who want even more spent on those who have no idea why they come to school. Amazing that no matter how much is spent, those who get the lion's share of money and attention are doing worse.
ReplyDeleteMy kids come home from school every day telling me there are 12 to 15 kids per class. I do not know where 136 lives, but I live in Salisbury, Maryland.
ReplyDelete15.4? Ha! Try 30 to 1! I teach in Salisbury!
ReplyDelete