Posts by jadetinker85

Mark Walker4 said:In Washington, D.C., there are 112 elementary schools, and get this—89 of them run on double shifts. Only 23 actually get to stick to a single schedule. If we wanted to fix just this one city, we’d need to upgrade 89 schools, but since about 60% of them are boxed in with zero room to expand, we'd have to build from scratch. A modern school runs you about $10 million a pop, so we're looking at building at least 50 new ones just to catch up.

In a nearby neighborhood, they expanded a school by taking over the playground and the basketball court where kids used to play. Now the school has more classrooms, but it doesn't have a yard.

shadowtiger0 said:It's basic biology, fellow middle school teacher. It's the difference between men and women—energy. That's what I was getting at. For us, handling the heavy lifting comes a bit easier.

Energy stems from anabolic hormones. Honestly, do you really want me to dive into something that most seventh graders probably already know?

Pushovers? Fine, here's an example. A colleague of mine had someone block her car in (she couldn't get home), so she asked a male colleague from her department to go tell the guy to move his car. He literally responded with: "Not my problem, won't get involved."

So, I step in and handle it nicely myself.

Of course the work of a linguist and a PE teacher isn't comparable. Just like a surgeon should be making more than a physiatrist (which they aren't, at least not at the base level), natural scientists and language teachers ought to have higher salaries than the rest of us (again, at least the base pay). See? I'm just full of love.

😂 🙂

Why was my colleague too intimidated to deal with it herself if it wasn't that big of a deal?

Susan James said:That same Europe, especially Northern Europe, has been graciously welcoming our workers for decades—everyone from ITech professionals and doctors to plumbers... it’s funny how they’re now offering us huge amounts of money to basically dumb down our own children so that neither we nor they have enough workers left.

What I really want to know is how, despite such short school hours, our kids manage to achieve top-tier results at international Olympiads. How is it that they enroll in and graduate from universities across Europe, and then, if they decide to move abroad, receive job offers that include not just great salaries, but often paid housing and language training for the whole family? How does that happen? Who was responsible for educating all those people?

Fair question.

Bryan Wells11 said:It’s obvious you weren't anyone's homeroom teacher. I see plenty of people, from the Social Democratic Party crowd (medical professionals) to those with advanced degrees, who definitely get more than their allotted vacation time during the summer. You're just getting hung up on that pathetic cliché about how we have "so many months off." Our collective break starts roughly in the second half of July and ends around August 20th. What, is that too much vacation?

Spot on, linguist. A perpetual homeroom teacher, on top of that. Competition coach and everything else required. It isn't hard work, but there is certainly plenty of it. Look—where I found the balance between what I put in (an English degree) and the compensation in the form of a peanuts salary (I honestly don't know where you see this pay as anything extra, colleague) is that I have a bit more free time. I use that free time to work another job in my field and to be with my family. If I am deprived of that time (which cannot be replaced by anything, least of all these percentages meant to pull the wool over our eyes), a huge argument for staying in education disappears. Some people love to scramble for crumbs from an GOP-affiliated table because, apparently, they value themselves that little; I say no thanks. They steal billions, and I'm supposed to say thank you? Oh, thank you, great leaders, for a 2.5% stipend for being a homeroom teacher? I'll leave that to the sycophants, the weaklings, and the spineless.

Second, 90% of my circle of friends and acquaintances are professionals with advanced degrees, and I have no idea where you're getting these losers who come home late and bring all their work with them, earning as much as teachers? It varies—sometimes more, sometimes less depending on the company, working for various agencies and boards, shuffling papers, and getting things done—but miraculously, many people with significantly less responsibility earn as much as or more than us; some even less educated than I am have surpassed me. Those who actually arrive home late and carry work home earn significantly more, if not double. What are you talking about? I would toil away at a school twice as long if I were paid twice as much.

This talk about men and women feels a bit shallow and primitive to me, so I won't bother addressing that part. As if you all discovered after COVID what it's like for us while we're menstruating and how it affects our work competencies? Good grief. 😵

😂

shadowtiger0 said:I cook too; my wife doesn't always have the time. Not that it’s an issue for me.

Generally speaking, nothing bothers me—except for rudeness and a lack of respect. That stuff gets handled pretty easily in a face-to-face conversation. Especially when you weigh 220 pounds. 😁

I mostly learned from my grandfather; my dad worked a lot. I know my way around a kitchen and nothing is too difficult.

And shouldn't all of this be part of "home economics" or whatever that subject is called nowadays?

What kind of nonsense is "YouTube"? I belong to that generation of men who served in the military—the ones who look out for and protect their families.

I'd say you're the star of the locker room, maybe even a siren. 😁

mellowskipper said:Maybe it would be a funny experiment if, just for one year, every single teacher in America gave every eighth grader a straight 4.0. Then everyone gets that precious perfect score they're all chasing.
And then what?

Then they’d just implement entrance exams for the popular high schools, which plenty of them already do. Everyone stays happy and satisfied.
Kids wouldn't be stressing over grades during elementary school anymore.

shadowtiger0 said:Actually, quite the opposite.

The thing is, people in our field tend to complain way too much—and let's be real, we do get that legendary summer break and those holidays when the weather is actually decent. A lot of engineers, doctors, and other professionals with advanced degrees just don't get that luxury.

But the fact that so many other things are fundamentally broken here is a whole different conversation...
Where on earth did you get the idea of comparing us to the Netherlands? They’re one of the most developed nations on the planet...

We should be comparing ourselves to other Southern European countries, and unfortunately, the situation there is pretty much the same...

If we actually want things to improve, we have to measure ourselves against the best and make progress, step by step. To be blunt, the best times here are June and July before the brutal heat hits, or September once it breaks. Trying to take a vacation during a heatwave is less about relaxing and more about just trying to survive.

hiddendriver34 said:I’m not totally in the loop on where exactly all that money is headed or how big these charter school raises are actually going to be (I think I read somewhere it could range from 2% to 25%🍿). From what I can gather, they aren't even planning on renovating old buildings or breaking ground on new ones—it's just about outfitting the schools we already have. It makes me wonder, though: if they aren't building anything new, how on earth do they plan to pull off this full-day schedule, and where is all those billions of dollars actually going?

It seems like every single Secretary of Agriculture thinks it’s their divine calling to be a "reformer" and leave some massive mark on the Country. They always assume (along with their tiny inner circle) that they know exactly which overhaul is needed. And in their minds, a real reform always has to mean flipping everything upside down and diving headfirst into chaos.

It’s like nobody ever thought to actually go out and talk to teachers. You know, maybe ask them if they have any bright ideas about what changes would actually help improve teaching quality or student results? Nope. Apparently, the Secretary of Agriculture and his buddies know way better—and they only see what a school looks like when they're showing up for a parent-teacher conference.

And honestly, why hasn't anyone suggested a step-by-step approach? If you take things slow, it’s easy to backtrack one step if you realize you made a mistake and pivot in a new direction. But if you sprint 60 miles in the wrong direction, there's no turning back. You’re just stuck dealing with the mess you made.

It’s roughly $135. Stipc mentioned it on a radio show yesterday, and a representative from the Department confirmed it.

Either you aren't hanging out with educated professionals, or you're just choosing to ignore the reality. Most people with a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree are grinding away for $50k a year all day, getting home around 5 PM, and then bringing work right back to the dinner table. That's just the cold truth. I have an engineering degree myself, so I've been there—pulling 10 or 12-hour shifts for the exact same pay you'd get with just a high school diploma. And unlike some sectors, there are zero unions looking out for you. But hey, that’s not really the point here, and I won't digress; I know from experience that teachers don't really look at things through that lens.

So you're actually on board with that? We should be fighting against people being exploited, not cheering it on.

hiddenseal14 said:My school is going to sign up for this. We are all in complete agreement on the move. Sure, a few teachers were grumbling because they won't be wrapping things up by 10:30 anymore, and the specialists are worried about the increased workload within the A2 and B1 curricula. There’s a bit of a shift happening in how subjects are taught—we’ve always operated on a single-shift schedule—and the students will have to adjust since their electives used to be baked right into the regular timetable. The silver lining? They’ll actually get longer breaks and a decent lunch period.

Anyway, don't go judging the situation based on fifty loud voices shouting in Facebook groups. Plenty of smaller schools that currently run on a single shift are going to step up and join in too.

I am not claiming that everything is perfectly designed; there will undoubtedly be growing pains. But that is exactly why we have an experimental phase—to identify what isn't working and fix it.

As for STEM, specifically math, biology, and chemistry, we've never really seen a shortage of talent in the Greater Los Angeles area. The only real gap has been in physics.

So, you figured things were changing for both you and the students, and decided to sign up. 😁>

You probably don't need to correct anyone if you aren't the teacher here. ☕

Sarah Hall53 said:You’ve got those three teachers on the school board and that one parent representing the PTA.
If just ONE of them—for whatever shady little reason they might have—actually raises their hand to break the tie against those three founders who clearly only care about the bottom line... well, there you go. That's your "experiment."

Look, if they can pull that off so easily, then we don't deserve anything better. 👍

Dana Smith2 said:I’m not really buying into this whole "learning through gaming" craze. I guess some people find it useful, but personally, I'm just not a fan of that approach.
So, my little girl was attending this English language program where they actually focused on practical stuff—writing, speaking, homework and all that. Then that bandit went and completely trashed everything—he basically banned schools from using the local community center facilities. We ended up having to move her over to some other fancy private school just to keep her on track.
There wasn't much actual writing involved in that one—no formal assignments or anything like that. Instead, everything was driven through games, watching movies, and stuff like that.
Take a guess where she learned that.

I have a fourth grader at home, and honestly, I don't see much evidence that they're actually studying hard or even feeling particularly overwhelmed. Now, I’m not going to be a snob about it—I won't just assume it's because they're some kind of little genius.
An eighth grader definitely has more studying to get through—but I don't think it's ever been such an overwhelming load that they can't find time to hang out with friends.
There are definitely things within the school system that need to be overhauled—I mean, obviously—but I don't really see evidence that elementary school kids here in the States are being overloaded yet.

Look, lifelong learning is great and should be encouraged, but you have to ask: is it more important for your kid to be happy, or is it okay to stress them out with grades while they're still in grade school? It feels like we don't pay enough attention to children's mental health here; it's honestly pretty overlooked.

Sarah Hall53 said:If his name gets pulled into this whole experiment thing, we’re switching schools. Period. I'll just drive him over to the next district—or even two towns over if that's what it takes to get him away from it.

Honestly, you'd think the teachers and parents would be asking some hard questions too. It's common sense.

Bryan Wells11 said:Every day. The weekly workload for students spikes drastically, both in core subjects and, unfortunately, with homeroom duties. These are ideas coming from people who haven't stepped foot in an American school system in years—if they ever have at all.

I was reading recently about how kids in Norway tell their parents when asked what they did at school: "I played." Learning happens through play.
Meanwhile, our kids in elementary school are already being worn down by nothing but averages and grades.

feralharbor13 said:I want to get this off my chest, and I’ll try to keep it brief, but why does every single one of my relationships—every attempt at one—just crash and burn? It always comes down to the same thing: my introversion and my damn analytical brain.
Take this guy, for example. Let's call him Mark. We go out on two or three dates, and I actually like him. He’s good-looking, charismatic, he wants a serious relationship, he shows interest...
And that’s exactly when my brain starts spiraling. I’ve never dated a guy named Mark before... so I start thinking about Mark Twain... then I get obsessed with reading his stuff. Or maybe Saint Mark... so I ask him if he’s ever been to Venice. I love visiting Venice. Then I start planning this massive trip because I’ve been there a bunch of times but never with a boyfriend. For the next two weeks, I’m deep in a rabbit hole researching Venetian architecture, the history of the Republic of Venice... You see how it goes. Suddenly, I realize I’ve never actually followed the Venice Film Festival, so now I’m binge-watching award-winning movies from the festival. Why did this movie win over that one? Let me check out the rest of the winners... I end up heading in a hundred different directions, and I give the actual guy almost zero attention. He eventually pulls away, or I catch him cheating... which leads me to start buying books on the psychology of infidelity... "Wow, this psychologist is brilliant, let me see what else he’s written," so I buy his entire bibliography. Meanwhile, the guy feels like I’m not even physically there. He ends up looking for an exit from a relationship where he's miserable because while he was trying to build something with me, I was busy analyzing Venetian cinema, history, psychology, and the life of Mark Twain.
The next guy is named Peter... nice name. Like Peter the Great. I suddenly decide I really want to visit St. Petersburg... and then I remember I haven't read Anna Karenina in ages, and since I loved that book, I start reading it. It blows my mind, so I decide I need to tackle War and Peace, so I start watching YouTube reviews of the book. "Man, this reviewer is great, she recommended some works I might like," so I head to the bookstore to pick them up... The setting is in Norway... Now I’m interested in Norway and Scandinavian mythology. I buy an encyclopedia on Norse myths. Then I remember my uncle moved to Norway to live, so maybe I should visit him since I’ve never been... And of course, Peter leaves me too. It’s the same story with every guy I've ever had. They all reach the same conclusion: "I wanted you, I wanted a girlfriend, I wanted love and attention, I gave you chances, I stayed, but you were lost in your books and your own thoughts... you're frigid, we barely have sex." That's just how my brain functions when I'm alone. I'll watch a play at the theater and immediately start dissecting the performance, the acting, the actors' biographies, the costumes... Why on earth was this actress cast? She's terrible! Where are the better actors? Then I get interested in the theater itself, drama, tragedy, comedy... I start reading about ancient Greek theater, researching the history of ancient Greece, reading Antigone and The Odyssey, pondering the meaning of life, time, immortality, symbolism... It holds me back from socializing, too. When people are talking about everyday stuff or normal problems, my brain just drifts off. I start thinking about stars, galaxies, geography, history... wondering if I should just stay single or find someone just as weird as I am.

I think you should look for love in the History or Art History department... because an engineer won't be able to grasp the sheer depth and breadth of how much a single name can pull you into a rabbit hole. 🙂

mellownomad7 said:I’m feeling okay about this forum, but right now it feels like we're stuck in some kind of infinite loop. 😁

best,div>

Solid comparison. It's like everything just ground to a halt on December 6th.

Logging in isn't an issue for me if I just check the "Remember me" box, but the forum seems stuck in December. It’s like there's no way to tell if anyone has actually posted anything new on the threads lately.

Kate Cook27 said:Quincy:

says: Has he actually looked at the photos of the destroyed cities, schools, and hospitals? Did they honestly think it was just Russian soldiers heading off to the front in Ukraine who were getting hit?

It’s all fake—just pure theater. Honestly, these people are acting in some studio set; it's nowhere near reality. For the longest time, everyone was just typing out "stupid Ukrainians," and now suddenly everyone is whining about mobilization. I've said it before: it's all staged. They just head into a studio to "film themselves fighting."

Spot on. You nailed it. 👍 If it's all a show, why the sudden outcry over mobilization? They should go to Ukraine and film it themselves. Trolling Russia on a Russian forum is a bold move. 🙏

Why do they think Ukrainians are stupid?

Kate Cook27 said:I saw someone on an online forum claiming they don't believe a single civilian has died in Ukraine just because there aren't specific names attached to them yet. It’s wild—so many news reports and deep dives, and people still refuse to accept the reality of the casualties.

Did they miss the photos of the destroyed cities, schools, and hospitals?

Did they honestly think the only people dying were Russian soldiers heading to the front lines in Ukraine?