Global warming and your garden

[Persephone]

Mea culpa.

[Jangchub]

You're-a acknowledgement is accepted. Let's start over.

[enigma]

Jangchub wrote in news: [e-mail]:

dubbya wants everyone to be as ignorant as he is... as for the out of pocket expenses by teachers for their classrooms, that's not stuff to inspire, it's *basics* like pencils & paper. lee

[enigma]

MajorOz wrote in news: [e-mail] oups.com:

it might. if the choice is between teaching, with a salery of $40k/year (knowing that you have to supply your own classroom with pencils, paper, chalk, hankies, hand cleaner, supplemental reading books etc *and* pay off that student loan for the required Master's degree) and a private sector job that pays $75K+ per year, which would you choose?

well, more or less. a private or religious school can throw out any student that they choose, so they can pick only willing, non-disabled students. public schools can't do that, and frequently public school teachers have kids with learning disabilities, ESL or numerous other issues that take what little teaching time they have after the bureaucratic paperwork... it's a lose/lose game.

lee

[Billy]

Ew? There is a satisfaction in teaching, at least there is until the administration beats it out of you, in seeing a student "get it", to read the implications, not just the explicit text. Besides providing for the moment, what could be more important than preparing for the future?

[Billy]

That is a total waste of time. But many schools do have "classes" that are just dumping grounds, where they put difficult children who refuse to be students (for whatever reason).

[enigma]

Billy wrote in news: [e-mail] ct.net.au:

ew, because i could not be a public school teacher. i could not teach only to the test. i could not restrain my enthusiasm for knowledge. i could not simply turn out good little cogs... and that is strongly frowned upon by the administration. i did have a few good teachers (i can count them on one hand with fingers left over). they didn't last long... not because they couldn't teach, but because they couldn't, or wouldn't, play the politics game. i know that i wouldn't kiss ass, so going into teaching would have been a bad thing for everyone (including the students, because once you have a teacher that opens your eyes to the possibilities of what learning *could* be, & then that teacher is gone, well, then the same old grind is even more onerous). what baffles me is there are public school grade school teachers that completely avoid teaching certain subjects simply because they dislike or don't understand it, including math. how can that be allowed to occur? lee

[Billy]

Never seen that in California. What I have seen is a class that is shown movies, with no assignment attached to it, or the students can just "hang". A recruiter from an technology school referred to it as a dumping ground, although I've seen the same students function (stay on task) in other classes. The teacher is studying for his "Administrator's Credential" and the Principal does nothing because they are pals. Criminally "wasted time" for the students. Oh, and I'm not welcome to that school any longer.

[Jangchub]

Actually, each fall the different Independent School Districts have a

2-4 page list of required school supplies. My sister in law spends about 150 dollars on two teenagers. Then, they take these supplies and put them into a large pool box so if your child brings in Harry Potter this or that, chances of them having it from that pool of supplies is almost none.

The things teachers buy are basic items to help illustrate science projects, paints, different things ordinarily schools supplied. I grew up in Brooklyn where we were covered under the NYS Board of Education. Here in Texas, each district is independent. There is a lot of room for corruption of funding. I am tired of paying for it.

We are seriously looking at places like Belize and Cancun to retire to. Costa Rica is another place I have been looking at. I will not develop anything, but we'd buy something already existing so we don't further displace more native fauna and flora.

Victoria

[Billy]

Might want to study up on entomology;o)

[Charlie]

You been reading old Joe Bageant?

He has mostly gone there. If you aren't familiar, you might enjoy a bit of his cynicism and insight. He is an old school lefty who communed with some of the best of us. His experiences in Belize might be of interest.

[Charlie]

Edibles?

Charlie

[MajorOz]

...only my catfish pond...

Not me, for various reasons; one stated. Classroom discipline, for me, is not a problem. It is amazing how many of the other problems disappear when that one is solved. I am in one of the most rural of rural areas, in the Ozarks.

Sorry to hear that. Were I permanent faculty, I couldn't get away with throwing the trouble makers out. However, as a temp, I have a lot of freedom in means and method. "You don't like it, don't call me"

cheers

oz, who much prefers college level teaching where they come motivated.

[Billy]

Depends on who you mean;o))