I’m not sure why people continue to elect politicians who vote for policy that goes against the best interests of their constituents and the interests of the people of Arizona.
Seems like we’ve tried so many different strategies lately, but not much works and I don’t think I’m the only one who has thrown up their hands—give up, this is Crazyland. But then the headlines and David Safier’s blog posts on The Range ring clear that something is wrong when a state can’t keep its teachers. There are more than 1,000 vacancies open in school across the state. How each district will deal with that challenge will often determine how school will go for students in our city’s districts—will some students in some of our most challenged neighborhoods be stuck with a substitute teacher for math or a science class for a good chunk of the year, often the most important time, before or if a permanent instructor is hired. My family has experienced this in the past, and I know it can be detrimental to how a student progresses and how a classroom coalesces as the year moves forward. Those who think our state is going in the wrong direction may say that having this many teachers essentially leave our state or the education field is just the market economy doing its thing. But seriously, when do we get to that point where the Professor turns to Gilligan and Skipper to remind them that doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results is called insanity. I like that TV episode, with Ginger and Mary Ann and the Howells, happy someone finally said what’s been on everyone’s mind. But no, this isn’t TV. This, my friends, really is Crazyland and we can hope voters get it at some point. They will, won’t they?
— Mari Herreras, mherreras@tucsonweekly.com
This article appears in Jul 23-29, 2015.
You ask a good question! And your answer, I’m not sure, is honest.
There are, most likely, several answers to your question. I suggest, the effectiveness of propaganda, as one of the several possible answers. We often hear things regarding education that are not really true: Our schools are failing, and, High school graduates are not ready for college.
Given the severe cut-backs in resources and the failure to fund our schools according to the laws of Arizona, given that 25% of our children live in poverty and our teachers are not near as highly valued as they should be, it is amazing that our schools are performing as well as they are.
Another thing we hear all too often about education is, Money is not the problem. It does take money. And the adage, You get what you pay for, applies.
Propaganda needs to be countered with the truth:
Public education is important to our nation, state and community.
Childhood poverty is bad and should be ended.
Teachers are important and should be highly valued.
High school graduates are ready for community college by law in Arizona. Perhaps it is our community colleges who are not ready for our high school graduates.
In others words, education is required to get a voter to vote in their own interest.
If you really want to know how the teachers feel (and why there aren’t enough available in this state) ask some teachers how they are treated and how they feel about how education in handled here. I have friends and neighbors who are and have been teachers. If you listen to what kind of baloney they have to put up with, you’d understand why so many teachers today have chosen another jobs. Make it so they don’t have to mention their sex or which school district they work in.
In the early “90’s I did some volunteer work for a local school. I found a deaf child in a first or second grade class. (I have friends who have deaf kids so I spotted this kid in no time) The first words out of my mouth were “Where’s his Signer?”, assuming that in this day and age deaf kids had signers in public schools. His teacher didn’t know what a signer was. She had no clue that he was deaf, and thought he had severe learning disabilities. I was shocked. “Has he had his hearing tested?”, I asked. “They do that in the second half of the year.” was the response. (that has since changed, I’ve been told). I talked to the head of volunteer work later that day so this kid could get his hearing tested.
Talk to a teacher and you’ll hear much more shocking stories….