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ChuckleheadStrategy t1_ivz52w1 wrote

Sounds like changing the hiring process should be priority #1. If we cannot hire qualified teachers, can we say we are providing a quality education? If we're not providing an education, the money would be better spent paying private school tuition for every kid.

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RosaKlebb t1_ivznhtn wrote

That's the thing, quality of education is likely going to take further blows as brain drain from prospective people who'd go into teaching check out greener pastures.

I know there's ton to wax poetic about when it comes to history of NJ's standing in education and all that but the way the state has gone in terms of opportunity and just the stark cost of living even regardless of how much teachers can get comparatively to elsewhere, it still makes it not exactly the most sexy thing to check out.

Especially if you're conventionally smart in a subject like math or sciences you can virtually go into anything else that values that ability and have a lot of it be worth your while.

A lot of the people I know in teaching atm are completely at the end of their rope ready to bail, or are grinning and bearing it because they grew up with money and the salary isn't entirely the biggest issue or in some cases they got a breadwinner partner making significantly more cash to offset things.

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ChuckleheadStrategy t1_iw0fyki wrote

Yeah, it's pretty wild. Admittedly, I haven't done enough research on my own (no kids, no desire to work in education myself) to know the difference in pay between NYC and here, but can we not close the gap? I live close enough to Ferris to see the kids leave at noon with no intention of going back for the afternoon...wtf. I grew up in the suburbs so just a different school life, but if we cannot educate the kids, wtf are we doing. We might as well sell the land the schools sit on and put the money to sending the kids to a place that can offer an education. I don't mean this to sh*t on any teachers in JC public schools, but if the comment above is that we throw our hands up and say we don't have access to a consistent amount of quality teachers, then we need to re-assess.

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