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Few-Ability-7312 t1_itltvaz wrote

Reply to comment by Diet_Coke in Unsatisfied Richmond-area teachers leaving in droves by CrassostreaVirginica

What’s your suggestion then? So far the public system is failing kids and COVID made things worse. On top of that the curriculum is crap.

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Diet_Coke t1_itlvu67 wrote

I think we need a complete overhaul of the education system, to start with we need to recognize teachers are Masters-level professionals and treat and pay them accordingly. I've heard stories of teachers having to take continuing education classes where they received such amazing lessons as 'students who are interested in the material will want to learn it more'. We need to decide what the purpose of school is - job training, citizenship training, or daycare - and then design the system to support that goal. We also need to recognize as citizens that a lot of factors go into a student's success beyond just the teacher and school. If we aren't building up and supporting our neighborhoods then nothing we do in the schools is going to turn them around.

This one's a bit more out of left field, but hey you asked, and if I was schools dictator then I'd end private schools and homeschooling too. Everyone goes to public schools. Everyone has skin in the game to make them good. Right now the most wealthy and politically-empowered Richmonders tend to send their children to private schools. Not only are they not incentivized to make Richmond schools better, it's easy from that perspective to see taxes going towards education as being a pure loss and advocate for reduced education spending.

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[deleted] t1_itlxtsj wrote

[deleted]

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AlreadyShrugging t1_itm07my wrote

> it's too easy for incompetents (Richmond) or nut jobs (Hanover)

Agree 10,000%

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Lokky t1_itmi80a wrote

Don't forget about incompetent nutjobs (Chesterfield)!

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DinoSnuggler t1_itm9rox wrote

Love to see another person who would end private schools given the chance. Education should be the great equalizer, and private schools by their very existence suck resources from public schools.

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The_GOATest1 t1_itmqvi3 wrote

I do agree that education should be the great equalizer but private schools don’t inherently suck resources from public schools. In some instances they definitely do but I don’t think that’s a universal truth. There is an issue of skin in the game in a lot of instances though.

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ill-disposed t1_itm9afj wrote

You had me until “everyone goes to public schools”. Different kids have different needs.

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Diet_Coke t1_itmaaug wrote

I know it's controversial, but I think ultimately it would benefit society greatly. What kind of needs are unable to be met by public schools to the point that only private or homeschooling is an option?

Thought experiment - If (Dominion Energy CEO) Tom Farrell's kids went to Martin Luther King Middle, what kind of investments and improvements do you think would be made there?

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ill-disposed t1_itmh21j wrote

Immunocompromised students.

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Diet_Coke t1_itmj2h5 wrote

Is there a reason they couldn't do remote school under the umbrella of public schools?

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batkave t1_itlya7m wrote

COVID didn't make things worse. It just accelerated everything already on a downward trajectory like our public health and education systems. Its failing kids because the systems are also failing their parents.

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twelvesteprevenge t1_itlx52f wrote

That’s a pretty broad complaint. What parts of the curriculum are you specifically referring to?

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Tstewmoneybags99 t1_ito1okg wrote

I think it’s quite ironic that we’re saying the “public system is failing them” when that just isn’t true for many many students and teachers in the area. The brass tax is, the public system is to heavily invested in higher income areas of its districts.

The real issue is having a state government that doesn’t want to help its educators and instead wants to have a doxing phone line to complain about teachers, instead of paying them and investing our tax payer surplus into schools we gave everyone a check so we can feel happy about the governor in the next election cycle!

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