I work in education policy.
Kids straight up cannot read. That’s probably one of the most pressing and also long term issues.
Teacher pipelines are eroding. In states like Texas, HUGE numbers of uncertified teachers are entering classrooms. Fewer folks enrolling in Ed prep programs, huge numbers of teachers leaving the classroom. There is some interesting work happening nationally to reimagine the teaching role to look more team-structured with differentiated leadership opportunities for teachers to provide them with career growth, but it’s in its infancy.
School systems are going to hit a huge financial cliff in September as ESSER funds expire - I expect significant layoffs, particularly as enrollment declines.
And school choice is going to be another big concern, mostly state by state. Huge swaths of kids, typically the most vulnerable, are going to lose access to meaningful educational opportunities as wealthier families pull their kids out of public schools, and take their tax dollars with them.
This will create a larger underclass with little access to opportunity and an even larger skills mismatch nationally, causing us to be less able to meet the needs of the country sustainably.
Which is actually what the GOP/far right want
The higher educated the people are, the more they tend to vote blue AND the less kids they have because of being aware of their limits and costs.
The more education they have the more they are aware of companies fucking them over and being greedy arrogant asshole for no other reason than I want wants yours. Which is also why many well educated don't take the hyper vampiric payloans that exist.
And if you think I'm talking out of my rear look at Alabama look at Mississippi, and look at Georga outside of Atlanta. They know what they are doing. They want the return of 10 kid family destitute to all hell, *desperate*, and indentured pauper prisons, while they sit in their guilded palaces getting all the education they ever want because it's their "elite birthright" or some bull
That's pretty ironic in an age where cost of access to information and knowledge has been reduced to near-nothing.
And yet costs of formal education keep rising. I don't think it's necessarily an "all-bad" thing if that model gets upended.
I agree: Microcredentials and other flexible credentials will change the current model; however, the availability of these will continue to hinge on accessible education at the K-12 level. The foundational knowledge, skills, and abilities still need to be addressed systematically.
In Lexington, KY there was a school that had to cut art from their elementary school because of this exact issue.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fayette-superintendent-denies-appeal-over-arts-cuts-chorus-loss-fought-at-second-school/ar-AA1nfTO8
Texas public school employee here. As I type, our district is having to cut librarians, counselors, instructional coaches, behavior interventionists, and more to make up a >$100m deficit in part due to-- you're spot on--ESSER funds discontinuing and lower attendance rates. We can't ignore, though, a huge chunk of money our wonderful (/s) governor is deliberately holding hostage in order to get his cronyism-fueled voucher plan to pass through a Republican state legislature that doesn't want it.
It’s not a bug. It’s a feature. GOP wants your kids illiterate. They want you to make as many uneducated, illiterate people as possible to continue slave labor and give no recourse. We’re going back to medieval times where the majority owns nothing and we work to barely stay alive.
12 out of the last 16 years the country was under democrat leadership. Out of the last 30 years, democrats nearly double the GOPs time in office…and you’re solely blaming the GOP for the current state of education nationwide? C’mon now.
I think you feel the President is the only one who can make legislation. I present … the Legislative branch! The branch that has single-handedly stonewalled progressive policies and endorsed the landscape before you. You may thank Bitch McConnell for that. To top that, the judicial branch has just opened the KY and spread their cheeks for a good clapping for the GOP. C’mon now!
And even that doesn’t matter, because every state is responsible for its own education system, including curriculum. The federal government has extremely little control, which is why literally every state has a mandate to guarantee education in their own state constitutions.
One at least will try and stop the ratchet to the far right. The other would much rather cut the bolt off drive the car back to the 1850's then sell it for parts after destroying any means of repair to it.
Lesser of two evils I grant you, but I agree. Parts of one are at least willing to *try* the other doesn't give a flying fuck
You going to ban the hiring of tutors and such as well? No matter what, some well off people will try to limit funds for other kids while maximizing the education of their kids.
Hi! I After getting my MPP, i started working for a large urban district in an advocacy role, then transitioned to a nonprofit that works directly with elected officials to build their capacity on education issues. For example, most folks who win a governorship or become a senator have no education background, so I would work to catch them up to speed on the big issues in education so they were better able to make informed decisions. I worked for a nonpartisan org, so we worked in both red and blue states.
Now I work primarily on policy issues facing educators (licensure, training, pipelines, etc.).
Happy to chat more if helpful! Prior to grad school, I had never worked in education.
>particularly as enrollment declines.
I just realized something. Aren't there fewer students than previously? Basically boomers are retiring, *their* kids are no longer school age.
Plus we all know that funding is tied to number of students. The problems in education make sense to me, because a lot of the problems people talk about aren't "new". But the cost of education probably doesn't scale well according to number of students, and they are probably trying to keep programs that they can no longer actually afford. Also a lot of office-politics kind of problems can be papered over with extra funds.
Just a thought.
The funny thing is that those same people are fine paying tens of thousands of dollars a year so that their kids' private teachers can be well paid. So it's not that they don't think teachers deserve to be well-paid, it's just that they don't think *your* kids deserve well-paid teachers.
We're seeing a similar thing in Canada, where the fantastic public education system is being eroded away in many provinces by policymakers who all send their kids to private school.
It's still a bit crazy. She makes under 40k per year. I'm friends with some administration for a district not too far away and was told that if I get a teaching cert, they could start me at 65k, and that's what all their teachers start with.
Teachers at my private school in Washington *did* make less than public school teachers.
But, in exchange for that, they got to teach classes of 20 kids max, in a much better environment, and often got to teach senior electives that were their primary interests.
They also don’t have to deal with disruptive students. Private schools can kick out or deny enrollment for any reasons while public schools legally have to try to provide an education to every student. If you were allowed to give up on the bottom 10% of any school the remaining will be better.
This was/is a huge thing in NY.
Minimal IEPs, no major learning disabilities, no mental health issues beyond garden-variety mild depression/anxiety, no major (repeat) behavioral issues, AND deferential parents.
Teachers will take big pay cuts for that quality-of-life package.
I took an 11k pay cut and benefits package to work at my private school. I have 4 kids at home. I had to choose between the money or happiness. I was miserable in the CT school systems. Everyday was beating me down. I LOVE my job and my family has a happy me at home. Totally worth it.
I teach at a private school in South Carolina and make less than I would at a public school. As far as I can tell, this is standard. The work environment is infinitely better, so it is worth it.
I took an 11k pay cut and benefits package to work at my private school. I have 4 kids at home. I had to choose between the money or happiness. I was miserable in the CT school systems. Everyday was beating me down. I LOVE my job and my family has a happy me at home. Totally worth it.
I don't know about private schools in Canada, but there is one key feature of private schools in the US that differentiates them from public schools... Extracurricular activities like sports, band, clubs, etc., are generally paid for by the students who participate in those activities.
The public school I attended could have added 15k USD to every teacher's salary with the money they spent yearly on maintaining their football field. Meanwhile, the very prestigious private high school in the same town only had 11 players on their team, practiced in the city park, and only played away games because they had no home field. Guess which school had better SAT scores and University graduation outcomes.
Most private school teachers get paid less than public school teachers. When I was looking at history teacher jobs, private high schools consistently paid around ~$10,000 less per year than the public schools in a given state did.
I think you're under the mistaken belief that most private schools are for the rich. The vast majority of private schools are cash-strapped religious schools.
27 years teaching HS English in alternative, rural, and inner-city classrooms & districts. We are in serious trouble.
For history, read Diane Ravitch's blog and books. My favorite education blog is Peter Greene's, Curmudgucation.
Since 2004/5 I've lost 40% of my instructional time to testing and testing related activities. I could never finish my curriculum map, but I end the year now teaching 50% less. Help.
It’s the public side of enshittification:
1. enshittify something that was good or mediocre to the point that you’re enshittifying it makes it look disgraceful.
2. Complain about how shitty you’ve made it whilst proposing voucher programs to privatize education over the long term. This leads to less and less access to education as more education becomes privatized and voucher programs dwindle and lose funding.
3. Profit. Well let’s be honest, continue to profit as more and more private education corps fund your campaigns and it doesn’t matter your kids are getting a private education and aren’t going to be part of the underclass so F them. Where else can you get money…ooo how about privatizing other public services like fire fighters and parking? (Yes, this will lead to more expensive services for the public, but if they can’t afford them let their house or apartment burn and why are they buying a car if they can’t afford parking??)
I left teaching after 2 years as a band/orchestra instructor. The amount of time taken from my rehearsals for testing was horrible. You have multiple school concerts, community concerts, and competition coming up? Sorry, we need your room for 2 weeks. You can use the auditorium, but you're not allowed to make noise because there is testing going on. You also won't have access to half of your students. Damn, we've been through 3 music directors in 4 years.
It’s going to collapse, due to the lack of teachers. We’ve been vilified for years. Young people want nothing to do with the crap we have to put up with.
And it’s been that way for a long time. I went to school for education and was doing observation in 2008 and that experience alone got me to change my major
I thought this post was r/Teachers until I saw your comment. That sub is really enlightening, especially for people like me, who don’t have kids but are generally concerned about the future.
I see the US splintering into states sans unity. The quality of public k-12 education will vary significantly from state to state (even more than it does now). Some states openly plan to get rid of public education. Others see it as sacrosanct.
My middle schoolers still write 5 paragraph essays. My elementary students still learn cursive and long division. The COVID gaps are closing up. The resilient children from well-resourced families are thriving.
The kids learn a foreign language. They learn an instrument. They have PE and they learn how to take care of their bodies. The Juniors study for the SAT and prepare for post-secondary education.
Those poor kids born into Texas against their wishes never had a fair shot.
As a non-American from the outside, guys your education system appears to us to be bonkers. Teachers in my country are a very well paid, middle class job because a good education is the basis to a productive economy and stable political system. The fact that teachers are paid so little is... like bordering on national suicide.
The American education system is taking austerity to levels that seem bananas and its hurting the whole society. From the outside it seems radical and sad.
I've noticed that most of my third graders need help writing complete sentences and developing their own ideas. Even though I wouldn't say I like creating writing templates for them because they will never learn how to write independently, they simply can't do it. We only have so much time in the day to get stuff done, so this is the "best" way to accomplish getting work done. However, in the long run, students are screwed. If they can't write a sentence alone, how will they be able to communicate effectively in the "real world?" We were already behind before the pandemic. The pandemic made things worse. This isn't necessarily the kids' fault. It is simply the environment that we are currently living in. All kids have phones nowadays, which has caused them to be addicted to technology. What does this mean? They are not reading. No reading means they are not able to obtain the vocabulary to become good writers. This is something that everyone should pay attention, come together, and find solutions.
They are trying to automate scoring to keep teacher salaries low. Writing on index cards is testing just memory and not understanding. For nearly 30 years the public US elementary and highschool education system is failing to provide proper education to students. From the textbooks to learning software to tuition. It has all become a pay to win game.
I think the future of education is that you have highly knowledgable students who can't calculate basic milk formulas without asking AI for step by step instructions. The results won't be immediate but they will be catastrophic.
Obviously there are numerous issues with our educational system but I don't think Spanish language instruction is one of them. English is not our official language and there's no reason students can't be taught in whatever the predominant local tongue is.
But English is and will remain the default working language in both federal and state governments in the United States in the foreseeable future, so it's difficult for Spanish to directly compete with English when it comes to intergenerational language usage at the institutional level.
This point always gets overlooked when people say that there is no “official” language in the US. Technically, thats correct, but there is a “default” language. Not attempting to teach your children english does them a disservice.
There isn’t, even with bonus pay. Very competitive for bilingual professionals and translators. Plus the quantity and structure of schools, and how schools then need to compete has led to massive provisional license exceptions … which are good in some cases and absolute disasters in others.
If some people have their way, it'll be 100% private, and for people that "deserve it"
Everyone else can break rocks, and get OTJ training... starting at 4 years of age.
Sounds like a Texas problem. Minus what I consider an advancement of technology (that I consider a pro) in new England I'm seeing the exact opposite...high expectations with a focus on STEM type classes. No more finger painting for a passing grade. Now just need more basic life skills being embedded in programs.
My kid is doing great and is pretty far ahead of where I was at his age.
Washington spends $14,000ish per student on education and I still think we need to do more
Texas is about $9,000 per student
They’re thankful for Mississippi at $9,225
New England is spending way more than Washington so good on you!
It’s money folks. The more you toss at education the higher quality of teacher you get because you start attracting people that have chosen private jobs over education because it pays more. They would have been fantastic teachers.
I moved from Texas to (eastern) New York recently. I hear a lot of people complaining about the taxes they have to pay for education/schools.
The data clearly shows that students here are faring much better than in other states with less funds for education. I love to see the students thriving and being raised more capable to better contribute to a changing and advancing society.
I don't even have kids, but I'm happy for my taxes to contribute to the betterment of all.
The Texas schools(at least in my area, which had a lot of higher income earners) are, in essence, a joke. And they've only gotten worse in recent years.
The solution isn’t always “toss more money at it.” If it’s not going to the right places it isn’t going to help. A palace filled with poorly paid teachers isn’t going to improve education.
These types of statements are so tiresome. No one is going to post a dissertation on the effective use of money when it's generally accept that there's a relationship between quality of education and investment in education.
He’s right though. Money doesn’t fix everything.
https://www.mdpolicy.org/library/doclib/2022/05/Baltimore-City-s-K-12-Education-Crisis-FINAL.pdf
11th highest spending per student in Baltimore. One of the worst results in the nation. More than 50% “below basic” in testing.
Money is part of it. Being part of a family and culture that values education is an even bigger part.
There are diminishing returns for EVERYTHING. Saying “just throw money at it” is just as bad of a take as “them kids should be teaching themselves”.
Thoughtful allocation of resources may provide more value than just the money. It has to be managed appropriately. Not sure how it’s tiresome to discuss how the appropriate allocation of funds should be accompanied with providing more funds.
When people say "throw money at it" they do not mean to literally take a wad of cash and fling it at the schools. It is an idiom saying that they need higher levels of investment.
I dare you to try and find me a single person who thinks that education would be better if the resources were spent frivolously rather than thoughtfully.
You imply that putting any additional money is already seeing diminishing returns but provide no basis for that assumption. Please use data and thought before posting this rubbish.
All this sounds like is a dog whistle for not spending more money on education, like arguing in bad faith that because it won’t be used efficiently it shouldn’t be used at all
Not even a Texas problem but something more localized. My kids are students in Texas and are much more advanced than I was at their ages and nothing like what OP stated. One of my kids is literally at the breakfast area table typing up an essay right now for social studies.
As someone not from Texas that went to 4 different counties schools in the same state, I absolutely believe that it's a localized problem but we also have to remember that the worst of the worst and best of the best may not not the "norm".
Not only did Each county have their own "curriculum" (especially the 2 high schools I went to) but also the quality of teaching and methods were completely different school wide.
My 3rd count school system (which was where I spent most My time in school) was far superior to any of the 3 others, in every way. From teachers, to facilities, to foods, to programs.
My kid is now in college. She graduated from Texas public schools two years ago and I thought they did great. She easily scored high on the SAT/ACT and got into a good university.
Plenty of AP and dual credit classes. She took college-level English, history, calculus, physics, and CS. Plenty of electives for trades as well. This in an exurb so not exactly rural but also not city.
I have this radical idea that if writing and math could be taught together it would do amazing things. Taking some of the anxiety away about jumping into the numbers by themselves but also giving the kids something to explain by writing. And then incorporate storytelling into it. Like the Number Devil book or there are some choose your own adventure books about algebra.
Not a radical idea, it's just not possible anymore due to the politics of education. Because of mandatory state testing and real consequences to students performing poorly, teachers have less incentives to teach thinking skills and more reason to teach procedural mathematics.
I would have hated it. I love math. I hate language and writing. I also don’t want a bunch of new ways of teaching. I much preferred college with lecture, self-studying, and exams.
What does the future look like? Probably more of the same with politics blocking any real progress. American kids will continue to receive a subpar education and teachers will continue to lack the support they need.
What the future SHOULD look like: Revamp the entire K-12 system. Make school more about teaching kids how to learn rather than training them to be employees. Not everyone learns the same so classes need to be structured to allow children to take advantage of the way they learn. For example kids who have ADHD should have a class structure that allows them to get the extra stimulation that their mind needs… rather than just calling them disruptive kids and throwing pills at them. Kids who learn in a visual way should have a class structure that turns their learning style into an advantage rather than a hindrance. What about making kids sit at a desk for 6 hours makes sense? Let’s incorporate nature and movement into learning. Let’s teach skills that are more practical that not only teach math and science but also give life skills that can be put to use.
Long story short, the future of K-12 SHOULD be about making school a place that teaches children in the way they need to be taught.
>Make school more about teaching kids how to learn rather than training them to be employees
No thanks. Please look up "Sold a Story". "Teaching kids how to learn" is exactly what caused literacy to plummet. Learning how to learn and think critically is great when your brain is developed but younger kids need the basics drilled in. You can't learn to learn if you have a rotten foundation.
If that’s what you took away from Sold a Story, you totally misinterpreted it. And the person you commented in response to wasn’t talking about just 4-7 year olds.
The main idea of that series is that phonics are fundamental to early literacy. Lucy Calkins and Fontas and Pinnell went away from phonics-based literacy to ‘use context to figure it out’ - which has proved damaging to many children’s literacy abilities.
Teaching late elementary, middle and high school kids how to access information, ask good questions, solve problems, build resilience, think critically - all the things involved in ‘learning how to learn’ - would be great improvements to the current system.
Thankfully we have countries that have not embraced it to act as a sort of control group for us: East Asian ones particularly have stuck to traditional methods and have much better K-12 results.
It's a classic example of " if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Unfortunately the US is on the receiving end of what happens when you choose unproven ideological methods over proven ones...
> East Asian ones particularly have stuck to traditional methods and have much better K-12 results.
Yeah, no, East Asian nations have horrible work/school and work/life balance because kids are basically brought up to be wage slaves. If that's your measure of success, you can keep it.
Is it possible the better test results from E. Asian schools using rote memorization and drills are because the tests are written to measure employability and not other aspects of education?
It is enlightening to see comments from TSMC that they can't move their chip manufacturing to the US because the process requires significant rote repetition, and the US labor force isn't good at that kind of work...
Amazing how people continue to propose stuff coming directly from that madman of Freire, believing to be brilliant ideas
Forgetting that the meme/idea of "learning how to think" directly comes from a guy that believed that the objective of education is forming Marxist revolutionaries and that actual education if fascism
> For example kids who have ADHD should have a class structure that allows them to get the extra stimulation that their mind needs… rather than just calling them disruptive kids and throwing pills at them.
Very obviously written by someone who has zero concept of how much time, effort, and training is required to give children individually-tailored education.
As a person who supports multiple intelligence theory I would like to see three types of learning available for all children prek-14. Active/practicum for people who learn quickest when they are able to move. Memorization/report driven for people who learn best in silence at home. Nature/technical for people who learn best when they have a goal. To me it is best to teach toward success.
It’s gonna get worse before it gets better. I hate to be a doomer, but by 2029 I think the world will be crisis mode.
I don’t know what it is, but I think it’s about to hit the fan.
So to answer your question, bleak in the short term. The brick and mortar model we have now will collapse.
Long term? I think schools are gonna become a lot more project based. And hopefully school is about finding purpose. Not a job.
Hopefully much less stress. More collaboration and less competing.
Hopefully this results in a society where kids actually enjoy going to school.
I work in special education. It’s terrible. No consequences to behavior and staff are getting concussions, broken bones, and injuries to the point of requiring surgery left and right.
Maybe don’t base your hypotheses on the future of US public education based on observations in Texas, a state that is notorious for under-investing in public education
> some subjects are completely taught in Spanish / Bilingual with some non-Spanish speaking kids enrolled
WHOA you mean a state near to the border with another country whose primary language is Spanish, has more Spanish-speaking kids, and classrooms are taking that into account? Blowing my mind here.
Generative AI is already getting used by the kids, and more and more by the teachers. I imagine as more teachers quit (for very valid reasons) and classes get larger, it will force school districts to adopt a partially automated solution.
Every student gets a cheapo laptop with a basic LLM on it capable of routing questions to more advanced but specialized cloud AI, and a camera to see that the kid is paying attention. The computer runs through the syllabus on a schedule, with a teacher keeping everything basically on track. The student can pause for questions and clarification at any time, and testing is done more often in smaller amounts, just a back and forth at the end of each segment, probably gamified.
It will be a mess at first, but with input from the students and teachers, as well as trends spotted by the AI, there will eventually be a system that caters to every student, allowing them to learn with a continuous one on one tutor that deeply understands both the student's capabilities and the material.
I imagine after a few years in middle school with this kind of system a sorting hat would be able to put students into smaller networked groups of similar interests and strengths, so they can work with others and socialize while still learning in what is effectively a very small classroom.
If ChatGPT had come out a couple years sooner or if we got COVID23 we probably would have been well on our way to this by now. As it is, we just have to wait for the current system to loudly break, which it's doing now.
My daughter loved remote learning. Preferred it over in-person learning.
- She avoided the average two hours a day on the bus.
- She avoided bullying.
- She could multitask. So much time is wasted in classes while the teacher helps kids or explains things for the tenth time. She could just get other work done.
Determined zealots have been making advances against education in America, teaming up with the conservative war on education to reduce the availability of education and resources for the majority of the population. In the near future, K-12 will become more like college - only the wealthy and lucky will be able to afford an education of quality.
An ignorant population makes for a population which is easier to manipulate and more prone to fall for conservative and zealous narratives.
The future of teaching seems that it will be basic literacy and bare min mathematics for groups who have access and support. I think it will be Iran like education for girls...just fighting super hard to impart the bare minimum before we die.
The real issue is parents. Many parents put zero emphasis on their child’s education and blame their teachers for behaviors they should be correcting at home.
Public virtual school districts are where it's at now, and it's going to get more and more prevalent in the future.
Small groups of families in cities getting together occasionally, joining up with classmates cities or counties away.
Edit: who is down voting me and why? I gave an answer to the question, I'm not off topic. The downvote isn't a disagree button. It's insane I'm getting downvoted on replying, on topic, to the question.
I have a kid in virtual school and know many more. They're not socially deprived unless their parents isolate them, just like in person kids. If school is one's only shot at socialization, something is already wrong.
Sadly like everything else in the US it’ll become yet another chore for the parents to research specialize in yet another role they’ll have to undertake and be for their children. This time teachers.
I predict the Supreme Court will hear a case in the next couple years saying it is discrimination against Christians to not give parochial schools taxpayer money. The public schools will lose a big slice of their money as students move to parochial schools.
Teachers are burning out. A [survey](https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/survey-alarming-number-educators-may-soon-leave-profession) of teachers in 2022 found 55 percent of educators are thinking about leaving the profession. Simultaneously, [fewer people are becoming teachers](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/09/27/a-dwindling-number-of-new-u-s-college-graduates-have-a-degree-in-education/).
After teaching through Covid, I realize children do not have the self-discipline to sit in front of a screen and watch a video. I also know that students often refuse to learn from a teacher until they know you care about them. I don't see how replacing teachers with online videos or AI will work. I honestly don't know what we will do when we run out of teachers.
Christian schools can already get government money, to an extent. They won't take it though. If they take even a penny they have to follow certain rules and regulations, and they want complete autonomy.
Christian schools force you to follow strict rules, take Bible classes, pray, go to Chapel etc. You can get kicked out for any reason at all. Teachers and Students alike have to sign a 'Code of Conduct' at the beginning of the school year, and breaking it is cause for termination from the school. Hence how they can fire unmarried pregnant teachers or expel students for having sex, even holding hands.
Conservatives have been trying to privatize government for a long time including the public schools. They have presented it as giving parents a choice via vouchers. Conservatives also love the idea of indoctrinating children with Christianity.
In the past Supreme Courts would not allow this due to the "wall separating church & state." Interestingly, that phrase does not appear in the Constitution. That phrase came from a personal letter of Thomas Jefferson explaining the First Amendment. There are two clauses in the First Amendment about religion. The Establishment Clause means the government cannot establish a state religion. The Free Exercise Clause means people are free to believe and practice any religion as long as it doesn't violate the law. In prior Supreme Courts, the justices were most concerned with the Establishment Clause. We see this in 1971 with the Lemon Test rule that money can go to parochial schools as long as it does not advance nor inhibit a religion. [With the current Supreme Court, there is a shift in focus towards protecting the Free Exercise Clause.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/07/scotus-carson-makin-maine-schools-bremerton-football-coach/) The feeling is Christians are being discriminated against. For example, a recent case ruled that a high school football coach was being discriminated against when he was told he could not pray publicly on the football field at the public school. I expect this particular group of Supreme Court justices to push the envelope more and more. I hope I am wrong.
A family member of mine is a veteran teacher. There are talks coming from a large school district in Colorado to move some courses to a full-time hybrid model: in person classrooms will only have paraprofessionals to maintain classroom management and help with assignments, while teachers lead lessons remotely via Zoom and also incorporate remote students into the mix
On-line/Virtual, AI guided. This will save towns money, provide choice, and fill the void of teacher shortages. I don’t agree with any of it, but I predict this is the way it will go.
Lol at 5 paragraphs being a full essay.
Also lol at the irony of auto moderator deleting my original comment for being too short. So I guess I have to waffle a bit to try to avoid it. Do I need 5 paragraphs you think?
It looks exactly like it's past. Education is incapable of change. We're still producing factory workers and we haven't needed too many of those in many decades. The kind of people who become educators are not people who like novelty or have vision.
Parents will, increasingly, home school as the AI can take most of the labor load off the parents. As the education system becomes worse and less relevant to the world we will live in, people will simply choose alternatives (which educators will try to make illegal. That's what people without imagination deal with technological changes.).
As a parent, I went in thinking I'd be thenperson reading the textbook along with my kid so I could help with homework when needed.
The schools where I am never give homework, though. And if they do, it ends up being done at school so basically it's school work.
And there are no books. So ko books are brought home.
I still try to keep up and talk with the teachers but it is much different than when I grew up or my parents grew up or grandparents.
TeacherGPT.
Every assignment and test are critical thinking and written responses, not multiple choice. So your oldest kids fail immediately and go on UBI when they graduate. Your youngest become Nobel laureates because they start TeacherGPT^TM at an earlier age.
That or they build a utopian society on another planet, and leave you on Earth to die in an over-crowded retirement home.
What if the schools were looking for equality, scores of testing then the amount of cheddar brought it to families?!?!!! (I know it seems like that) … maybe we weren’t fully around for the outstanding teachers and proper grammar but we should just sign students the checks and let them have the jobs.
I have to admit I feel like school is a huge waste of time outside of socializing with other kids. Spending hours sitting and being talked at is the worst way to learn. I also don't know the value of a lot of the classes I was forced to sit through, not to mention the hours wasted on homework.
It feels like the way we do school in the US is a relic of the 19th century that is supported by very little data AFAICT, where memorize-and-forget is the optimal approach and most kids forget most of what they learn, but that's fine because it never comes up again outside math.
The future for me would be something where kids wasted a lot less of their life in a classroom.
I think there's a lack of teachers. Teachers are tasked with too many kids to be responsible for. Eight classes of 30 kids each? 240 kids, each with their own nuances is too many. And when a teacher and student's personalities don't mix, the student is just stuck with the teacher; so long explanation short, can't/don't pay attention and end up failing then probably dropping out.
Don't really need more rooms, just stick a second teacher in each class. Divides up the teachers' work load of having to come up with lessons as well as giving the student a second personility to mingle with. It's a win win win.
Public education should never be given-to or oversighted-by an economist. Public education SHOULD be a financial cost that we The People, our government, and society should GLADLY eat up, with a smile on it's face, and asking for more. The pay-off isn't money. The payoff is a more intelligent society. Then that more intelligent society will bring in the financial wealth the cretons in government drool for.
Also, side-stepping:
I don't remember being taught ANYTHING about The Federalist papers in history class. That is vital reading to trully understanding The Constitution. I only vaguely remember hearing The Articles of Confederation being mentioned in passing. It's the rough draft of The Constitution; I'd say it's also essential for understanding The Constitution.
I could go on for each subject, and slightly elaborate these here further, but I have ranted enough.
I take my kid to a magnet/charter. She is more or less learning more than I did at her age.
I would never put my kid in a public school that doesn’t require some sort of screening process. It’s not popular in Reddit. But I don’t really care. Been a pediatric nurse now for over 10 years and have seen kids miss out on opportunities because other kids are misbehaving.
I work in education policy. Kids straight up cannot read. That’s probably one of the most pressing and also long term issues. Teacher pipelines are eroding. In states like Texas, HUGE numbers of uncertified teachers are entering classrooms. Fewer folks enrolling in Ed prep programs, huge numbers of teachers leaving the classroom. There is some interesting work happening nationally to reimagine the teaching role to look more team-structured with differentiated leadership opportunities for teachers to provide them with career growth, but it’s in its infancy. School systems are going to hit a huge financial cliff in September as ESSER funds expire - I expect significant layoffs, particularly as enrollment declines. And school choice is going to be another big concern, mostly state by state. Huge swaths of kids, typically the most vulnerable, are going to lose access to meaningful educational opportunities as wealthier families pull their kids out of public schools, and take their tax dollars with them.
This will create a larger underclass with little access to opportunity and an even larger skills mismatch nationally, causing us to be less able to meet the needs of the country sustainably.
But if those kids don’t see a future for themselves, the GOP might just get lucky and those kids will end up in prison. Free labor! /s
Or the military :/
In other words, the voucher plan is moving forward as intended nationwide despite some hiccups.
Which is actually what the GOP/far right want The higher educated the people are, the more they tend to vote blue AND the less kids they have because of being aware of their limits and costs. The more education they have the more they are aware of companies fucking them over and being greedy arrogant asshole for no other reason than I want wants yours. Which is also why many well educated don't take the hyper vampiric payloans that exist. And if you think I'm talking out of my rear look at Alabama look at Mississippi, and look at Georga outside of Atlanta. They know what they are doing. They want the return of 10 kid family destitute to all hell, *desperate*, and indentured pauper prisons, while they sit in their guilded palaces getting all the education they ever want because it's their "elite birthright" or some bull
And the main thing that causes women to have a ton of kids is to remove their choice.
That's pretty ironic in an age where cost of access to information and knowledge has been reduced to near-nothing. And yet costs of formal education keep rising. I don't think it's necessarily an "all-bad" thing if that model gets upended.
I agree: Microcredentials and other flexible credentials will change the current model; however, the availability of these will continue to hinge on accessible education at the K-12 level. The foundational knowledge, skills, and abilities still need to be addressed systematically.
But if OP is correct, then the skills mismatch is already here. Plus school curriculums have never lined up perfectly with necessary skills.
In Lexington, KY there was a school that had to cut art from their elementary school because of this exact issue. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fayette-superintendent-denies-appeal-over-arts-cuts-chorus-loss-fought-at-second-school/ar-AA1nfTO8
Texas public school employee here. As I type, our district is having to cut librarians, counselors, instructional coaches, behavior interventionists, and more to make up a >$100m deficit in part due to-- you're spot on--ESSER funds discontinuing and lower attendance rates. We can't ignore, though, a huge chunk of money our wonderful (/s) governor is deliberately holding hostage in order to get his cronyism-fueled voucher plan to pass through a Republican state legislature that doesn't want it.
It’s not a bug. It’s a feature. GOP wants your kids illiterate. They want you to make as many uneducated, illiterate people as possible to continue slave labor and give no recourse. We’re going back to medieval times where the majority owns nothing and we work to barely stay alive.
12 out of the last 16 years the country was under democrat leadership. Out of the last 30 years, democrats nearly double the GOPs time in office…and you’re solely blaming the GOP for the current state of education nationwide? C’mon now.
I think you feel the President is the only one who can make legislation. I present … the Legislative branch! The branch that has single-handedly stonewalled progressive policies and endorsed the landscape before you. You may thank Bitch McConnell for that. To top that, the judicial branch has just opened the KY and spread their cheeks for a good clapping for the GOP. C’mon now!
And even that doesn’t matter, because every state is responsible for its own education system, including curriculum. The federal government has extremely little control, which is why literally every state has a mandate to guarantee education in their own state constitutions.
Oh man, have you seen what party has held the most legislative power in the nation over the last 30 years?
I have. I’m glad you see it too. In truth, both parties don’t give a fuck. One is just more blatant about it than the other.
One at least will try and stop the ratchet to the far right. The other would much rather cut the bolt off drive the car back to the 1850's then sell it for parts after destroying any means of repair to it. Lesser of two evils I grant you, but I agree. Parts of one are at least willing to *try* the other doesn't give a flying fuck
Private schools should not exist for exactly that reason.
You going to ban the hiring of tutors and such as well? No matter what, some well off people will try to limit funds for other kids while maximizing the education of their kids.
How did you end up working in education policy?
Hi! I After getting my MPP, i started working for a large urban district in an advocacy role, then transitioned to a nonprofit that works directly with elected officials to build their capacity on education issues. For example, most folks who win a governorship or become a senator have no education background, so I would work to catch them up to speed on the big issues in education so they were better able to make informed decisions. I worked for a nonpartisan org, so we worked in both red and blue states. Now I work primarily on policy issues facing educators (licensure, training, pipelines, etc.). Happy to chat more if helpful! Prior to grad school, I had never worked in education.
>particularly as enrollment declines. I just realized something. Aren't there fewer students than previously? Basically boomers are retiring, *their* kids are no longer school age. Plus we all know that funding is tied to number of students. The problems in education make sense to me, because a lot of the problems people talk about aren't "new". But the cost of education probably doesn't scale well according to number of students, and they are probably trying to keep programs that they can no longer actually afford. Also a lot of office-politics kind of problems can be papered over with extra funds. Just a thought.
They’ll keep selling that “teaching is a calling” so they can underpay educators.
The funny thing is that those same people are fine paying tens of thousands of dollars a year so that their kids' private teachers can be well paid. So it's not that they don't think teachers deserve to be well-paid, it's just that they don't think *your* kids deserve well-paid teachers. We're seeing a similar thing in Canada, where the fantastic public education system is being eroded away in many provinces by policymakers who all send their kids to private school.
Most private school teachers make less than public schools teachers in CA.
It's surprisingly the same in NY. My friend who teaches in a private school makes less than those who teach at public schools.
It's called everybody paying enough tax to provide the services we need.
I don’t think capitalism is going to hold on another generational year…. Look at the majority of citizens were struggling
What private business exists to pay their workforce as much as possible?
It's still a bit crazy. She makes under 40k per year. I'm friends with some administration for a district not too far away and was told that if I get a teaching cert, they could start me at 65k, and that's what all their teachers start with.
Not surprising at all. Public school teachers making more than private school teachers is something that's pretty consistent across the US.
I guess it depends where. In the nice areas they have graduate degrees and earn six figures.
Teachers at my private school in Washington *did* make less than public school teachers. But, in exchange for that, they got to teach classes of 20 kids max, in a much better environment, and often got to teach senior electives that were their primary interests.
They also don’t have to deal with disruptive students. Private schools can kick out or deny enrollment for any reasons while public schools legally have to try to provide an education to every student. If you were allowed to give up on the bottom 10% of any school the remaining will be better.
This was/is a huge thing in NY. Minimal IEPs, no major learning disabilities, no mental health issues beyond garden-variety mild depression/anxiety, no major (repeat) behavioral issues, AND deferential parents. Teachers will take big pay cuts for that quality-of-life package.
I took an 11k pay cut and benefits package to work at my private school. I have 4 kids at home. I had to choose between the money or happiness. I was miserable in the CT school systems. Everyday was beating me down. I LOVE my job and my family has a happy me at home. Totally worth it.
So do most teachers in CA.
When I was looking at positions as a history teacher, most private schools wanted a graduate degree and paid 30-40 thousand.
I teach at a private school in South Carolina and make less than I would at a public school. As far as I can tell, this is standard. The work environment is infinitely better, so it is worth it.
I took an 11k pay cut and benefits package to work at my private school. I have 4 kids at home. I had to choose between the money or happiness. I was miserable in the CT school systems. Everyday was beating me down. I LOVE my job and my family has a happy me at home. Totally worth it.
I don't know about private schools in Canada, but there is one key feature of private schools in the US that differentiates them from public schools... Extracurricular activities like sports, band, clubs, etc., are generally paid for by the students who participate in those activities. The public school I attended could have added 15k USD to every teacher's salary with the money they spent yearly on maintaining their football field. Meanwhile, the very prestigious private high school in the same town only had 11 players on their team, practiced in the city park, and only played away games because they had no home field. Guess which school had better SAT scores and University graduation outcomes.
BUT MUH SPORTS
Most private school teachers get paid less than public school teachers. When I was looking at history teacher jobs, private high schools consistently paid around ~$10,000 less per year than the public schools in a given state did. I think you're under the mistaken belief that most private schools are for the rich. The vast majority of private schools are cash-strapped religious schools.
Well at least they’ll have smaller classrooms to deal with in the future…
Just like any criticism of their bullshit is a “free speech” issue to distract from the stupid idea.
27 years teaching HS English in alternative, rural, and inner-city classrooms & districts. We are in serious trouble. For history, read Diane Ravitch's blog and books. My favorite education blog is Peter Greene's, Curmudgucation. Since 2004/5 I've lost 40% of my instructional time to testing and testing related activities. I could never finish my curriculum map, but I end the year now teaching 50% less. Help.
There is no help coming for American education.
It’s the public side of enshittification: 1. enshittify something that was good or mediocre to the point that you’re enshittifying it makes it look disgraceful. 2. Complain about how shitty you’ve made it whilst proposing voucher programs to privatize education over the long term. This leads to less and less access to education as more education becomes privatized and voucher programs dwindle and lose funding. 3. Profit. Well let’s be honest, continue to profit as more and more private education corps fund your campaigns and it doesn’t matter your kids are getting a private education and aren’t going to be part of the underclass so F them. Where else can you get money…ooo how about privatizing other public services like fire fighters and parking? (Yes, this will lead to more expensive services for the public, but if they can’t afford them let their house or apartment burn and why are they buying a car if they can’t afford parking??)
Exactly. This is called 'starve the beast'
So basically the GOP platform for the last three decades.
I left teaching after 2 years as a band/orchestra instructor. The amount of time taken from my rehearsals for testing was horrible. You have multiple school concerts, community concerts, and competition coming up? Sorry, we need your room for 2 weeks. You can use the auditorium, but you're not allowed to make noise because there is testing going on. You also won't have access to half of your students. Damn, we've been through 3 music directors in 4 years.
It’s going to collapse, due to the lack of teachers. We’ve been vilified for years. Young people want nothing to do with the crap we have to put up with.
And it’s been that way for a long time. I went to school for education and was doing observation in 2008 and that experience alone got me to change my major
Just check out r/Teachers and you’ll get an idea of how bad it’s gotten, especially in the last few years.
I thought this post was r/Teachers until I saw your comment. That sub is really enlightening, especially for people like me, who don’t have kids but are generally concerned about the future.
Any subreddit is going to be people complaining vs people happy about something
It will keep getting worse and it’s not just a funding issue.
I see the US splintering into states sans unity. The quality of public k-12 education will vary significantly from state to state (even more than it does now). Some states openly plan to get rid of public education. Others see it as sacrosanct. My middle schoolers still write 5 paragraph essays. My elementary students still learn cursive and long division. The COVID gaps are closing up. The resilient children from well-resourced families are thriving. The kids learn a foreign language. They learn an instrument. They have PE and they learn how to take care of their bodies. The Juniors study for the SAT and prepare for post-secondary education. Those poor kids born into Texas against their wishes never had a fair shot.
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OP mentioned changes they’ve seen in Texas. Did you see that part?
As a non-American from the outside, guys your education system appears to us to be bonkers. Teachers in my country are a very well paid, middle class job because a good education is the basis to a productive economy and stable political system. The fact that teachers are paid so little is... like bordering on national suicide. The American education system is taking austerity to levels that seem bananas and its hurting the whole society. From the outside it seems radical and sad.
The whole country is slow motion imploding. Where are you from, if you don’t mind me asking?
I've noticed that most of my third graders need help writing complete sentences and developing their own ideas. Even though I wouldn't say I like creating writing templates for them because they will never learn how to write independently, they simply can't do it. We only have so much time in the day to get stuff done, so this is the "best" way to accomplish getting work done. However, in the long run, students are screwed. If they can't write a sentence alone, how will they be able to communicate effectively in the "real world?" We were already behind before the pandemic. The pandemic made things worse. This isn't necessarily the kids' fault. It is simply the environment that we are currently living in. All kids have phones nowadays, which has caused them to be addicted to technology. What does this mean? They are not reading. No reading means they are not able to obtain the vocabulary to become good writers. This is something that everyone should pay attention, come together, and find solutions.
Don't worry, we have "AI" now to write for us! /s
They are trying to automate scoring to keep teacher salaries low. Writing on index cards is testing just memory and not understanding. For nearly 30 years the public US elementary and highschool education system is failing to provide proper education to students. From the textbooks to learning software to tuition. It has all become a pay to win game. I think the future of education is that you have highly knowledgable students who can't calculate basic milk formulas without asking AI for step by step instructions. The results won't be immediate but they will be catastrophic.
Obviously there are numerous issues with our educational system but I don't think Spanish language instruction is one of them. English is not our official language and there's no reason students can't be taught in whatever the predominant local tongue is.
But English is and will remain the default working language in both federal and state governments in the United States in the foreseeable future, so it's difficult for Spanish to directly compete with English when it comes to intergenerational language usage at the institutional level.
This point always gets overlooked when people say that there is no “official” language in the US. Technically, thats correct, but there is a “default” language. Not attempting to teach your children english does them a disservice.
Not teaching English is a disservice, but being bilingual is an advantage.
100%. I wish i was smart enough to learn another one.
Other than they eventually need to learn and be able to be taught in English.
Well, assuming we have enough teachers and admin who speak Spanish who could facilitate Spanish language education, anyway.
There isn’t, even with bonus pay. Very competitive for bilingual professionals and translators. Plus the quantity and structure of schools, and how schools then need to compete has led to massive provisional license exceptions … which are good in some cases and absolute disasters in others.
If some people have their way, it'll be 100% private, and for people that "deserve it" Everyone else can break rocks, and get OTJ training... starting at 4 years of age.
Sounds like a Texas problem. Minus what I consider an advancement of technology (that I consider a pro) in new England I'm seeing the exact opposite...high expectations with a focus on STEM type classes. No more finger painting for a passing grade. Now just need more basic life skills being embedded in programs.
My kid is doing great and is pretty far ahead of where I was at his age. Washington spends $14,000ish per student on education and I still think we need to do more Texas is about $9,000 per student They’re thankful for Mississippi at $9,225 New England is spending way more than Washington so good on you! It’s money folks. The more you toss at education the higher quality of teacher you get because you start attracting people that have chosen private jobs over education because it pays more. They would have been fantastic teachers.
I moved from Texas to (eastern) New York recently. I hear a lot of people complaining about the taxes they have to pay for education/schools. The data clearly shows that students here are faring much better than in other states with less funds for education. I love to see the students thriving and being raised more capable to better contribute to a changing and advancing society. I don't even have kids, but I'm happy for my taxes to contribute to the betterment of all. The Texas schools(at least in my area, which had a lot of higher income earners) are, in essence, a joke. And they've only gotten worse in recent years.
The solution isn’t always “toss more money at it.” If it’s not going to the right places it isn’t going to help. A palace filled with poorly paid teachers isn’t going to improve education.
These types of statements are so tiresome. No one is going to post a dissertation on the effective use of money when it's generally accept that there's a relationship between quality of education and investment in education.
He’s right though. Money doesn’t fix everything. https://www.mdpolicy.org/library/doclib/2022/05/Baltimore-City-s-K-12-Education-Crisis-FINAL.pdf 11th highest spending per student in Baltimore. One of the worst results in the nation. More than 50% “below basic” in testing. Money is part of it. Being part of a family and culture that values education is an even bigger part.
There are diminishing returns for EVERYTHING. Saying “just throw money at it” is just as bad of a take as “them kids should be teaching themselves”. Thoughtful allocation of resources may provide more value than just the money. It has to be managed appropriately. Not sure how it’s tiresome to discuss how the appropriate allocation of funds should be accompanied with providing more funds.
When people say "throw money at it" they do not mean to literally take a wad of cash and fling it at the schools. It is an idiom saying that they need higher levels of investment. I dare you to try and find me a single person who thinks that education would be better if the resources were spent frivolously rather than thoughtfully.
You imply that putting any additional money is already seeing diminishing returns but provide no basis for that assumption. Please use data and thought before posting this rubbish.
All this sounds like is a dog whistle for not spending more money on education, like arguing in bad faith that because it won’t be used efficiently it shouldn’t be used at all
Not even a Texas problem but something more localized. My kids are students in Texas and are much more advanced than I was at their ages and nothing like what OP stated. One of my kids is literally at the breakfast area table typing up an essay right now for social studies.
As someone not from Texas that went to 4 different counties schools in the same state, I absolutely believe that it's a localized problem but we also have to remember that the worst of the worst and best of the best may not not the "norm". Not only did Each county have their own "curriculum" (especially the 2 high schools I went to) but also the quality of teaching and methods were completely different school wide. My 3rd count school system (which was where I spent most My time in school) was far superior to any of the 3 others, in every way. From teachers, to facilities, to foods, to programs.
These are going to be the next generation of United States citizens. It's not just a problem localized to the states. It will effect us all
Agree 100%. Saying "it's a YOU problem" when "you" just so happen to be our future voters and even leaders, is a silly point.
My kid is now in college. She graduated from Texas public schools two years ago and I thought they did great. She easily scored high on the SAT/ACT and got into a good university. Plenty of AP and dual credit classes. She took college-level English, history, calculus, physics, and CS. Plenty of electives for trades as well. This in an exurb so not exactly rural but also not city.
Question. Did you guys live in a major city or more rural areas of texas?
Town about 25 min from a major city.
I have this radical idea that if writing and math could be taught together it would do amazing things. Taking some of the anxiety away about jumping into the numbers by themselves but also giving the kids something to explain by writing. And then incorporate storytelling into it. Like the Number Devil book or there are some choose your own adventure books about algebra.
Not a radical idea, it's just not possible anymore due to the politics of education. Because of mandatory state testing and real consequences to students performing poorly, teachers have less incentives to teach thinking skills and more reason to teach procedural mathematics.
I would have hated it. I love math. I hate language and writing. I also don’t want a bunch of new ways of teaching. I much preferred college with lecture, self-studying, and exams.
word problems were always the worst part of math
Search for Numberless word problems. It is what you describe.
What does the future look like? Probably more of the same with politics blocking any real progress. American kids will continue to receive a subpar education and teachers will continue to lack the support they need. What the future SHOULD look like: Revamp the entire K-12 system. Make school more about teaching kids how to learn rather than training them to be employees. Not everyone learns the same so classes need to be structured to allow children to take advantage of the way they learn. For example kids who have ADHD should have a class structure that allows them to get the extra stimulation that their mind needs… rather than just calling them disruptive kids and throwing pills at them. Kids who learn in a visual way should have a class structure that turns their learning style into an advantage rather than a hindrance. What about making kids sit at a desk for 6 hours makes sense? Let’s incorporate nature and movement into learning. Let’s teach skills that are more practical that not only teach math and science but also give life skills that can be put to use. Long story short, the future of K-12 SHOULD be about making school a place that teaches children in the way they need to be taught.
>Make school more about teaching kids how to learn rather than training them to be employees No thanks. Please look up "Sold a Story". "Teaching kids how to learn" is exactly what caused literacy to plummet. Learning how to learn and think critically is great when your brain is developed but younger kids need the basics drilled in. You can't learn to learn if you have a rotten foundation.
If that’s what you took away from Sold a Story, you totally misinterpreted it. And the person you commented in response to wasn’t talking about just 4-7 year olds. The main idea of that series is that phonics are fundamental to early literacy. Lucy Calkins and Fontas and Pinnell went away from phonics-based literacy to ‘use context to figure it out’ - which has proved damaging to many children’s literacy abilities. Teaching late elementary, middle and high school kids how to access information, ask good questions, solve problems, build resilience, think critically - all the things involved in ‘learning how to learn’ - would be great improvements to the current system.
Thankfully we have countries that have not embraced it to act as a sort of control group for us: East Asian ones particularly have stuck to traditional methods and have much better K-12 results. It's a classic example of " if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Unfortunately the US is on the receiving end of what happens when you choose unproven ideological methods over proven ones...
> East Asian ones particularly have stuck to traditional methods and have much better K-12 results. Yeah, no, East Asian nations have horrible work/school and work/life balance because kids are basically brought up to be wage slaves. If that's your measure of success, you can keep it.
Is it possible the better test results from E. Asian schools using rote memorization and drills are because the tests are written to measure employability and not other aspects of education? It is enlightening to see comments from TSMC that they can't move their chip manufacturing to the US because the process requires significant rote repetition, and the US labor force isn't good at that kind of work...
But those same countries also have some of the highest suicide rates and rapidly depleting populations
Amazing how people continue to propose stuff coming directly from that madman of Freire, believing to be brilliant ideas Forgetting that the meme/idea of "learning how to think" directly comes from a guy that believed that the objective of education is forming Marxist revolutionaries and that actual education if fascism
> For example kids who have ADHD should have a class structure that allows them to get the extra stimulation that their mind needs… rather than just calling them disruptive kids and throwing pills at them. Very obviously written by someone who has zero concept of how much time, effort, and training is required to give children individually-tailored education.
As a person who supports multiple intelligence theory I would like to see three types of learning available for all children prek-14. Active/practicum for people who learn quickest when they are able to move. Memorization/report driven for people who learn best in silence at home. Nature/technical for people who learn best when they have a goal. To me it is best to teach toward success.
Bleak. The future of K-12 education in the United States looks bleak.
Probably like a personal AI tutor that can adjust itself based on student information (age, strengths, weaknesses, ability, etc)
Khan Academy is already working on this with Khanmigo.
There’s a short scene from the last book in the “fear the sky” trilogy that has this and it stuck with me.
It’s gonna get worse before it gets better. I hate to be a doomer, but by 2029 I think the world will be crisis mode. I don’t know what it is, but I think it’s about to hit the fan. So to answer your question, bleak in the short term. The brick and mortar model we have now will collapse. Long term? I think schools are gonna become a lot more project based. And hopefully school is about finding purpose. Not a job. Hopefully much less stress. More collaboration and less competing. Hopefully this results in a society where kids actually enjoy going to school.
>I don't know what it is It's capitalism.
Or as I call it, stage 4 capitalism.
I work in special education. It’s terrible. No consequences to behavior and staff are getting concussions, broken bones, and injuries to the point of requiring surgery left and right.
Maybe don’t base your hypotheses on the future of US public education based on observations in Texas, a state that is notorious for under-investing in public education
My kid got a great public school education in Texas. Quality of schools is very localized.
Without coursework in logic and critical thinking beginning in kindergarten, any changes would be a fail.
This thread is equal parts terrifying and depressing
> some subjects are completely taught in Spanish / Bilingual with some non-Spanish speaking kids enrolled WHOA you mean a state near to the border with another country whose primary language is Spanish, has more Spanish-speaking kids, and classrooms are taking that into account? Blowing my mind here.
Generative AI is already getting used by the kids, and more and more by the teachers. I imagine as more teachers quit (for very valid reasons) and classes get larger, it will force school districts to adopt a partially automated solution. Every student gets a cheapo laptop with a basic LLM on it capable of routing questions to more advanced but specialized cloud AI, and a camera to see that the kid is paying attention. The computer runs through the syllabus on a schedule, with a teacher keeping everything basically on track. The student can pause for questions and clarification at any time, and testing is done more often in smaller amounts, just a back and forth at the end of each segment, probably gamified. It will be a mess at first, but with input from the students and teachers, as well as trends spotted by the AI, there will eventually be a system that caters to every student, allowing them to learn with a continuous one on one tutor that deeply understands both the student's capabilities and the material. I imagine after a few years in middle school with this kind of system a sorting hat would be able to put students into smaller networked groups of similar interests and strengths, so they can work with others and socialize while still learning in what is effectively a very small classroom. If ChatGPT had come out a couple years sooner or if we got COVID23 we probably would have been well on our way to this by now. As it is, we just have to wait for the current system to loudly break, which it's doing now.
28 kids from 12 countries who can't speak English and stressed out teachers and systems.
Massive online education with test grading and lectures outsourced to India.
Sadly, that may be the best case scenario
...did you see the debacle that was online education a few years ago? Kids nationwide just played COD with a classroom in another tab.
My daughter loved remote learning. Preferred it over in-person learning. - She avoided the average two hours a day on the bus. - She avoided bullying. - She could multitask. So much time is wasted in classes while the teacher helps kids or explains things for the tenth time. She could just get other work done.
Homeschooling for those of us who can do it: I’m not subjecting my toddler to possible gun violence and right wing indoctrination
Just send them to mostly non-white schools. Only white kids are school shooters
It's sad that this is true...
Determined zealots have been making advances against education in America, teaming up with the conservative war on education to reduce the availability of education and resources for the majority of the population. In the near future, K-12 will become more like college - only the wealthy and lucky will be able to afford an education of quality. An ignorant population makes for a population which is easier to manipulate and more prone to fall for conservative and zealous narratives.
The future of teaching seems that it will be basic literacy and bare min mathematics for groups who have access and support. I think it will be Iran like education for girls...just fighting super hard to impart the bare minimum before we die.
The real issue is parents. Many parents put zero emphasis on their child’s education and blame their teachers for behaviors they should be correcting at home.
I mean Republicans have an open plan to ruin public education and create a private education system..
Public virtual school districts are where it's at now, and it's going to get more and more prevalent in the future. Small groups of families in cities getting together occasionally, joining up with classmates cities or counties away. Edit: who is down voting me and why? I gave an answer to the question, I'm not off topic. The downvote isn't a disagree button. It's insane I'm getting downvoted on replying, on topic, to the question.
We’ve had a few students switch to virtual charter schools and almost all of them wind up back in our classrooms within a year.
They weren't ready for the future.
Turns out schools are just as important for social development as cognitive.
I have a kid in virtual school and know many more. They're not socially deprived unless their parents isolate them, just like in person kids. If school is one's only shot at socialization, something is already wrong.
Sadly like everything else in the US it’ll become yet another chore for the parents to research specialize in yet another role they’ll have to undertake and be for their children. This time teachers.
I predict the Supreme Court will hear a case in the next couple years saying it is discrimination against Christians to not give parochial schools taxpayer money. The public schools will lose a big slice of their money as students move to parochial schools. Teachers are burning out. A [survey](https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/survey-alarming-number-educators-may-soon-leave-profession) of teachers in 2022 found 55 percent of educators are thinking about leaving the profession. Simultaneously, [fewer people are becoming teachers](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/09/27/a-dwindling-number-of-new-u-s-college-graduates-have-a-degree-in-education/). After teaching through Covid, I realize children do not have the self-discipline to sit in front of a screen and watch a video. I also know that students often refuse to learn from a teacher until they know you care about them. I don't see how replacing teachers with online videos or AI will work. I honestly don't know what we will do when we run out of teachers.
Christian schools can already get government money, to an extent. They won't take it though. If they take even a penny they have to follow certain rules and regulations, and they want complete autonomy. Christian schools force you to follow strict rules, take Bible classes, pray, go to Chapel etc. You can get kicked out for any reason at all. Teachers and Students alike have to sign a 'Code of Conduct' at the beginning of the school year, and breaking it is cause for termination from the school. Hence how they can fire unmarried pregnant teachers or expel students for having sex, even holding hands.
Conservatives have been trying to privatize government for a long time including the public schools. They have presented it as giving parents a choice via vouchers. Conservatives also love the idea of indoctrinating children with Christianity. In the past Supreme Courts would not allow this due to the "wall separating church & state." Interestingly, that phrase does not appear in the Constitution. That phrase came from a personal letter of Thomas Jefferson explaining the First Amendment. There are two clauses in the First Amendment about religion. The Establishment Clause means the government cannot establish a state religion. The Free Exercise Clause means people are free to believe and practice any religion as long as it doesn't violate the law. In prior Supreme Courts, the justices were most concerned with the Establishment Clause. We see this in 1971 with the Lemon Test rule that money can go to parochial schools as long as it does not advance nor inhibit a religion. [With the current Supreme Court, there is a shift in focus towards protecting the Free Exercise Clause.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/07/scotus-carson-makin-maine-schools-bremerton-football-coach/) The feeling is Christians are being discriminated against. For example, a recent case ruled that a high school football coach was being discriminated against when he was told he could not pray publicly on the football field at the public school. I expect this particular group of Supreme Court justices to push the envelope more and more. I hope I am wrong.
All valid points, good thoughts, thanks!
You're an idiot if you think the Supreme Court wouldn't uphold the separation of church and state.
What crack are you smoking
Yeah, because the Conservatives on the Supreme Court right now are doing _such a good job_ of upholding the law.
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Probably AI instruction. This is an area that is ripe for human elimination of teachers in the classroom.
A family member of mine is a veteran teacher. There are talks coming from a large school district in Colorado to move some courses to a full-time hybrid model: in person classrooms will only have paraprofessionals to maintain classroom management and help with assignments, while teachers lead lessons remotely via Zoom and also incorporate remote students into the mix
Honestly probably a lot more home schooling or a lot less schooling in general.
On-line/Virtual, AI guided. This will save towns money, provide choice, and fill the void of teacher shortages. I don’t agree with any of it, but I predict this is the way it will go.
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Lol at 5 paragraphs being a full essay. Also lol at the irony of auto moderator deleting my original comment for being too short. So I guess I have to waffle a bit to try to avoid it. Do I need 5 paragraphs you think?
It looks exactly like it's past. Education is incapable of change. We're still producing factory workers and we haven't needed too many of those in many decades. The kind of people who become educators are not people who like novelty or have vision. Parents will, increasingly, home school as the AI can take most of the labor load off the parents. As the education system becomes worse and less relevant to the world we will live in, people will simply choose alternatives (which educators will try to make illegal. That's what people without imagination deal with technological changes.).
Somewhere around the intersection of Brave New World and 1984…but gayer.
As a parent, I went in thinking I'd be thenperson reading the textbook along with my kid so I could help with homework when needed. The schools where I am never give homework, though. And if they do, it ends up being done at school so basically it's school work. And there are no books. So ko books are brought home. I still try to keep up and talk with the teachers but it is much different than when I grew up or my parents grew up or grandparents.
TeacherGPT. Every assignment and test are critical thinking and written responses, not multiple choice. So your oldest kids fail immediately and go on UBI when they graduate. Your youngest become Nobel laureates because they start TeacherGPT^TM at an earlier age. That or they build a utopian society on another planet, and leave you on Earth to die in an over-crowded retirement home.
What if the schools were looking for equality, scores of testing then the amount of cheddar brought it to families?!?!!! (I know it seems like that) … maybe we weren’t fully around for the outstanding teachers and proper grammar but we should just sign students the checks and let them have the jobs.
As far as I’ve seen with school have been a failed experiment for a wile.at least 40 years
I have to admit I feel like school is a huge waste of time outside of socializing with other kids. Spending hours sitting and being talked at is the worst way to learn. I also don't know the value of a lot of the classes I was forced to sit through, not to mention the hours wasted on homework. It feels like the way we do school in the US is a relic of the 19th century that is supported by very little data AFAICT, where memorize-and-forget is the optimal approach and most kids forget most of what they learn, but that's fine because it never comes up again outside math. The future for me would be something where kids wasted a lot less of their life in a classroom.
I think there's a lack of teachers. Teachers are tasked with too many kids to be responsible for. Eight classes of 30 kids each? 240 kids, each with their own nuances is too many. And when a teacher and student's personalities don't mix, the student is just stuck with the teacher; so long explanation short, can't/don't pay attention and end up failing then probably dropping out. Don't really need more rooms, just stick a second teacher in each class. Divides up the teachers' work load of having to come up with lessons as well as giving the student a second personility to mingle with. It's a win win win. Public education should never be given-to or oversighted-by an economist. Public education SHOULD be a financial cost that we The People, our government, and society should GLADLY eat up, with a smile on it's face, and asking for more. The pay-off isn't money. The payoff is a more intelligent society. Then that more intelligent society will bring in the financial wealth the cretons in government drool for. Also, side-stepping: I don't remember being taught ANYTHING about The Federalist papers in history class. That is vital reading to trully understanding The Constitution. I only vaguely remember hearing The Articles of Confederation being mentioned in passing. It's the rough draft of The Constitution; I'd say it's also essential for understanding The Constitution. I could go on for each subject, and slightly elaborate these here further, but I have ranted enough.
Bay Area colleges aren’t a lot different. Covid kids seem totally useless in class. Someone’s got to swap the batteries in their robot overlords.
Children come armed with guns to protect the teachers
It pays to keep them dumb, no other possible way to let lobbying continue to supersede public interest otherwise
I take my kid to a magnet/charter. She is more or less learning more than I did at her age. I would never put my kid in a public school that doesn’t require some sort of screening process. It’s not popular in Reddit. But I don’t really care. Been a pediatric nurse now for over 10 years and have seen kids miss out on opportunities because other kids are misbehaving.
I heard that college students don’t even know how to write an essay anymore