I used to agree that teachers are not being paid enough, but not so much anymore. I do believe we should support students going to college for teaching degrees. It is the only group I would agree to help with paying college loans, no others.
First, Schools have no business teaching social issues in a manner to sway students instead of teaching them to learn for themselves. If students know a teacher’s belief in certain social issues, then the teacher is not teaching; they are preaching.
Second, schools have no business taking on the medical issues of students. School nurses were supposed to be there for emergencies only, then either call an ambulance or the parents. It is not the job of schools to diagnose children, offer medications, or give recommendations for medical care.
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Some schools have been giving covid tests without parental notifications, suggesting students have ADD or ADHD and recommending medications, sending students home with antidepressants, and lying to parents and not informing parents when a student suffers from gender issues. Some New Hampshire schools have a policy to omit the truth, which is lying to parents when it comes to gender issues.
One Maine school just recently was accused by a parent of sending a bag of medications home with the student, including Zoloft, a strong anti-depressant.
In Exeter, the school banned a student from a sporting event for being overheard, saying he would not use They or Them in conversation. A lawsuit is pending, and I hope Exeter loses big time.
Then, of course, what I believe to be smut in schools, which one teacher already told me they did not care how young children were to read about sex. That is fine as their opinion, but schools are not set up based on one person’s opinion. When books rated at 14 years of age are handed to an 11-year-old, as happened in a Maine school, this is unacceptable.
Now, as for the scores, I do not know about other state schools, but NH has some very poor proficiency scores on the state tests, even in the better southern schools like Exeter and Hampton. The state testing shows only around 75% of students are proficient in English, 65% are proficient in Math, and only 60% are proficient in science. These scores are from the State website based on Exeter, Hampton, Brentwood, and Portsmouth.
Until public schools improve the scores and stop forcing their social beliefs onto students, pay raises are not justified. There must be a way to connect teacher’s pay to the success of their teaching. I wish I had an answer, but I do not. The Educational System today is failing; something needs to be done.
