Jane Sanders Has Some Harsh Words for Our Public Education System

[eridani]

http://www.thenation.com/article/jane-sanders-has-some-harsh-words-for-our-public-education-system/

One of my final questions is looking at teachers unions. The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association endorsed Hillary Clinton, but I’ve seen that in the rank and file, a large portion of them support Bernie, because he’s talking about the major issues that affect them in the classroom. Obviously, one of the common phrases is: Teachers’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions. What do you think of the role of teachers unions in these struggles for educational justice?

We’re very strong supporters of unions, whether they support him or not. The unions that poll their members, they support Bernie. I think teachers unions are extremely important. Parents need to be involved. One of the things that’s happening [in unions] is that there is not enough community building, where everybody sits down, as we do at Goddard. You sit down and come to a consensus or an agreement. It’s a problem we’re having in politics, in union negotiations, and in education.

 We should pay them very high salaries.

We should pay them higher salaries, but we should also be respecting them as doing the most important work in the world. One of the things I’d like to do if I had the opportunity, we’re doing it anyway, is to look at all the different models of education all over the world. Anybody who has a teenager knows that they don’t like to sit in a classroom and be lectured.

They’re very bored and disengaged.

Yeah. But what they do like is they want to play a meaningful role. They want to be a part of their community. We keep them out in every respect. We keep them isolated in school. They can’t get jobs, because there are no jobs. And they don’t feel needed. In Switzerland, for instance, throughout their school system, they have apprenticeships. Students go to school and learn things and a few days a week, they go out to work. They learn theory and practice and feel they are involved in the community. They are respected. They have different relationships with people outside.

[newfie11]

1. My daughter is a teacher in SD

The lowest paid state in the country for teachers.
She has 2 masters degrees been teaching over 10 years. Salary less than $40,000.