Teaching isn’t a real job?
There are aspects that support the 'not a real job' scenario. Many gov't jobs are not 'real jobs'. Let me propose just two parameters to define a 'real job':
1. Fair market. Overhead 'company' has to function within a competitive marketplace.
2. Rewards/punishments commiserate with job performance (including getting fired).
#1: It needs to be a competitive market, not a monopoly. There is no competition for public schools, no matter how bad the school or the individual teacher does they still get funding. Only when people can vote "NO" for a local school will schooling be a 'real' industry.
#2: Same for teachers, they need to be able to get fired if they fail to perform. Recently a teacher had sex with a student and still kept teaching! If parents are not satisfied with how one school/teacher perform, they should be able to take the 'money' (tax dollars in this case) and switch to another school. If a teacher can't keep enough students in his/her classroom, they are fired! But parents/students have no choice here. So the teacher should face job loss both from the school system as well as from parents. Here is an article that says private industry fires people 3 times more often than gov't jobs:
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/workers-3x-more-likely-get-fired-private-sector-govt . Nobody can tell me gov't workers are any better than private industry. And 0% of schools get 'fired'.
See:
http://www.nea.org/home/12661.htm The average teacher nationwide makes $60k. More than the average salary nationwide (lower $50k range?). And that's with a 3 month summer vacation.
Don't get us wrong. There are teachers that should be carried on our shoulders and celebrated, and paid well. But for every excellent teacher, there are a bunch of other teachers who are just working a 'job' and doing the minimum req'd to not get fired, and there is at least 1 teacher that needs to be fired immediately.
And here is a benefit I'd like to give teachers. Just as parents can choose their children's teachers and school, I'd first let the school choose who to accept/reject, AND let the individual teacher choose which students he/she'll accept into the classroom. Just as we are making the point that teachers need to step up and perform, so do parents/children need to step up.
Something I've said before, I think there should be 3 different 'levels' of schools. 1: College bound students (accelerated education programs). 2: Vocational grade level schools. There is nothing wrong with classes teaching kids skills such as plumbing, electrician, mechanic, homemaker, etc. Teach the kids the essentials in life to perform. 3: Generational welfare kids. The parents don't care, the kids don't care. They want free handouts and will never contribute to society. Yes, this is a dismal view, but we all know at least 25% of the population belong in this category. Call this one juvenile jail. And if those kids want better, they can perform and earn entrance into a better school.
