Re: [school-discuss] 200 teachers lose their jobs: modest proposals

[mike eschman <meschman@engima.com>]

hello,

thanks leon, i'll "hew on that over the weekend.

real food for thought.

mike eschman, etc ...
"Not just an afterthought ...
http://www.etc-edu.com



On Thursday 08 August 2002 08:15 pm, Leon Brooks wrote:
> On Thu, 8 Aug 2002 21:44, mike eschman wrote:
> > the average classroom will now have 33 students instead of 28 (the
> > official number is 30, but it doesn't add up - everyone is too upset to
> > look 33 students in the eye.]
>
> Oh, dear. Classes become *much* less effective above about half that size.
>
> > so kids take a beating again.
>
> Brace yourself!
>
> There is a good alternative for families that don't have both parents
> working, and that is home schooling. As long as it isn't being done by
> obsessive people in order to isolate their children, it works very well.
> There is one case of retarded teenagers homeschooling with great success.
> If home schooling suits 10% of your families, your class sizes are back
> down to 30. It may also be possible (IANAL) to swing a deal with existing
> local home schoolers where some school children are rotated through their
> families (for maybe a month or so at a time) and in return the
> homeschoolers get to use some school facilities (like maybe a gym or
> science lab) which are not 100% occupied.
>
> Not a panacea, but may a piece of a workable solution.
>
> > if you want to know why i obsess over sea level rise, any schools that
> > flood this huriccane season will stay closed - all janitorial O.T. and
> > all emergncy repair fund are gone.
>
> This in a supposedly first-world country...?
>
> > if anyone on the list has been here and gotten out alive, i could really
> > use an inspirational story right about now.
>
> Get the older kids together to brainstorm and work out on paper, various
> ways of funding the school. Fetes and such are an obvious place to start,
> but I'm sure there are other amazing and unique opportunities. Putting
> these things together and running them is brilliant vocational training for
> anything involving public contact or business methods, and it will get the
> children more on the school's side too.
>
> Cheers; Leon