Everyone can remember two or three teachers they loved - teachers who excelled and expected their students to excel. Imagine an education system in which every graduating senior had 40 outstanding teachers whom they loved instead of just two or three. That would truly be a world-class education. But this will not happen until the teaching profession and salaries are raised to a level that will attract and retain high-caliber teachers.

((This article is written out of the states, but could easily be applied to us here in the Great White North.  Click on the quote to read it in its entirety))

 

It really is a sad state of affairs that the public school system is in.  I certainly don't blame teachers for wanting more money.  They in fact NEED more money.

When I went to college, I took the Developmental Services Worker Diploma with the goal of working with special needs kids in the school system.  A truly wonderful placement teacher that I had told me I had no business not running my own classroom.  He encouraged me to go to university and to eventually teach.

I did go to university, and I now have a very expensive piece of paper that I can do nothing with unless I go back to school for another year.  I need to get my teaching degree in order to make that worthwhile.

That is not something I am willing to do.

Why?

Teachers work too hard.

They put in 8 hours a day, but their day really doesn't end there.  The teachers I know take home their marking, their prep work.  They have their husbands help them cut out crafts for the next day.  For what?  For parents who are unappreciative, and for minimum pay.

It seems to me that the people who are in charge of, in essence, raising our children for the majority of a day should be making a decent wage.  A wage that they can at least live off of.

Teachers in our public schools are tired.  They're overworked and they have too many kids in their classrooms.  It is not their fault that the education received in a public school has become inferior.

And that is why we are going to homeschool.

Edited to add:

Hmm.  I don't think I was too clear when I was writing this article, as was kindly pointed out to me with a reference from another blog.

If teachers were paid more would we definitely send our kids happily off to public school?

I can't answer that.

Is the only reason that Public Schools are in the state they're in right now because of the pay difficulties?

I think that that is a big part of it.  Along with poor funding per student, too high student to teacher ratio, and too little parent involvement.

All I know is that God has led us to homeschool for now.  In the future?  Who knows. 

Do I look down on people who chose not to homeschool?  I certainly hope not.  I believe that we all choose to do the best that we can for our own families in the situations that we are placed into.

We do what we think is God's will for our lives, and I would hope that anyone else would do the same in theirs.