(no subject)
So, even though I finally caught the stupid cold that's going around, I'm still headed out to the protest against even more education budget cuts.
Admittedly, I'm not the most political person out there, but working in the education system makes me realize even more how fucked up the whole situation is. Especially involving special education. Beyond the insane amount of employee layoffs even though we're already understaffed (yay! I get to look forward to finding a job again in this situation in a year!), what bothers me even more is the chain reaction of constantly raising standards but not supplying the resources for kids to reach those standards. Then they cut the resources even more because there has to be a certain percentage of kids at a passing level on these tests in order to get the funding. Plus, there's only a certain percentage of adaptations allowed for special needs children, so if you're not in that percentage and you do poorly on standardized tests because of your learning or other disability, the school gets penalized even more because it reflects on what is considered the general, "normal" student population's test results. It's a cyclical catch 22 and it's infuriating.
I work my ass off to help these kids, get paid total shit, and there are no resources because they're all going to things that aren't nearly as important.
Another 2 BILLION dollar cut to education is in the works right now. Are you fucking kidding me, Arnold?? Priorities, dude, come ON!
A couple of the teachers had their students make signs today and they marched around a few blocks by the school. The kids were way into it. I know it's Berkeley so kids go along with protests all the time without even really knowing why. So, we had a big discussion with our class this morning about public education and the lack of funding and what that really means and why it affects us all so badly. I think it's really important for the kids to know what's going on. And the public, for that matter. Which is why I'm draggin my stuffed up nose and headache up there to join. Come on by if you're in the area, we need you!
Admittedly, I'm not the most political person out there, but working in the education system makes me realize even more how fucked up the whole situation is. Especially involving special education. Beyond the insane amount of employee layoffs even though we're already understaffed (yay! I get to look forward to finding a job again in this situation in a year!), what bothers me even more is the chain reaction of constantly raising standards but not supplying the resources for kids to reach those standards. Then they cut the resources even more because there has to be a certain percentage of kids at a passing level on these tests in order to get the funding. Plus, there's only a certain percentage of adaptations allowed for special needs children, so if you're not in that percentage and you do poorly on standardized tests because of your learning or other disability, the school gets penalized even more because it reflects on what is considered the general, "normal" student population's test results. It's a cyclical catch 22 and it's infuriating.
I work my ass off to help these kids, get paid total shit, and there are no resources because they're all going to things that aren't nearly as important.
Another 2 BILLION dollar cut to education is in the works right now. Are you fucking kidding me, Arnold?? Priorities, dude, come ON!
A couple of the teachers had their students make signs today and they marched around a few blocks by the school. The kids were way into it. I know it's Berkeley so kids go along with protests all the time without even really knowing why. So, we had a big discussion with our class this morning about public education and the lack of funding and what that really means and why it affects us all so badly. I think it's really important for the kids to know what's going on. And the public, for that matter. Which is why I'm draggin my stuffed up nose and headache up there to join. Come on by if you're in the area, we need you!