Teachers over 40 need to prepare their plan B. WI is the template to get rid of tenured teachers.

[CK_John]

Replacements do not need to be qualified just work at a reduced salary of at least 50%.

Those who believe they are at their peak in the class room are also the biggest target and will be tossed even if you offered to work for nothing.

So what can we suggest for a second career teacher. I would look at starting a adult re-education clinic for test taking, etc.

Citizenship clinics for new arrivals or Team up with local companies to tutor onsite. Buy and fixup propriety become a landlord.

If DU'er have suggestions for 40+ teachers, add them to the list.

[TheDebbieDee]

1. My theory is that most of the teachers won't even be replaced!

I posted this in another education thread, but I'm going to post this again here.

Education industry is trying to destroy teachers' unions so that they can offer their alternative to the current educational system.

After going to school 5 days a week and completing kindergarten and the first, second and third grades where children learn crucial basic education and socialization skills and how to use the computer equipment, students will be issued a laptop with wi-fi and will be expected to do their reading and complete their assignments and courses via internet.

The students will be given codes to access a site, the same site, where they will watch a video of an instructor, for example, explain how to solve a particular type of math problem. The student will be allowed to watch the video as many times as necessary until he/she is able to work the problem.

If he/she still cannot work the problem after several viewings, the student can ask for more help and then be given a different video with perhaps a different instructor who has a different spiel (sp) for solving the same type of math problem.

At the end of each course, the student will take a final exam over the course matter. The results of the exam will show that either the student needs to repeat the course or that the student can advance to the next course.

The student will only need to go the brick and mortar school if the student participates in extracurricular activities like the chess club or band or the choir for which the parent has an additional fee.

This will turn out to be a very cost-effective method of educating children who can learn this way - all of the students in the district/county/state will be provided an identical educational curriculum. However, students with learning disabilities or other issues will be SOL unless their parents can afford to pay for additional educational services.

Of course, none of this home-schooling plan can be implemented until and unless the teachers' unions are broken up! Only teachers' unions can prevent the educational system from saving billions of $ by reducing their classroom jobs to giving a series of video-taped lectures that are viewed by class after class after class of students.

This type of educational system is already in effect at Devry University, University of Phoenix and other colleges and universities. This system can very easily be adapted to work for and with younger children. Hell, even toddlers can operate an i-Pad........

I think this is why the role of teachers in US society has been so under fire for the last 10 or 15 years. The people who want to develop this "class-less" educational system have to make parents and school districts WANT to get rid of "bad" teachers (they want to smear all of you teachers as bad and overpaid) so that they can offer their alternative.

But, like I said, they have to get rid of teachers' unions first...........

[CK_John]

3. The OP was meant to caution current teachers for the next phase without a job.

[TheDebbieDee]

5. Well, if my theory turns out to be right..........

People with aspirations of going into teaching need to enhance their presentation skills. Of course, it wouldn't hurt to be photogenic, too.

[CK_John]

7. I don't disagree with your theory, your just not taking to the OP. The current 40+ teacher will be

out of a job. Yes, school districts will hire classroom monitors for 11$ per hr, if they can't get volunteer parents.

[Dan]

11. question

how much you pay me to take the exams?

How many exams can I take a day - for how many classes and how many grades?

And what is to prevent a "student" from graduating within a couple of weeks?

[TheDebbieDee]

14. The student would be allowed access to a lesson per a schedule......

For example, a student would be allowed access to lessons dealing with decimals after spending a week or two dealing with fractions and passing the exam for that portion of the curriculum. While I was a student at Devry, I couldn't access week 6's coursework until after the end of week 5.

As for cheating, laptops have cameras, don't they? Perhaps it could be required that the student have the camera turned on during the test so that a proctor, if one was used, could randomly check the feed from all the cameras on test-taking laptops to see just who was taking the exam. Maybe the system would use some sort of optical/retina scan to verify that the person on the computer was in fact the student to which the computer was assigned. I don't know, I'm sure that industry would come up with a system that would make it more difficult to cheat.........

Is some student going to figure out how to get away with cheating on an exam? Of course, but by and large, most students would just take the test.

An advantage of this system would be uniformity. If Mrs. Thompson in the Bronx had a way of explaining to students how to manipulate fractions, a way that was easier to understand, then Mrs. Thompson's lecture could be video-taped and be made available to students across the country in a matter of weeks.

[Dan]

17. how do you think

this 'system' would impact social skill development - interpersonal skills?

What happens to 'community'?

[TheDebbieDee]

18. Well, in my model of how I think things might be set-up.........

Early childhood educators would be needed ro reach kids the basics like following rules and directions, reading, writing, working together in small groups. After going to school 5 days a week and learning kindergarten thru second or third grade skills and learning how to use the computer equipment, students will be issued a laptop with wi-fi and will be expected to do their reading and complete their assignments and courses via internet. Parents/care givers will need to turn off the TV or video games and tell the kid to do boot-up their comps and do their classwork.

The student will only need to go the brick and mortar school if the student participates in extracurricular activities like the chess club or band or the choir. Quite frankly, a class in common courtesy or etiquette or an interpersonal skills development class (a class that could be intructed by a behavioral health specialist, perhaps) could be one of these extra-curricular activities that the students could be bussed into school to attend 4 hours a week, or 1 day every two weeks......... As a kid that was often made fun of because I was nerdy, spending as little time as possible in the company of classmates would be a definite PLUS. Ha!

One of the advantages would be that all of the students in the district/county/state will be provided an identical educational curriculum. However, students with learning disabilities or other issues will be SOL unless their parents can afford to pay for additional or enhanced educational services.

[GaYellowDawg]

13. "already in effect at Devry University, University of Phoenix"

Well, that's about the most scathing condemnation you can give the practice.

Students who take online prerequisites generally don't get into advanced classes where I teach; they are invariably underprepared, undereducated, have little critical thinking skills, and show little ability to apply facts as opposed to regurgitating them. You want to make this country third world in a generation? Fire all the teachers. I say to the teachers' unions: More power to you.

[TheDebbieDee]

16. Excuse me, but 1.) This is my THEORY of what public education may be like in 15 - 20 years.

You're being overly defensive. Now get out of your feelings - I didn't say that I was in favor of the on-line system or that it was better than the current system. I'm just saying that money-wise and business-wise, I'm following the public education issue to its logical conclusion.

2.) The implementation of this on-line educational system is the reason that teachers and teachers' unions are under attack.

3.) No matter how much you try to belittle ME or on-line educations, you can't change the fact that on-line education is INCREDIBLY cost-efficient! It's smart business to at least try it this way for some of the students before implementing district/county/state-wide.

4.) You and the overpriced si-diddyfied advanced class that you teach will probably be the first class that your university makes available on-line. Why? Because your university can make more money video-taping your lectures for posterity and offering the course on-line.

If 200 people sign up for your advanced class, great! But if only 2 people want to sign up for your advanced class, the university can send you on an unpaid sabbatical, then press play on the video-taped lectures that you were required to make in advance to use with the lesson plan that you were required to turn in. Your university will still be able to afford to present the class to only 2 on-line students while you're not even there...............

[GaYellowDawg]

21. Ha! Didn't see this before now.

1) Your theory is wrong. If people could learn effectively from canned lectures, that would have happened a long time ago. There's no practical difference between completing a canned unit from a book, or a canned unit from a videotape, or a canned unit online.

2) No - the reason why teachers and teachers' unions are under attack is because a) Republicans want someone to scapegoat public education to the point to where they don't have to be taxed for public schools and b) eliminating public schools is the absolute best way to permanently impose a class system. It has nothing to do with how fantastic online education is. It has everything to do with permanently entrenching the rich while denying others opportunity.

3) Cost-effective doesn't mean good. In fact, there's an old line that says "You get what you pay for." In other words, if you just can't bear the thought of paying a teacher's salary, you'll get a cheap education that sucks. Therefore, I belittle your model, and if you think that "cheap" is the highest compliment you can pay an educational model, then you do deserve to be belittled.

4) Wrong. I teach a class that is in very high demand, and is also quite difficult. In fact, I usually teach 70 people, and there would be more if it weren't for classroom limits. I can't tell you how many students I've had to turn away. Additionally, I work at a college that is devoted to good teaching. From the president to my dean to my department chair, there are zero - ZERO - initiatives aimed at replacing me, or anyone else like me, with a video - and none of the above accept a video version of my class as a prerequisite. There will never be a day at my university when my class isn't in high demand. I teach Human Anatomy and Physiology, which will always be a prereq for nursing students, a profession that will always be in demand. AND it's not even overpriced, as I proudly teach at a public university. I have, through a lot of hard work, placed myself in a very secure position, and none of your hysterical flailing (who's defensive?) changes a thing about that.

[woo me with science]

20. I agree with you. I am seeing advertisements for a new elementary school like this

in our area. All online. All for profit.

They can charge more to provide less. All part of the new America.

[Turbineguy]

2. Yes. There seems to be nothing more dangerous

than an experienced Teacher.

[CK_John]

4. I'm sure Mitt would say nothing personal just business. But if your 40+

you have got to have a plan outside a classroom.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. It's about time teachers started to march

the parents would have to start running around to hire nannies or leave them with grandma.

[CK_John]

8. After 20 yrs destroying the ed system, it may be too late. But...

march all you want but keep your eyes wide open and plan for a new career.

[CK_John]

9. This summer is a good time to research age limits for some community jobs, like police,

fire, and ems fields and the military local guard units. Find out where and when before you start passing those ages.

I would suggest some cyber classes if available, else start a study group.

[IDemo]

10. Meet RMoney's new education policy advisor

http://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/challenging-tom-lunas-logic/Content?oid=2062856

Mike Lanza, father of two Boise elementary school children, stood on the steps of the statehouse as day turned to twilight on Feb. 7.

"I know we have a lot of school kids here, don't we?" Lanza asked. About 100 school kids raised their hands.

"Why don't you kids mingle together because under Tom Luna's plan you'll probably end up in the same classroom next year."

Nervous laughter erupted. The rally, primarily comprised of parents, took aim at a sweeping proposal to reform Idaho's classrooms. Earlier the same day, Luna, Idaho's superintendent of Public Instruction, touted his proposal to the Senate Education Committee. The most controversial elements of Luna's plan include eliminating nearly 800 teaching jobs, increasing class sizes, requiring online learning and handing out lap tops to every high school student in the state.

[SheilaT]

12. Many people, regardless of their current job or career, over age 40

should have a Plan B, or fallback if the current job disappears.

[Dan]

19. i guess, there is one...

if society or influences within the society determine that those over 40 are expendable, then I suspect there will be major changes in our government and/or political system...

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

15. Teaching abroad, perhaps?

I've heard that there are opportunities for American teachers to go to Japan or China to teach English. I think that would be a fascinating option, unless accompanying family members would have a hard time adapting.