Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Actual left/right wing discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jacques Chitte who wrote (9012)	12/15/2010 3:41:58 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 10087

What happened? Well first I think less may have happened then some might think. I don't think that in previous generations schools didn't have budget worries about being able to afford new textbooks or other things. Budgets have probably always or almost always been perceived as tight (despite their fairly rapid growth). But some things did indeed actually happen, that have increased the cost. The main one is salary costs. The number of teachers, administrators, and support staff per student has increased, and their pay has increased in real terms. Also schools have more complex regulatory and reporting structure to deal with. Probably higher insurance costs, maybe higher land and building costs. More security related costs. Outside of the cost area you have I believe less authority by principals over teachers (which in some cases is good, but probably an overall net negative once you get below the extremes of principal control), less authority of schools over students (again good in some ways, but keeping order is important, and not just when it gets to the level of serious violations of previously published rules), more violence and issues like pregnancy (perhaps not than a generation ago, some stats suggest improvement since the 70s and early 80s for the country as a whole, but its worse than in generations before that, and possibly worse in some ways just in schools even compared to that 70s to early 80s period)