Monday, September 21, 2009

Scenes Like This Should Get Someone Fired

I thought my class sizes were big, and I have a couple classes (my lowest level ones, of course) with 36 students. But this is ridiculous:

Some L.A. Unified classes are crammed with about 50 students, leaving some pupils to sit on desks or the floor and their teachers to grade hundreds of papers while still focusing on improvement.

It's not just a money problem, as other school districts have taken other actions to avoid this kind of disaster. No, this is just crappy planning, and a lack of concern for students. "Yes, dear, your education is important. Now go sit on that file cabinet. You'll be fine."

Shameful.

7 comments:

Larry Sheldon said...

My mother was never on the payroll as a teacher, but (she was a clerk or a secretary for a lot of years) I am certainly glad she died before the final melt down of The Los Angeles City School District..

It would have killed her.

maxutils said...

They probably assumed that only a third of them cared, and were probably right.

Elaine said...

... 50's pushing a bit there. I'm SO glad I'm not down south anymore... My first year, though class sizes of about 45 were pretty typical. (Our contract said an average of 35 per class per teacher, and it was calculated including our prep period.)

Ever since then, I've always been happy with anything around 30 - seems SO easy to handle classroom management and paperwork. I have about 34/class right now, so I'm pretty much in heaven. (Plus, my kids this year kick BUTT! So nice, polite, hard-working... makes me wonder if I shouldn't be paying the school, instead of the other way around!)

Ellen K said...

So the actions of California state officials in their quest of all things Left, have finally drive California to Third World status. And this is the system Pelosi wants us to emulate on a national basis. Super.

BTW, is any water heading for the Empire Valley yet?

Anonymous said...

Where are the parents? Why aren't they up in arms?

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

The teachers are grading "hundreds of papers" but have that laser-sharp focus on improvement. LOL who writes this stuff? That passes for journalism?

It's ridiculous that the parents aren't protesting and/or pulling their kids out. They're the ones ultimately responsible for their kids. And the teachers? These are rather poor working conditions, I should imagine. Where's the union?

Ellen K said...

Given that California has the dubious distinction of having one of the largest santuary cities in LA, there's no question that illegal immigration does have a huge role in the overcrowding of California classrooms and for the lack of real revenue from the population that resides there.