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Part 2

In the first part I had discussed how people are ignorant about what is really involved in teaching. I mentioned teachers usually work 50 to 60 hours a week. Also, I mentioned why at times teachers could come home tired. I had a friend who loves to talk how teachers had a made. We got this and that and more of this. He stopped saying that ounce he became a substitute teacher.  That experience taught him exactly what is involved. It is not easy to be a teacher. It is not simple. It is not a cake walk or is it glamorous.

There are much more to talk about what a teacher deal with. Let’s talk about discipline problems. I had worked in different districts as a substitute and been a teacher in two different districts. Teaching in Redlands is so much different than teaching in Fontana. Why? Redlands have more money due to they have more big houses. Yes, people. Part of budget comes from housing taxes. The more houses a city has the more money that the schools have. If a city has a lot of apartment complexes that is less money. Simply put, an apartment complex count as one house. That is twenty or forty families in one complex. Where as a house is one family. You get the picture. More houses more money for schools. More apartment complexes and fewer houses mean less money for school districts. Now you have a discrepancy between one district and another district. Don’t worry. The state also provides money to districts. Now the money comes with strings. They give the money and it gives them the right to harass the district. That district will have to meet the desire of the state.

Here is a picture. Fontana has to teach a certain amount of Language Arts or they will be punishment by the state. Hours are counted and people are watching. There is more stress to meet the desire of the state. Otherwise Redlands do not have to meet the desire of the state. They simply make sure their students learn. They have more choices to help their students learn. More resource is available since they are not hurting for money. They could provide additional aides if the money is there. They could provide tutors before and after school. They could provide programs that had been proven to help students learn. There are fewer eyes on teachers. Just the principal is watching. No one from state or other organizations come into the classroom poking their noses everywhere. All in all there are less pressure and less stress. Most people do not know this fact. That is why they do not understand why a poorer district is less successful than a richer district. Also, most teachers before the recession would quickly leave the poorer district for greener pastures.  They know that it would be easier to teach in Redlands than it would be to teach in Fontana. Of course, right now teachers are not moving due to economic problems. That means teachers are in the place they do not like or want to be. The other place is not hiring. Too bad for them.