tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643715.post417500479991301012..comments2023-06-09T12:46:12.932-04:00Comments on The Voice Of One Crying Out In Suburbia: Why Is Learnin' So 'spensive?Arthur Sidohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03848508095612688493noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643715.post-46385412386581595182017-05-03T09:50:58.378-04:002017-05-03T09:50:58.378-04:00Dan, the staffing levels referenced include non-te...Dan, the staffing levels referenced include non-teaching positions. I agree that in public schools class size seems to be getting bigger because the added funds are going to administrative personnel. I compare it to my father's medical practice. When I was young it was the two doctors, one nurse and a couple of office people. Now medical practices have an enormous number of employees who provide no health care, they simply deal with scheduling, filing and billing.Arthur Sidohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03848508095612688493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6643715.post-67159800098947838882017-04-10T13:00:31.447-04:002017-04-10T13:00:31.447-04:00A few thoughts:
1. While it's clear to me tha...A few thoughts:<br /><br />1. While it's clear to me that college staffing levels of nonteachers have gone through the roof, I have not witnessed the same in public schools. If anything, they seem to be running leaner. Not sure where the "four times as many" number is coming from for public schools, as that is absolutely not the case in any K-12 schools near me.<br /><br />2. Used to be that a prof teaching in a STEM field had as good or better income than working in the private sector. No longer the case, which has put pressure on colleges to jack salaries to those in STEM fields to keep them on the faculty. One could argue that this is balanced by lower costs for non-STEM profs, but this is less clearly the case, so the overall trend has been to see salaries rise disproportionally, especially for STEM. This may also hold true at the high school level.<br /><br />3. Shenanigans in textbook publication have been ridiculous, especially in kickbacks and incentives to profs who write them, resulting in new editions every year, jacking the costs of textbooks throughh the roof. It was bad when I was in college and is darned near criminal now. Pure, unadulterated greed.dlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02475467561892290120noreply@blogger.com