Yer right T, even when I find the discussion days later...
Poor Public Education.....
It makes me profoundly sad. There are great kids and schools and teachers and parents. But there are some absolute hell holes. Lord of the Flies.Shitty psycho teacher, sick kids, bad parents. Whatever Philly wants to try, at least they're trying.

Although there are so many stories of money dumped into charter school models, with great intentions that sucked worse than what came before. Money not getting to where it needs to go. Piss poor administration. The school I worked at was sued by the NAACP for the low quality of service given to its students- 100% of color. It seems to have helped a bit, new leadership, some slightly more motivated teachers, but I was chewed up and spit out long ago...The veterans on our staff had been there less than 2 years, amazing turnover. Still stings, can ya tell? The best strategy for better education is small class sizes, 20 max, more self-directed learning opportunities, parental communication. A teacher cant possibly serve adequately 30+ students' individual needs in a traditional classroom model. The overlooked ones, the ones who get ignored while teachers try to calm the ones throwing punches, are the kids that get completely cheated in the chaos. But there were those kids...the ones who can blossom in the dark, that make you want to keep trying.

Should teachers be allowed to strike? Hell yah. With out strong teachers unions and the history of strikes the predominantly female profession would lag even further behind others in pay and benefits. And I wont cross that picket line. Norma Rae steps down....