the state of eduation...or at least teaching

Here in New Mexico, and other places I'm sure, state budget concerns have teachers' attention. The state government is considering cutting state employee's salaries next year to help balance the state's budget. Teachers may not be direct state employees, but we all know where the majority of the money comes from, don't we? So, yes, there is the distinct possibility that next year my salary will be less than it is this year. Class sizes have already increased, along with those nebulous "duties to be assigned later."

Thanks to "No Child Left Behind," many schools in this area are in one stage or another of restructuring, including the school I work at. Mandate after mandate seems to head our way, and each includes more work for teachers to do, trying to make the gains mandated by the Federal Government. Hoops we jump through, motions we go through, to "show" the state that we are doing everything they ask... and yet, I'm not sure what the effects - other than keeping the school from being taken over by the state - are. Honestly, I'm more and more of the opinion that we should just let the state take over the school. Let's see THEM do more with what we work with!

Of course I want my students to succeed in school, and in their lives beyond high school. I really, really want them to grow into socially and fiscally responsible adults. I have faith that many of them will, despite the shortcomings of modern, American education in general - and Gadsden High School in specific. I know that a majority of teachers on campus that do what they can to make it happen. Still, there are some things that are just not in our power. Things that I get frustrated to be evaluated on when they are not in my control.

Changes are underway in this profession. Fundamental changes that will be fueled by technology, and financial concerns. I have ideas, as always, but I'm not sure I have the energy to lead some of the change, or the courage to forge into that possibility, even though I know the benefits that could be there.