[geeks] OLPCs for sale...

[wa2egp at att.net]

> Politicians can't be sure their "idiot" nephew will graduate college, so they 
> keep the requirements low so the nephew can get a job...

Look at governmnet job listings.  You'll see a lot more jobs that don't require
much, more than can account for a few politicians relatives.
 
> >> Some teachers leave for the private schools because they claim a lot  
> >> better pay and benefits, while others said their experience was  
> >> negative.
> >
> >Not around my little area of the world.  Most (and I say that in 
> >case there is one that doesn't) do not pay as much as public
> >schools but also don't have the requirements public schools
> >have for candidates.
> 
> Pay is relative - at my (private) high school, teachers can send one student 
> to the school for free - that amounts to a $25-40K/year "benefit" on top of 
> their pay, and there is no reduction in pay if you have a child in the school.
> 
> Also, some teachers get free housing - it ain't great, but it is free provided 
> you monitor study halls and help out on the odd weekend over the course of the 
> year. Your pay is not reduced if you live on campus.
> 
> So, if I am a first-year teacher making $30,000/year, living on campus 
> ($12K/year benefit?), and I have a kid going to the school ($25/year benefit), 
> I'm suddenly making what looks like $67K/year. So the pay is better, but it is 
> also worse (if I don't live on campus and I don't live on a dorm floor, I'm 
> only making $30K/year).

The one private school I worked in charged you for an apartment.  Of course, if
you drove one of their vans, you got paid the same amount as you would pay for 
the apartment.  Another school I visited, your apartment was part of the dorm
so you have to watch the students in your part of the dorm.  That ain't free. 
> 
> How many of your transfers were kicked out of their non-public schools? That 
> might also be a factor...

Actually, if they got kicked out, they wouldn't be in my school.  Most transfer
because it is cheaper.  Period.

> Our public schools here in my town (can't speak about any others, no exp. with 
> any others) are quite good, but we are still considering pulling my son out of 
> the public school system next year, when he trades the 400 student elementary 
> school for a much larger middle school. We've been lucky with the teachers 
> he's gotten so far, though this year's teacher is a bit of let-down. She 
> doesn't connect with our son (or the other kids, AFAIK) - she's just there, 
> doing time, going through the motions...

Sounds like "burn out" to me.  In most systems, you hae more elementary schools
that middle schools and more of them than high schools.  Unfortunately, that
seems to be the nature of the beast.

Bob