Thursday, April 9, 2009
600 Detroit teachers may lose their jobs
I read an article today that is a bit frightening for our entire cohort. The article was titled “Detroit school closures, teacher layoffs planned.” The article explained that 23 Detroit public schools will possibly close and 600 teachers will be laid off. The proposal wants to consolidate facilities, resources, and teachers because the district is facing a $300 million deficit. A financial emergency has been declared for the district. The public schools have been in decline there for years, because enrollment has decreased rapidly. This decrease is mostly because of the city’s population enrolling in charter schools. One of the huge appeals of being a teacher is job security. With the declining economy even teaching jobs are no longer safe. I decided to talk about this article because of the sickening feeling it gave me after reading. If this can happen in Detroit it can happen anywhere. One thing that I think we should all be grateful for is that we are in school right now, and can receive loans to help live off of. Hopefully when we finish our program the economy will be bouncing back from the awful situation we are in. If not I may not have a job to pay all of these loans off!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I agree with Katie that it is very sad and scary to hear of schools closing and teachers losing their jobs. Earlier this week I posted a blog from the NY Times in which a teacher shortage is predicted in the next four years because of the retirement of the baby boomer generation of teachers. We are all receiving mixed messages from the media because the reality is no one knows what the future holds. I am choosing to hope for the best and in the meantime prepare myself to be the best teacher I can be.
Job security is something that has been associated with the teaching profession for so long. When you hear of job loss occurring in education, you know that the economy has to be in turmoil. We constantly hear about schools becoming overcrowded, but then there are schools closing and staff cuts. Both scenarios hurt the children. Sarah mentions receiving mixed messages. I feel that this is a mixed message from the government. We want to provide a nurturing learning environment for our children, but we want to do it at cheap as possible by putting thirty kids or more in a class with one teacher. How ironic.
I am hoping for the best also. However, it is scary to think about quitting a job with all of the uncertainty surrounding teacher positions. My concern is also that my son will not get lost in a kindergarten class of thirty children next Fall. Someone has got to come up with a plan that will fix all of this! There is too much at steak...
I agree with all of you. I hope that we will be able to find a job when we graduate. Hopefully, by 2010, the economy will be better. Like Anna, I have two children in school now. I worry about what type of education they will receive in the future. I think the best thing we can do is to remain positive and hope for the best!!
Post a Comment