Drove school bus for 5 years, but remember the DMV guy who gave me the road test for driving the bus…he came up the steps into the bus shaking his head side to side….I asked him if I had done something wrong already. He said “No, I just always have to wonder about the sanity of someone willing to turn their back on 72 kids at a time.”
Our grandkids in a country-type area ride the same bus K4, K5, 1 – 12. We have to pick up the kids ourselves for morning half-day preschoolers, or take them to afternoon preschool.I would have been in trouble if I hadn’t been able to get into first grade till I was 40" tall. I was the smallest kid in class, but well able to handle the schoolwork. (Shot up 12" between eighth and ninth grade.)
I work in an elementary school. (School here has been going 3 weeks already.) Kinder classes are supposed to be 24 or fewer, but ours are around 30… since the attendance “held” for 2 weeks, we’re getting another Kinder teacher, so things will settle down a little.
But even then, 24 five-year olds is still a lot. I’m in constant awe of the ladies who teach these classes, and turn these little people into reasonable first graders. In fact, every time I hear of someone taking home huge paychecks for fiddling with numbers and going to meetings or whatever, (especially our district superintendent and his staff) I end up saying “These guys wouldn’t last a minute across the hall in Room 2, so why are they paid five times what the Kinder teachers get?”
A, with a small amount of B thrown in. A good kindergarten teacher is worth his/her weight in gold. Not only do the good ones manage the classroom and teach effectively, they are also so caring and engaged that the kids adore them.
My New York catholic school 1st grade class had 90 children and one nun. Not only did we all learn, but when I left in 2nd grade, I skipped right into 4th in California
My SIL is a retired teacher of both kindergarten and third grade. She was one of the “military types”. She is a very loving human being, but she was a disciplinarian in class and one of those teachers that none of the kids want because they can’t get away with anything.Back when I was in grade school, the reigning “you don’t want to be in HER class” teacher was Mrs. Weaver. My brother was lucky enough to be in her class and learned a lot more than I did under a different teacher.
F Teachers AND librarians offer important services that have been, and continue to be, taken for granted and looked upon as minor players in a lifelong education process.
People have forgotten that there was (and in some places still is) such a thing as the ‘one room school house’. There a teacher was expected to teach (and maintain decent discipline) of a group of kids of multiple ages.- If the community was really small, the teacher may have only had about 10 to 15 kids (my aunt had a class like that). But one of my cousins taught about 32 kids ranging in age from first to 6th grade (after that, the kids tended to stop going to school and just ‘work on the farm’. that was rural PA).-Essentially, teaching is a vital skill that has never been truly valued, and those who dedicate themselves to this career have also not been valued. These days, if kids don’t score well on draconian one-size-fits-all tests, it is always the teacher’s fault. In the one-room-school-house days, teachers were expected to bring their own coal to keep the heating stove burning, clean the schoolroom before and after class, call on sick kids regardless of where they lived – and give up their jobs if the didn’t go to church, or they wanted to get married.-I don’t expect that things will change as long as the profession mostly attracts women. If men were to come to dominate the field, it would be different. (My grade school science teacher was an African American man, and was treated as though he was a king by school administrators and parents! He WAS a great guy, and started a lot of kids off on a lifetime of interest in science.)-Librarians, though, are also under valued, especially now. Here in Central Florida, librarians are expected to administer many of the one-size-fits-all tests if the kids are out sick, teach them how to use computers and make sure that they aren’t accessing something they shouldn’t. -Meanwhile, adult education classes offered at libraries are often taught by librarians, as are some of the computer skills for out of work adult classes. It hasn’t been about just reading stories to kids in a long time, and shouldn’t be ignored because we are in the electronic media ages…
Programs like Americorps and Teach for America are starting to make a difference on the diversity front, and male teachers are fairly common at the middle and high school levels. I would love to see more diversity, especially at the elementary levels. However, I don’t see that as a root cause for the anger so many people direct at the teaching profession. I think that comes from a combination of bad personal experiences (one rotten apple spoils the barrel) and a whole bunch of media and political types yelling at the top of their lungs about how “schools are failing”.
Templo S.U.D. over 9 years ago
Now it makes me wonder how many classmates Michael had when he was in kindergarten.
ORMouseworks over 9 years ago
These children are in a neutral location…of course they are going to behave…more or less LOL! ;)
KenTheCoffinDweller over 9 years ago
not sure about the time when the strip takes place, back in the ’50’s 10-15 was about the norm for Kindergarten and we only went 1/2 days.
TheSkulker over 9 years ago
Farm country, same bus for K thru 12 = full day, full room in the 20 range
Richard Howland-Bolton Premium Member over 9 years ago
That’s why teachers get the big buck—-Oh! Never mind.
Ghille over 9 years ago
Drove school bus for 5 years, but remember the DMV guy who gave me the road test for driving the bus…he came up the steps into the bus shaking his head side to side….I asked him if I had done something wrong already. He said “No, I just always have to wonder about the sanity of someone willing to turn their back on 72 kids at a time.”
rshive over 9 years ago
Never went to kindergarten. Just one of those things. Not sure I ever missed it.
Gokie5 over 9 years ago
Our grandkids in a country-type area ride the same bus K4, K5, 1 – 12. We have to pick up the kids ourselves for morning half-day preschoolers, or take them to afternoon preschool.I would have been in trouble if I hadn’t been able to get into first grade till I was 40" tall. I was the smallest kid in class, but well able to handle the schoolwork. (Shot up 12" between eighth and ninth grade.)
pshapley Premium Member over 9 years ago
I work in an elementary school. (School here has been going 3 weeks already.) Kinder classes are supposed to be 24 or fewer, but ours are around 30… since the attendance “held” for 2 weeks, we’re getting another Kinder teacher, so things will settle down a little.
But even then, 24 five-year olds is still a lot. I’m in constant awe of the ladies who teach these classes, and turn these little people into reasonable first graders. In fact, every time I hear of someone taking home huge paychecks for fiddling with numbers and going to meetings or whatever, (especially our district superintendent and his staff) I end up saying “These guys wouldn’t last a minute across the hall in Room 2, so why are they paid five times what the Kinder teachers get?”
(I work with bigger kids, which is MUCH easier.)
Argy.Bargy2 over 9 years ago
None of the above…
jbarnes over 9 years ago
A, with a small amount of B thrown in. A good kindergarten teacher is worth his/her weight in gold. Not only do the good ones manage the classroom and teach effectively, they are also so caring and engaged that the kids adore them.
walker168 over 9 years ago
My New York catholic school 1st grade class had 90 children and one nun. Not only did we all learn, but when I left in 2nd grade, I skipped right into 4th in California
JanLC over 9 years ago
My SIL is a retired teacher of both kindergarten and third grade. She was one of the “military types”. She is a very loving human being, but she was a disciplinarian in class and one of those teachers that none of the kids want because they can’t get away with anything.Back when I was in grade school, the reigning “you don’t want to be in HER class” teacher was Mrs. Weaver. My brother was lucky enough to be in her class and learned a lot more than I did under a different teacher.
Argy.Bargy2 over 9 years ago
F Teachers AND librarians offer important services that have been, and continue to be, taken for granted and looked upon as minor players in a lifelong education process.
People have forgotten that there was (and in some places still is) such a thing as the ‘one room school house’. There a teacher was expected to teach (and maintain decent discipline) of a group of kids of multiple ages.- If the community was really small, the teacher may have only had about 10 to 15 kids (my aunt had a class like that). But one of my cousins taught about 32 kids ranging in age from first to 6th grade (after that, the kids tended to stop going to school and just ‘work on the farm’. that was rural PA).-Essentially, teaching is a vital skill that has never been truly valued, and those who dedicate themselves to this career have also not been valued. These days, if kids don’t score well on draconian one-size-fits-all tests, it is always the teacher’s fault. In the one-room-school-house days, teachers were expected to bring their own coal to keep the heating stove burning, clean the schoolroom before and after class, call on sick kids regardless of where they lived – and give up their jobs if the didn’t go to church, or they wanted to get married.-I don’t expect that things will change as long as the profession mostly attracts women. If men were to come to dominate the field, it would be different. (My grade school science teacher was an African American man, and was treated as though he was a king by school administrators and parents! He WAS a great guy, and started a lot of kids off on a lifetime of interest in science.)-Librarians, though, are also under valued, especially now. Here in Central Florida, librarians are expected to administer many of the one-size-fits-all tests if the kids are out sick, teach them how to use computers and make sure that they aren’t accessing something they shouldn’t. -Meanwhile, adult education classes offered at libraries are often taught by librarians, as are some of the computer skills for out of work adult classes. It hasn’t been about just reading stories to kids in a long time, and shouldn’t be ignored because we are in the electronic media ages…
lindz.coop Premium Member over 9 years ago
I think the joke is intended to be that Ellie could never think of handling 25 at once — the 2 she has are enough chaos.
lindz.coop Premium Member over 9 years ago
argy.bargy2: “taken for granted indeed” — they’re lucky anybody shows up.
jbarnes over 9 years ago
Programs like Americorps and Teach for America are starting to make a difference on the diversity front, and male teachers are fairly common at the middle and high school levels. I would love to see more diversity, especially at the elementary levels. However, I don’t see that as a root cause for the anger so many people direct at the teaching profession. I think that comes from a combination of bad personal experiences (one rotten apple spoils the barrel) and a whole bunch of media and political types yelling at the top of their lungs about how “schools are failing”.