Schools today are facing many challenges. Funding remains a nightmare for public schools (see my blog post “Property Taxes Up Again!”). Staff shortages are rampant throughout New Hampshire. As of October 8, 2022, the Nashua School District listed 300 open positions – almost two months after school opened. Salaries are wholly inadequate. A starting teacher’s salary is under $41,000, the same as in Manchester. The average 2-bedroom apartment in Nashua rents for $1,725 per month, or $20,700 per year. That cost is more than half a new teacher’s salary.
COVID placed a huge strain on public schools, as it did on the rest of society. Remote learning during the worst of the pandemic meant that children were not able to learn from and with each other. Families without computers or reliable internet services in both rural and urban districts were at a distinct disadvantage. Many parents demanded that children be in school regardless of the rate of infection. When schools reopened and mask mandates were in place, there was a great deal of debate and anger on the part of many parents who did not approve of the mandates.
Classrooms are not the same as they used to be. When I was a child (in my mind I hear my aunts and uncles saying this!), I was in a classroom where the seats were nailed to the floor, the seats were in straight rows, and the teacher’s role was that of an information giver. Today classrooms involve movable furniture so that children can rearrange their desks or tables to work on projects in groups. The teacher’s role is not only to give information, it is also to help children learn how to find things out for themselves. It focuses on projects, guided and managed by teachers, as well as on lectures. Children are more actively involved in their education than I was as a young child, when my job was mostly to listen and remember. This type of learning does a better job of helping students know how to work in the world of today than education did 60 years ago when a student’s job was to listen, memorize, and write down answers on tests.
More children with special behavioral, learning, and physical needs are attending public school than did when I was a child. My childhood neighbors had a son who was blind, and didn’t go to school much. He was a bright boy, but was bored because he wasn’t getting an adequate education and often got into trouble. Today he would be in a school setting with adaptive technologies so that he could use his intelligence and skills to become a self-sufficient adult. Having the variety of children with special needs that we do, teachers’ jobs have become more complex than they were years ago.
All of these have an effect on what education is and does at this time. Teachers, children, parents, administrators, cafeteria staff, janitors, coaches, bus drivers, crossing guards and all the others who are involved with education have more stresses on them than perhaps at any time in the past. All of us must collaborate to address the underlying problems that fuel this issue and create a safer and more productive learning environment for our kids.
