Why we’re losing the education battle

The March 4 article on the U-46 “grade-in” demonstrates several of the problems and the Elgin teachers union’s backward solution to them. An experienced kindergarten teacher requiring almost as much time in class preparation as teaching speaks volumes about organization and focus. There is no job that I am aware of as a professional which ends with a bell. Most professionals I know and have worked with, spend 50 to 60 hours a week on the job 12 months a year.

As for business vacations, yes you are entitled to them but, on a prearranged schedule, and more than once I was called back home for an emergency.

Of the six hours the children are in class only, 4½ are really teachable moments. And that is the issue. I have a daughter and son-in-law who are teachers — one in U-46. I have taught through “outreach” programs, so I come at this with some knowledge of the issues involved. This is not about a show-and-tell exercise of how much teachers do outside the class. Frankly that doesn’t matter. What does matter are results, and the amount of time students spend in solid classroom work is essential.

In my travels to other countries such as Japan, China, South Korea and India, it is clear that it works. These students spend 40 to 44 hours a week in class including a half day on Saturday. It is no wonder we are losing the education battle.

Richard Francke

Bartlett