i did not agree with the first part of your statement. i agree with your assessment of the poor working conditions. i was lucky to have 4 outstanding teachers when i did my time in the system.

thanks for the clarification.

i believe that working conditions consist of more than a paycheck. my children attend a private school and salaries offered at the school are lower than in the public school sector. our school has very little turnover of the staff. when i asked teachers why they stay and not look for a better paying position they pointed to me that they like the working conditions. the classes are loaded with teaching aids and they don't have to buy anything for the students using their own funds. they also feel secure. there have been no incidents of assaults on teachers. a verbal or physical assault against a tecaher either by a parent or a student would lead to prosecution. parents are very involved and active at the school and teachers know that parents appreciate their efforts.

i just wish that as a society we would get our priorities straight.

the u.s. of a.
by the way did i mention that the school offers bilingual education even for kindergarten children?
bilingual education is offered in canada and they have the best programs in the world. we have some americans who were educated in canada and studied in the jewish schools there.
their fluency in hebrew is amazing.
i wish some of our elected official could that fluent in their native language.

they go to a jewish school so hebrew is the language of choice. they teach modern hebrew and use the tal am program that was developed in canada. i was quite impressed by the results especially when 3rd graders who do not have israeli parents could follow a conversation i had with a friend.

catholic schools are way cheaper. they are about 4,000 dollars for kindergarten through 8th grade and then they charge six grand a year for 9th through 12th grade. the catholic schools are facing a serious problem because their student body is mostly non-catholic. they now have a new policy that 25% of admission can be non-catholic students the rest either convert or wait in line for an open spot.

personally i have to stick with the jewish schools. education is improtant to us but also the children's identity. they need to understand their heritage and learn about jewish religion and history and it is best covered at the jewish schools. by the way religion is practiced in a very different manner here. nothing is forced down your throat. some members of our temple do not drive on shabbat and eat stricly kosher. others enjoy their sushi anytime they wish to have it. i know many who send their kids to the catholic schools and my opinion is that you do whatever is best for your family.

they are serving a small minority but they also have to be accredited by the association of private schools that includes all the private schools in a certain area. the accreditation is a long process that is done every 6 years. all the teachers at our schools have at least a bachelor's degree and are american citizens including the israeli teachers. most of the teachers at our school are american jews including some of the hebrew teachers. the difference in pay is based on seniority, education, load of work (some work pary time) and i am sure that the principal makes more than the teachers. the tuition is more than 10k at our school. i don't have more details regarding pay becasue americans would rather tell you that they attend aa meetings and have problems with drug abuse than confess to how much money they are making. the public schools pay new teachers who have no experience about 35k a year and it does not include the health care benefits, retirement savings, etc.

competition exists between jewish schools in the large metropolitan areas where there are more than one school for each level of observence.

i was not trying by the way to compare apples to oranges. public schools cannot be compared to private schools but my point was that even with a smaller budget wonderful things can be achieved if our priorities are set so they refelect our interst in getting better education for our children. the public schools have a very large budget and it is wasted for different reasons. not long ago a new school project in our area had to be folded after more than 20 million dollars were invested. the school was built on polluted land.

i would like to keep the answer short so no one will feel the need to kick me in a certain area.

budget includes payroll and public schools have a larger student body, more teachers and other employees and pay more for the teachers. but your point was that the money allocated for school supplies, books, library, and other needs is small and i agree. money is wasted left and right and does not end where it should - such as the fiasco of the new high school that buried more than 20 mill in funds.

our school district enjoys a large pool of tax money and bonds from different parts of the county, so it cannot use the excuse of underfunding poor areas due to poor tax revenue. the difference between poor areas and affluent ones is the parents. one school in palo alto got a computer for each student-donated by a father of a student and later the parents wanted to pay from their pockets overtime for the teachers.

my point is that schools even in poor areas could and should look better only if we set our priorities to reflect our concern for the next generation.

there are schools that stress bilingual education. if you want more details i can check and send you e-mail. spanish is usually the language of choice in my area. there are other private schools that teach other languages (chinese, japanese, etc.) these are usually schools that target certain immigrant groups that want to preserve their heritage and language. my college offers now armenian studies in addition to hebrew, french, spanish, german and few more languages.

arabic is offered by the islamic center but it is coupled with koran studies.

we had this choice presented to us and it is written as a voucher for any private school and the choice is made by the parent. the voucher law was voted down by the local residents who did not want money going from the public schools to private ones. by the way most parents at our school voted against vouchers. they felt that we should not bankrupt the local schools that are already in really bad shape.