7A - Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Opportunity:
Many school districts in America are unable to properly fund salaries for their employees and provide proper conditions for learning due to lack of government funding.

The who: School districts, their employees, and students.
The what: Teachers are not paid well enough and students don't have proper learning conditions.
The why: School districts can't fund well enough because of lack of government funding.

Testing the who: More than just the students, teachers, and school district has this need. Students being improperly educated affects their futures, which in turn affects everyone involved in their future. Teachers being improperly paid can affect their families that they have to provide for.

Testing the what: Not all schools and school districts have this problem. In fact, some schools are overfunded in my opinion. The extra effort and funds could be applied to schools that actually need it.

Testing the why: I do think that the why exists for everyone affected. The only reason it might not is if people think that the why isn't that there isn't enough funding, there just isn't funding in the right places. However, I still think more funding would solve this why too.

Interview #1: My friend Kate
When interviewing Kate, I explained my opportunity and beliefs to her that I mentioned above. She agreed with me that teachers in many areas are underpaid. She shared some of her high school experiences with this with me. She said that once when she was a sophomore in high school, a teacher in her grade walked out in the middle of class on a school day and just never came back. She apparently told the school she walked out so abruptly because the job of being a high school teacher was way too much for such little pay. Kate said she thinks that if that teacher had been paid more, she might have not only stayed in her position as a high school teacher, but she might have performed better at this job. Kate also agreed with me about there being improper learning conditions. She says she has experience with overcrowded classrooms.

Interview #2: My grandma, a retired teacher
My grandma agreed with my beliefs about schools and their improper funding. She really experienced this firsthand, as she was a teacher for most of her life. She says that the work she and her coworkers did deserved way more than the pay they received. She says that she often worked more than 40 hours a week with all the work she would have to do outside of the workplace like grade papers and answer emails. She also says that dealing with teenagers is hard, no matter what the situation is. She thinks that teaching high schoolers is the hardest level to teach. She was disrespected many many times throughout her career and said that the pay was not worth the behavior of some of her students. She also agreed with me about improper learning conditions. She said that the facilities were often trashed and not cleaned regularly enough. She often had overcrowded classes, too. She also mentioned that she doesn't necessarily think it's the lack of funding that's totally the issue, but the lack of funding in the places that need it the most. She thinks that at the school she taught at, they put way too much funding into sports teams and not enough into actual education.

Interview #3: My friend Carson
Carson went to school in south Florida, and I was interested to get his perspective because I don't really know what schools are like there. There are many stereotypes about rich schools in south Florida. Carson agreed with me that the opportunity exists. However, he definitely had not experienced the need like the other people I had interviewed had. He says that he never really had experience with overcrowded or dirty facilities like I had. He does think that teachers need to be paid more, because maybe then more qualified people would be incentivized to pursue a position in teaching, resulting in better quality education.

Interview #4: My friend Francine, who attended a private school
Francine attended a private high school, but a public middle school. She said the difference between her high school and middle school experiences are like night and day. She said that the teachers at her middle school, were not nearly as good at their job as her high school teachers were. Her neighbor was a teacher at her private school, and her mom was friends with her. Her mom told her that her pay was probably way more than what a public school teacher would receive. Her high school teachers seemed actually interested in the success of their students, partially because their pay depended on it. Her middle school teachers seemed to show little interest in their students' success because they had very little pay and did not have very many supervisors who cared to oversee them anyway. She also mentioned the differences in facilities. Her high school was always very clean and had small classes, but her middle school wasn't as well-kept and had larger classes.

Interview #5: Hailey
Hailey also agreed with my beliefs about school and their improper funding. She said she, like Francine, also noticed that many of her teachers always seemed to show little interest in her and her classmates' educations. She mentioned that the bathrooms and classroom were always "disgusting" and that things like desks and chairs were always broken. She said that it was not an uncommon experience to walk into high school classes on the first day and not have a seat because there were too many students in the class and not enough desks. She said that she thinks it's unacceptable considering she and her classmates were legally required to be there. She thinks that if education is going to be enforced with laws, it should at least be desirable to show up to school every day and expect clean facilities and nice and helpful teachers.

Summary:
I did not expect all of the people I interviewed to agree with me, especially my grandma. Usually she is always on the school district's side in these types of debates. It was interesting to get her perspective, as I have only ever experienced a student's perspective because I have never been a teacher. I didn't realize quite how many of my friends had similar experiences to me, and how many of them saw the problems that I saw. It's also amazing to me just how much can change when something is funded more, like Francine's private school. I know that a teacher's performance in their job depends on more than just their pay, but it's shocking to me how much I now think that factors into it. I believe now way more that this opportunity exists than when I first started. I also realize now that it's not necessarily the lack of funding, but it's the lack of funding in the places that need it most. It's this realization that is causing me to change my opportunity belief a bit: Many schools have low quality employees due to lack of incentives and lack of proper training and supervision.