Vocational Classes Scrapped

Check out this link,

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,133099,00.html

It's a real damn shame. Having just finished my way through the public school system, I think what they're doing to the voc-techs is a real crime. While the Voc-techs often have good solid programs, the educators and academia tells kids college is the only way. As a result you get millions of kids each year. You classify them all as a different "learning disability" and try to teach them all to be white collar professions like doctors, lawyers, psychologists, and even sociologists, philosophers and other junk that produces nothing! All the time this is done under the phrase "No Child Left Behind." These parents who push the school to do so forget that some kids are manual learners while other are academic based learners. Edjucation should be used as a tool to help one succede. That's why I'm using college as I want to be an engineer, and feel I am up to the challenge. However in my shop class we had plenty of kids who did great, and loved it. Their work was top noch and with their hands they really succeded. Too bad some one told many of our C- academic A grade shop students that Psychology is the proper track for them. If their college experience is any where near as difficult as mine is becomming even in the first 4 weeks some of my friends will have dropped out as soon as Winter break. Here you need to want to make it to succed, no one will hold your hand here and keep you from "being left behind". It is a real shame what our parents and politicians are doing to the education system. It doesn't need more money, it doesn't need more teachers. But I bet you could do away with about %80 of all your programs and the funding that costs often lots more per pupil aimed at helping those with "learning disabilities," if you just taught them the satisfaction and the fact that they too can succede by working with their hands, and thinking in the real world.

Adam

here's the article: Gotta love the conclusion "As the number of vocational education classes have gone down, the high school dropout rate across the country has gone up. Experts don't yet know if there's a correlation, but they do know schools today are geared more for the college-bound than the blue collar-bound."


"Lewis Chappel roams the halls of Hollywood High School as a dinosaur – an old-fashioned shop teacher in a newfangled education system.

“I see my program dying. I see other programs dying,” said Chappel.

In high schools across the country vocational classes (search) — auto shop, wood shop, metal shop — are being phased out.

The push to is now on academics: The federal "No Child Left Behind" law even holds schools accountable for academic performance.

The problem, say critics, is that 38 percent of kids don’t go to college — and a high percentage of them may end up being mechanics, carpenters and machinists.

“I think the schools have an obligation to prepare them for those opportunities as well as, where appropriate, to move on to more classic liberal arts education,” said Jim Stone, director of the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education.

But to offer hands-on training, schools need to get their hands on more money. These days, learning to fix a car means using very expensive diagnostic computers that schools simply can’t afford, which is a big reason why, over the past 15 years, California high schools have dropped more than half of their vocational classes.

The superintendent of the California Department of Education, Jack O'Connell, who says he supports vocational education, argues that technical students can also benefit from a good dose of academics.

“We can't have students who can't solve basic algebra in these classes, because they're not going to be able to be problem solvers when our cars don't run,” said Jack O’Connell.

As the number of vocational education classes have gone down, the high school dropout rate across the country has gone up. Experts don't yet know if there's a correlation, but they do know schools today are geared more for the college-bound than the blue collar-bound."

If you read Corelli Barnett's "The Collapse of British Power" and some other books of his, you will see an eery blueprint for this. This is how Britain went from a leadership role in world affairs to today's middle power status. Of course, the decline was arrested in WW2 by America's intervention. "The Arsenal of Democracy" was more than just a slogan. Oh, well, if such a scenario happens again, we can just place our orders with the ChiComms...

Interesting write up Adam, I agree that it is a travesty that vocation based teaching is a very low priority in our public school system, I am associated with a local high school and its very successfull automotive program here in northern Virginia. A couple of times during the year I take a few days off and try and teach "self motivation" to the students, what I have found over the past five years is that the general student population lacks the drive to succeed in matters that require hard work and discipline. I say "general population" because there is a small group that are very hard working and have the desire to succeed so I exclude them from this topic as they are not what I'm addressing. I have talked to these young men and woman for hours I have also helped them with their projects (currently building a very large float for a parade) so I don't come from a completely bitter old man view point, I am actually in contact with the student population from 10th to 12th grade. The failure is "systemic" in nature and has to do with our countries legal system, the parents that attack the teachers when they try and get "poor Johnny" to do some real work, the adults that don't have the backbone to stand up and fight the whole very apathetic system in order to get back to hard learning and some good core values, but the biggest thing that is lacking in the "system" is the recognition that the students have to want to work hard to succeed or every attempt to correct the issues will fail. You clearly stated the problem in your post ,but I don't think you realized just how you accomplished it. If you will reread you post with an open mind you will see that you have held yourself accountable for your success, you worked hard, you pushed yourself to learn a trade, you are struggling to get an education. There is no doubt you will drive yourself to accomplish your goals, you have what used to be termed "in the old days" as internal fortitude. This is where your post took a turn and you went on to blame the parents and the politicians for the shop classes being cancelled as if they want the students to fail and are trying to kill the classes you speak of, you didn't once blame the students for the situation and therin lies the failure in the system we don't hold the students accountable for their actions the blame for all the failures is always leveled at everyone around them and untill the perception that more money or more politics won't fix the problem goes away the system will continue to degrade to nothing more than glorified baby sitting. What is missing isn't the money or the desire for the students to succeed it is the personal drive and internal fortitude of the individual students to drive to a hard earned vocation and to accept that it will take a massive effort on their part (as it always has) to overcome the stumbling blocks that they encounter in the process of gaining that hard earned education.
I think and feel that what the student population seems to lack is a good healthy fear of starving to death (used to be termed a hard life) they think the "system" will always provide whatever they want and they deserve the good life, there is a pervasive thought that the good life is owed to them and that they are the most important beings in the universe.
In conclusion I feel that the failure is in the thought that giving more to the children will make it all better, on the contrary the first thing that must be done is to remove the thought that life will always be easy, and instill in them a good healthy fear of 40 or 50 years of hard back breaking labor if you choose to be stupid and not take advantage of every oportunity that is provided you. "Giving" children everything is "the problem" it saps them of the personal drive they will need to put in the hard work it will take to learn something worthwhile, giving people more that don't have the drive to succeed will result in complete failure, that has been proven over and over in our wellfare systems. The more you give away the more you must continue to give away and the more slackards will join the public dole till the system collapses. The shop classes have failed for a number of reasons, but to exclude the students as a major part of the failure and to continue to blame everyone else isn't the solution.
I know this thought isn't popular and is likely going to start a viscious attack from some people, but it's how I feel and if I didn't state it then I'm no better than all the others that make it ok for the future generations to fail.
The solution likely isn't in claiming "it's everyone elses fault, remember when you point at someone else one finger is towards them, three are towards you and one is towards god, funny how that works out isn't it?

captainkirk wrote:

"...I think and feel that what the student population seems to lack is a good healthy fear of starving to death (used to be termed a hard life) they think the "system" will always provide whatever they want and they deserve the good life, there is a pervasive thought that the good life is owed to them and that they are the most important beings in the universe..."

IMHO that will change for upcoming generations. I don't believe the future is very bright for a good portion of our population.

Mark

Captainkirk, yours was a very good post with lots of insight. Most problems have a variety of causes, and you touched on a lot of different angles for this one, all of which are contributors.

Around this area there is one voc-ed curriculum which seems to be untouchable. Agriculture Ed. I finished high school 35 years ago, and teaching Ag was ridiculous at that time and has become even more so as time has gone on. You'll seldom see land in this area sell for less than $50,000/acre unless it's something so steep a billy goat couldn't climb it. 6 high schools in the county, and Ag is still being taught in every one of them. The only "crop" being grown on a large scale basis around here is what's commonly called "weed". As other voc-ed classes were introduced over the years, the head Ag instructor would become the de-facto chairman of voc-ed via squatter's rights. It certainly appears that in every one of our high schools self interest ruled over the interest of education. The addition of auto shop or body and paint would invariably result in the construction of a new greenhouse or purchase of a new tractor or something else equally useful. The public school systems in the US have in many ways become the ultimate beauracracy. Useful education has moved far down on the list of goals as the justification and creation of more and more non-teaching positions and the continuous quest for newer and bigger buildings and sports facilities moved to the forefront. Once upon a time long ago the people in communities across the country had citizen control of their schools at the local level. As we have relegated this control to the so called "education professionals", many of whom have never spent a day actually teaching in a classroom, even a casual observer can see a corresponding decrease in the relevance of much of what's being taught. Personally, I've never subscribed to the old saw that says "those who can, do, and those who can't, teach", because I firmly believe a good teacher can make as valuable a contribution to society as anyone who exists. However, there's another part to this saying that goes "those who can't teach, administrate". Therein lies the real truth and the core of the problem.

Our Educators are Uneducated.

They of all people should know that the shop is The University of The Commmon Man.

The shop is truly democratic, the slow, the average and the bright all have their place, they all can succeed. They rise and fall on the strength of their own merit. By their work they will be judged.

And there is Socratese in the Lathe, Plato in the planer and Molliere in the milling machine.

Only now, in my later years am I reading these authors and yet their lessons shone brightly thrughout the journey I have taken across the floors of the many shops I have worked.

It is our obligation to teach our young a trade, whatever that trade might be. When we fail, we are robbing them.

When our children don't want to do the work we do, we are failing them when we don't insist that they find something productive to do and master it so that they can make their way in the world.

We must spend the time, we must show by example how to work even if we don't show them what to work at.

Possibly the strongest detriment to vocational education is that it costs Time.

School systems see shop classes as time consuming in relation to outcome.

Students exposed to the modern world of instant gratification and the forgiveness of the "delete" key, find that skill building reuires time and attention that they are unaccustomed to giving.

Personal development comes at a high cost. I was clumsy and ackward in shop class, my workmanship was terrible.

But I and anyone else who has mastered a trade mastered it through persistance and strength of will.

If we have not shown that to our children by the time the are adolescents, then we have failed them.

If our children fail to see that in us and will not make the effort toward their work then their failures are theirs and theirs alone.

Captian

"you didn't once blame the students for the situation and therin lies the failure in the system we don't hold the students accountable for their actions the blame for all the failures is always leveled at everyone around them and untill the perception that more money or more politics won't fix the problem goes away the system will continue to degrade to nothing more than glorified baby sitting."

I'll agree with you that some students don't always have the "drive" that you talk about but I think that with many kids if they aren't too excited about the future they won't reach ahead to it and will lack a strive. Sometimes as with my self it was my exeperience working with steam engines and in the shop that provided me the motivation to go down the road I am on now. Had I not had that I probablly wouldn't have done nearly as well as academically since I knew what I wanted to do since 9th grade. What I believe to some extent is the problem is that the current edjucation system merely says "No Child Left Behind." While it sounds good at election time, in doing so they are refering only to academically in the traditional, math, science, history, literature, arts and music sense, rather then in the trades. Going through school today you see many kids who are declared to be all sorts of learning disabilities. Many of these kids do poorly in the traditional disiplines of study and take on the feeling that they are a failure. As a result they have little motivation and will scrape by as the "No Child Left Behind" crap will hold their hand the whole way through.

I believe that many of the students have unfortunately been mislead by a culture now obsessed with sending every kid to college. Many of them fail to realize to untill the very end of their public school edjucation if at all that their only failure is that rather then thinking and learning in the theoretical academically based class room, their talents lie in working with their hands and in the practical real world. I believe that many of these ADD (Atention Deficit Disorder) kids who I know as I've seen first hand, are not indeed disordered, rather they have trouble learning from a book, but put them in the shop, a kitchen, a construction site and they come to life. Many of them succede and find they really can make a living doing something they love and are good at. Unfortunatelly if you cut trade school programs and inbreed in their minds that trade school is for "immigrants" and "stupid people" who just couldn't make it in grade school you set a really dangerous precedent. In trying to help these kids one will really impede and mislead them.

In my old school for example it is a constant battle every year between our wood shop teacher and the princepal to keep the program alive and funded. While she'll throw tons of money at drama, music and art, apparently shop just isn't a decent study. No if I were to play god for a second and pick what I'd need for my society, be it a ton of kids who may understand how to play a basic instrument or paint a picture, vs. those who know how to build stuff, I think it is an easy decision. However in a way our princepal is playing "god" and sending the message that knowing how to work with your hands isn't important.

Adam

How quickly we forget...
Or at least rewrite our own biographies.
I am not the least ashamed to say that when I was in high school, I was interested in doing the least amount of work I could get away with, getting high, and chasing girls. And now, as an adult, I can fix stuff, build stuff, I own things, pay taxes, employ people, and generally do a lot of stuff that boring, responsible adults do.
And frankly, I think if you dig very deeply, I think that you will find that even Captain Kirk wasnt an absolute paragon of virtue in High School. Please dont take offense- just trying to make a point.
My point is that every generation always seems like useless slackers to the older one. I complain about the same stuff all the time. But I also hire kids just out of high school, and in college, and there is, in my opinion, the same percentage there always has been of self motivated kids who want to learn.
The difference is, in the old days, there were no-brainer jobs for the rest of the kids. Where I live, if you didnt do well in school, you could still make a living wage as a logger, or a fisherman, or a farmer, or working in the shipyards, or Boeing, or as a variety of bluecollar jobs. Fireman, Policeman, Soldier- these jobs all accepted guys who majored in beer and cheerleaders, who maybe werent einsteins.
Nowadays, most of those jobs are gone, and the ones that are left, even if they are "blue collar" require AT LEAST two year community college degrees.
So in a way, I agree with adam- we, as a society, are letting the kids down- because we are really giving those kids who arent college material, no place to go. Unless you consider working for walmart a career. Half of Walmarts employees qualify for foodstamps.
In my area, there are still a fair amount of vocational programs in high schools, and quite a few community colleges and vo-techs. But a lot of that is a direct function of how wealthy the area is, and my area is pretty well off, compared to lots of the country.
Interestingly enough, the art and music programs around here are right down at the bottom of the barrel with the vocational programs. Here, the god we all bow down and worship, as far as funding goes, is sports. Which seems just as silly to me- we are in the process of building two mulitmillion dollar sports field complexes at two local high schools, while skimping on the welding and votech programs. And frankly, while playing sports is a few notches up from sitting on the couch playing x-box, it has much less relevance in terms of life skills, and job ability, then teaching actual skills. What percentage of high school football players are gonna play college ball, much less pro, versus what percentage of high school kids are gonna have to get a job at some point in their lives?
Oddly enough, if you totally bomb out of high school around here, due to teen pregnancy, drugs, or crime, you get put in an "alternative" high school- no sports program there- instead, they have lots of job shadowing, work study, community outreach projects, and other real world training. Seems if they totally give up on you, thats when they actually think you might need to know how to do something.

"Oddly enough, if you totally bomb out of high school around here, due to teen pregnancy, drugs, or crime, you get put in an "alternative" high school- no sports program there- instead, they have lots of job shadowing, work study, community outreach projects, and other real world training. Seems if they totally give up on you, thats when they actually think you might need to know how to do something. "

Do you think any school administrators read this post?

A couple of school admins do...

They are part of the choir, though.

Send the voc people to high tech?

Let's see.................

They can bet "certified" in netowrking... but then that work has decreased in employment by 75% in the past three years...

Be in technology..... but there are literally MILES of empty glass buildings here... mowed yards - and no occupants. Used to be full of telecom companies. Whole industry shattered and gone - just like textiles, shoes, consumer electronics (TVs, etc), IT and the like....

Nursing, truck driving, sales, prison guard, security guards, and government - only things showing life this morning in Help Wanted - Dallas MN.

Just what are HS students & Grads supposed to do to make a living?

My son is two years out of HS, goes to JC part time. $8.50 an hour. He is fortunate to find work, and is mostly due that he speaks well and knows English. If he had to pay med insurance or support a family, no way.

SO, the point in all this is......

If the school admins wanted to teach you useful realistic skills, it might be survival on a sub living wage & how to watch TV.

-- ok, rant off now...............

-jr

I'm not going to debate the need for our children to take their futures very seriously, if you want to tell your kids it's ok to play away their learning years,it's ok to go through life fat dumb and happy thats up to you. I'll keep preaching learning, and trade skills to as many of the youth as will listen, I feel that there are plenty of adults taking the other side so I'll keep trying to balance things out. If you think I'm to hard on them thats ok to, I am doing what my conscience tells me to do.
I believe in the old addage "The race isn't always to the swiftest nor to the strongest, but it's damn sure the way to bet"
Kirk

It is serious. You work and study for a reason, though. Job opportunities are in serious reduction all around - especialy for entry level postions of all kinds - especially so in tech.

I didnt say I though it is okay to teach kids to be fat dumb and happy- and I have two kids, and I sure dont tell them that.
I do think you are having a little bit of selective memory, thats all. While I was goofing around, I was also doing other things, reading a lot, and learning on my own how to make all kinds of things, which indirectly lead me to where I am today. Teenagers always look like they are lazy to adults- thats my point. And there are always a bunch of em who somehow turn out okay in spite of all the crazy stuff they do as teenagers.
I try to teach my kids how to see. How to look at any situation, and really see whats going on, whether it is a physical problem like why a machine wont work, or a social problem like why one kid is in trouble and another is not, for doing the same thing- to me, that is the most basic skill. All other skills require that one first- if you cant read a ruler, you cant measure anything, and if you cant measure, then everything you make is crap.

I think the biggest problem with our educational system is that sometime in the thirties, it was redesigned to teach people one thing only- How to be "good citizens", which really means mindless consumers. This was a conscious decision on the part of government, which was told by business that we no longer needed craftsmen and artisans, self starters, but instead people needed to be trained to accept working in factories and on production lines.
I have noticed, as my kids progress thru school, that discipline and obedience become more and more the main thing taught. Academic subjects are just the background for teaching conformity- reinforced by tv, peer pressure, and advertising and consumption. Schools are set up not to challenge individual kids to learn, but to make it easy for the system to process them.
The average kid today is taught not to rock the boat, and you will get your electronic manna.

I can see what you are getting at.

My point was that opportunity all over, including voc, seems to be radically decreasing for (a) kids and (b) those looking to start out and work their way up... Nothing negative about kids at all!

Selling real estate, building, being a banker, selling insurance, nursing, etc.... all depend on a consumer that can pay. That is taking a big hit around here.

Truth is - their opportunity to make a good living is under attack. Predatory insurance, credit scams, and the like.

It is far, far tougher now than 25 years ago...

--jr

Adam-
Even our college kids are dropping behind.

Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 1996

TIMSS Mathematics Scores 12th grade
1. Netherlands
2. Sweden
3. Denmark
4. Switzerland
5. Iceland
6. Norway
7. France
8. New Zealand
9. Australia
10. Canada
11. Austria
12. Slovenia
13. Germany
14. Hungary
15. Italy
16. Russia
17. Lithuania
18. Czech Republic
19. United States
20. Cyprus
21. South Africa

TIMSS Advanced Physics Scores 1996 12th grade
1. Norway
2. Sweden
3. Russia
4. Denmark
5. Slovenia
6. Germany
7. Australia
8. Cyprus
9. Latvia
10. Switzerland
11. Greece
12. Canada
13. France
14. Czech Republic
15. Austria
16. United States

Some more fun facts

Teenage Out-of-Wedlock Births
Year % of all Teen Mothers Unmarried
1960 15
1970 30
1980 48
1986 61
1990 68
1991 69
1992 71
1993 72
1994 76
1995 NA
1996 76

Between 1962 and 1996 the teenage suicide rate increased 155%

Divorce Rates (per 1,000)
United States 20
Sweden 14
England 13
Denmark 12
Canada 11
Netherlands 10
France 9
Germany 9
Japan 6
Italy 2

Illegal Drug Use students aged 15-16 (% using during lifetime)
United States 44.9
United Kingdom 42.0
Ireland 37.0
Netherlands 31.7
Spain 22.1
Italy 21.0
France 15.3
Luxembourg 15.0
Austria 15.0
Sweden 7.6
Finland 5.5
Greece 4.8
Portugal 4.7


These are not pretty trends. It is a society in decline IMHO.

Steve

Steve,

I never for a moment have thought that our countries school system is the best. My friend down the hall from me in my dorm here in college was learning algebra in the 4th grade in China and order of operations in the 3rd grade. My friend who'se parents are from Russia was saying during the USSR, her parents were too learning complex mathematics, algebra and even some calculus before entering their equivilent of highschool. I've heard similar too about India and remember how frustrated my Indian friend's father was when we were in school growing up that his son was doing such wimpy mathematics. When my friend was in the 9th grade his father had already taken to tutoring his son statistics, and calculus that was harder then what that same friend did by the time he got to AP class. While some of these cases may have been out of the norm for the countries, and may have also been due to the government deciding where these kids would go and what track they'd take in school, there's far more to having a sucessful country then having a bunch of well trained human calculators. What's made America be so sucessful is it isn't always how much you know, but how much piss and vinegar you have with in. How hard you're willing to work to get ahead.

I have a friend of mine here who came from Russia in 1991, there her father was earning the same pay as the janitor as an engineer working in some of the USSR's most cutting edge aviation industry. You can bet his desire to succed was not the same level as ours, as mediocracy or going above and beyond were all rewarded the same. I believe that America has a unique way of teaching kids you can make it! Even if you're just a janitor, start your own cleaning company and true your chances of success aren't as high as a lawyer but you too could stand to make millions. All you need is a lot spirit, passion, determination, and luck.

The problem however comes when you don't provide a whole part of the society with the ability to ever learn that they too have skill. If you deny the part of the population who'se talents lie in working with their hands rather then books and math the ability to know they have those talents I don't believe they'll ever take on that desire to succede as they'll feel an utter failure from the start. That is the terrible danger of eliminating vocational schools. I've met machinists struggling to make ends meet, and I've also met ones who are millionaires so it can be done.

So even if our schools test scores aren't to the same level of everyone elses don't worry too much. We don't need human calculators. The real fear is that of people loosing the desire to go out work hard and try to make it. I don't think to the same level we're failing as a society rather other areas of the world such as China and India are learning the sheer power of capitolism however their costs of living are much lower then ours.

Adam

We dont really care about education here in the US. We dont put our money where our mouth is. Every teacher I know, and I know a bunch, says the "no child left behind" is so much hooey- it makes their jobs harder, takes attention from the real problems, and diverts money from where it is needed.
Every teacher I know spends their own money, every week, to buy needed school supplies. Every one works more than the hours they sign up for, and even when they are not working, they are worrying about someone elses kids.
I have volunteered in my kids schools, helping with math, or spelling, and I know without parent volunteers, my schools would be chaos. I intentionally drive my kids for 20 minutes to a neighboring school district, where the income is higher, and the parents have the time to volunteer, the PTA raises lots of money, and the kids get a better education.

It is interesting to me that the top 10 countries in math scores are all "socialist"- meaning they have a mix of socialism and capitalism, which includes much more money from the government for early child care, health care, social services and schools. Many have FREE colleges. I know, we all think we already spend too much on that stuff, and class sizes of 35 are just fine.
Well, based on the scores, that doesnt seem to be so.
And based on my real world experience in real schools right now, I dont think it is either.
No, money alone is not the solution. But if you have ever tried to manage 3 kids 8 years old, imagine trying to manage 30 of em, alone. And teach em something at the same time. Money would sure help, even in my affluent district.

When a person looks at how the various states rank in educational achievement, and then look at the per-student expenditures in the various states, it would seem some states are a lot smarter than others in how they spend their education dollar.

Here in NC, we seem to spend a greater and greater percentage of the money on non-teaching personnel. I have a friend whose dad was the county school superintendent here for a number of years. Joe was telling me a while back that when his father retired in 1967, he had a total of 17 employees in the central school office. By 1987 the school population had increased by 35%, and there were 187 employees in the central office, an 1100% increase. Since that time the school population has remained fairly flat, but the central office has managed to balloon to over 225 employees.

When I finished school in 1969, our high school administration consisted of a principal, assistant principal who was also the band and chorus director, two secretaries, and a guidance counselor. School population about 1000. The same school today has about 900-950 students but there is a principal, 2 assistant principals who do nothing but "principal", 4 guidance counselors, and a secretarial staff of 8. There's about the same number of kids playing the same number of sports today as there was back then, yet the coaching staff has doubled in size. Back then the school had 3 people on the janitorial staff, the school was clean, and the janitors always seemed to have plenty of time to stand around outside smoking and shooting the bull. Now it takes 11 people to do the same job. Just the same as Ries said, the teachers here consistently spend money from their own pockets to buy supplies because the "poor underfunded" school system lacks the money to buy the necessary things.

Most teachers I know despise the management they work under. They're smart enough to see the upward path has nothing to do with being a good teacher, but rather it has everything to do with getting a masters or doctorate in Education Administration and knowing the right people. Actual teaching experience is no longer a factor in the path to the top, and few of the principals in the county have ever spent even 2 years in the classroom. The politician personality and cover-my-ass mentality of the typical principal creates an atmosphere among the teachers where "don't rock the boat" is paramount and the ability to teach is largely immaterial. Citizen control has de-volved from local school committees in each district comprised of interested parents, to an elected school board made up of half-assed politician wanna-be's who serve as a rubber stamp for whatever the county school superintendent and his underlings can dream up as yet another way to blow money without benefitting education.

I dont hang out in the district administrative offices, so I have no idea whether they are wasting lots of money. But for several years I was in the elementary school one morning a week, so I got a pretty good idea how that works. Our school only had 250 kids, and there was about 9 nonteachers on the staff- principal, 3 administrative, 2 janitors, 3 cooks, and they were all busy all the time. No goldbricking that I ever saw.
At Middle School, there were more- counsellors, assistant principals, maybe 5 or 6 administrators, more staff in general for 700 kids.
In both cases lots of help from student teachers, as we have a state teaching college in town, and probably as many parent volunteers in the building as teachers on an average day.
Part of the problem now, as opposed to when we went to school in the 60's- (I am a little younger- I graduated in 72) is that kids today are more screwed up.
Kids show up beaten, raped, hungry, high, drunk, crying, or just tired every day in high school. Yes, the job of making sure kids eat right, sleep at night, dont take drugs, or get pregnant, or steal, is the parents job.
But in our society, many parents dont do it. Instead, they do all that stuff themselves, plus there are lots of cases of babies having babies, so the parent of high school kids can be as young as 25 themselves- still partying hearty.
So the schools have to take on the job of parent, nurse, nutrionist, therapist, policeman, and on and on. No, its not right, but it is the sad reality. I have a friend who teaches high school, who has kids who not only brag about getting pregnant in 10th grade, they brag about having done it a lunch time, at school.
All of this means that it takes more time, more professionals, and more money to run a school today than it did when we were kids.
Every single teacher, administrator, coach, counsellor, and other school employee I have met in the three public schools my kids have gone to have been incredibly dedicated. I may not agree with the politics, or theory, or approach of all of them, but I have yet to meet a slacker who was ripping off the public for tax dolllars. Sure, they may exist, but there arent many of em. I cant speak for other states, or overall trends. I can only report what I have seen, first hand.
And I know my schools could use more money, and if they had it the kids would turn out better. And we still have vo-tech in middle school and high school. Machine shop and welding in the high school, a pretty decent mixed metal/wood shop in the middle school.