In Chicago, 29,000 teachers were on strike because their corrupt union told them to. This is just another example of the sheer selfishness of these teachers. As they head back to the classroom, I hope they live in fear of losing their over-paid, over-rated jobs for good.
One of the complaints from the teachers in Illinois is the lack of air conditioning in the schools. Oh come on. What a bunch of babies. Kids have been producing in sweat shops for decades and you’re telling me they cannot read and write in a crowded room that's 90 degrees? Please. Most of those public school kids are so fat they could probably stand to sweat out a few Twinkies anyway.
And don’t get me started on the 16% pay increase over a four year period. Sure. Maybe the cost of living in Chicago is higher than a skyscraper on stilts. Maybe many of the teachers spend as much as $5,000 a year to supply their students with the basics. But an average of $74,000 a year for salary?? With that kind of money, they probably spend their entire lazy-filled summers on their yachts and taking trips to Morocco and Italy.
How dare these teachers ask for a higher wage just because they'll be working longer hours? Sure, I get double pay when I work overtime in the private sector. But maybe they should have chosen a better profession. And all this talk about grading papers all night. Please. How difficult can it be to write the letter “F” over and over?
These thugs are complaining about having only one nurse to every 3 schools. Why should taxpayers have to pay for nurses to take care of kids who aren’t ours anyway? They are schools, not hospitals and anyone should be able to put on a bandage.
Teachers and their supporters are worried about the privatization of schools – leaving public schools in the dust. I say go ahead!! This is one industry that has the opportunity to make CEOs and stockholders a whole heck of a lot of cashola. Let these kids do double duty as students and commodities – what’s the harm in that? Public services never did nothin’ for nobody. Those damn fire fighters are lazy wimps. Those police officers do nothing but eat donuts. And those parks? Who needs them? They are just a mecca for good for nothin’ homeless people anyway.
Oh! And they don’t like the idea of being evaluated by standardized tests? What are they so afraid of? Standardized tests rock. Corporate synergy (not sure what that is really, but I heard it on Fox) has made it easy for high-profiting corporations to bank on these tests. And we all know that when profit is a motivator, the best interests of the masses will remain a priority. And so what if some of these corporations are in bed with other corporations that will benefit greatly if public schools fail and privatization becomes the mainstream. Again…money = good. Teachers = bad.
They say it has been proven that these tests consistently reflect family wealth, physical health and neighborhood quality differences rather than school effectiveness. Well maybe that is just another way of thinning out the herd. Unhealthy kids in bad neighborhoods can work harder if they really want to and if they can’t – that is clearly the teacher’s fault. Get rid of those ineffective teachers and leave those dumber kids at the bottom where nature intended.
I have heard educators complain about the heavy police presence in schools, too many metal detectors taking up space and time and causing a distraction. I agree. Get rid of them all. After all, students should be armed. It IS their constitutional right to protect themselves. Maybe all these school shootings could finally turn into a fair fight. And in the bad schools, let them just kill each other off…less for society to worry about.
I say fire all these teachers. We can easily find a ton of jobless people on the street to teach our kids. I don’t care if they do not have the proper training or education. Anyone can do it. Hell, even my 14-year-old niece babysits. How hard can it be to sit at a desk all day, spout off about how NObama is such a great President and throw some liberal propaganda at the kids for them to read. Sure, countries like Finland have the highest scoring students and their teachers happen to be the most educated. But this is AMERICA! If you think Finland is so great – then move to Asia.
Lazy, greedy thugs. They were probably just striking to get a few extra days off from work. I think it is obvious what needs to happen. We need a war against teachers, unions and all public employees. Not only because war is cool and we can blow crap up, but also because these people are sucking money away from the people who REALLY need it…like Koch Industries, Exxon Mobile and JP Morgan. Because remember…they are people, too.
**Today’s sarcasm was brought to you with thanks to all those insightful, open-minded, compassionate commenters, bloggers and editorial writers on Patch, Journal Times and all over the internet.
The telling comment you made was that the "the public can be totally unreasonable". It is that attitude that stand in the way of better education. Honesly, I will admit that the "public" doesn't hold public education accountable enough. Long before their were unions, public education in America funtioned at a much higher level than since it has organized. I can tell you that at least in the world of instrumentality charter schools, by law they can not discriminate in any way shape or form in accepting students. In ours, they do not pick and choose the best of the best. In the private sector, the religious schools canstantly out perform most pulic schools. Charters are a new territory, but no one has ever called for the elimination of public schools. Stop the excuses and find solutions. That is what we are doing.
Do other teachers put in the initial effort that Escalante did before getting sick or slowing down? Some do, but like Hoffa said, they tend to be the exception. You just don't get it! "Was it because he was putting too much of himself into his work, as you would have him do, leaving not enough for his family? " Escalante wanted to dedicate himself to his work! No one forced him to do so. What Escalante displayed was the mindset of a true professional - not a whining unionista. And that is how he earned the respect that you now whine about not receiving from people! "As for lobbying against bi-lingual education in California, it makes no sense." Obviously, you teach them English first. Did Hoffa really need to point out the obvious to you? And then you wonder why you command such little respect. "Blaming the union for his cancer is ludicrous." Receiving serious death threats against both himself and his family induced a lot of stress. And yes, his wife largely attributed his battles with with union for causing and spreading his cancer. The unions tried to shut him down for teaching over the maximum number of kids allowed, teacher longer hours than allowed, and other contract violations. It upset him greatly and caused him a lot of grieve and stress. What does it say when one of the best teachers ever stood strongly opposed to the teachers union? As McBride pointed out, you're not explaining - you're whining!
And everyone pretty much respects such teachers that give 110%, don't whine and complain, and makes it 100% about the kids instead of themselves. You don't gain respect the way that you've chosen with staged sick-outs, marching in front of the capital with blue fist posters, recalling public officials, using the schools as recruitment centers for the Democratic Party, etc. The way that you've chosen to try to earn respect is the text book example of how not to garner respect from the community at large! If you're blind to that, then all Hoffa can say is WOW!!!
Dave, Dave, Dave! Just when it appeared that you were actually explaining instead of whining, you jump back into the whining! And much of the whining is so far from reality, it's scary! "Recalls are legal, and demonstrations are legal." Doing what's legal doesn't always earn you the respect you demand, does it? Everything the Koch Bros do have been decided to be legal, and yet, the Democratic left-wing has very little respect for them. Just because it's legal doesn't mean it will get you what you desire. And engaging in those tactics, regardless of how legal they were, lost your profession a lot of respect. And instead of disassociating yourself from those acts, instead you choose to embrace them, and yet still have the nerve to complain about not getting any respect - that's simply incredible! "They want champagne results on a beer budget." Only Switzerland spends more on public education than we do. Otherwise every single nation spends less on public education than we do, and currently 8 of those nations are achieving better results than us for far less money. What's wrong with that picture? The problem isn't funding - it's whining instead of just doing the job that you voluntarily signed up for!
Please don't misinterpret Hoffa. Hoffa concurs that as a society, we can only provide the opportunity - it's up to the individual student to take full advantage of the opportunity that we provide them with. But for the money that we spend on public education, number 2 in all the world, we should be achieving number 2 results, but we're not. Currently we're number 9. For that money, shouldn't we be getting the very best teachers available? As a taxpayer, don't you agree with this? You also can't deny that the union acts to protect bad teachers, as opposed to assuring only the very best in quality. Otherwise why would the union be so adamantly opposed to merit based pay? You're also well aware of the challenges that your profession faces before choosing such a career path. Thus shouldn't it be expected that all teachers are ready to take on those challenges head on as opposed to complaining and trying to point the finger elsewhere? It's true that no matter how good the teacher is, some students just won't respond - but not a large majority of them. You also don't gain much respect by claiming that improving the system will require even more money, in light of the facts as they are. Do you honestly not realize this? Hoffa was really liking the explanation part, and concurs with most of it, but could do without the whining part. That's all Hoffa will say.
Simply put, the people paying the bills are not happy with the results they are seeing. The most effective person in education is the teacher. It's not the administrator, or cental office. The one thing I can tell you with 20+ years working with education, is that simple idea has been lost in failing districts, and hailed in successful ones. The singlemost important relationship is between the teacher and student. It's not even with the parent. You have no ability to change their homelife, upbringing or socio-economic status of their family. In the districts I have worked with, that is the first thing I tell the administrators. So breaking down those walls are the first step to reform. Just a first thought to ponder... I will have a blog on this this week to go into more detail this coming week.
70% of a work day X 70% of a work year = 70% failing students What could be wrong with this equation? Paying teachers for more study hall?
See Koven, you and Hoffa do have some things in common ;-)
We are in a time of financial contration worldwide and have it has been happening for the past two decades. It is now affecting you personally, but many have had if affect them years ago. In all areas and careers, individuals are being asked to do more for less. Just to remind you, the community, not parents solely, but at large sees the data and sees their tax bills rise. They see the headlines, and a lot of the data in large school districts is not good. Graduation rates are plummenting, habitual truancy is on the rise and yes, test scores are not good. Let me use the analogy of buying what you thought was a good car, and you paid top dollar for it. Weeks after you buy it, the engine isn't running right. Then the transmission isn't running right. No matter how much money you put into it, it still isn't working right. In most cases, you are mad at the dealership that sold you the car because that is your direct line of frustration and easiest contact to reach. When in reality, it is the manufacturer that deserves your ire. Same in the schools. The teacher is the easiest cont to let your frustrations out on. When in reality, it is the administration or the school board behind what isn't working.
When I look at reforming education, that is what I see in say the WKCE scores, not that teachers are not doing a good job. But what I do see in individual classrooms is reflected by ongoing trends and can formulate that if the curriculum is aligned, and certain areas seem to create a pattern of underperformance by students, then maybe that teacher is not teaching certain areas that are required. But, and I say this as an area that can and needs to change before respect is earned by the community, their are areas of professionism that has been lost in the teaching profession. Teachers are not dressing professional, and in some cases, not even business casual. Some dress like gang members, and some dress like bums. While your union may have given you the right to dress like that, that doesn't mean it is the right thing to do to gain respect. It carries on with a lot of rights you have, but don't earn you the respect of even your students.
Again with RUSD, I excessive waste with the number of administrators the district has. Area Superintendents? At a cost of almost a half million dollars, I need to see some justification for those positions, and the results educationally before I think that is not waste. Every department has a department head, high schools have three or more principal positions, and the list goes on and on. Someone needs to tell me why we have well over two hundred administrators for 20,000 students when Milwaukee has half with 98,000 students. Both I might add have similar results academically. But the same can be said about some of the perks for teachers as well. Lifetime pensions when retiring at age 55? Unheard of in the private sector. Bump that up to 30 yrs service at age 60 (still better than the private sector) and billions could be poured into classrooms nationwide. You see, most that want to reform the financing of education have been hamstrung by these perks for decades. The answer every year was to raise taxes. And the taxpayers are saying enough is enough. It's not that you don't have enough money, it is how it is spent that is what people are objecting to.
They love socialist liberals in Illinois, especially in Chicago. Instead of blaming yourself as a liberal, you continue to play class warfare and ask for more redistribution. Liberals are 100% responsible for this, but keep crying about rich people and we need more socialism and stuff http://www.usdebtclock.org/state-debt-clocks/state-of-illinois-debt-clock.html
http://www.usdebtclock.org/state-debt-clocks/state-of-illinois-debt-clock.html
It is the board's role for holding accountable the experts, i.e. Superintendent, Chief Financial Officer. If you think it is something else, you oblviously haven't followed the board for the past 6 years. They don't need to know the latest craze in education; they need to monitor the results of those that they put in charge, and hold them accountable. What is needed is better monitoring by the boards, and actually acknowledging problems exist and to challenge the professionals on why they are not working. And ultimately, if they don't improve, holding them accountable. In turn, the Supt. and CFO need to hold those that work for them accountable for their results. Believe it or not, it doesn't take a degree in education or anything else to use common sense and analyze data.