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Yep, good thing I have some very good friends who are teachers since I hate 'em so much.
Who I really,really dislike is the over paid bloated administration that operates very much like our Federal Government.
I've personally seen at the high school level how that kingdom is ruled over by Administrators from the very top down to the principal and how they've bullied and threatened great teachers for having the absolute gall to speak their (highly educated) minds. I think many people would be surprised to find out that teachers have no problem with bad teachers being fired, they know who the bad ones are, realize that they should go as they make everyone else's job harder since the good teachers frequently have to clean up the mess the bad ones create.
Yep, good thing I have some very good friends who are teachers since I hate 'em so much.
Who I really,really dislike is the over paid bloated administration that operates very much like our Federal Government.
I've personally seen at the high school level how that kingdom is ruled over by Administrators from the very top down to the principal and how they've bullied and threatened great teachers for having the absolute gall to speak their (highly educated) minds. I think many people would be surprised to find out that teachers have no problem with bad teachers being fired, they know who the bad ones are, realize that they should go as they make everyone else's job harder since the good teachers frequently have to clean up the mess the bad ones create.
This is a very accurate statement. We also think the union ought to do a better job of vetting who they defend all guns blazing, as getting rid of one of the horrible teachers is cause for celebration among the other teachers in the building. The problem is that we also don't want to lose due process rights for the rest of us because there are principals who want to get rid of competent teachers for reasons that have nothing to do with doing what is in the best interest of the students. We too wish principals and administrators would go through the needed effort to get rid of the bad apples.
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This is a very accurate statement. We also think the union ought to do a better job of vetting who they defend all guns blazing, as getting rid of one of the horrible teachers is cause for celebration among the other teachers in the building. The problem is that we also don't want to lose due process rights for the rest of us because there are principals who want to get rid of competent teachers for reasons that have nothing to do with doing what is in the best interest of the students. We too wish principals and administrators would go through the needed effort to get rid of the bad apples.
Here's a good one for you, I personally know of a teacher who allowed her students to use the computers in the lab to view porn and other objectionable content along with being a very,very poor teacher in general.
When confronted by a parent her answer to it was (laughing) "so what, nothing can happen to me, I've got tenure, I'm just biding my time until retirement".
THAT is what some/many administrations tolerate.
I should add that this is a 5th grade teacher I'm talking about.
The average teacher compensation is in the $80,000/yr range, (including benefits) according to news reports here. If compensation package is prorated to account for the 14weeks of summer vacation, the number goes up even higher.
I know it's fun to imagine that teachers get 14 weeks of vacation, but they really get 14 weeks of unpaid leave. During that leave they ELECT to receive some of the money that they earn through the school year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wutitiz
I would not mind if teachers were paid even more than this if it were done on the basis of merit and achievement. The WEA will not permit that. We spend more per pupil than any other nation except Switzerland and get mediocre results.
Let 'em go on strike, and stay on strike. Too bad there is no Reagan around to fire them.
'Merit and achievement'.
How do you determine the 'merit and achievement' of a teacher assigned to an inner city school where 90% of the parents take no interest in their children's education, the students are undisciplined, unruly, and uninterested in what the teacher is required by law to teach them, and culturally disadvantaged students cannot be disciplined meaningfully because the administration demands an end to disparate impact. Children are not factory piecework that you can count to determine a teacher's productivity.
And we spend more per pupil because we are the only nation that demands school districts educate EVERY student, regardless of ability and desire to learn. This requirement was put into place to keep teens out of the full-time workforce for as long as possible in the USA to shore up full time wages.
It's all about the children....until you have to work 30 extra minutes with just a ten percent raise on that average $69K base salary. At least admit it's not about the children at all!
Speaking of children, I can't stand to see them used as political props. It's manipulative. If they have trouble lifting a picket sign, they shouldn't be picketing. They'll support whatever their parents tell them to. Red Vines are better than Twizzlers? OK, I'll hold that sign! Parents will always phrase things in a way that is flattering to their cause. I don't want to see evangelicals sending kids out to picket with abortion signs, either. It's all so gross, and teaches them nothing because they're mostly too young to understand and form a meaningful, critical opinion of their own.
Bet a lot of kids are getting a great first day of education this school year. At day camp.
So you wouldn't be at all upset if your boss told you that you were going to work an extra 2.5 weeks per year without any kind of a raise?
I get it, there are some things that teachers unions do that are completely assinine and selfish. But we, as a country, have become so anti-worker and pro-corporation that we sometimes lose sight of reality with stories like these. Teachers, police, and firefighters are the few remaining workers/professions that have been able to resist the anti-worker trend that has been going on in this country for the past few decades. Rather than complaining about it, all average workers should be putting in an effort to improve their own pay and conditions.
And, FWIW, millions of teachers willingly put in their own time before or after school every day without asking for extra pay. It's when more time is demanded, especially when so much teaching time on a daily basis is wasted on meaningless tasks, that teachers become upset.
So you wouldn't be at all upset if your boss told you that you were going to work an extra 2.5 weeks per year without any kind of a raise?
I get it, there are some things that teachers unions do that are completely assinine and selfish. But we, as a country, have become so anti-worker and pro-corporation that we sometimes lose sight of reality with stories like these. Teachers, police, and firefighters are the few remaining workers/professions that have been able to resist the anti-worker trend that has been going on in this country for the past few decades. Rather than complaining about it, all average workers should be putting in an effort to improve their own pay and conditions.
And, FWIW, millions of teachers willingly put in their own time before or after school every day without asking for extra pay. It's when more time is demanded, especially when so much teaching time on a daily basis is wasted on meaningless tasks, that teachers become upset.
It's not an "anti-worker" trend. It's a well founded belief that unions exist to protect the incompetent worker and to make themselves money.
How many times do you hear about unions going to the mat for a dope smoking,lazy,totally inept or completely incompetent worker? Frequently, especially in the UAW and Teachers Unions. Unions were once highly respected UNTIL they ruined their own reputation. This isn't anti-worker, it's anti-sleazy union.
It's not an "anti-worker" trend. It's a well founded belief that unions exist to protect the incompetent worker and to make themselves money.
How many times do you hear about unions going to the mat for a dope smoking,lazy,totally inept or completely incompetent worker? Frequently, especially in the UAW and Teachers Unions. Unions were once highly respected UNTIL they ruined their own reputation. This isn't anti-worker, it's anti-sleazy union.
The union lawn mowers working for the Seattle ISD make more than the teachers.
The union carpenters working for the Seattle ISD make more than the teachers.
How many school ISD's do you know that have their own carpenters on staff ?
It's not an "anti-worker" trend. It's a well founded belief that unions exist to protect the incompetent worker and to make themselves money.
How many times do you hear about unions going to the mat for a dope smoking,lazy,totally inept or completely incompetent worker? Frequently, especially in the UAW and Teachers Unions. Unions were once highly respected UNTIL they ruined their own reputation. This isn't anti-worker, it's anti-sleazy union.
So a few sensational stories and all workers in a union are bad apples? How often do you hear about the union going to bat for an employee who was wrongly accused of something and the higher-ups later had to retract? Never because although it happens quite frequently, these don't make for the narrative that the media and others want to push.
There is definitely an anti-worker trend in this country and it's fueled in part by this only partially accurate idea that unions do nothing but protect bad workers. Of course there is room for improving unions and that is something leaders need to be more vigilant about. But to use a few stories to paint unions as a whole and all members as lazy and/or incompetent is unfair.
The smartest thing the 1% in this country has done to the average American is to get us to argue for other people to be paid less.
Fast food workers want too much money, teachers make too much money, this job or that job isn't worthy of that level of pay.
Instead of us coming together to fight for higher wages for ALL Americans we've turned against each other and effectively helping the 1% in this country make even more money while paying employees even less.
We all need to wake up and demand more money for every average level worker.
Or we can do what we have done for decades and demand the current administration get us a real recovery when business begin fighting over employees again and wages go up like capitalism is supposed to work. Instead we have a limping economy where employees fight over scraps and we have 100 million able body workers not working. Or we can continue with the class warfare, and pointing fingers at everyone but ourselves.
Then, who would teach? Teaching used to be considered a calling. People went into it because they cared about children. Now, so many people malign teachers and want to cut their pay and benefits. There are teacher shortages in parts of the country, and I expect this to get worse. Who would want to do a job that everyone seems to think they can do better for so little pay and even less recognition?
Teaching is not a calling. It's a job.
The places that pay well have many teachers lined up and applying, the places that pay poorly pick from the low hanging fruit.
Granted, i'm sure it's a fulfilling career that requires a certain disposition- but it is not charity work, nor is it mission work.
If there are teacher shortages, just like any 'business' that can't find employees- you raise the pay or incorporate training in the hiring process so you can increase the selection pool.
Mayors, School Boards, Unions and districts who have had long term vacancies or those at the beginning of the school year should be seriously fined and disciplined.
Taxpayers are infuriated by paying more simply because of the sheer number of educators out there.
Raising and rearing children effectively is incredibly expensive. Ask any parent.
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