I have a hard time thinking of a profession that I find more despicable than teaching. Crushing their unions should be the primary goal of our country in the coming years if we have even the slightest desire to improve our schools.
Rob | Homepage | 03.14.07 - 2:16 pm | #

Vouchers and private schools solve this problem quite nicely.
Area Man | 03.14.07 - 5:18 pm | #

I am not an idealist, so I don't blame the poor performance of students entirely on unionized teachers. The reality is that family dysfunction is the #1 cause of poor student performance.

Still, I hate the fact that teachers are unionized. And the cry that they are not paid well is disingenuous at best. They are paid better than many professionals, such as architects. Plus, the current and retirement benefits they get are extreme and out of market and vastly exceed those of the taxpayers who foot the bill.
Leonardo | 03.14.07 - 7:27 pm | #

Leo,

I don't know, or care if I could be described as an idealist. The reality is that family dysfunction is a real problem that has been around for quite some time, and attempting to fix a problem that has a myriad of causes would not be productive and surely cause more problems in the process.

Besides, is it the #1 problem? I dunno, I guess if you mean everything starts with the family, then sure. But I have to think a little longer about it before I buy into that logic.

I hate to bring personal experience into it; but I spent over 4 years as a high school coach and substitute teacher at all levels. You see neglected kids from bad families succeed on a regular basis...You know when you see kids from across the spectrum not succeed? In classes with poor, lazy teachers. That's where quality and productive teachers enter the equation. You know how you get them? Make them fear losing their job. A lot of people enter teaching for the same reason they enter the government bureacracy. Stable employment. A lot of factors cause teaching to be such a stable career, but it is indisputable that the inability of school officials to be able to fire teachers is a main one. Increase school competition with vouchers and choice and make them doubly scared. You know who fights those logical steps? The powerful teacher unions. It all comes back to them.

Sit in a teacher’s lounger, esp. on the high school level. They aren't discussing teaching strategies, or how they got that one tough kid to take a hold of a subject and thrive. Instead it's a lot of politics. A lot of disgusting politics. Way too much time is spent listening to the equivalent of the shop steward go on and on about what they need to fight. And they quickly shun those that don't develop their group mentality.

Vouchers, choice, giving more power to local officials to fire bad teacher is how you break the teachers unions. I think it is possible, as soon as we as a society shake this insane feeling of sympathy towards teachers.
Rob | Homepage | 03.14.07 - 8:30 pm | #