Quote:I don't know how it is elsewhere, but i know that the union in this area has fought for pay raises for teachers here.


Last year, our school board decided to freeze salaries.  No Cost of Living Adjustment.  No Step Increase.  Nothing.  My wife made the same this year, as she did last year.  This is despite the fact that teachers in this area have been leaving in droves because of how low the salary is in our area (especially compared to neighboring counties).  Worse yet, employees from other districts that came into our area came with an advantage -- they got full credit for all the years they've worked, while teachers who have worked here for their whole careers did not.  Thanks to the union fighting for teachers in the area, she's able to get back on track as far as her step schedule goes.  I can only imagine where my wife's salary would be at if she didn't have someone fighting for her and other teachers like her.


My wife's first year teaching -- she nearly lost her job due to a RIF (reduction in force).  Had they gone through with it (and they only didn't because so many teachers in her department were leaving) there would have been three more starving children since we could not live on my salary alone.  The union would have protected her there.  


Hold educators responsible for the success/failure of their students? And how exactly do you plan on determining success/failure?  A test?  And what about other factors?  I wonder how other professions would feel if their pay were dependent on teenagers doing what they were told.   And not just one or two teenagers.  27 teenagers.  Times the number of classes taught.



 

And you know what?  A lot of teachers buy their students lunches when they can't afford them.  And they certainly spend their own money on supplies.  I know my wife spends plenty of money (even after the allotted money she's given, which isn't much to being with) on supplies for her classroom.  Many of which supplies disappear.  Some even buy things for their students that they need and can't afford.  A friend of mine back in high school had a teacher offer to pay his rent on the condition that he finish school.  (Sadly he dropped out instead).  My wife has a student this year who's family is in really bad financial shape, and she'd always share her lunch with the student.  She's also helping her find scholarships so that she can go to college, because she's a fantastic student. 


What are the unions doing with their money?  Well fighting for teachers to begin with.  Especially things like court battles..  Of course not every union is the same.  And there is corruption within some unions, but that doesn't make them worthless.  If unions were truly worthless, we'd no longer have them.  

 

You just gave the perfect example of why teachers unions need to go.  Again, teaching in a government school is a government job.  There is a pay scale and rules associated with that.  Now please don't get me wrong as I admire most teachers and even thought about doing so when I got out of the service.  However, teachers going into the workforce know (or should know) what the salary and benefits are for the position.

 

As far as measuring success, I don't advocate using a "standardized test", and I don't really have an answer.  But, there are so many that come out of our government public school system with a diploma that isn't earned.  There are so many that are "advanced" just to get them "out of the way".  I see it every day in my current job.  People that can't do basic addition and subtraction.  People that can't write or form a comprehensible sentence.  These are guys and gals that are supposed to be operating some of our most sophisticated technology, yet they are as dumb as a box of rocks.

 

I once was told by an EE graduate (electronics engineering) when he couldn't hook up a simple battery powered circuit without making it look like he was welding "I'm an electronics engineer, not an electrician".  This was a guy that had not only graduated from our government school system, but he also graduated from a highly respected university.  He couldn't even perform relatively simple math calculations on a white board.  He had to refer to his calculator (smart phone) repeatedly.

 

I would suggest that measuring this particular guy's "education" would probably label it as a failure.  Yet the "teachers" in his past gave him "passing grades" and allowed him to get to where he is.

---