When I was in about the 8th grade i had a science teacher who was about 80 years old and had taught my mother.He called us "little snuff dippers’ and would ask questions like “What is that water out there?” (In North Carolina)Someone said “The Ocean” but only a few knew it was the Atlantic Ocean.I fear we are back to those times when no one has a clue.
The strike is not about money. the teachers know and accept that money is limited. It’s about whether you can get fired purely because the class you happen to get does poorly on standardized tests, which is a really bad way to evaluate teachers. Please get the facts before you rant.
Our general society does not “value” education. If we thought it was important, we would pay for it. If we thought good teachers were important, we would pay them appropriately. We could then get teachers who were in the top 25% of their college graduating class. What is the price of an NFL ticket? And we pay that willingly. We “value” NFL entertainment(even though it is highly taxpayer subsidized.), but we do not “value” the education of our society’s children. If you want our children educated, you gotta pay their teachers. You gotta have reasonabel classroom sizes. You gotta listen to professionals who are interested in education and not budget cutting. Instead of using public money to build football stadiums, we need to educate our children.
Employee evaluation is difficult in any environment, unionized or not. I think your suggestion is a good one and contributes to the discussion.-One of the reasons teachers, or any union, resist evaluations is a situation like you have described, or similar ones.-One other comment — all that testing isn’t free. Tests must be developed, kept confidential, administered, and evaluated within context. Even though students may learn during testing, the tests take time away from the classroom. Tests developed by consultants are expensive.-Okay, one other comment — the we know it when we see it phenomenon. Some teachers are execllent and you know it, regardless of test results, and others are just the opposite.
rockngolfer over 11 years ago
When I was in about the 8th grade i had a science teacher who was about 80 years old and had taught my mother.He called us "little snuff dippers’ and would ask questions like “What is that water out there?” (In North Carolina)Someone said “The Ocean” but only a few knew it was the Atlantic Ocean.I fear we are back to those times when no one has a clue.
ARodney over 11 years ago
The strike is not about money. the teachers know and accept that money is limited. It’s about whether you can get fired purely because the class you happen to get does poorly on standardized tests, which is a really bad way to evaluate teachers. Please get the facts before you rant.
eepatt over 11 years ago
Our general society does not “value” education. If we thought it was important, we would pay for it. If we thought good teachers were important, we would pay them appropriately. We could then get teachers who were in the top 25% of their college graduating class. What is the price of an NFL ticket? And we pay that willingly. We “value” NFL entertainment(even though it is highly taxpayer subsidized.), but we do not “value” the education of our society’s children. If you want our children educated, you gotta pay their teachers. You gotta have reasonabel classroom sizes. You gotta listen to professionals who are interested in education and not budget cutting. Instead of using public money to build football stadiums, we need to educate our children.
cjr53 over 11 years ago
Everyone wants a challenge, right?
braindead Premium Member over 11 years ago
Employee evaluation is difficult in any environment, unionized or not. I think your suggestion is a good one and contributes to the discussion.-One of the reasons teachers, or any union, resist evaluations is a situation like you have described, or similar ones.-One other comment — all that testing isn’t free. Tests must be developed, kept confidential, administered, and evaluated within context. Even though students may learn during testing, the tests take time away from the classroom. Tests developed by consultants are expensive.-Okay, one other comment — the we know it when we see it phenomenon. Some teachers are execllent and you know it, regardless of test results, and others are just the opposite.