How to Kill a Profession

[madfloridian]

From The Superintendent's Chair:

How to kill a profession

So you want to kill a profession.

It's easy.

First you demonize the profession. To do this you will need a well-organized, broad-based public relations campaign that casts everyone associated with the profession as incompetent and doing harm. As an example, a well-orchestrated public relations campaign could get the front cover of a historically influential magazine to invoke an image that those associated with the profession are "rotten apples."



Then you remove revenue control from the budget responsibilities of those at the local level. Then you tell the organization to run like a business which they clearly cannot do because they no longer have control of the revenue. As an example, you could create a system that places the control for revenue in the hands of the state legislature instead of with the local school board or local community.

Then you provide revenue that gives a local agency two choices: Give raises and go into deficit or don't give raises so that you can maintain a fund balance but in the process demoralize employees. As an example, in Michigan there are school districts that have little to no fund balance who have continued to give raises to employees and you have school districts that have relatively healthy fund balances that have not given employees raises for several years.

Then have the state tell the local agency that it must tighten its belt to balance revenue and expenses. The underlying, unspoken assumption being that the employees will take up the slack and pay for needed supplies out of their own pockets.

Additionally , introduce "independent" charters so that "competition" and "market-forces" will "drive" the industry. However, many of these charters, when examined, give the illusion of a better environment but when examined show no improvement in service. The charters also offer no comprehensive benefits or significantly fewer benefits for employees. So the charters offer no better quality for "customers" and no security for employees but they ravage the local environment.

I don't think the article made clear that when a child moves to a charter school, public money goes with them. That money goes to schools whose finances are unregulated and often held unaccountable.

The money that made it possible for America to have a system of free public education for everyone is now all too often going to private companies.

The public schools and teachers have no resources to run ads to defend themselves against the corporate raiders who can get their agenda on the front of magazines like Time.

[Fred Sanders]

1. TIME and CNN once were not total tools of Wall Street and religious bias mixed with opinion.

[madfloridian]

2. You are right. Seems there was a better time when they were not so biased.

[ND-Dem]

121. no; we were just more trusting. but cnn *was* better, i think, in the turner era.

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. TIME was founded by one of the most conservative men in US history, Henry Luce

TIME was always an organ for the Republican Party.

[dhol82]

30. Perhaps in that era

Republicans (conservatives) were not the over weaning pricks that they are now?

[alcibiades_mystery]

61. Henry Luce was a conservative maniac to rival Ted Cruz

His magazine(s) (Time, Life, Fortune, others) were just as wacko conservative then as they are now. Hell, Time wrote glowing articles about Mussolini.

Learn your history.

[KansDem]

104. Back in the 1960s, when I was in my mid-teens...

My family subscribed to "Newsweek."

I once asked my stepfather why we didn't also take "Time" as I thought having two sources a week for news and information might be beneficial, he answered something to the effect that "Sure, if you want the Catholic view."

I really didn't understand what he meant, but now, after several decades, I see what he was driving at...

[KamaAina]

129. Not to mention that other guy from WWII who was their Man of the Year

[Duval]

39. I remember "when" also.

CNN went down the drain as far as I'm concerned during the Bush years (W). As for TIME, I remember growing up and looking forward to their next issue. I don't remember the year that changed, but why buy it when I know it'll be full of right wing "el torro poo poo"? It's enough avoiding the MSM, and I'm sticking with DU and FSTV.

[Enthusiast]

59. Yes, once upon a time.

It was a different and much better nation.

[ND-Dem]

119. time used to be (maybe still is, though it's increasingly irrelevant) a CIA outpost.

Among the executives who lent their cooperation to the Agency were Williarn Paley of the Columbia Broadcasting System, Henry Luce of Tirne Inc., Arthur Hays Sulzberger of the New York Times, Barry Bingham Sr. of the LouisviIle Courier‑Journal, and James Copley of the Copley News Service. Other organizations which cooperated with the CIA include the American Broadcasting Company, the National Broadcasting Company, the Associated Press, United Press International, Reuters, Hearst Newspapers, Scripps‑Howard, Newsweek magazine, the Mutual Broadcasting System, the Miami Herald and the old Saturday Evening Post and New York Herald‑Tribune.

By far the most valuable of these associations, according to CIA officials, have been with the New York Times, CBS and Time Inc.

http://www.carlbernstein.com/magazine_cia_and_media.php

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Depends on the profession.

Lawyers and realtors rely on trust. They lose trust and their professions go bust.

Which makes you wonder how they have lasted this long.

[madfloridian]

4. Lawyers, realtors, doctors don't usually get slammed on covers of Time.

They don't usually have a network dedicate a whole show called Education Nation which is strictly "reformers".

Not arguing though because there's already enough hatred toward teachers around here.

Just quoting a post with which I agree.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. Just saying,

maybe Time is slamming the wrong profession.

[madfloridian]

7. Could be.

But I'd hate to do without any of them. Thanks for the response.

[Dream Girl]

8. You have a choice of your doctor, lawyer or realtor.

With public school teachers, you do not.

[salib]

16. Lame.

The "Choice" argument.

If you have sufficient money (thousands for a retainer of a lawyer) you have a choice of ambulance chasers. Not the ones who are really good, but better than nothing. If you are a 1%er your options are better.

Same for doctors, and with insurance, the "choices" are more regulated (not necessarily by Govt, but by insurance companies) still.

Etc.

Now, try the "choice" of charters, and as stated in the OP, they are not better and often worse, for both students AND staff.

It is money, you guys, and these vultures are squeezing the public schools (and our taxes) dry.

Again, stop with the tea party, Coke-inspired, talking points.

[Enthusiast]

60. Funny how it worked for many decades until the profiteers decided they wanted more.

Then they hired internet liars to sway public opinion.

[whereisjustice]

110. You meant to say "The rich have a choice of their". Fixed it for you.

[TNNurse]

18. Lawyers and doctors get away

with awful things. Lawyers give people false hope and take their money...estates, injuries, "bad medicine cases".
Doctors cover for each other all the time.

It just does not get the attention from Time.

[elias7]

80. Ok, you do know there are lawyers and doctors in DU

And these kind of blanket generalizations are more inflammatory than accurate. Of course, you may recuse yourself of flaming by accusing me of playing that game of "not all doctors"

[TNNurse]

82. Certainly I did not mean all

I have worked with some incredibly decent and wonderful doctors. There are lawyers who make things better and fairer for their clients and the public. There are awful horrible nurses, too. No profession is clear from problems.

[elias7]

111. Perhaps it is fair to say that all professions have their profiteers and exploiters

But most doctors, nurses and lawyers I have met or worked with are honorable hard working people. It is a shame that the few dishonor the many.

[Baitball Blogger]

122. They also hide their conflicts of interest so they can intentionally provide false legal advice

to people who have been harmed by their high paying client. What makes this so nefarious, is that that high paying client may be pushing an agenda hatched by the status quo and they can only achieve their objective if they skirt the law.

I think our world is in a state of collapse, and Time magazine better get smarter about who they should be investigating.

[Dustlawyer]

54. Trial Lawyers are used to justify more tort reform

They blow up the worst examples and make shit up. They have caps on damages because of "frivolous" cases. That doesn't even make sense!
The McDonalds coffee case is a prime example. Stella Liebeck almost died and had her labia and clitoris removed due to third degree burns. Mickey D's had jacked up the temperature of the coffee to keep it fresh longer and get more coffee out of the same beans.
Because lawyers no one else gets severely burned by coffee anymore, exposed to asbestos and die... Corporations and their lobbyists have eroded the rights of Americans who are eager to slam attorneys.
Teachers are but the latest victims of the corporate MSM and the Plutocrats behind them.

[raven mad]

56. Yep, Dustlawyer - likening lawyers to unions, even so - without either, we'd be in deeper doo doo

than we are now.

Without unions, we'd be working 70 hour weeks at minimum wage.
Without unions, we'd have had no company supplying even a minimum of health insurance or life insurance.
Without unions, children would be laboring.

Without lawyers, the unions would not have won even the above.

[Enthusiast]

62. +1!

[Baitball Blogger]

124. The term "lawyer" is much like the term "government"

They are words that are too broad to be helpful when we try to define the problems that each is adding to our lives.

[raven mad]

133. Absolutely, Baitball - as are "cops".........

It all depends on the person.

[chervilant]

45. You know, I find these types of "naysaying" posts tiresome.

I get the impression that you either didn't read the OP carefully, or you just want to invalidate or repudiate madfloridian's observations. Or, are you simply obfuscating by bringing up other, unrelated professions?

Over the past five decades, I have witnessed, both personally and professionally, the disintegration of our system of public education. Corporatist pseudo-educators like Michelle Rhee and Bill Gates insist that they are deeply concerned about educating our youth, yet the outcome of their interference has been privatization for personal gain, more standardized testing, and virulent derogation of teachers and teachers' unions.

Our nation ranks near the bottom with regards to "educating" our children. When teachers are required to 'teach to a test,' to avoid succoring critical thinking, and to ignore the ravages of poverty while being expected to provide vital resources purchased with their OWN money, there is something fundamentally wrong with the system.

We owe our children a great deal more.

[madfloridian]

55. Yes. "We owe our children a great deal more"

So much harm is being done to them now.

[chervilant]

89. You remain one of my fave DUers, madfloridian

and I always click on a title with your name beneath.

After much mental agony (and acrobatics!), I have submitted my application to teach math in the rural school district within which I reside. I have nary a hope of getting an interview, so perhaps I can relax in a day or two. lol

I am so glad that you remain an advocate for teachers and our children!

[turbinetree]

88. Agree

You always hear that the charter / private school is better and that the tax dollars from the public to the charter /private is going to help (nice propaganda maneuvers), when I went to school we had at most 10-15 students in the class room, and now what you get is the downsizing of the public system, putting the class room up to 25-40 students, a recipe for failure, and a misuse of the teacher to become a model cookie cutter / baby sitter to achieve a passing grade by a test and then if they don't make the grade they fire, blame the teacher and cry for a change to a for profit system run by some CEO and staff that in a lot of cases have credit cards to pay off car loans--- i.e. like in Delaware, with no financial oversight-------amazing.
But when a public institution is involved----look for teachers to blame and look for blame at the word public education
The teacher may have one year with the student in grade school on a individual one on one basis with a smaller class size to instruct the student to learn from the teacher. We are ranked 18th in education, in 1960-through 1980's we were 1 and 4, but we had smaller class size to student to teacher ratio.
We have mayors and Congress and other legislatures attacking the public system as failure because teachers are union, have publicly paid benefits etc ....... the same old talking points of blame.
What is ironic most of them got there education from a low paid dedicated teacher in the public sector-----enough is enough, my teachers wanted me to learn and I wanted to learn because I was give the opportunity through a smaller teacher / individual class structure in the public education system

Thank you again

[chervilant]

91. Thank YOU, turbinetree!

When I submitted my first nine-weeks grades for 129 students (spread over five class periods--so you can see that I had too many students per class...), I got called into the assistant principal's office. She (M. Pierce, I hope you somehow see this...) lectured me about giving 14 of my students a zero (btw, that's 10.8% of my students--a logical percentage given the archaic grading system the schools persist in using). She adjured me to revise their grades to 65%, because then "they'd be able to improve their grade from that point." !!!

I explained to her that each of those students had perniciously refused to work; that they would sign their quizzes and test papers, turn them over, and lay their heads on their desks while the other students worked. Parent conferences had not worked (only ONE parent of many had participated in the 'conference' I scheduled). I asked her what I should tell one young student who worked his tushy off for me, yet only earned a cumulative 63%. I had worked hard to encourage him, telling him that he had shown marked improvement and that his efforts WOULD pay off. She had nothing to offer me with regards to my hard-working students, and proceeded to lecture me about "engaging" my students more effectively.

Needless to say, the young man--whose 63% was hard won--stopped working altogether, because, "Ms. M, why should I work at all if you're going to give me a 65%, no matter what I do?"

[ND-Dem]

120. Because unless something glaringly egregious occurs, their crimes are covered up. You

think lawyers and realtors are less criminal than teachers? oh really?

[onethatcares]

5. I have yet to meet

a teacher that told me "I'm only in it for the money".

Our country is truly fucked. (I spelled all that correctly due to a teacher)

[Dream Girl]

11. I've heard some mention the hours. Nice to have your summers off.nt

[riderinthestorm]

14. Teachers work an AVERAGE of 53 hours per week

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/survey-teachers-work-53-hours-per-week-on-average/2012/03/16/gIQAqGxYGS_blog.html

Which means every month they work an extra week +.

If you do your math (Thanks Mrs. Carlson!) that adds up to 9 extra weeks of work per year...or...2.5 months which is, gee, the summer vacation.

FWIW, I hate the argument teachers don't work hard enough and/or have it so great since they get the summer off. They've more than earned it.

[Igel]

43. And yet, I've heard teachers say they like the summers off.

This, in the teacher lounge as my fellow teachers were eating lunch during their 25-minute lunch break.

Some also like having the major holidays off, with time in front of them (Xmas, New Year's, T-day).

Some more than earn it. That average work-week is average. I know teachers who put in far more time. And teachers who complain when something goes wrong and they need to spend a few hours one weekend grading or assembling materials for class. That means there are teachers who put in far more hours. Most put in their 8-hour workday plus a couple of hours a day and some time over the summer, so 53 hours +/- an hour or two sounds about right.

But I even know teachers who basically reuse last year's materials and have one prep. If they have conference period at the start of the day they show up late; if they have conference period at the end of the day more often than not they're gone before the buses show up for the kids. They don't even work a 40-hour week.

I also know teachers who really are teaching currently just for the money. They're near retirement and are so fed up with the government, administrators, students, and parents that they're just waiting until they have one or two more years or can pay off something big before retirement. To be fair, in most cases these are experienced professionals and do a good job "for the money." (I mean, honestly--isn't that why a lot of people keep their jobs? Reduce their pay to $0 but give them a large enough stipend and they're history.)

So it's a mixed bag. Any argument about teachers' work conditions has to accept that right up front. One side points to the teachers working extra hours, innovating materials, trying new things and in love with the field; the other side can point to the teachers slacking off, recycling materials that didn't work last year or the year before and won't work this year, and who are doing it because it's convenient and/or all they can do.

[riderinthestorm]

48. I'm sure. I guess I was irked by the recitation of a RW talking point

that underlies that statement. That teachers are lazy

[bbgrunt]

53. every profession has its slackers. The

question is whether shifting the funding to the private sector and charter schools improves the situation. From everything I've seen, the answer is a resounding no. Students don't do better on tests. Teachers get paid less and hence those who end up teaching there are those who couldn't get regular public school jobs. Administrations of these private sector schools are not held accountable and are often in it just to bilk the system for funds.

All your complaints about teachers being a "mixed bag" have not been addressed by shifting education to the private sector and diminishing the role of public schools.

[LWolf]

105. I've heard that, too.

You know why so many teachers like summers off? Because we're so damned burned out by the schedule we work, which, as mentioned in the post you responded to, is well beyond our paid contractual hours.

"Just for the money." Of course we teach for money; who can live without working for money? The reality is that many, many of us who had other options moved out of the profession or retired because of the destructive policies scapegoating us and destroying the profession; I've been watching it for years. Generally, though, people who go into teaching aren't there "just for the money," since there's not a lot of money involved for the time and $ invested in the initial education and continuing education to stay licensed.

Your mixed bag simply isn't all that mixed. Yes, burnout can lead to less innovation, to be true. The reality is, though, that current policy is not about innovation. The modern dogma is all about data and running education like a business based on that data, and anything that isn't directly targeting that data is not...disallowed, but discouraged by the mandates that fill up the day. "Slacking off..." In my 32 years in public education, two states, and various schools, I can count a few slackers. Of course, admins know about those slackers and they don't last all that long. They are moved along, or moved out.

The idea that teaching is "convenient" is ludicrous, and "all they can do?" All that education, and you think that's all we can do?

Recycling materials that didn't work last year? One thing some teachers do to try to reduce that extra burden of hours in the post you responded to is to create units that can be re-used so that we don't have to re-invent the wheel every year. That's fine. Generally, those units can be manipulated to suit different groups of students with different needs, and evolve over time, as most of us spend part of our unpaid summers evaluating the past year and deciding what to do differently in the coming year. Of course, in the era of high-stakes standardized testing and standards based mandates, we are generally TOLD what materials we will be using and how to use them.

Yes...my teaching partner is one of those who will talk, in the lounge and anywhere else, about how he likes his summers off. That doesn't mean he doesn't show up and work his ass off on every paid day. He and I have widely differing opinions on the school year; he'll go down protecting his summers, and I support year-round school. That's because I've worked year-round calendars, and he hasn't. I understand it's his lack of experience informing his position. That doesn't mean I think he's a slacker.

If you are a teacher, you should know that those summers, and those Thanksgiving, winter, and spring breaks, are not, outside of the day that is a national holiday, PAID. They are not contractual days, and therefore are not paid days off.

Teacher burnout is real, but instead of putting that in your "mixed bag," you might acknowledge that the rest of the bag is what CAUSES the burnout, and that better working conditions would take care of that burnout.

[salib]

17. RW talking point #4?

I think they only have about a dozen RW talking points, other wise it would be too many for their "brains".

So lame.

Let's hate those union thugs for their better salaries. Let's make snide comments about how teachers have it easy because most students are out of school for the summer. Oh yeah, do not forget "I don't have insurance so why should other have it?" in response to the ACA.

Keep pushing those TeaBagger buttons. They really do not work so well, but it wastes your time.

[Thespian2]

20. Sorry

Teachers are not paid for the summers off. Paid for 10 months only. Most teachers, having to support families, need to work during those two months.

[DebJ]

26. Here are the hours that I worked per week in an inner city school: 70.

Ten hours a day. All day Sunday on the phone with all the parents.

Every year they play musical chairs with the teachers so that you must develop a totally new set of lesson plans because you now are teaching a different subject.... because.... because no reason at all. Not because it is good for students or for teachers or for anyone. Just because. Administration never needs a reason.

I have a friend in emotional support teaching who is there from 8 am to 630 every single night.

[chervilant]

50. Your are wrong, and your observation is offensive.

Teachers put in VERY long hours during the school year, then must attend continuing education classes, staff meetings, and random school-related events during the summer months. We are often asked (read: required, if you want to keep your job) to tutor during the summer, or to teach courses in summer school.

Really, do you believe what you posted, or are you regurgitating a vile RW talking point? I find it astonishing that a member of this forum would derogate teachers, even obliquely.

[ND-Dem]

123. I'll take door B for $100....

[roody]

101. So are you considering going into teaching?

[harbinger07]

131. Good point! nt

nt

[LWolf]

10. That's certainly how it's played out.

[DesertDiamond]

12. "Bad teacher" is a talking point with no facts behind it. What are they defining as "bad"?

[alp227]

113. A teacher whose students don't have good enough standardized test scores.

never mind how some kids do NOT have education-valuing households! There's no denying that there are teachers who don't do the job. But the definition of "bad" has become over-encompassing.

[maindawg]

13. Here in Ohio

They cut our funding every year.They are bleeding us dry, forcing us to turn over more and more of our institutions to private corps.Meanwhile the charter schools are being caught red handed ,empty or nearly so. Blatantly stealing tax dollars, sometimes just closing from mismanagement. No one is held accountable. They walk away with the millions of tax dollars they stole. The Governor has a secret board that will not be audited or open at all. They conspire with the billionaire backers of criminal Kasic to steal millions maybe billions of our tax dollars and since both houses are controlled by repugnats no one cares. Ohioans are idiots.
I hate this place and soon will have it in my rear view mirror no doubt headed someplace even worse.

[Enthusiast]

63. Kasich is the single worst thing that ever happened to Ohio.

[maindawg]

84. Taft was the worst Gov we have had

He was a total zero. A phony rich kid never worked a day in his life entitled to the job because of his name.He attached fees to everything destroyed the middle class destroyed the private clubs attaching taxes and fees made waitresses pay tax on their tips, gutted the EPA ODNR and left a mess.
The Democrat party in Ohio is in shambles. I think that repukes have made a point of masquerading as dems and caused alot of infighting.
Conservatives suck.

[Enthusiast]

85. Yes, how could I forget Taft.

[alp227]

114. "Democrat Party"? You sure you're on the right forum? nt

[ND-Dem]

125. "Democrat party"??? It's "Democratic Party".

[bvf]

87. +1 n/t.

[gregcrawford]

15. My wife is a teacher...

... and I've worked with kids for many years. There ARE problems in the education system, but they are NOT the fault of the teachers! Incompetent school boards, and obscenely corrupt politicians, try to make cheap political points with their semi-literate "base" by demonizing teachers so the evil bags of rat excrement that pull their strings can privatize public education for the profit of a few, and at the expense of taxpayers and their children.

If ever you should encounter some fool that sings the praises of charter schools, read 'em the riot act. If they praise ALEC, beat 'em into a puddle of blood and bone; they're beyond redemption.

My hatred of conservative treachery runneth over.

[Enthusiast]

64. "My hatred of conservative treachery runneth over." Me too.

[madfloridian]

23. Yes, a propaganda campaign...exactly.

[Jefferson23]

21. How awful that anyone would admire Rhee..speaking of rotten apples. n/t

[SusanCalvin]

31. I have a middle finger reflex

Every time I see her.

[appalachiablue]

49. Recall Rhee in DC before I knew much about the buy-partisan corpo attack on teachers & schools.

Waiting for the Time cover, "Rotten Apples: Improving America's Banks"-

[Jefferson23]

51. Yea, true. Her credentials are non existent...how she was ever in such a position of authority

was telling.

[ND-Dem]

126. Isn't she pretty much over, though? Turns out her much-touted reforms were a crock of

crap....ETC.


Michelle Rhee has been the most visible star in the nation’s galaxy of school reformers since she became D.C. schools chancellor in 2007, abruptly quit in 2010, and started an advocacy organization called StudentsFirst in 2011. Now, she is preparing to step down soon from her role as head of StudentsFirst at a time when the organization is facing questions about its effectiveness, and when she is ready, she said, to focus “on my family and supporting my husband.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/08/13/michelle-rhee-reported-to-be-stepping-down-as-studentsfirst-chief/


I'm sure the usual suspects will find another shill, though.

[Jefferson23]

127. I think you're right, but the damage continues and I am not sure they'll find

another shill that will be able to put a positive spin on the crap that was put forth
with such zeal.

[Octafish]

22. The profession that educates those they want to enslave.

On the way to destroying those who teach people how to THINK, they developed a surprising amount of bi-partisan support to bust the union.

[madfloridian]

40. It's very bipartisan. No doubt about it.

[martigras]

24. Looking at the statistics

There are more teachers fired every year than in other jobs. 50% of teachers are now leaving
in the first 5 years. Cutting pensions, demonizing the profession, and forcing lousy curriculum and
endless testing will only keep the best and brightest going elsewhere. But then again, I think there
is a big corporate element that would just as soon keep kids stupid so they can be manipulated once they start
voting.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

28. I'm sorry, but I can't let that statistic stand

There are not more teachers "fired" every year than in any other jobs.

Heck, Halliburton alone has let go more employees this year than all of the educators in Texas.

I have a lot of sympathy for teachers, especially in this test, test, test and document, document, document era. I know what is being destroyed, and I am glad my last child will be out of school in just a couple of years.

[Sancho]

77. Essentially that is a true statement...

If you look at teachers who are non-renewed (without cause), teachers who quit rather than being fired, and teachers who are actually non-renewed for cause - the number is much higher than most people realize.

Here in Florida, the numbers fired for cause are 2000 to 3000 per year, but the actual number non-renewed or voluntarily quitting is many times larger. When you track rehire data from colleges (required for accreditation), you can see that less than half the certified teachers are on the job within 3 to5 years.

It's hard to get exact numbers without going to every school district, but take a district with 1000 teacher, subtract the number who retire or move away, and look at how many are new hires the next year. Usually, the number of new hires can be 2 or 3 times larger than expected.

Compared to other professionals with degrees, licensing, etc., teachers struggle in comparison. Don't just focus on doctors and lawyers, but think about nurses and engineers. How many prepared for a profession and less than half actually don't work in that field?

[Igel]

46. Don't confuse "fired" with "quit."

That's a difficult thing to keep separate sometimes.

Most beginning teachers wash out in the first 5 years. Those who student teach first have a lower wash-out rate. Those who go through programs that require a year "internship" bail more frequently.

Then the wash-out rate decreases.

At the same time, many of the teachers who succeed in not washing out quit and find other teaching jobs. So they "quit" but are still teachers. This inflates the number of teachers who quit.

However many of the teachers who quit are de-facto fired. "If you quit, then we'll give you a good recommendation ..." with the unspoken "and if you don't quit we'll make your life unmitigated hell." That can result from a simple disagreement with the principal and his/her policies, it can be because of a mismatch with the student population or some strategic error the teacher committed that alienated a bunch of parents. Or the teacher can be incompetent for some reason and really quite unacceptable to any school.

Even in Texas, where unions have not so much influence, to fire a teacher not on a probationary or "at will" contract allows for easy appeal to the district's central administration and from there to the school board. Principals bend over backwards to avoid that last step, esp. if there's a union or lawyer involved, because it makes it appear that the principal isn't fully in charge and can't handle such mundane matters. It turns into a public poo-fling far too easily, and that's bad given the public school principal turn-over rate in this state.

[HoosierCowboy]

25. Long ago I learned not to spend any money

on corporate propaganda like Time or Newsweek. $5 a copy for basically toilet paper. Never saw any one else buy these rags either.

[valerief]

27. Kochs and their GOP minions have to kill EVERY union.

Police union will be the last destroyed.

[mountain grammy]

29. If Time wants to take any profession to task

I would suggest they begin and end with journalism, including their own publication, which I gave up on years ago. No one profession has had more influence on the dumbing down of Americans and the race to the bottom than our lackluster fourth estate.

[greatlaurel]

57. Outstanding suggestion!

The news media here in Ohio is just the propaganda arm of the Republican Party. People have no idea how much of their tax dollars are being stolen and given to the GOP corporate masters.

[Enthusiast]

66. Precisely.

[Enthusiast]

65. +1 a whole bunch!

[Fearless]

32. Two words... Arne Duncan. n/t

[appalachiablue]

34. +1

[madfloridian]

41. Agreed.

[Enthusiast]

67. He's just another part of the Third Way army.

[Fearless]

71. In the case of education he is THE part.

[BrotherIvan]

98. You must be a fringe-leftist to even remember his name

We're not supposed to you know.

[Fearless]

99. I'm ok with that label.

[BrotherIvan]

100. Me too

[appalachiablue]

33. I'm waiting for the cover of "Rotten Apples: How to Fix America's Banks".

Thanks for the post. The US Postal Service is also under attack and underfunded intentionally to create problems so the Service can be privatized. The break the public sector and kill unions buy-partisan corporate assault is mighty and damaging to our country God knows. Teachers rock.

[madfloridian]

47. Ha. You might be waiting a long time for that.

[Enthusiast]

68. +1 an entire shit load.

[raccoon]

117. This should be shouted from the rooftops!

I'm waiting for the cover of "Rotten Apples: How to Fix America's Banks".

We'll never see it, as the OP says.

I guess because the MSM is too "liberal."

[jopacaco]

35. The fix is in

I am a teacher who is 2 weeks into the joy that is the Smarter Balanced Assessments for the Common Core. I am, by virtue of being the technology teacher, involved with the online only testing for grades 3 - 8 for the next few months.
Students are being asked questions that even the brightest can't answer - 3rd grade students being asked to synthesize information from research passages and then being asked to write an essay. It is heartbreaking to see the stress on some of the students. The entire school schedule is effected and disrupted because of these assessments. An average of 7 hours per student with many taking more. They say that the tests are adaptive but that occurs 2/3 of the way through.
I believe that public schools will fail by design and that will be yet another reason why they need to be privatized. We are screwed.

[Enthusiast]

69. +1 You nailed it. "fail by design"

[roody]

102. Is this all done online, or is some hard copy involved?

[erronis]

36. Upvoting this thread because I think teachers are being shafted

By the shysters that want to steal the money from the public education funds.

Having raised 5 kids, I know teachers more than earn their keep and don't get anywhere near the "vacation" time off that the RW liars are spouting. I was in DC when Ms. Rhee was lauded as being the saviour for the DC schools. She was ridden out on a split rail when it was discovered how she mis-spent funds for her charter schools and friends.

[onethatcares]

37. Public School Teachers ROCK

and so do others.

If you can read that, thank a teacher......................................................................not an administrator.

[hopemountain]

38. blaming teachers as the problem in education

is sand in our eyes while the corporate pigs rob the education coffers and siphon funds to privatized education. they could care less about truly education our future generations and are only interested in feeding their insatiable greed for the tax dollars.

[appalachiablue]

118. +1

[AZ Progressive]

42. I can't defend teachers unions, I was a victim of bad teachers myself

Sorry, when I was young I had to deal with bad teachers that I wondered why were they even still working. These bad teachers either bullied me / treated me in a hostile and abrasive manner, or taught their subject so poorly that I had to have outside help or had to accept bad grades (and this despite living in middle class areas.) Dealing with bad teachers can be hell. You can't blame anyone else other than the unions.

I don't think the solution is to privatize it though. Privatization (or trusting greed to solve things) is not the answer. But IMO its hard to have sympathy for teachers unions.

[Fearless]

52. So you blame everyone for your personal experiences?

[Starry Messenger]

58. "You can't blame anyone else other than the unions."

You do know who hires and fires teachers, right? This basic fact that it is not the union is in your arsenal, correct?

[strategery blunder]

73. Teaching is like any other profession

You have the good, the bad, the ugly, and the awesome.

In fourth grade I had a homeroom teacher who was exactly as you described, with the added bonus that he was a crotchety old guy who didn't believe ADHD existed (I was diagnosed with such around that time, and I still take medication for adult ADD so I am well aware of its existence.)

Fifth and sixth grades, I had decent teachers. They weren't the kind of great teachers that could actually revive my interest in school after the trauma of my fourth grade experience, but they educated me and did so in a manner that didn't make my previous issues worse.

Seventh grade I had an awesome social studies teacher who actually revived my interest in school again.

Eighth grade (in a different district), I had one of those "daily grind" social studies teachers that just had the class recite pablum out of the textbook. It felt ridiculously dumbed down after my seventh grade education, I began to lose interest in a subject my previous teacher had gotten me to love. That is, until the end of the year, when I took personal offense to the textbook only having a single paragraph about the Holocaust, along with a photo of Auschwitz' main gate, (I had a grandmother who fled Nazi Germany), and asked (read: pressured) the teacher to allow me to do a research project/presentation to fill in the vacuum left by the book. The class learned what the "Arbeit Macht Frei" inscribed upon the gate in the textbook photograph meant, but they learned it neither from the book nor the teacher. Though I'd volunteered to educate the class about it, I felt that really, that sort of thing should have been getting done by the teacher--that teachers should be filling the gaps in the educational materials provided them.

Ninth grade, I had another awesome social sciences teacher who literally said about the only thing the textbook was useful for was the occasional useful map printed therein! He said, on the first day of class, that most of the book was simply propaganda (and after the previous year, I was quite amenable to such unusual sentiments coming from a teacher). He revived my interest in school so much that, up until the time the anti-teacher propaganda started really ramping up and NCLB passed, I wanted to be a teacher!

So, I can point to two bad teachers in my entire time as a student, only one of whom was actively harmful to my education (the second one...while zero might not be an improvement, it's not actively sabotaging my education like the fourth grade teacher did). That's out of all the teachers that taught me up through high school graduation, probably somewhere between fifty and a hundred. So, out of 100 co-workers, you really can't find an "incompetence rate" or "slackers' rate" somewhere around 2-4%? You're going to see that with just about any profession that is known to me.

It's certainly not worth demonizing the entire profession over. Especially when those who would want to go into teaching as a career are actively deterred by the propaganda campaign against the profession. I certainly didn't want to be union busted or maligned as part of political campaigns when I made the decision in college to abandon my plans to become a social sciences teacher.

[kcr]

90. Yeah, those worker protections mucking it up for everyone

I know what you mean, it can really wreck your day when, like, you're just trying to get your McDonald's coffee and the lady is just so rude. Banish the minimum wage. That will show them. I was thinking about this while I was at Costco yesterday morning. What are all these people doing in these long lines? Ugh, bring back the work weekend, I say, so I can shop at my Costco in peace! That's what we get for coddling everyone with stupid Union crap. Don't get me started on the little rugrats who scream and yell all day at the play ground, making such a racket. One of them called me a name and stuck his tongue out at me when I just asked for a little peace and quiet. They've got too much time on their hands. We need to do something about this so I'm not so traumatized. Man, the good old days before all those worker protections must have been great. No play grounds full of kids wasting their time with frivolous play! Waiters and waitresses who knew their place. Competent teachers who knew how to treat their charges because things were real back then. Peaceful weekends. But no more, because commies, with their unions, ruining life for the civilized and our fragile feelings.

[smokey nj]

92. I was a victim of bad teachers too, but they were non-union teachers and nuns at a parochial school.

Fortunately, my parents couldn't afford to send me to Catholic high school and I received an excellent, PUBLIC secondary education. It was the only time not having any money actually worked to my benefit.

[raccoon]

116. I was too, and I went to public schools in SC where unions were and are rare as a black swan. nt

[roody]

103. Were they unionized? Why didn't the administrators

fire them? A union did not hire your bad teachers.

[The Jungle 1]

44. No interest

The republican party and more importantly their owners on wall street have no interest in an educated population.
They don't care about your children. Never have.
We need to force the American public to accept the above facts.

[Enthusiast]

70. Massive PLUS ONE!

[appalachiablue]

108. The ugly truth-

[daredtowork]

72. Professional Organizations (ALA, AMA) Protect Lawyers and Doctors

It seems like teachers have been stuck with all the drawbacks of "market forces" without the protections of these "professional organizations" - because their professional organization - the union - has been demonized and dismantled.

Yeah I bet parents and taxpayers would just LOVE it if thanks to professional organizations, teachers started behaving as doctors and lawyers and charging what they could make themselves worth rather than sacrificing themselves "for the children".

[Not a Fan]

74. Going after teachers

How about we go after bad lawyers instead? Or bad policemen. Or bad doctors. How about bad judges? Or bad politicians. How about bad firemen, bad truck drivers or bad bankers?

These industries suck at self policing - so why not?

No - teachers need to be the acknowledged enemy if they are to destroy our public education system so they can privatize it.

Time magazine is complicit. They don't deserve a dime of anyone's money and certainly no one's trust or respect.

[Initech]

75. Bad politicians are the ones that should be fired.

There's no way in hell we'll be able to get a John McCain, or a Jeb Bush, or a Rick Scott, Scott Walker, or any number of bad politicians you can name fired. No way in hell.

[blkmusclmachine]

76. See if you can spot the Cross in the poster for Waiting for Superman. (Hint: Look to the heavens.)

[Badass Liberal]

78. Gah! You should have posted a warning!

"May contain Michelle Rhee. Viewer discretion advised."

[midnight]

79. kick

[Pooka Fey]

81. K&R

[Surya Gayatri]

83. Damn, with the snakepit that American education appears to have become,

Last edited Sun Mar 29, 2015, 09:20 AM - Edit history (1)

you couldn't pay me enough to exercise my former profession in the US.

I marvel that US teachers can still summon up the courage to return to the battleground every single day. Respect.

[greymattermom]

86. I've heard several of my younger relatives blame the teacher when they don't do well.

Who will they blame when there is no teacher? If there is a universal on line curriculum, they will be hiring a lot of former teachers as tutors. Those who can afford it will do well anyway, but teachers will be involved. Maybe the tutoring companies will even pay benefits, who knows. Like everything else, instead of society paying through taxes, individuals will pay. Only those who can afford it will actually get educated.

[DirkGently]

93. It's a long con. Public funding for the public good is deeply

... insulting and threatening to modern American conservative philosophy. Money is supposed to funnel upward, not outward. They are coming not only for public education, but for the Postal Service, NASA, free public roads, and fire departments.

[appalachiablue]

107. Trickle Up

[harbinger07]

128. Privatization

I agree. Privatization is the goal. Mostly, it's conservatives and Republicans, but Andrew Cuomo is already moving NY public schools in that direction as well.

[imthevicar]

94. More Union Busting!

[silvershadow]

95. I would just like to call attention to Mike Pence- who deliberately subverted the will

of the people in Indiana by nullifying the tenure of a duly-elected public official, our Superintendent of Public Instruction, Glenda Ritz. Add this to his list of wrongs.

[Damansarajaya]

96. Using Lakoff's notion of the "frame," notice how the

second Time cover frames the issue--schools are broken, and therefore need to be "fixed."

Michelle Rhee, now completely discredited, is holding a broom, presumably to sweep out the "dirt" that fills the classroom.

It further reinforces the American myth of the individual hero who takes on all the "bad guys" and wins, not the reality that we live in a complex system of many individuals working for many different goals.

Lastly, it ignores the simple fact that the public school system is the basis of the biggest economy in the world. It produces more Nobel Prize winners, more medical breakthroughs, a higher standard of living than practically any society in the world.

[Blanks]

97. When I was in high school...

We had to not only read Time magazine, we had to buy Time magazine. It was a requirement of the teacher. When I was in junior high we were required to read Readers Digest. Pathetic attempts at conservative youth programming.

I reckon that's just one of the perils of living in a small town in a red state. In a lot of cases (based on my facebook news feed) worked like a dream, and so many of the people who never left home are dedicated dyed-in-the-wool conservatives.

What I don't understand here is how you can list all of the problems with the way that educators are treated and not see the need for some kind of reform. There's nothing stopping professional educators from getting together (they're mostly Union members after all) hiring an attorney and forming their own chain of charter schools. If this 'school money' is so easy for charter schools to take away from public schools, then why aren't disgruntled professional educators making moves to tap into those funds and make the changes that they so desperately seem to want?

I expect that it wouldn't be easy, but it does seem like this presents an opportunity to solve all of the problems that educators face, unless you so strongly believe that the reform itself is the problem and you're putting all of your energy into fighting that.

[StarzGuy]

106. Having taught high school for some 30 years...

...I can only say that I don't have the answers. But when I taught 9th grade Earth and Space science I usually had the largest class size. One year I had 42 students in a "generic" classroom set up for a maximum of 24 student stations. Yet, there was two science teachers in the department that taught college prep classes with 5 or 6 students with double periods and double prep periods. There's something wrong with the system that allows this to happen. After 19 years of this sort of thing I got fed up and resigned. I then moved away from the metro area to take another teaching position in a smaller more rural town. Although the classes sizes were much smaller the problems with low teacher salaries and morale issues still abounded. I spent the last 7 years of my teaching experience on the reservation teaching (or shall I say baby sitting) Navajo kids science. I guess reading skills were not a top priority as none of the kids in my classes could read a full sentence out of their science textbooks without help with some of those "big" words.

Unfortunately I became 100% disabled and forced to retire on disability. It's been a real financial struggle ever since. I just could not make enough money to put enough away for retirement. I used up what savings I did have to pay off a few large bills while awaiting news regarding my application for disability. It took nearly 9 months with no income to finally get notified that I was qualified for disability. My conditions are not going to change so I will be on disability for the next 5 years until I reach normal retirement age.

I was only going to teach for a few years then move on to another profession. LOL.

[Starry Messenger]

112. "Fewer than half of teachers now covered by unions"

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/02/10/teacher-unions-fewer-half/23195433/

Just wanted to point that out.

The charter environment is propped up by a crony grant ecosystem that rewards corporate reformers. No billionaire is going to let unionized teachers get their grubby little mitts on money.

[roody]

115. Because we are exhausted.

[azmom]

109. Nancy Atwell, who won the one million prize for global teacher

Of the year. Came out against standardized testing.

[Orsino]

130. Auction it off for cheap to your buddies...

...who plan to squeeze profit out of it.

Watch and laugh as they fire and lay off teachers.

Laugh louder as the resulting sorry state of teaching leads your media hacks to call for further cuts, turning once-proud schools into daycare.

After nearly strangling primary education, chortle with glee as colleges are paralyzed by admittees who can't read.

Wink slyly to your buddies as they congratulate themselves on lowering wages, making college education less valuable. Don't forget to force staffing cuts there, too.

Reap the rewards of a generation lost to your looting of the commons.

[Vattel]

132. Great post Madfl.

The universities are next. Duncan and Obama are on it. the USA has by far the best universities in the world, but politicians in both parties are working hard to change that.