Public Employees Protesting WI Governor

Why would you have to worry about money? You have your own guaranteed revenue stream. Kind of like a parasite.

 

My wife was a teacher before turning to writing supplemental educational material a few years ago. A few thoughts:

Yes, teachers get a lot of time off and that makes their pay seem large. However, during the school year I'd say she averaged 60 hours per week. Lesson plans, grading, writing tests, setting up the classroom (more work than you might think), meetings, meeting with parents and/or dealing with unruly kids, writing and maintaining IEP files, writing her own curriculum (there are no perfect curriculum and teachers have to alter it or supplement it) and many other tasks aside from teaching. They have mostly lost teacher aides, lost their break times, free periods used for making copies and other administrative tasks, dealing with students who have English as their second language, ADHD students, abused students.... the list goes on and on. There is more stress than you might imagine.

Add to that a teaching credential lasts for 3-4 years. After the initial one, a teacher in most states has to obtain 1/2 of a Masters degree to get the second and the other half for the third. That's over $40,000 out of our pockets. Now that she has her credential (she needs it to keep writing), she has to pay for CE credits to renew her credential at a cost of $6,000. Aside from that she averages about $1,000 per year out of pocket for things not otherwise covered or reimbursed for the classroom. She's had her teaching credential for 14 years and we have paid almost $60,000 out of pocket for the privilege. That's over $4,000 per year. Not many other jobs require that kind of a payout.

Now, all that said, I do have to agree the retirement package is just plain sick. And most teachers can retire with a minimum of 100% pay, generous pay increase each year and 100% free and full medical benefits and can get those at age 55.

So while something may be need to be done about the retirement package, don't sell teachers short on how hard they work and how much they have to spend to keep teaching.

 

I haven't done that once in this thread, other than to Sug personally, and that's because he seems to personify the stereotypical liberal freeloading teacher.

The teacher unions, and those teachers who protest any concessions at all to help out those in the private sector, are spearheading this Wisconsin debacle, along with Obama's Organizing for America, which is literally bussing people into Madison. I guess I don't see why asking people with guaranteed jobs and pensions to actually contribute a bit of "their" money to that pension as being such a bad idea. Especially, if in some small way, it helps keep one of their students from having their family lose their home once the state's credit card is finally invalid.

 

Clearly, my post was not aimed at you, and I think you know that. If not, well, there's not much hope left for you.

My point was that there seemed to be some teacher bashing in general and I just wanted to make a point that it's not entirely justified. One of the reasons teachers have good benefits is that they are required to pay a lot out of their pockets to keep teaching. It's a give and take.

And I also pointed out that it seems fair to me to make adjustments in their retirement plans (for the most part) as many states are over generous when they were negotiated.

 

One can never tell. Is there still hope left for me? We seem to agree, and I value and respect what your wife did for a living.

We might see the same scenario play out here in 2013, because the GOP will become the majority in Salem, and Kitz isn't exactly reliable to any lobbying group, even if he helped set up PERs.

 

Do you really think the GOP will gain majority in both houses? And if so, do you further think Kitzy would let them make fundamental changes in the collective bargaining agreement? That would be one whale of a fight. The teachers union is probably the strongest lobby in the state.

 

A few signs from today's "protest".

 

What if we can't afford you? It doesn't matter if you're a good teacher or a bad one.

 

This is where we differ. In my mind, my customers are my bosses. Without them, I don't have a job.

 

Yeah, I think the same thing, but Sug seems like a lost cause.

I wonder what type of crap he is feeding his students on a daily basis? This is what I'm paying for, but as I said, it's basically him babysitting, and it's up to the parents to talk sense into their kids after listening to crap like this all day.

 

My son is not yet three, but already I've crafted an education plan with the help of some friends of mine. My son's education is my responsibility. Period. I would hate to be my son's teacher in future years; I plan on auditing and micromanaging them. I won't allow my son to be limited by the low expectations of their teacher. I had a couple of wonderful teachers and several really shitty ones. The shitty ones my son encounters will be called out.

 

We're not going to home school; I believe in the social aspect of public education. Of course, whether we're in Denver or Portland, we'll be in the best possible school district. My concern is that public schools operate only as fast as the slowest student. As such, it's pace which has me the most worried. Our program is heavier on mathematics, grammar, foreign language, civics and music than are most public schools. I'm interested in developing pattern recognition early then lateral thinking later.

I'll just say there's no reason to re-create the wheel: Mortimer Adler had it right.

 

There's a great point in this article: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/02/028392.php

Read the whole thing.

 

One problem with public schools today is that the class generally moves at the pace of the slowest students. Kids who don't fully understand english, have ADHD, come from dysfunctional backgrounds. Now this is mostly in the elementary grades. But aside from that, teachers teach more to the tests than a fully rounded education as they are essentially judged by how kids do on them. It's a tough challenge now to get a quality education.

 

I think that's a great description of the "No Child Left Behind" ethos. Even the very term reeks of measuring everything by the achievements of the worst in the class. It conjures up images of a battlefield retreat, where a Marine grimaces and then runs back for some fatally wounded grunt because we just don't leave anyone behind, even in a desperate evacuation.

I sometimes wonder what it might have looked like if they'd gone in with an "Every Child Propelled Ahead" mindset.

 

Interesting thought.

I take it to think you are saying we go out of our way in public schools to deter failure, and fail to promote achievement.

Here's a thought- in the elementary grades children must learn the proper foundation of learning. Both learning fundamentals of the subject matter as well as how to learn in and of itself. To that end, no child can be left behind as it may create stumbling blocks they can never overcome when it comes to the act of learning later on. Then, in secondary education the child is given the opportunity to achieve as they can thru charter schools, and many other advanced honors programs... But it's those foundational building blocks from elementary school that creates, to a certain degree, the raw ability to learn as they get older.

 

My 2nd-grader is in advanced reading with 3rd graders, and will enter the TAG program next year. For the rest of the day, she is bored to the point of zoning out her teacher. My wife and I are putting her in a charter school next year for advanced kids. My kindergartener is a more 'normal' student (for lack of a better word), and she loves going to school every day.