Posted by Tina
By now you’ve probably heard about the teacher’s strike going on in the city of Chicago. These fine folks turned down an offer of a 16% raise over four years because they don’t agree that teachers should be evaluated for performance pay. The consideration nis that some teachers could lose their jobs…that makes sense, apparently only a little over half of high-school students graduate. Fifteen percent of fourth grade students can’t read at the fourth grade level.
WARNING! This video contains obnoxious behavior and bad language:
Currently, average pay for teachers is around $76,000.00 before benefits. The offered raise would take average pay to $88,000.00. Taxpayers in Chicago average around $47,000.00 in contrast. Many of them have students but none of them have a representative sitting at the bargaining table. Unless their mayor, Rahm Emanuel, decides to pull a Chris Christi…interesting thought…it is doubtful that Ms Lewis will relent.
I can’t believe this is what passes for teachers these days. Is it any wonder some parents are looking for alternatives?
…and vouchers!!!!
Which reminds me! Remember President Obama ENDED the voucher program in Washington DC right after his inauguration sending a number of poor students back into the failing school system. His girls, of course, attend the very prestigious “Sidwell Friends School”. But in a predictable campaign mode move last Spring (expect a lot of these) he struck a deal with House Speaker John Boehner to restore and expand the Opportunity Scholarship Program originally initiated during the Bush administration. Democrats have a hard time doing right by students since they count so much on union votes and teachers unions send them more money than just about anybody! So far this election cycle the University of California is Obama’s top contributor at $491,868.00 smackers.
Don’t miss the photos of the union thugs and thugettes and check out their signs at Daily Mail.
Fire them all.
There is no “bad language” in this video. The closest is when she admits to smoking weed in college, but she doesn’t swear at all. Why on earth is this video marked NSFW? Are conservatives really that…delicate?
A glance at Michelle Malkin’s article indicates they might be. Malkin begins her usual hyperbolic hysteria in the title: “Chicago thuggery personified: Meet Chicago Teachers’ Union president Karen Lewis.” Malkin gives no examples of anything Lewis has done that can reasonably described as “thuggery.” If Lewis is the personification of “Chicago thuggery,” then Chicago thugs must be the softest, least threatening thugs in the known world. I wouldn’t exactly be afraid of running into Karen Lewis in a dark alley. Is this what conservatives mean when they talk about “Chicago thugs?” If so, then the term is meaningless.
Even funnier is when Malkin describes Lewis’ impression of Arne Duncan’s lisp as a “homophobic slur.” Michelle Malkin. Calling someone homophobic. Without a hint of irony! This from the woman who last month defended the Family Research Council, which attempts to conflate homosexuality with pedophilia, from charges of homophobia. Malkin believes that only liberals are capable of being homophobic (and racist, and sexist).
I don’t know how Karen Lewis is as a teacher. I do know that blaming teachers for the problems in our education is ridiculous. Dave Eggars wrote a good editorial last year on this subject:
“WHEN we dont get the results we want in our military endeavors, we dont blame the soldiers. We dont say, Its these lazy soldiers and their bloated benefits plans! Thats why we havent done better in Afghanistan! No, if the results arent there, we blame the planners. We blame the generals, the secretary of defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff. No one contemplates blaming the men and women fighting every day in the trenches for little pay and scant recognition.
And yet in education we do just that. When we dont like the way our students score on international standardized tests, we blame the teachers. When we dont like the way particular schools perform, we blame the teachers and restrict their resources.
Compare this with our approach to our military: when results on the ground are not what we hoped, we think of ways to better support soldiers. We try to give them better tools, better weapons, better protection, better training. And when recruiting is down, we offer incentives.
We have a rare chance now, with many teachers near retirement, to prove were serious about education. The first step is to make the teaching profession more attractive to college graduates. This will take some doing.
At the moment, the average teachers pay is on par with that of a toll taker or bartender. Teachers make 14 percent less than professionals in other occupations that require similar levels of education. In real terms, teachers salaries have declined for 30 years. The average starting salary is $39,000; the average ending salary after 25 years in the profession is $67,000. This prices teachers out of home ownership in 32 metropolitan areas, and makes raising a family on one salary near impossible…”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/opinion/01eggers.html
Chris: “Are conservatives really that…delicate?”
No, Just busy and tired.
Originally the warning read: This video contains obnoxious behavior…I should have left it at that.
I do not apologize for thinking her obnoxious; woman is nothing like the professionals that were called “teacher” or “educator” when I was in school. Her position as a union chief is much more suited considering her attitude and demeanor.
You will have to post a comment on Michelle Malkin’s blog if you want to discuss what she has to say, as for me, the term thug is directed not at the teachers as individuals but at the union and union thinking. I think union methods and tactics are thuggish. I resent public sector unions because they bargain against the taxpayers without taxpayers having a seat at the table and because they assume zero responsibility for the budgets they bust.
Generally speaking, I think professionals should be confident enough to bargain for their own pay based on their education and performance. Good teachers that know how to be in charge in the classroom and produce high achieving students should be rewarded with bonus pay. Teachers that are failing our students should be quietly shown the door with a suggestion that they consider another occupation; tenure is BS. No person should be untouchable in terms of his job. School districts have had to spend a lot of taxpayer money on under-performing teachers, teachers that have been placed in limbo for some infraction but cannot be fired, excessive pay that isn’t deserved, and outrageous pension and retirement healthcare benefits that cannot be met without bankrupting the system.
Insisting that my criticism, conservative criticism, is aimed at “teachers” is a typical political strategy…useful because it sidesteps the issues and demonizes us as the enemies of education. This is particularly useful at election time.
“And yet in education we do just that.”
Speak for yourself! I have respect for the teaching profession. I had a lot of good teachers myself and I have known a lot of good teachers…a number of them left the profession because of the politics and left agenda.
“When we dont like the way particular schools perform, we blame the teachers and restrict their resources.”
Chris we can’t get teachers to take an honest look at the things that are creating problems…they side with the union and the Democrat Party and that party thinks that more money is all that is needed. Left radicals have influenced education over the last fifty years and our schools are not getting the job done as a result. You can track the decline in education with the influence the left has gained in the same time frame. There are teachers that would agree with me but in order to get along at work, and in order to keep their jobs they have to go along.
“Teachers make 14 percent less than professionals in other occupations that require similar levels of education.”
Which ones? What are their hours and responsibilities? Most professions have starting pay…why should teachers be different? A little perspective is in order.
Teachers get summers off and a lot of holiday time during the year. They can’t be fired and they have fantastic retirement and healthcare packages. How much do you think all of that is worth?
“…and makes raising a family on one salary near impossible.”
Welcome to the adult world 2012. A degree doesn’t guarantee smooth sailing. Most families have two working parents or they learn to do with less.
There are two things within our control that contribute to the high cost of living: inflation (The Carter years were very BAD); Excessive government spending that leads to money printing (devalues the dollar); high tax on investment and savings income (deters growth and opportunity); employee pay that is inflated beyond production/return (causes prices to go up on products); blunting or crushing energy production (causes higher prices for all products and services; hits personal wallets); taxes, fees, and regulation (production costs go up and so do prices on products & services). Two things contribute to or cause most of this (high cost of living)…big government and big union. We truthfully have no idea what an office visit at the doctor would be because of government intervention in healthcare. Same with higher education because of unions and politics.
The “product” in some of the schools in Chicago is extremely inferior: “…56percent of Chicago students graduate from high school. Now I realize that some of the problem has nothing to do with education…but some of it is:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/chicago-teachers-resisting-much-needed-education-reforms/2012/09/10/3dcc422c-fb8f-11e1-8adc-499661afe377_story.html
Someone on the radio today reported that a high percentage of eighth graders can’t read in Chicago. That isn’t because of one bad teacher or even two!
http://www.teachersunionexposed.com/protecting.cfm
A system in which jobs are guaranteed for life, retirement is set, regular pay raises and gold plated benefits are certain…but performance is optional…a crap shoot…is a lousy system. Can you imagine buying or driving a car that came out of such a system? How about surgery? Would you risk heart surgery in a system where pay is guaranteed but performance is optional?
Chicago is a metropolitan area and average teacher pay before benefits there is $76K…your information is either old or inaccurate.
Beyond that Chris there is reality. There is what the public is able to pay. Teachers, through their union, have demanded more, and more, and more…but there is a limit to what they are worth and what taxpayers can support. In general I have not seen much interest from teachers or their union in realizing the burden they place as a group on taxpayers and budgets. there has been little support from them for looking at ways to cut waste, bureaucracy…and excessive administrators…so that more dollars reach the classroom.
Unions are like the mob. Unions take students hostage and uses them to intimidate and extort payment…why would I want anyone who thinks like that…or supports those who think like that…teaching my child or the children of this nation?
The woman in the video is interested in one thing…her power; her pay. She gets it by keeping teachers in solidarity and voting Democrat. The union donates heavily to Democrats for favors. Its a racket and I don’t appreciate it.
My dream is excellence in education: Good, safe schools; good teachers paid well; students that excel so that America becomes a leader in education once again; low drop out rates and students well prepared to be productive, responsible citizens; alternative schools a thing of the past; fewer administrators; local control.
I do support teachers Chris.