Hey kid… avoid bird poop – don’t have a summer vacation!
Our ever so lame President, not having thrown a bone (or billions) to the Teachers unions for a bit, tossed them one over the weekend.
Obama repeated his support for a longer school year. He did not specify how long that school year should be, however he noted that U.S. students attend classes, on average, about a month less than children in most other advanced countries.
Given this President you always have to figure out how anything he wants to do will help big donors. So I read this as “teachers could get paid for another month of work”. See it’s simple!
But… based on what I see from public schools, and the inefficient way they teach and allocate time, they could teach all year and it wouldn’t help. We’ve wasted trillions on them with no improvements to show for it.
And gosh…. my generation went to school a lot shorter than modern kids, and we had less teachers, and a LOT less money and doggone it… our TEST SCORES WERE THE SAME!
Nope, the school year isn’t the problem. The problem is THE SCHOOLS and the amazingly bad way they are run.
A President not in the hip pocket of the unions might be willing to do something about it. This President, however, isn’t the man for that job, or any job, other than perhaps writing his memoirs (the only thing he has lots of experience at).
September 27th, 2010 at 11:50 am
I may be wrong, but I think that the teachers salaries are prorated over a 12 month period so they get paid for the summer and can work another job also. Of if they get paid enough, do nothing over the summer months.
So if a pay raise is in the works, it will simply be that a %%% increase in pay and prorated over the same 12 month period and we will probably never hear about it.
September 27th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
I’ve seen it both ways. In any event, their pay is excellent considering the shortened work year.
September 27th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
I doubt teachers will like this. They want the extra money, sure, but already think they are overworked.
Teachers unions are essentially Teamsters without the beatings amd mob influence
September 27th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Yeah… you’re probably right. Just send money, we will decide how little effort to put in.
September 28th, 2010 at 8:48 am
This move also translates to: How can we keep your kids out of your hair in order to indoctrinate/dumb them down even more for our purposes?
That’s the conspiracy theorist in me!
September 29th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
That’s it – the collapse of the republic laid squarely on the teachers union. BTW, can’t anyone in this forum cite research findings in support of a position? Opinions are many, but hardly convincing. The issue of teacher effectiveness, teacher compensation, and student achievement has been frequently studied with foggy findings hardly justifying any firm opinion.
September 29th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
I don’t recall saying our forthcoming collapse was due to the teachers unions.
Your comment uses all of your tactics. Say our position is something we didn’t say. Demand research! And then come up with your own researchless conclusion. Perfect! And while traveling to boot. Honed skills.
September 29th, 2010 at 11:15 pm
I will lay the collapse of the republic on the failed education system. if the teacher’s unions are the cause of the failure then okay put it there. Let’s say, conservatiavely, 80% of the current voting population was/is publicly educated. If they were correctly taught American history, properly educated on our Constitution and the rights AND responsibilities of a citizen, and taught critical thinking skills, then we wouldn’t be where we are now.