Let me first start out by saying I LOVE teachers. I think the job is one of the hardest. Not thankless. The satisfaction of teaching a child to read, improve reading skill, would be the greatest thank you. And as I am typing this, I am leaving an open ended invitation to add your 2 cents worth. Nicely please, because don't have ill intentions.
What is the reason for a teahers union. Well, the question is for any union, but my mind had been on teachers unions lately. I 100% agree will the movement to get rid of teachers unions and tenure. Why can we not higher or fire a teacher and pay a teacher according to their merit, experience and successes. Mostly I pose this question to the good teachers out there. You know who you are. Most likely, you are the ones that LOVE your job and our kids that you teach. Wouldn't it be better incentive to do a great job, if your raises depended on it.
My oldest has had her share of crummy teachers. As a matter of fact, she had one teacher that didn't even know her name at the 1st SEP 3 months in to the school year. She was a whole grade behind in 2,3 and 4th grade, until we got her a tutor in 5th.Every teacher would say, don't worry, she'll catch up.
My 3rd, couldn't speak intelligibly until this year, and the first time any of his teachers mentioned anything was 2nd grade. Then she asked if she wanted her to initiate a speech eval, and I never heard about it again after she agreed to do it. This was after I took him in to be tested at 4 through the school district, and they told me he wasn't delayed enough qualify for speech therapy.
Anyway, enough about my kids school experience. They are now in a local charter school, and I am thrilled with where they are. #1 is thriving. She is completely caught up, and loves school. They even deal with #2's free spirit pretty well. They are in a group with 10 other kids, so they are better able to customize learning to where they are at.
So, back on topic. I read the other day, the superintendent in NJ schools, when fired, was given a 741,000$ severance package. On top of 120k a year to retire. And that was someone let go.
In this same state. Spending in a class room was 341k for the year. the teachers only made 57k of that. The rest of it went to administration, and school lunches. The janitors are making 6 figures. I don't have statistics on UT schools, but I will look those up also.
Wouldn't it make more sense to cut administration, and give their salary to teachers that were good, no great at their job? Or hire more and cut class sizes?
Why not? tenor. and Unions. My husband isn't entitled to his job. If he sucks at it, he would get fired. It's the way life works.
I could go into why these two things are connected. but do I need to? can you not see the unions fighting for and voting on job security like tenure.
Unions in America were first started for good reason. Child labor, dangerous work environment. Those things are not necessary anymore.
I am betting that if we cut administration, paid teachers on according to their abilities, the ones that loved their jobs would be making 6 figures. I would be happy with that.
Is my view flawed? What do you think? Do you take my thoughts on school reform as criticizing teachers? I think it's opposite. I think good teaches ought to be rewarded. I think crappy teachers should loose their jobs. They do damage to the kids they are teaching. They should not be given an early retirement .(which was the argument I over heard at a dinner the other night. Because as it was stated, by a teacher, that was the only way to get rid of them. How backwards is that)
Please tell me what you think.
5 comments:
Well, I totally agree with you. My husband and I aren't for unions in any job. I know why they were established and they probably had to be but now it's too hard to fire those who aren't doing their job. I had great teachers growing up and great teachers deserve great pay!
I agree. I do like unions when they are doing what they were intended for. But I agree we should be able to let go of teachers that are no longer doing their jobs like they should.
agreed. You should watch "waiting for superman". It's at the library. It will probably convince you even more. And I heard the UT doesn't have tenure. Not totally sure but I think so.
You know, I happen to agree especially because out here in our school district, teachers get paid anywhere from 32k-45k and they "teach" what they're getting paid. It's sad because we do have a lot of teachers who love it but they move out of state because they can get paid higher which leaves us with nothing else. My kids all have wonderful teachers who work really hard with them, since two of them have speech issues I would much rather see those 6 figure salaries go to them than someone who isn't willing to give up a pay cut because then they couldn't afford their lifestyle and "things".
Is it unions or collective bargaining and tenure that is the problem? I think unions have outlived their purpose at this time. However I think teachers need some protection against principals that are vengeful. At the same time if the principals did their job they would weed out bad teachers before they get tenure. Once a teacher has tenure it is almost impossible to remove them.
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