New Scaratings

Where have all of the educators gone...? They have stopped posting to this thread.

I know you have an admirable and tough job, and need to hit the sack fairly early to be able to get up in the morning to head to the classroom when the sun comes up. However, I would really like to hear your comments about teachers' unions. I know that there are a lot of teachers, who post here, and most of you probably belong to a teachers' union. I've read and heard a lot of negative stuff about those unions. What are your thoughts about this? Give me the other side of the story, or the inside scoop that the stories are right.

If you have problems with your teachers' union, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes, because where can you go...?



.......... A photo of teachers protesting in Wisconsin earlier this year.

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"The game is afoot."

They are taking Education courses for their MA or Phd. It would be wonderful if a teacher of history or the sciences had degrees in those subjuctect. In my area if you do not have a degree in education, you can not teach. Sad.

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"Truth Like Football. Gets kicked around much, before reaching goal." - Charlie Chan

" Don't look back, The bastards might be gaining on you." - Satchel Paige

Frank

[quote="Frank]They are taking Education courses for their MA or Phd. It would be wonderful if a teacher of history or the sciences had degrees in those subjuctect. In my area if you do not have a degree in education, you can not teach. Sad.[/quote]

In high schools you will see more with specialized degrees. I have a 6-12 teaching certificate and a bachelor's degree in history. At the elementary level, however, you don't have to degree in what you teach. How could you? Elementary teachers teach it all.

By the way, a degree in a particular subject area won't make you a good teacher, even in that area. I had a college professor at NIU who had a wealth of knowledge when it came to Jacksonian America, but he had no business in front of even a college classroom. The education classes help you to become a teacher and help you to learn how to help kids. It is not a job for everyone, nor is it as easy as many people would lead you to believe.

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Malort. It's not just for breakfast anymore.

Here is my thought...

Though I don't personally know the teachers, who post here, I've read what they have to say, and I'm thinking I know them. They are all very smart. They all love and care about the kids they teach. They are all very good teachers, extremely dedicated and creative. Their students are very fortunate to have them as their teachers. However, I think they may be exceptions from the masses of teachers, who are in classrooms today. You guys work your butts off, and idiots, who teach in the room next to you, send you kids, who don't know shit. If I'm guessing right, I would have to think that this pisses you off, especially when idiot teachers get promotions and pay raises that you deserve.

If I'm anywhere close to being right about this, what recourse does this leave you with the Teachers' Union?

p.s. When I went to school, I had many teachers over the years, who were probably as good as you guys. Some years ago, I decided that I should find them, and thank them for the education they gave me. Sadly, I could not find any, who were still alive.

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"The game is afoot."

Tenure and being in a union does not get you protection from getting fired. It gives you protection from being fired without cause. I have seen my share of bad teachers get fired, and, unfortunately, I have seen my share of good teachers get fired. One person in particular was let go because the principal wanted to hire someone else who could help "grease the skids" for him to get into district administration (the person he wanted to hire was a family friend of the district superintendent). The person who was fired was a tremendous teacher, the person who replaced him was not even close. Needless to say, the principal did not get the promotion he sought. The fired teacher was in his final year before tenure kicked in and the principal knew that he wasn't guaranteed the same rights as a tenured teacher.

Are their bad teachers out there? Sure. Do some sneak through the cracks and keep their jobs? Sure. But doesn't that happen in other professions as well? I give you Adam Dunn and Alex Rios as evidence.

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Malort. It's not just for breakfast anymore.

My business as a stockbroker was a little different. If you didn't produce or broke rules, you were fired. We had no such thing as tenure. It was 32 years of stress for me, until I finally called it quits, and took early retirement some years ago. I've said this before, I probably should have been a teacher. (Flying helicopters in the Marine Corps was far less stressful, than being a stockbroker.) Yeah, over those 32 years I saw a lot of bad stockbrokers, and all of them got fired for various reasons. (Saw some good one's get fired or driven off also.)

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"The game is afoot."

Try being a teacher in the inner city. It will make being a stockbroker or a marine helicopter pilot seem like a walk in the park!

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Malort. It's not just for breakfast anymore.

Or in a rural area where school bonds/levies never pass and 90% of the male students' goals are to get a job 'working on the rigs', where they seem to think that nothing taught in school will apply in that field (no one needs math skills to drill an oil/gas well, you just start digging it seems).

The earlier you drop out, the sooner you can go to work...even though the student's parent, who has had years experience in the drilling fields, can't find a job, someone is just waiting to hire a high school drop out to do the job...EGADS!!!

The area I teach in has a nice private college (WV Wesleyan) that attracts students with Learning Disabilities, particulary reading/dyslexia, from around the east coast. Yet the majority of the county residents have very little interest in their childrens' education. More than a few have the school's phone number blocked on their home phones because they don't want to hear the concerns I have about their child, or it interferes with their vice(s) of choice.

And now the state, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that strudents who take 5 years to get through high school are considered 'drop outs' when they graduate. This, despite many earning certifications in construction, electrical, auto body,and welding vocational classes in concurrance with their academic diploma.

And my pay allows me to live from week to week, with no savings, and constant fear that I will have medical bills (like my broken leg last year) that takes me MONTHS to pay off. My check today will mostly go for tires so I can continue to drive to work. The rest will probably be evenly divided between gas & beer.

I wish the fuck that Superman would find a local phone booth so he can change into his little outfit and do my job.

BTW--I'm taking tomorrow off to try and find a psychiatrist that takes my minimal medical plan.

Actually, seeing I need of some kind of income to supliment my social security, I might try substitute teaching again. If I do, I'll let you know what it's like. Got a feeling that I will probably find out that your warning is right.

However, I worked with kids coaching them at the YMCA in soccer and baseball for about 14 years, up 'til about six or seven years ago. I know that isn't exactly like a classroom situation, but there are some similarities. Those kids were all great. Yeah, they might not have been great athletes, but they listened to me, tried to do what I told them, actually learned some stuff, and never gave me any lip.

Maybe I was lucky to have kids, who came from families that cared. I understand that the classroom, with kids who come from families that don't care, could be a very different situation.

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"The game is afoot."

I believe you... Your post makes the movie "Blackboard Jungle" seem like a light comedy. I don't know how I would be able to deal with the frustrations that you have to face every day. What I think I'm beginning to see is that the problem with the American Education system goes beyond the classroom. It is merely a manifestation of society in general. Someone needs to figure out how to turn this bullshit around, and do something about it. I've got my ideas. None of them would be viewed as politically correct by socialist liberals. If it were in your power, what would you do to turn things around? If things don't change, I'm worried where education in the United States is headed, and worse yet, where the United States is headed.

If it's any consolation, I am pretty much in the same financial situation as you are. I live from social security check to social security check, and my mortgage payment takes half of it. Merrill Lynch had no retirement benefits, and I used up my 401-K a year ago, because I took early retirement, and had to pay for living until I could start my social security, which turned out to be a lot less than I thought it would have been. (Poor personal planning for a former senior financial consultant. I gave my clients much better advice than what I did for myself. In my next life, I'll try to do better.) However, I am fortunate to have V.A. medical care when and if I need it, but that ain't free either. Hell, as bad as it is, the V.A. should pay me for using their services.

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"The game is afoot."

Attention music teachers... Got a feeling that you don't bother to read the "Obscure Movies That You Like" thread, so I brought this over for you guys. There is a wonderful short film, "Tubby the Tuba", that I think you might want to show to kids, if you are teaching them music. Here's a link to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06v56aUCQZE



Check it out, and if it fits into your class plan, you might want to use it.

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"The game is afoot."

The sad thing is teachers in the Inner City were once honored and respected. Listen to Bill Cosby. Several inner city schools (Black) in Chicago were on the academic top in the 30's 40' and 50's. I am old enough to remember people that taught in them.

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"Truth Like Football. Gets kicked around much, before reaching goal." - Charlie Chan

" Don't look back, The bastards might be gaining on you." - Satchel Paige

Frank

FRANK, I have listened to Bill Cosby, and he is right. The liberals only dared to nibble at the edges of what he said, because they knew three things. They knew what he said was right, he was and African American, and they did not dare to take this great man on. (Cosby's PhD was not an honoray one. He really earned it from the University of Massachusets himself with a 242 page dissertation.)



Bill Cosby is truly a great man. I only regret that he did not continue with his message to young black students.

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"The game is afoot."

Well, if Mr. Cosby's message is that young people should follow the rules everybody else has agreed to abide by, then there are one or two folks here, not quite fit to serve as role models.

Ain't there?