My teachers are on strike

You realize content knowledge alone does not equal a good teacher...

No, but is integral to being one. After all, content knowledge provides greater context of subject material.

mostly this, they have a job with some of the best perks, but I'd have to say about 4 teachers get fired yearly at my school

Yeah my school cut a spanish teacher and is probably cutting a history teacher next year.

So Doctors should spend all that time stress money and effort to get through med school for warm fuzzy feelings?  Without higher compensation there is no incentive for people to want to become better doctors or doctors at all for that matter.

Unions are the source of our shitty education system. Get rid of Teachers Unions and you fix a lot (not all) of the problems.  Hearing about how teachers were protesting at the Capitol in Madison after the Scott Walker Budget Reform made me sick.  Teachers in Wisco make on average over 50K salary alone plus another 25-30k in benefits.  Unions keep bad teachers protected and make them tough to fire.  Sure Unions were needed in the past when there was unsafe work conditions but in today's society, they just raise the price of education and increase taxes. 

The rest of the private sector does just fine without Unions, teachers don't need them.

Your right, we should cut their compensation, because they should be happy with their warm and fuzzy feelings... oh wait, look at your last post.


Unions have massive flaws, but lets not pretend that Wisconsin cut them out to get rid of tenure and other flaws, it was to pay them less, again.

Your'e. Damn iPhone.

Holy shit those are low numbers, I wonder how much the lowest paid full-time teacher makes?

was going to say this. No teacher i knew in highschool worked 8-3, they worked 7-6 on an average day with about 6 more hours a weekend. While their schedule might be ideal, they don't get payed at all what they should for the job they do. Even the defense department thinks better education is key to our future national security, and that has to be done by teachers. What are they striking for exactly?

Show me where I said cut their pay? I wanna get rid of Teachers Unions so we can improve the competitiveness of the teaching industry like the rest of society.  If you don't do your job well you get fired plain and simple.  It might be rough but its how society works and it forces people to be productive otherwise you will lose your job.

Wisco never cut unions altogether either.  They got rid of Collective Bargaining privileges in which teachers were mandated to pay union dues to the Teachers Union who spends a ton of money funding democratic politicians campaigns and it becomes a vicious cycle.  Scott Walker gave teachers the choice of whether they wanted to pay their dues or not.  Nothing's stopping them if they agree with the Union and want to support them, its just not right to force a teacher to donate to an organization who they don't agree with.

Scott Walker's Act 10 also opened up teachers health insurance to bidding for a more competitive price instead of the overpriced "Cadillac" system previously mandated by the Wis Teachers Union.  None of their health benefits changed, the state just saved money due to competition between providers.  

Lastly the Act 10 reform ensured that teachers were contributing something towards their healthcare and pension which are benefits they are receiving.  Previously to Scott Walker in Wisconsin, teachers were contributing nothing or very little towards their benefits received.  May I remind you that almost no one in the Private Sector gets a pension when they retire unless they were "grandfathered" in.   Under Scott Walkers plan, state employees were required to contribute 5.8% of their pay to their pensions. The proposal also requires state workers to pick up at least 12.6% of the cost of their health care premiums.  Might I remind you that this is 1/3-1/4 what everyone else not Unionized pays for their benefits.  There is no reason state employees should be exempt from contributing to their own benefits and in doing so, our state has saved hundreds of millions of dollars.

It is obvious there is Union abuse of power and that is why it needs to go in the US.

Wasn't this a Hey Arnold Episode?

right, but they are paid so much less than most degree holding workers its not even funny. I think they should have almost free benefits considering how little they get paid in the first place.

yeah i could see that being the case for math teachers and maybe history. My mom has been teaching for around 12 years though and still works around 50 hours per week. With changing curriculums, standardized tests, being moved to teach different classes, and the need for continued education, the time adds up. Plus they have to pay out of their own pocket to continue taking classes.

but they are only working 9 out of 12 months of the year.  At that pay rate (Av. Wisco Teachers Salary) if they were working year round they would be making almost 70k before taxes salary alone.  I feel the pay rate for 9 months of work with the best benefits money can buy at a discount rate compared to what everyone else pays and a pension for when they retire is quite fair.

Those are disappearing, though thats largely the unions fault.

As they should be.  State employees shouldn't have overreaching benefits that the private sector cannot afford at the cost of the taxpayer.  If you want a retirement plan that is great but don't expect me to be required to pay for your pension.

The problem is less the career teachers who paid into it the whole time, and more the fact that unions basically got it till teachers could teach for an absurdly short time and still collect pensions. If you teach for 40 years, sure, get a pension, but the problem is people were teaching for 10, then going elsewhere, and still collecting pensions when the time rolled around.

But thats irrelevant, pensions are disappearing fast in favor of 401ks and things. Not sure how contribution matching works though like it does in the private sector.

Trust me, I agree unions have massive flaws, I just think that its disingenuous to pretend that things like what happened in Wisconsin were to "create competition among teachers". That was the last thing on the Koch brothers minds. We do need competition, and we need this country to take the teaching profession more seriously, unfortunately we go about it in the worst ways.

Its a vicious cycle of low pay and benefits (comparatively speaking) attracting less qualified people, who then are seen as inadequate, and are poorly paid.

We need to attract brighter minds to teaching both by compensating them for excellent work, and by having more rigorous teacher education programs in college.

And finally, we need to develop a system for rating teachers that somehow eliminates the poor ones, but doesn't result in a teachers entire career resting on standardized tests that a) dont show actual knowledge or intelligence, and b) students dont take seriously since they know they are unimportant.

this exactly

You just posted a blatantly racist video. Your opinion is literally irrelevant. Attempt to get something remotely resembling an education and then you can come back and participate in this discussion.

you're so sweet ;)

what i would give for a teacher strike right now...

it's not as fun as it sounds.

1. Buy Shrooms