Jon Stewart spoof: Teachers destroying America.
Jordan sent me a note about this brilliant Jon Stewart riff on teachers. Enjoy:
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82 comments Add your comment
Dick McGarr
March 2nd, 2011
10:53 am
Right on Jon.
mystery poster
March 2nd, 2011
10:55 am
Watched it last night on Hulu, hilarious!
My best wishes go out to those fighting in Wisconsin…. Solidarity forever!
Tonya C.
March 2nd, 2011
10:57 am
This is HILARIOUS! And the car thing…man the student parking lot at Brookwood or Parkview looks better than that of Phipps Plaza some days.
alas
March 2nd, 2011
11:14 am
80% of high school students in WI can not read at an 8th grade level. Doesn’y matter how much. or little, you’re paid, if you’re not performing then your employer (the taxpayers) should replace you. No one is forcing you to teach, we’re just asking that if you do teach we see positive results. We’re not seeing any at the moment.
V for Vendetta
March 2nd, 2011
11:16 am
Unions are evil. What is happening in Wisconsin is indicative of how misguided many of us are in terms of the federal and state budgets.
Tonya C.,
As a former student of one of the aforementioned schools, I can assure you that such rumors are incredibly overexaggerated. One need only pass by Lassiter or Walton to see a similar–if not far more gratuitous–sight.
Jordan Kohanim
March 2nd, 2011
11:21 am
On my lunch break when a colleague mentioned you posted this here. Thanks, Maureen!
Maureen Downey
March 2nd, 2011
11:24 am
@Jorda, Thanks for keeping me current on late-night. I have been going to bed at 10 this week due to allergies.
Maureen
Lee Turner
March 2nd, 2011
11:26 am
Teachers get way to much time off to have my sympathy. Get a summer job. Way too many other perks for me to get riled, but I guess my lack of empathy comes from a generation that doesn’t require cable TV’s, The $40 internet package, home heating and air, iphones, and facebook to have a happy life.
brad
March 2nd, 2011
11:32 am
dand Lee… you’re old.
Many teachers that I know do work somewhere in the summer. At least the ones who don’t have kids of their own do. And most teachers in this state are working 5-10 days less already this year. Not because they want to work less…because Fat Sunny made them.
Vince
March 2nd, 2011
11:33 am
Thanks Maureen. Unfortunately, I think there are some boneheads out there that will think he was being serious! (look at comment from Lee T.)
Ch
March 2nd, 2011
11:34 am
I just had to post it on facebook…I LOVE my teacher, police officer, fireman/woman…..
Maureen Downey
March 2nd, 2011
11:34 am
@Vince, I hoped that the “spoof” in the headline would clear that up for folks.
Maureen
Ch
March 2nd, 2011
11:36 am
And have you seen the hoops teachers have to jump through just to teach the basics? Administration is not worried about students learning anything…they are worried about test scores.
Goal Digger, Ph.D
March 2nd, 2011
11:38 am
TEACHERS ARE PAID TOO MUCH!!!!!!!!
Are you sick of high paid teachers? Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do – baby sit! We can get that for LESS than minimum wage.
That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM
with 45 min. off for lunch and plan — that equals 6 1/2 hours).
Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.
Now how many do they teach in day…maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.
LET’S SEE…. That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 peryear. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).
What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children
X 180 days = $280,800 per year.
Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here! There sure is!
The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student–a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your
kids!)
Tad Jackson
March 2nd, 2011
12:00 pm
And I’ll bet it was a teacher (probably beloved to him then) who told Jon Stewart that he was a funny guy and could do great things one day!
http://www.adixiediary.com
Are You Kidding Me? Teachers overpaid?
March 2nd, 2011
12:00 pm
Thank you goal digger……….that was hilarious! I get really tired of the “you only work 10 months a year” comments. Loved your analysis! I’m printing it off for all of my teacher friends. I’ve been teaching for 12 years in DeKalb at both ends of the county and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Also, I spend many weeks in the summer taking classes and planning for the next year as many teachers do. And that’s on my OWN time with no pay.
Maureen Downey
March 2nd, 2011
12:03 pm
@Are you kidding, You can send them this link as I had posted that babysitter story a few weeks back:
http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2011/02/23/if-teachers-are-mere-babysitters-pay-them-accordingly/
Are You Kidding Me? Teachers overpaid?
March 2nd, 2011
12:05 pm
By the way, I teach 150 kids a day and give up about 12 hours a week (of my “free” time) to sponsor clubs and tutor YOUR kids after school for zero profit.
Lee Turner
March 2nd, 2011
12:12 pm
@Are You Kidding Me? Teachers overpaid? I guess I should get pissed at my employer for not paying me more for extra hours. Maybe I should ask for pay just because I volunteer time.
WAR
March 2nd, 2011
12:16 pm
a colleague of mine has a written letter about education and wants it posted, where does he/she send it?
WAR
March 2nd, 2011
12:18 pm
people who speak badly about teachers usually wanted to be teachers but didnt cut the mustard. thanks jon for the spoof. it was really funny. strangely i believe someone will think you were serious.
Are You Kidding Me? Teachers overpaid?
March 2nd, 2011
12:18 pm
Maybe you should Lee, but don’t misunderstand. I am not mad at my employer and I’m not asking for money for my “volunteer” time. I just want to teach and be treated as a valuable employee. Now if you will excuse me, my 15 minute lunch break is over. I hope your kid brought his materials to class, if not, I have to give him a pencil that I bought with my hefty paycheck.
WAR
March 2nd, 2011
12:21 pm
alas @ 11:14
No one is forcing you to teach, we’re just asking that if you do teach we see positive results. We’re not seeing any at the moment.
no one is forcing you to parent. we’re just asking that if you do parent, we see positive results. we’re not seeing any at the moment.
HS Public Teacher
March 2nd, 2011
12:23 pm
Stewart for President!
Economic Laws
March 2nd, 2011
12:24 pm
Teacher pay comes from tax dollars that are stolen from everyone regardless of whether or not they benefit from the service. Parents of one child pay the same or less (depending on home value – why?) than those with 8 kids in school. Private schools teachers get their salaries from the voluntary exchange of money for service from parents based on the number of children they send to the school and whether or not the school is meeting the needs of both the parents and the children.
In a system in which money comes in without any tie to price or value, and where money is spent without any tie to price or value, and where salaries are decided based on factors that have little or nothing to do with performance and certainly nothing to do with profit or competitive pressure, It is impossible to say whether or not government teachers are underpaid. Teachers in private schools generally are paid less and the final product of their teaching process is generally regarded as being a higher quality (based on standardized testing) than that of government teachers.
But lets try a simple experiment. Teachers generally feel they do a great job, are underpaid, undervalued and underappreciated. Let’s get rid of all government run education and taxpayer funding for education and let the teachers compete in the open market for customers. A simple, highly freedom and liberty-oriented approach. It would certainly settle the issue. If teachers deliver an outcome that is worthy of more pay then they will be getting it, whether or not the politicians agree.
See, that is how the rest of us operate at OUR jobs. At least those of us who work in the productive voluntary sector of society.
Somehow I don’t think I will be seeing any agreement with that challenge. After all, teachers who work in government schools are there for many reasons, one of which is not having to compete in the free market or to be accountable to its customer-driven value and pricing system.
DeKalb Educated
March 2nd, 2011
12:34 pm
OK, you would want all students to pay for their education like the do in Africa? Isn’t it bad enough that our workforce in Georgia is not well-equipped to be a beacon for business investment. Taxes pay for lots of things that I may never (and hope never) to use. Welfare – let everyone starve. Unemployed – it’s their fault and they are lazy. Highway taxes because you can’t get out and dig a proper road for yourself? Air traffic controllers for people who don’t fly – take a chance and fly without it you pansy! Come on y’all. We need well-funded, well-managed public schools. The unions in Wisconsin have made offers to downscale. Our teachers often have to go to school – required to keep their contract – during the summer. I prefer that people are educated so they can get good jobs, pay taxes and support me when I am old and infirmed (another I hope never happens but I suspect it will).
Tonya C.
March 2nd, 2011
12:38 pm
V for Vendetta:
I live in the Brookwood Cluster. It may not have been the case when you were there…but it is now. I was being facetious and over-reaching in referring to Phipps Plaza, but compared to the teacher’s lot it’s not a far cry from the truth.
Economic Laws
March 2nd, 2011
12:40 pm
When you go to the store, there is a simple question that you ask yourself (generally not outloud), every time you think about purchasing a product. That question is “do I value having the money in my pocket or do I value having the product instead.” The next question is whether or not the price being asked is low enough to answer the question in favor of the purchase. Included in that question is whether or not the time and trouble to shop around is worth the potential savings.
That is what VALUE is all about. But what is the value question that is asked when we talk about government teachers? It is certainly not “do I think that the money I spend on school taxes is a good value?”, since that price is set by an arbitrary and generally unaccountable group of bureaucrats, it is generally only a fraction of what the group of bureaucrats will spend of other people’s money to educate each one of your children, and it has nothing to do with the quantity or quality of services you will get. In fact, whether you like the service, feel it is of value, or not, you must pay, the rate might rise, and the school may even change.
So in this situation, how can anyone VALUE government education at all. It is without value and of limitless value all at the same time. I say limitless since the majority of folks can conspire to raise costs arbitrarily on everyone else to pay nearly as much as they wish (of other people’s money).
I have seen folks call for pay of 100K for teachers and the like, but again, nobody is ever volunteering to pay that themselves for a teacher. They are only willing to use the force and power of government to steal more from others to pay that much. And yet they have no idea nor any basis to establish a real value for the service their children receive.
When people say that nobody values education, that is not true. Parents who pay for their own children’s education directly within the framework of the free market (private or homeschooling) do absolutely VALUE education. Everyone else values the power of government to relieve them of the responsibility for having to pay to educate their own kids.
WAR
March 2nd, 2011
12:42 pm
economic law
replaced a word or two… tell me what you think.
But lets try a simple experiment. [Parents and children] generally feel they do a great job, are [misunderstood, misinformed, misguided]. Let’s get rid of all government run education and taxpayer funding for education and let the parents [and children] compete in the open market for [teachers and schools]. If [parents] deliver [children] that worthy of [an education] then they will be getting it, whether or not the politicians agree.
DeKalb Educated
March 2nd, 2011
12:43 pm
Jon Stewart is great. He has a creative way of getting people to think by using humor. Some people don’t like him but I am so glad my son introduced me to him about 10 years ago! Ditto for Colbert.
WAR
March 2nd, 2011
12:44 pm
economic laws
it is obvious that you have never been a teacher.
Are You Kidding Me? Teachers overpaid?
March 2nd, 2011
12:44 pm
I agree with some of your arguements “economic laws”; however, your last sentence is way off base. We know we are accountable for our “final product”, which, in my case, would be a successful passing rate on the GHSGT. One of our main problems for the pay for performance evalution would be a fair assessment. Let me give an example: I teach at high performing magnet school. We have always passed with flying colors. In reality, the only place we have to go is down. In other schools that have traditionally struggled with the exam, are you going to penalize the teachers who only get a certain percentage of students to pass? Is it their fault that so many students won’t even bother to study for this critical test or maybe not even show up. Who will want to teach at these schools? Yes, there are some teachers out there who shouldn’t be teaching, but step into a school and see how much MANY teachers care about your children. I think you might change your mind if you walked in their shoes for just one day.
Tonya C.
March 2nd, 2011
12:47 pm
Dekalb Educated:
You are correct and let me be even more clear: The unions in Wisconsin have agreed to every concession with the exception of the removal of collective bargaining. I believe in personal responsibility, but without a safety net what would the haves do if they become/became have-nots?
WAR
March 2nd, 2011
12:50 pm
economic laws
So in this situation, how can anyone VALUE government education at all.
the rhetorical answer is easy my young padiwon: teachers value education, period. it is valued because a child in high school who cannot read is taught the value of shakespeare, golding, and twain. it is valued because an inner-city child learns he is more than his surroundings. it is valued because a child learns how to count, produce, and synthesize. it is valued because teachers understand more must be done with less, regardless of the childs socio-economic status or who is paying the bill.
WAR
March 2nd, 2011
12:53 pm
are you kidding me
well stated.
WAR
March 2nd, 2011
12:55 pm
cricket cricket cricket
WAR
March 2nd, 2011
12:56 pm
thanks everyone for participating. this was a really good discussion. be safe.
Economic Laws
March 2nd, 2011
12:59 pm
DeKalb Educated – I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by the name you use on your posts. Says a lot.
First off, there are numerous stories of parents seeing out private alternatives (many of which are very affordable) to counter the failing govenrment run schools in many African countries. But there is no point in dealing with your petty reactive response line by line.
There is a thing called the free market. We don’t have this generally in this country as our government manipulates the value of money, imposes horrific regulatory burdens on people and businesses, imposes heavy taxation and beneficial subsidies, and the list could go on forever. Despite all of this government imposition on the market, some great things manage to still work.
When one talks of getting rid of government, one only means getting rid of government management of the services. One does not mean eliminating the service. Too many make that mistake, or somehow believe that the basics of life cannot exist without govenrment.
For every item you list there is now or has been in the past or could be in the future a private alternative to the current government monopoly. Government is just people. People who have access to force, the fraud of worthless money, and an ability to create a monopoly for a service. The free market would just eliminate those factors and allow individuals and companies to provide the service in a competitive marketplace. Those would be people too, but people who have to EARN your business, rather than stealing your money and delivering whatever they wanted. I am not sure how anyone could consider that inferior to the current monopoly situation. Roads, air-traffic control, courts, security, fire protection (over 80% of all firefighters in this country are volunteers), and the like can all be done with a private solution. There is nothing magical about government except that it can seemingly violate all the laws of economics without consequences. I think we can already see that this lie is not true for the consequences are showing up at every statehouse in the country.
Yes, we need a well-funded system of schools that are well-managed. We will never get that from the government system. We do already have that in the private education system. And how do we know they are well-funded and well-managed? Those that are in business stay that way by being well funded and well managed. Those that are not fail and go out of business. It has always worked that way, and government has always worked the way it does.
If you have the courage to be better than DeKalb Educated, please go to www(dot)mises(dot)org and read up on the subject of the free market and how it works (or could work if allowed to).
I too wish for an educated public. That is why I favor ending government education.
The Truth
March 2nd, 2011
1:03 pm
The image of educators would greatly improve if they were actually required to present themselves as professionals. Certainly there are other issues causing the train wreck that is public education, but repairing the image of the modern educator is a step in the right direction. I’m disgusted at the disheveled, frumpy appearance of my son’s teachers when we meet with them at conference time. It’s no wonder kids and adults alike don’t have any respect for educators – they don’t dress the part! For christ’s sake, is it too much to ask to actually dress like a business professional and present yourself as such to your students? I guarantee that students will treat you differently if they see you exuding professionalism day in and day out in the classroom. Take the time to do some shopping, put yourself together, and create your new image – you’ll thank me for it!
Tonya C.
March 2nd, 2011
1:13 pm
The Truth:
In theory, I understand what you’re saying. At least during parent-teacher conferences and school events, teachers should dress the part. But my husband is a middle-school teacher, and has had clothing destroyed (either through stains or tears) several times in his less than three years of teaching. Knowing what teachers do everyday how they dress is relative to the population they work with.
blackbird13
March 2nd, 2011
1:14 pm
These people, like “Economic laws,” who think the free market is the only answer to everything are just as blind as the religious nuts. When something isn’t working in the free market (see 2008), it’s because the market wasn’t “free” enough. And when something is working outside of the free market (Social Security keeps millions of elderly and disabled out of poverty), it’s only because the government is propping it up and restricting competition. Public education certainly has its problems, but privatizing it is not only not possible but highly undesirable; unless you want the U.S. to become even more of a nation of haves and have nots, which many free market zealots could care less about, as long the government is protecting their property and their a** (and for many the two are indistinguishable).
teacher&mom
March 2nd, 2011
1:24 pm
A friend shared this with me last night.
Jon Stewart will host Diane Ravitch on Thursday night. I’m usually in bed by 10 but I plan to break out the Diet Coke and watch the show.
Future Governor
March 2nd, 2011
1:26 pm
I think the following quote is appropriate:
“Many professions may boast, but teachers taught them all.” For all of those who are bashing teachers, perhaps you should thank them instead. Without an education, many of you would not have a job. Secondly, if young people today shy away from the teaching profession, I hope those of you who critizing education today will be prepared to stay at home with your little darlings and teach physics, chemistry, english lit, economics, etc. By the way, you will also be held accountable for their test scores or you will be penalized (perhaps a tax). Enjoy!
Chrome Gouda
March 2nd, 2011
1:34 pm
Holy cow. Blackbird just put the smackdown on Economic Laws.
Economic Laws
March 2nd, 2011
1:39 pm
WAR – my response was not meant to be an insulting “how can anyone value government education?” but rather without a value system based on pricing and other items how can one really come up with a value.
And as for your examples, you are right that everyone puts value in general on the things education has delivered to them, but in each case there is still a realistic value judgement that MUST be made. The child who can read, add, etc. may still not put a value of $50,000 on those skills. Given a free market of choices he might prefer to choose a cheaper alternative supplemented with outside material, etc. or his parent might choose to use their own personal time, etc.
The problem is that these kinds of ridiculous examples are always made but realistically still don’t justify an infinite amount of money run through a government system to deliver the outcome. Society cannot afford to pay every teacher a million dollars. Society cannot afford to buy everyone on the planet a computer, The list is infinite, but the money and resources are not.
There are certain laws of economics that cannot be violated. Using terms like “VALUE” without meaning is ridiculous and undermines the real reality that there is actually scarcity of material goods on this planet (including human labor). One MUST decide whether one thing is more important than another and to what extent. That is how a value system is developed. Such a system cannot be developed in a situation in which values cannot be assigned based on price (which is ultimately a measure of supply and demand – and the value of money).
You throw around the term value as if it has no meaning, and rightly so, in a government run/taxpayer funded system, it does not.
What I am suggesting is that the reason it is often asked why people do not value education is because in the current funding and operational scenario, it is not possible for anyone to establish a true value for education because all of the elements necessary for a value system are missing (aside from emotion which is not a sound basis for anything that is in limited supply).
That is why the free market is such a power and fundamental cornerstone of human advancement. It forces a valuation on all limited resources by the only folks that should matter – the consumer and the seller. When you undermine this value system, you put the decision making process in the hands of politicians rather than consumers and you can see the result – failure.
Batgirl
March 2nd, 2011
1:39 pm
@Economic Laws, first let me say that as a teacher I benefit from my own and other people’s taxes. However, I would gladly pay even if I weren’t a teacher. Many of the kids we teach are future law officers, emergency medical personnel, nurses, teachers, etc. I will happily pay now for the services they may render in the future.
Batgirl
March 2nd, 2011
1:44 pm
Oh, I don’t have and never will have children of my own.
Also, in your last post I think you should replace the word “value” with the word “price”.
The Truth
March 2nd, 2011
1:46 pm
I didn’t learn a damn thing that I didn’t either a) teach myself or b) learn from my college professors. I went to school in Wisconsin for 4 years, during which time the scum-bag teachers were in the middle of a “teacher slow-down” because they were not allowed to go on strike. As a result, I was so far behind when I moved back to Georgia, I was very far behind my peer group. If it hadn’t been for my grandparents, I wouldn’t have ever gotten to where I am today – proudly sitting before you as a member of the “haves”. The “have nots” are in that situation because they choose to be lazy or irresponsible.
By the way Tonya – I hear your point, but don’t agree with it at all. If you walk into a bank, doctor’s office, or attorney’s office, you expect a certain level of professional appearance. We should demand the same from our educators. If my child’s doctor was wearing a board shorts and a tank top or a clown outfit, do you think I would stop to look at his credentials? Of course not! The point is, it doesn’t matter how good you are at what you do, your awards, credentials, etc., unless you look the part.
Economic Laws
March 2nd, 2011
1:55 pm
Chrome Gouda and Blackbird – The only thing you put the smackdown on was your own understanding of economics. One can hardly look at the market in 2008 with any serious objectivity and call it a Free Market. We had artificially low interest rates caused by the Federal Reserve, we had congressional mandates to lenders forcing them to loan to unworthy borrowers, we had Freddie and Fannie guaranteeing these loans with taxpayer dollars (creating Moral Hazard in the marketplace) and I could go on and on. As for Social Security, it is little more than a Ponzi scheme. It has relied on the taxes paid today to pay for the folks who retired yesterday. I am sorry to point out the obvious, but it is not working. Its “lockbox” contains nothing but IOU’s to the tune of over 35 TRILLION in unfunded liabilities. Once again I get back to my comments that govenment can make it seem (even to the obviously gullible like you two) that it can somehow subvert the laws of economics. But our current debt of 2+ trillion, current deficit of 14 trillion, and estimated unfunded liabilities of SS, Medicare, and the Medicare drug benefit are over 100 Trillion dollars. It is just a matter of time.
The free market (a truly free market – please get an education in what that REALLY MEANS) has to pay its own way. We can all WISH that miracles can happen. The US government, the Federal Reserve, and the counterfeit green pieces of paper they force us to use as money have been trying to make that true since 1913 and the consequences have been disasterous several times already and will likely be much worse shortly I am afraid.
Those of us who have done our homework and have taken the time to understand economics beyond the lies the schools and the media tell, are quick to point out the fallacies of your kind of arguments. But either we are willing to look at the truth of our economic situations or we are going to just believe the lies of those who are financially benefitting from them.
Economic Laws
March 2nd, 2011
1:58 pm
Batgirl – And in a free market nobody would stop you from contributing to scholarship programs, charity schools, or just flat out donating to the school of your choice. I would likely do the same. The difference is that any recipient would have to earn my freely given money and would not just be able to have the government come take it against my will. What’s wrong with freedom? How is theft not immoral when committed by a group of people that call themselves government?