“Fighting for the children while the shrapnel seems only to be killing teacher after teacher.”
I wrote a column for the print AJC on national Teacher Appreciation Week, which I will post later today. I decided to post this essay first to kick off the week. This was written by a local teacher who asked me to withhold her name.
Here is her piece:
It’s teacher appreciation week, again, and the fact that teacher morale is at the lowest it’s probably ever been shows that our nation is ignoring the reason that the week was started in the beginning. Think of it as the educational equivalent of taking the “Christ” out of Christmas. A holiday we’ll go on celebrating arbitrarily since it no longer has anything to do with teachers themselves.
Maybe you’ll send an apple with little Suzie on Monday. Or have little Tommy write a heartfelt note on Wednesday. Then pat yourself on the back on Friday for whatever dollar store treat you gave in thanks to the one person who spends more time with your child than you do. Some of you will do it because the classroom mother bullied you into taking part. Or because that’s what your parents did. Or because you want the teacher to tack on bonus points for your child to have a higher grade. Whatever. It doesn’t matter why you do it (and trust me when I say that the irony of a gift from a parent who just cussed me out at the last conference night isn’t lost upon my colleagues or me). The fact remains that more often than not, the gestures have little or nothing to do with the teachers themselves.
Still, let’s be clear about something right from the beginning – I appreciate those tokens. I’m honestly not mocking them – heartfelt or not, it’s always nice when someone gives you a pat on the back. There’s a file that I’ve kept for over a decade with every hand-written note of appreciation I’ve ever received from my students, and on my roughest days in the classroom, I pull it out to remember why I do what I do.
It’s been getting a lot of use these last few months.
Like many of my colleagues, I went into education because I truly believe teaching is the most important job in a democratic society. It is without hyperbole when I say that I believe when public education fails, a democratic society won’t be far behind. It’s the cornerstone of the United States with far-reaching power in how we live, vote, and behave. Teachers mold not only the future professions of our country but also the present citizens who walk the streets. The responsibilities and the intrinsic rewards for teachers are massive and overwhelming all at once.
It’s exhausting. And often thankless.
We’ve reached a time in this country where teachers are the only profession being asked to ignore the fact that we live in a capitalistic society. When a teacher complains about pay, they are just being selfish and should be glad that they have a job. Because, as we all have been told from a friend or family member — you knew what you were getting into.
Well, obviously, I didn’t. None of us did.
I never expected people outside of education to create impossible standards and expectations. I never expected to be villainized in critically acclaimed documentaries about super heroes who never show up. I never expected to receive a contract that reflected a lower salary than I’ve made in the five years. And I certainly never expected to have my first amendment rights taken away when all I want to do in the world is in defense of my job. In fact, just in writing this, my job is in jeopardy for saying what so many people are feeling.
It’s beyond exhausting and thankless – it’s soul-crushing.
I’m not sure when this happened to education or when the expectations for teachers reached an all-time high while the compensation reached an all-time low. But I do know that we’re involved in a war on education in which we claim to be fighting for the children while the shrapnel seems only to be killing teacher after teacher.
Here’s my battle-cry: we are not in an either/or situation.
I can be in the fight for the children AND still expect reasonable pay. Until I can pay for groceries or my light bill with my students’ appreciation or their test scores, school districts across the country must be willing to pay teachers for their services. That’s not being selfish, just practical. And I’m not talking about the overtime spent tutoring or at meetings or at school carnivals or lesson-planning while falling asleep at night or grading essays or writing letters of recommendations for the students. I’m talking about a decent hourly wage. You expect it in your job, so why can’t I expect it at mine?
Each of us has a memory of that teacher who touched his/her life and likely changed our path in life. That’s how important this job is. I can’t say the same about any other profession with which I’ve come in contact. And yet, every other profession is able to talk about their jobs and how they’re compensated without anyone giving them a crazy look or mentioning the hours that they don’t work (seriously, stop telling teachers that you’re jealous of their summer breaks – we hate that. We’re only paid for 186 days of work, so that’s all we work. None of us get paid for the summertime that we “have off” unlike the paid vacations that many of your jobs provide). My point is, stop thinking of me as the bad guy. Help me. Help us.
You know as well as I that neither you nor your children will ever stop to remember the educational lawmaker who played an important role in your lives.
Again, I love my students. That is, after all, the one factor that keeps me going back to my profession year after year, that’s true. But don’t use that against me. Don’t pretend that I must choose between caring about them and caring about my own livelihood. Why must I choose between one or the other?
The fact that I care about what I do is exactly the reason why I will eventually not be able to afford my home. The reason I won’t be able to live in Atlanta anymore. The reason I’m held hostage into signing an unfair and possibly illegal contract year after year. The reason that my workday keeps getting longer while my pay keeps going down. The reason that there continues to be fewer teachers to appreciate each year.
Maybe that’s the real reason the week has nothing to do with us anymore.
State governments don’t care. Boards of education don’t care. We don’t expect them to. They are simply balancing a budget because that’s what we hired them to do. Well, I, too, am balancing a budget – my own. And I can’t keep paying bills when funding continues to be cut. I can’t continue to keep a career that simultaneously pretends to appreciate me yet continues to pass laws and budgets that reflect just the opposite.
There are many of you that won’t agree with me, I know that. Many of you who will read this and feel that I’m just bitter, angry, and should be glad that I even have a job. Many of you who will thank a teacher in the press then go back to your offices and pass laws against them citing them as collateral damage of a zero-budget balancing mentality. Many of you in the same profession as me who will continue to work countless hours and spend money that you don’t have on your students because you’ve bought into the idea that they matter more than you do.
Instead, before you think those thoughts about me, think about that teacher who changed your life. The one who gave selflessly his/her time, energy, and self-worth to improve you and your history. Think of how much that teacher meant to you and your path.
Now, what is that worth to you?
If you truly want to show your appreciation for that teacher, in lieu of a gift card this year, make a phone call. Let those in control of balancing budgets and passing educational reform laws know that you won’t accept the budget being broken on the backs to teachers any more. That your child’s education will not be collateral damage in for people who cannot simply balance a checkbook. That you won’t sit idly by and watch a democratic society fall apart.
Do it for the fact that the teacher who might have changed your child’s life might be one who just left the profession because it cost more to them to stay in it.
Be the Superman or woman that your teachers are waiting for. If you don’t save us, no one will.
Oh, and Happy X Appreciation Week.
Bah humbug.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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148 comments Add your comment
Tired
May 7th, 2012
9:12 am
I appreciate the essayist’s sentiments, but teachers are hardly the only profession being asked to do much more for the public good with much less and great personal sacrifice. Talked to any social workers, discharge planners, attendant care workers, police officers, park rangers, or state hospital employees lately?
WAR
May 7th, 2012
9:14 am
i love education. i hate the people.
Cakelady
May 7th, 2012
9:16 am
I am a retired Teacher of more than 37 years. My very first Principal once told me, “You will never get rich in education”. I agree you must have a passion to want to work with our children. I have always been amazed at the number of people who thought teachers had easy jobs. I have always wished there was some way I could assign ALL politicians from the local to Washington level
to come spend just one week trying to teach their children and their neighbors children. Allow me to assign the schools they would serve and inform them they are NOT to come in three-piece
suits! They are not there to impress. Let them deal with the precious ones since they don’t value the way teachers handle them. Our values are misplaced. They would pay Atheletes millions of dollars for a few months work and the rest of their “free” time is used getting into trouble and being unable to manage what they make. The world is willing to continue to pay them for their inappropriate behaviors and become terribly upset when Teachers ask for raises , due to the rises in the cost of living.
Remember, without teachers, you would not have the other professions that exist. Someone had to show you they way and teach you the fundamentals that have laid the groundwork.
Someone hook me up with Mr. President so I can ask permission to make my assignments (Smile).
red herring
May 7th, 2012
9:17 am
Happy teachers day teachers. I too am one that believes that education nationwide (not just in georgia)
has become a black hole for taxpayer dollars. I also do not lay this on teachers doorstep but rather on bloated bureaucracy and administration. When an independent survey can recommend that you cut 129 asst or vice-principals out of one county school system then that pretty much sums it up. It’s time the state of georgia did a reclassification of all of georgia’s public schools and reduced the number of administrative positions as well as the huge salaries that go with them. Then perhaps two things can happen—teachers can be better compensated and the taxpayer can actually receive some relief from all the tax money eaten up by education. Most private workers would love to have a part time job with decent pay and good benefits so let’s don’t shed too many tears for those in education. All the years forward from the time Zell Miller was governor education employees have gotten a much better shake than state employees. So there is some good that goes with the bad. Again first and foremost Ga. must correct is over staffing of administrations, get rid of nepotism, and reduce the dollar/student/year figure –then give teachers raises according to their abilities and give the taxpayer some much needed relief.
Kelli
May 7th, 2012
9:18 am
As a teacher of the year who teaches middle schoolera to inspire children to change our world and to dream, I totally agree with the article. After being foreclosed on twice in the same house, my family of 5 live in a two bedroom apartment. The OCC has our case and sees how the bank messed us up. However with no credit cards nor car payments our home was our only debt. Being furloughed $800 a month, inflation, we put in for a mod. I am not a whiner. My students, family and friends cannot believe how i have remained so positive. However, when pinestraw is added to a huge fluff if pinestraw, brand new soap dispensers in every rr with our county logo, floor being waxed every day, and finally my air conditioner never shuts off even during the winter, my situation stings!! Something has to change!
FCS Teacher
May 7th, 2012
9:24 am
Fortunately writing anonymous letters to blogs is the best way to enact revolution. Look, most teachers are too scared to ever stand up for what they think is right. Several of my colleagues are republican. That’s like being a black member of the KKK. I used to blame the power elite, but now I blame the teachers. Speak out and, “be the change we want to see in the world.” Learn to say no.
Dr. John Trotter
May 7th, 2012
9:26 am
Can anyone successfully refute the MACE Mantra? Here it is again: “You cannot have good learning conditions until you first have good teaching conditions.”™
http://www.theteachersadvocate.com
MiltonMan
May 7th, 2012
9:28 am
“Teachers in GA have no protection. None whatsoever. And those in power intend to keep it that way.”
Give me a break. The cheating APS teachers have all been afforded a hearing prior to their dismissal.
MiltonMan
May 7th, 2012
9:31 am
Once again, another teacher who label the USA a democracy. This country is a republic – read the constitution & it is even in the Pledge of Alliance.
John Watson
May 7th, 2012
9:35 am
I’m a public servant as well, have been for 13 years and several in the military before that. I am so sick of the “be lucky you have a job” line. It’s simplistic, dismissive garbage. While some teachers (I’m looking at you APS) should be lucky they have ANY job, most teachers could, and eventually will, do something else. When that happens we wind up with the bottom of the barrel of teachers, cops, firefighters, and all public servant jobs. The public – and especially the cake eating ‘bosses’ -should be saying they are lucky they have most of us as workers….if not- say hello to the lowest common denominator teaching your kids, policing your streets, fighting your fires, prosecuting your criminals…etc…
hildymac
May 7th, 2012
9:36 am
To those of you trying to claim capitalism as an excuse for teacher pay needing to be higher: teachers are not part of the capitalist system. We are government employees. People who are employed in capitalist companies get paid based on how much money they “bring in,” or are perceived to “bring in” relative to their position in the company. This is why actors get paid so much. One film might earn them $10 million, but it earns the studio $150 million. THAT is being employed in a capitalist system.
Capitalism impacts teachers through taxes. If the economy is failing, tax revenue goes down. If tax revenue goes down, teachers’ salaries get cut, days are lost, and austerity measures are taken in schools. You can’t spend money that you don’t have, and teachers aren’t the only government employees impacted like this.
Yes, the situation sucks, especially for the students who are having to deal with breaking fire code levels of class crowding, and having the programs for gifted and magnet students cut. That’s what upsets me the most, but if there isn’t money, something’s going to be gone.
I make more money for nine months of work than a good number of people make in a year. I’m certainly not going to complain, because I know that a) salaries are getting cut because there’s no money to pay them, not because people are doing it out of spite and b) I’m very fortunate to have the job that I do.
teacher&mom
May 7th, 2012
9:40 am
@MiltonMan:
Were the whistleblowers afforded the same hearing?
Answer: no
Were teachers asked to participate in the RttT grant writing process? Did they have any say into whether or not their districts participated? How many teachers in each RttT district were made aware of the requirements for RttT BEFORE their district signed on the dotted line?
Answer: none
(Well I take that back…. some teachers participated in a nebulas survey that was used as “evidence of teacher buy-in”)
Is it fair to judge the entire profession against the actions of a few in APS?
Answer: no
teacher
May 7th, 2012
9:44 am
Thanks for your comments!!
I find the new graduation requirements ridiculous compared to the new teacher evaluation system to be implemented next school year. While there will be no state tests required any longer for graduation, teachers will be evaluated on what the kids score. Now, does that really make any sense?
From Dade County
May 7th, 2012
9:45 am
Hey Maureen – I live in Dade County in NW Ga – my wife is a teacher. What permissions do I need to obtain from you or AJC to submit this article in our local paper. It has in print what my spouse has been saying for years. Thank you.
MiltonMan
May 7th, 2012
9:47 am
Maybe if you clowns in the GAE would quit endorsing every little crappy candidate that the democratic party in this state nominates for basically nothing more than being a sacrificial lamb would you get more “respect” from the public. Does Roy Barnes ring a bell??? The clown turned on the teachers but he got their endorsement regardless simply because he a (D) following his name.
dc
May 7th, 2012
9:47 am
I really wish all teachers had the chance to go out and get another job, if just for a few years. Given my wife’s experience, the pay “on the outside” has been better, but the hours have been significantly worse as well. And the pressure is completely different……seriously. Not saying any of it is better or worse, but it’s not a bed of roses outside of teaching either.
Again, we are a sample of one, but the grass isn’t necessarily greener on the outside (even if it looks pretty brown inside – teaching). Taking a few years to do something else (a real job, not a sabbatical or part time fun gig) might really help teachers appreciate their job….or I suppose it might cause the never to return.
Maureen Downey
May 7th, 2012
9:54 am
@Dade,
I am sure the author would be delighted to have it reprinted. She is a metro Atlanta teacher. But I am not sure of your local paper’s policy on printing essays without names. You would need to ask them.
Maureen
Jordan Kohanim
May 7th, 2012
10:05 am
Thank you, Maureen, for posting this. Thank you so very much.
Dan
May 7th, 2012
10:30 am
Don’t forget to add the numbers of FALSE claims made against teachers. I know of a number of them. I was one. It is very stressful. Imagine the stress of having the sheriff’s department investigate you. Luckily, I was exonerated. The parents and the student confessed that they made a false report, Yet, they were never charged with filing a false police report. Teacher appreciation? What a laugh.
A Conservative Voice
May 7th, 2012
10:31 am
You know folks, nothing’s gonna get better unless and until our schools are returned to State/Local control. The USDept. of “Non Education” has ruined them……Arnie Duncan needs to be in the unemployment line along with his boss. Remember to vote on November 6, 2012
yeah right
May 7th, 2012
10:34 am
@hildymac : Oh you are luck to work for 9 months. Most teachers work year-round (during their official time off).
teacher&mom
May 7th, 2012
10:46 am
@ A Conservative Voice: Can you provide any specific information that outlines how Mitt Romney will be “different” when it comes to education?
Sadly, I don’t see any difference between the two parties when it comes to educational issues.
Duncan was a poor choice… which is why I signed the petition on dumpduncan.org
ateacherfirst
May 7th, 2012
10:51 am
I’ve been a teacher for 17 years in both public and private settings. The hours are long, the pay is sub-par, working conditions are difficult, and the task is often thankless. I still love what I do. Why? Because for every thirty students that make my life difficult, one learns and takes that forward. Maybe that student cures cancer, solves the Middle East crisis, or becomes the next Steve Jobs. Maybe he or she simply goes on to be a good doctor, lawyer, newscaster, or other professional. In a perfect moment, he or she becomes a teacher. Why? The late Christa McAuliffe said it best – as teachers we touch the future.
Before anyone thinks I’m some type of martyr or delusional, I wish I was paid more. I would love my students to be ready to learn more – for their sake as much as my own. I wish people without a clue what education is would keep their noses out of it, and I wish parents would take more of an interest every day – not just when they don’t like something.
However, I can’t and won’t spend all my energy worrying about those things. Every profession has its problems – ask your doctor, your lawyer, or your real estate agent. I knew what I was getting into when I became a teacher, because from the first time I said it to Sister Pauline in first grade, my teachers tried to talk me out of it. Instead, I spend my energy trying to find new ways to help my students learn.
I had a teacher I admired for many years when I was in middle school and high school. By the time I had the chance to work with her, she was burnt-out. She hated teaching, hated the students, and hated all the baggage that goes with it. She was miserable and I hated seeing her that way. I promised myself that if that day ever came for me that I’d walk away from teaching, not just for my sanity but for my students. I’ll let you know when it happens, but don’t hold your breath. Blue may not be your best color.
Shark Punch!
May 7th, 2012
10:51 am
I predict this comment will be lost in the wilderness of the same old back-and-forth between Teachers and PeopleWithNoClue, but….
The headline gave me a crazy idea. If we could somehow convince the Republicans than public education is really a matter of national defense/security, THEY’D BE LINING UP TO FUND IT. After all, you’ve never heard the phrase “privatize the military” or “those crooks in the defense industry are just going to have to make do with the funding we have available.”
Thoughts?
Ron F.
May 7th, 2012
10:58 am
Shark: Just get Cheney to help us form a subsidiary of Blackwater…problem solved!
Anonmom
May 7th, 2012
11:01 am
We’re actually spending multiples of what we used to spend for education decades ago and the results are a fraction of what they used to be… the layers and layers of bureaucracy are the real problem — I think we want dollars in the classroom — the “powers that be” want job — upper level jobs. Read Gatto’s book.
Mary Elizabeth
May 7th, 2012
11:16 am
Yesterday, on C-Span2’s Booktv broadcast with Michael Sandel of Harvard University, Professor Sandel desribes how market interest are taking over almost every aspect of American life, even in places where they do not belong, such as in education. He describes how this may be harmful to our nation in ways not considered. His is an in depth analysis. He is a professor of philosophy at Harvard.
Some may be interested in viewing this hour long broadcast. To watch the program, hit the “Watch” icon on the right of the screen.
http://www.booktv.org/Program/13304/After+Words+Michael+Sandel+What+Money+Cant+Buy+The+Moral+Limits+of+Markets+hosted+by+Nicole+Gelinas+Manhattan+Institute.aspx
Once Again
May 7th, 2012
11:27 am
I had a teacher in high school who drove 100 miles each way to teach us! This was in a Catholic High School so you know he made far less money than the protected union folks in the LA Unified School District. He was such an enjoyable teacher that many students would come back and sit in the back of the class when they had days off from college, etc.
These are the kind of teachers that deserve a week of recognition.
Angela
May 7th, 2012
11:28 am
Maureen,
Is there any way that this can be sent to Obama? If so, I think that it would be a good idea.
Once Again
May 7th, 2012
11:31 am
Mary Elizabeth – Personally I think there is FAR more to be gained by watching John Stossel’s “Stupid in America.” I watched the program last night with my wife and both of us were appalled at the arrogance and stupidity exhibited by those the government has put in charge of educating children. It will only be possible to address these educational problems once the government system is gone and a free and competitive market in private/home/group, etc. education is reestablished in this country.
Teacher Reader
May 7th, 2012
11:33 am
@ Angela, I went into teaching knowing that I wouldn’t get rich. I also went into teaching and life not buying what I couldn’t afford and living well within my means. I realized that good teaching is not what my district wanted, and also knew that I couldn’t send my son to a school in the district that I lived and taught, so I left teaching.
Those making education and support for teachers a Republican/Democrat thing are unknowing and truly need to read books by Gatto and Charlotte Iserbyt, so that you can really understand what is happening in education and why our schools are in the condition that they are in. I am tired of being part of the 50% that pay taxes and see my money used in a way that I would not spend it myself. I am tired of seeing more spent on children’s education and the outcomes consistently going down. As a product of public schools, I’d love to be able to send my son to the public schools in my county, but I want him educated, and a life long learner, and being a former teacher, I know that is not going to happen in many of our public schools.
I support teachers who speak out not about their salaries, but about not being able to educate children. I support teachers who speak out about the way our history books skew history and leave out many important events and people or don’t give the full facts so our children are uneducated. I support teachers who are life long learners themselves and make learning hip and fun. I support teachers who are grateful for what they do have and aren’t complaining about what they don’t have. I support teachers who do the right thing when no one is looking. I support teachers who speak out about the lack of discipline in our schools. I support teachers who speak out against the ridiculousness that comes from administrators from the central office that makes their job nearly impossible. I support teachers who teach as if their own child were in the classroom and give students the opportunities to receive a quality education. I do not support teachers who whine and complain and do not possess the above qualities, as they are not the kind of teacher I want my child to have.
Beverly Fraud
May 7th, 2012
11:52 am
What people who complain about “teachers whining” need to SERIOUSLY think about:
When you dismiss the teaching conditions, you are also dismiss the LEARNING conditions.
If teaching conditions are GARBAGE do you really think LEARNING conditions are pristine?
All you “free market” people need to think: if teaching conditions are driving good teachers away, what do you think is going to be left?
Tonya C.
May 7th, 2012
11:53 am
Teacher Reader you stated:
“I support teachers who speak out not about their salaries, but about not being able to educate children. I support teachers who speak out about the way our history books skew history and leave out many important events and people or don’t give the full facts so our children are uneducated. I support teachers who are life long learners themselves and make learning hip and fun. I support teachers who are grateful for what they do have and aren’t complaining about what they don’t have. I support teachers who do the right thing when no one is looking. I support teachers who speak out about the lack of discipline in our schools. I support teachers who speak out against the ridiculousness that comes from administrators from the central office that makes their job nearly impossible. I support teachers who teach as if their own child were in the classroom and give students the opportunities to receive a quality education.”
That is exactly what was stressed in this letter. That is what has been said my multiple teachers on this blog. And in the minds of many, this is considered whining.
Schools are a reflection of society. Fixing many of the ills starts with recognition and acceptance of that fact.
Lib in Cobb
May 7th, 2012
11:59 am
My wife is a very happy former teacher. Happy for the following reasons.
*She no longer has to deal with elementary school students who are out of control to the point that they will most likely some day be a convicted felon.
*She no longer has to deal with parents who should have never been parents.
* She no longer has to deal with school management who needs a years worth of tracking studies to determine that Little Johnny needs to be sent to a behavior treatment facility, with or without the parents.
*She no longer has to devote more attention to one child than the rest of the class because Little Johnny has threatened bodily harm to every adult and student in sight.
*She no longer has to explain to parents that the schedule for field trips cannot be changed to accommodate your massage appointment.
*She no longer has to go shopping for school supplies because the $100.00 allotment for the year was not enough.
*She no longer has to accept declining income or furlough days.
*She no longer has to supply materials for the same six students for a project, because the parents don’t/won’t understand that they are required to supply these items.
*She no longer has to reschedule teacher/parent conferences for the same parents because that time doesn’t work for them due to a massage appointment. By the way, no parent/teacher conferences are held in a Panera Bread on Saturday.
*She no longer has to say no to parents who want a weekly progress report on their little darling who they think is the next Mensa member.
*She no longer has to deal with the constant money raising programs promoted by the school.
*She no longer has to deal with the people who just don’t give a sh– about their kid, the school or anything close to being the right thing for the kid.
My wife loved to teach and she loved the kids, but she is happy to be out of it for the above reasons and more which have not been mentioned.
Angela
May 7th, 2012
12:08 pm
@Teacher Reader,
And, yet you still have not answered my question. Do you reject your pay check?
We as teachers know that we will not ever be rich in this profession. Also, if you cannot send your child to the schools in your area why not home school? You are doing something that is illegal. You say that you respect teachers however, you only respect them on your terms. You don’t really sound like you have much respect for people in general.
Again, do you reject your pay check? Or, do you have a job?
Mary Elizabeth
May 7th, 2012
12:12 pm
Once Again, 11:31 am
“It will only be possible to address these educational problems once the government system is gone and a free and competitive market in private/home/group, etc. education is reestablished in this country.”
==========================================
Your thinking, from your remarks above, needs more balance, in my opinion. I have no problem with the market place functioning within its proper place in society, and I believe that it should do so. However, I do not think the market place belongs in educating all of America’s children. John Stossel, the force behind, “Stupid in America,” is well known as a Libertarian journalist. He is employed by FOX News. He has a definite ideological bias. I heard Stossel speak on C-Span 2, within the past month, in which he stated that the government should not have intervened in private business enterprise during the years in which the South had a segregated society. Stossel thought that the market place would have, itself, corrected injustices in places such as Lester Maddox’s segregated restaurant, if the market place had been left alone of government intervention. I was a young person during that era in Georgia. I remember it well. The market place would have taken a century or more to correct the injustice of the South’s segregated society, if it ever would have done so. In fact, I believe that the market place would not have corrected this moral injustice without governmental intervention. That is why primary injustices, regarding liberty among all Americans, are protected from occurring by our government’s U.S. Constitution. Stossel was simply wrong in his thoughts, in that regard, because of his ideological prejudices, in my opinion. Therefore, one needs to “consider the source” of “Stupid in America.”
On the other hand, Professor Sandel has no ideological ax to grind. Please take the time to view the broadcast link that I provided, above, regarding Michael Sandel’s current book: “What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets.”
David Patton
May 7th, 2012
12:15 pm
Excellent article.
Batgirl
May 7th, 2012
12:15 pm
Excellent article.
@bootney at 5:58. Set the date, and I’ll spread the word.
Colonel Jack
May 7th, 2012
12:36 pm
Not exactly an on-topic question, but I wanted to ask my fellow bloggers here … after how many consecutive “unsatisfactory” annual evaluations does a tenured teacher face non-renewal? (I know, I know, “tenure” is a relative term.) Thanks.
Csoby
May 7th, 2012
12:38 pm
But wait, we can pay foorball and basket ball coaches a nice salary anbd they do not even have to spend time in a class room. The big bad government has turned the school system into one glorified baby sitting service…Put back local control, parent responsibility and pay teaches a decent salary and watch education go skyward.
JLM
May 7th, 2012
12:43 pm
@ ateacherfirst wrote: “I’ve been a teacher for 17 years in both public and private settings. The hours are long, the pay is sub-par, working conditions are difficult, and the task is often thankless”.
Great post!
mountain man
May 7th, 2012
12:47 pm
About that comment about education being a “Black Hole” for tax money – I would like to see the cost of teaching the average “regular” student vs. 20 years ago. Then do the same for “Administrators cost per student” and then the cost of special education per student. I think you will find that the first is almost flat while the latter two have experienced astronomical growth.
mountain man
May 7th, 2012
12:49 pm
I think most teachers leave the profession due to working conditions, not pay. Private schools pay their teachers less and the teachers there mostly are happy. That is because they don’t have to deal with discipline problems, SPED students, and overzealous government regulation (NCLB).
Angela
May 7th, 2012
1:01 pm
@Colonel Jack
Has the teacher been placed on a PDP?
Colonel Jack
May 7th, 2012
1:21 pm
@Angela Yes, it’s the second year of the PDP.
cris
May 7th, 2012
1:21 pm
@Colonel in my particular school, once a teacher is placed on a PDP, they have until the end of the school year to “improve” if they do not have “tenure” or they are gone…tenured teachers usually have a full year in which they are monitored constantly – usually most end up leaving of their own accord because they don’t want the pressure. The problem remains with administrators who are unwilling to begin the PDP process on tenured teachers – they know how to get rid of them, they just don’t want to put in the time to do it unless someone is jumping up and down complaining about a teacher.
Colonel Jack
May 7th, 2012
1:24 pm
@ Angela Let me correct that … the PDP was instituted at the end of last school year. This is the end of the first full year of it.
Angela
May 7th, 2012
1:37 pm
@Colonel Jack,
Well, let me be perfectly honest it depends on the principal. The principal has to right to let that PDP go on to the next school year or not. My next question is is this a personal or really a teacher lack of performance PDP.?
cobbmom
May 7th, 2012
1:38 pm
My pay has dropped $5,000 in the last two years and will drop another $3,000 this year with furlough days and a shortened school year. Last year’s 17% increase in health insurance premiums took it’s own bite of my pay and we don’t even know how much the health insurance increase is this year. Because of all the cuts I’m in danger of losing my home even though I work 50+ hours a week. Love my students but have no good feelings for state/federal politicians and school board members.
Angela
May 7th, 2012
1:40 pm
@Teacher Reader,
I am awaiting your reply!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you rejecting your pay check?