arty
The highest paid teachers in America are striking. Take that info and consider the fact that about 80 percent of 8th graders in Chicago can’t read proficiently. And then wonder if a strike is a bad thing?
But they’re striking for the children. Be assured of that. It’s all about those precious little darlings.
Get used to it. If Obama wins, this is the whole country. Remember, and this is important, the Democrats, as shown here, don’t really give a darn about the kids. It’s about power. And Obama is currently taking part in the Chicago-ization of America.
This is your future. The left wants to indoctrinate your children and they want extremely high salaries to do it.
Dont’ worry about Rahm Emanuel’s kids though. They’re in private school. Oh wait, for some reason we’re not allowed to mention that. Families of Republicans can be dragged through the mud of the media and it’s all well and good but we’re not allowed to mention that Rahm is imprisoning children in failing schools while he sends his children elsewhere.
The schools meanwhile have been turned into soup kitchens for the students. They better get used to soup kitchens if they’re unable to read.
I think it was Condoleeza Rice who recently called school choice the civil rights struggle of our time. She’s right. Black babies are aborted at crazy high levels and those abortion clinics funnel mad amounts of money to the Democrat party. Then we imprison the survivors into failing schools that pay high salaries to teachers unions which also…you guessed it…support the Democrat Party.
September 10, 2012 at 11:13 pm
And they've already turned down a proposed pay increase of 16%, or an average of $11,500 over four years, above their current average of about $72,000. Teachers should earn a decent living, because they do a lot of hard work with little recognition. But if I only did my job well on average 20% if the time, I'd be looking for a new job. Take your well above average for Chicago pay, and do your job!
September 11, 2012 at 12:21 am
Dang… I'm a teacher. My husband is a teacher. We had a pay freeze for almost 5 years. I have 15 years of experience and he has 13… Our COMBINED net is under $60,000. I knew the pay sucked (although, benefits are decent and you can't beat the time off). I knew people didn't think very highly of my chosen profession. I went into this with my eyes wide open. I love what I do. My husband loves what he does. Thing is, I can't imagine striking… b/c I DO care for my students. These people are whiny, pampered, no-nothing, do-nothings, with an entirely over developed sense of entitlement. Argh. Rant over.
PS
All of that being said, don't forget to place most of the blame on the parents. We can only do so much with what we are sent (My kids managed 77% pass rate on the state test for science). We can't raise 'em for you. The teachers in our IB program or at my daughter's Catholic school are not better teachers than me… they just have families/students with different priorities.
September 11, 2012 at 3:52 am
While I generally agree with the gist of this post, in one respect it exhibits the characteristic simple-minded us-vs-them mentality that make so much of the "blogosphere" destructive of political discourse. Namely – the dig at Rahm Emanuel.
Now I myself am no fan of Rahm Emanuel in general (and as a Chicagoan, he is indeed my current mayor). But in this particular fight he's the one that is opposing the corrupt, incompetent Chicago teachers' unions. He's the good guy in this situation. And while he doesn't support the level of voucherization that I do, he has an ambitious plan to dramatically expand the number of charter schools in Chicago (and keep in mind that the Archdiocese of Chicago operates schools under the current Chicago charter school system). And he's the one pushing the overhaul of teacher evaluation criteria that secretly lies at the heart of the unions' current nuclear war against the city.
September 11, 2012 at 3:15 pm
One good thing that has come from the negotiations – the city has agreed to provide the teachers and students with textbooks the first day of school…yes, the union had to negotiate that. Apparently, some teachers have had to wait up to six weeks for the books. No wonder their test scores are low and their kids aren't reading at grade level.
There are always two sides to every story. While we can rant about the overpaid, crappy teachers and the unions who help them keep their jobs, the reality is that often teachers unions DO help students. They improve working conditions and limit class size, both of which help the students.
http://www.ctunet.com/blog/cps-fails-to-negotiate-fair-contract-to-prevent-first-labor-strike-in-25-years
September 11, 2012 at 3:18 pm
The highest paid teachers in America are striking? Too bad they can't all be fired.
September 11, 2012 at 6:49 pm
I read that they were offered 16% increase but want 20%. I don't blame them with the rising prices. But can the city afford it? What happened to shared sacrifice?
Not only that, they disapprove of tying up their performance evaluations to the students' performance. If I was a teacher I wouldn't want that either considering the kids there. But should we not strive to do better?
Now what would Scott Walker do?
September 11, 2012 at 10:36 pm
I taught in a public school for 31 years, and that and an evening job at a community college together paid nowhere near $75k. No complaints; I knew what the gig was going into it, and it was (almost) always a great joy.
Unions are a giant protection racket that taint everything, even the teaching of children.
Don't forget to vote in your school board elections, everyone, whether or not you have children in any school.