Posted on 09/07/2011 12:42:07 PM PDT by MichCapCon
In March, the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, sent a “Message to Congress” outlining its desired goals for K-12 public education policy and spending. Higher pay is a general theme, which fits in with the union’s ongoing “Be Proud to Say, I’m Worth Professional Pay” initiative. It quotes a study that praises the success of schools in other nations: “In South Korea, the average teacher earns more than a lawyer or an engineer.”
Yet the union’s core agenda protects a system that virtually assures that “professional pay” cannot happen. Engineers, lawyers, doctors, and so forth – even unionized pro football players – are compensated based upon their individual talent and accomplishments. There is no surprise when two lawyers in the same town, each 10 years out of law school, earn wildly different incomes based on different employment choices, ambition and talent. But such a situation is virtually unheard of with Michigan’s public school teachers...
(Excerpt) Read more at michigancapitolconfidential.com ...
What I do not understand is why she would take a “professional day” to see her son instead of a “personal day” or “vacation day”. Anywhere I have ever worked, we did not get paid days off to see our relatives, no matter what the situation was. I, as a taxpayer, do not think we should pay teachers or any other public employees for time off that is not part of their normal vacation/sick pay package.
The basic problem is that most school districts in America depend on taxing property.
When the value of property goes down ( USA house values are now down 20 %+/- from 2007 values) while the teachers salaries stay the same.
This shortfall cannot be made up because more land is not being made, and few are building more buildings.
This is a good time to shift property tax income to parts of the government that are related to property: Fire, police, courts, etc.
This is a good time for schools to shift from a fixed asset base such as property to an adjustable base such as population.
How the population is taxed should be independent of property.
Last time I checked, not too many teachers have 50,000 or more people buying $50 tickets to watch them teach a class.
Here are few ideas that would immediately cut school expenses at no cost:
** Allow any child of any age to take the GED or similar private exam. If they pass award and official diploma from the local high school. This would immediately make the child eligible for college scholarships and loans.
( Fewer kids in school mean fewer teachers and consolidated schools.)
** Video all grades ( K -12) and all lectures and place the material on-line for any citizen of the state to use. Make textbooks available at the local library. If a child passes a private or government test showing that he as mastered the material of a particular subject, he would be immediately moved to the next level in that subject.
( The more quickly a child moves through the government K-12 system, and the more the child learns on his own, the fewer teachers and school classrooms that will be needed.)
** Finally, as parents and children learn to be more self-sufficient many will abandon the government school completely.
( The fewer kids in school, the fewer teachers and classrooms that will be needed.)
True.
Also not entirely relevant.
I will not speak of government schools, my knowledge of them is limited.
Many years ago I taught science and math in a Catholic high school. I have never taken an "education" course in my life. At the time my highest degree was a BS in one of the traditional "hard" sciences. My wife is a teacher; she has been on the faculty of three different Catholic high schools during the >20 years of our marriage. She has never taken an "education" course, and holds a MA degree in her field of expertise. Her fellow faculty similarly hold Bachelor's or Master's degrees in the subjects they are hired to teach. The Catholic schools I'm familiar with don't look on Education courses and degrees favourably.
If they don’t like their gig, get a new one. Go play football. Or hockey. I won’t stop them, in fact I’ll pay to see it.
OK, now they're starting to win me over.
I walk to work and then back home, past the local high school. Generally speaking, I am not sure when the teachers work. I don’t see any cars in the lot on my way in or on my way home. Then when I consider their number of days off, well I figure they work about 60% of the typical professional.
If the average white collar wage in MI is $75K-90K, then the teachers are only working enough to earn $45K-54K. From what I hear, they should be taking pay cuts.....
American teachers couldn't handle the # of hours the average K-12 Korean teacher has to put in. They have school all year long with a few breaks in between, no 3 month + summer break in the ROK.
The schools are also mostly single-sex schools. Co-ed schools are rare, and even those schools have most of the classes divided by gender. Classroom sizes are also larger, much larger than most American schools (50 students in a class is not unheard of). Study sessions can last until 10 p.m. I don't know of any American teachers teaching study hall until 10 p.m.
EPIK - English Program in Korea - Public School Jobs in Korea
Send these links to the next teacher who complains about how little they get paid compared to Korean teachers. They have larger class sizes and are expected to be excellent and are expected to demand the same from their students.
old addage:
Those that can, do.
Those that can’t teach.
Those that can’t do or teach,
work for the gub mint.
Not all teachers are in a union. Many are not, especially in the right to work states.
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