'A Disgrace to the Profession' vindicates, validates teachers in a big way

Subversive wouldn't be the first word used to describe a couple of retired Des Moines teachers. But in many ways, that's what Gretchen Kauffman and Charles Newton are.

Kauffman, 56, and Newton, 75, are co-authors of "A Disgrace to the Profession," a novel that created a stir in Des Moines that the authors hope will spread to the Twin Cities. Their book, about teachers fighting bureaucracy to do their jobs, already has found fans nationwide, thanks to word of mouth among frustrated teachers who swear the book was written about them.

The percentage is greater than you might think. 70 to 80% of the teachers I meant were really trying and able to do the job effectively. I taught (electronics and computer repair at a vocational school) for 7 years in the public school system and was finally dismissed because I refused to attend classes on the history of vocational education and some other stupid class. Both of these classes would have cost me over a thousand dollars to attend and were a total waste of time. They were given by a drunken professor on tenure who was teaching his last classes, I attended two of the four and they were a complete joke.

I developed the course from the ground up and it was expanded to three high schools. Kids were finally getting technology training in my backwater county. I was voted vocational teacher of the year, rookie teacher of the year, and nominated for Disney Teacheriffic award or something or other. I fought everyday for funding, expansion, and was frustrated by an administration that could only run their screensaver on their computers. I had grants spiked, abusive and incompentant administrators, the ratio of teachers to administrators also 1:1, useless paperwork out of the butt, etc... It was sad.

If the teachers union has anything to say about the implementation of a voucher system, the voucher schools will sink to the level of the public schools.

I like the idea of parents and teachers setting up their own private or charter schools, run by them and minus the bureacracy.

My brother is in the process of completing his first-year teaching job. He has very little respect for school administrators. Didn't take him long to find out.

I've been teaching for 35 years. I hold most administrator's to the " Toilet Fish Principle" = ( $hit floats to the top ). Most administrators teach for three years, kiss a lot of a$$ and are moved into a position of power .
I get a kick out of a dolt writing observations for a teacher during a calculus or physics class, when what they hear is really a foreign language to them.

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