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Teacher's Unions: Good for Education?
- Thread starter tomspug
- Start date
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
I suspect that's all you wanted to hear.
A
angellous_evangellous
Guest
My wife is a teacher, and we love the unions. She's a member of two I think (a state and a nationwide). They protect her from stupid lawsuits and bad employers. She has access to a lawyer for questions at any time, which is fabulous. She had a boss last year that was absolutely evil, spending money illegally, mistreating staff, and etc. Her lawyer was a godsend last year and helped make a huge *positive* difference in the lives of many teachers and students. Our total cost was $35 for continual legal advice for a year, and representation in Austin. Fabulous.
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angellous_evangellous
Guest
tomspug
Absorbant
Nope. I meant "geez". That's how I've always spelled it. I'm pretty sure "gee" is pronounced that way too.
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
Correct. I also think it is highly probable that prior to this thread, you have selectively only given fair consideration to those things that align with an opinion on the subject that you already have.
Prove me wrong if you want . . . What is your opinion of the overall value of teachers' unions, tomspug? What advantages of teachers' unions have you explored?
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
Sorry, not buying it. Given your comment this morning about the education system producing "increasingly incompetent" kids in the same sentence that you suggest you don't want to improve it, combined with your extremist approach to Christianity, it's pretty likely, in my opinion, that you oppose all public education. I think it's very likely, in turn, that the root of that disdain is that public schools continue to successfully resist your desires to see your particular religious creeds taught to other peoples' children.
That's my opinion . . . :yes:
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angellous_evangellous
Guest
*clears throat*
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
Teachers' unions are incredibly valuable. They provide more access to power for a group whose value to our future is way out of proportion to the amount of respect they receive.
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angellous_evangellous
Guest
doppelgänger;1063849 said:
My wife's lawyer actually came to Ft Worth from Austin to meet with the district's super-intendent, who agreed only to talk with him under threat of lawsuit AND release of illegal activities to the media. If we had no help, a school would have an incompentent principle indefinately due to the corruption of certain officials.
tomspug
Absorbant
Great. So it's clear then that teacher's unions are incredibly valuable. It's nice to know, because my wife is considering teaching (*glances at doppelganger*). Education is a very important issue to me too, because I'm going to have kids in a few years (maybe). Unlike what SOME people think, asking questions about teacher's unions doesn't mean I want to destroy them.
Anyways, if there are negatives to teacher's unions, what do you think they are?
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
I'm alright with that, tomspug. Don't you want a world in clear terms of "black and white"? What's wrong with that? I'm feeling a little pugilistic today.
There's the danger of the state legislating "back to work" laws so that if your union does decide to exert any of its power in strike action, its members may end up in jail.
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angellous_evangellous
Guest
Possibly teachers abuse their coverage and are careless. I've heard of teachers who do something illegal and then call their union lawyer for protection. It's piddley stuff, nothing serious, but it is abuse. Most of these teachers get canned anyway, I haven't heard of a successful story like this.
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
Unions provide muscle to support individuals in disputes over benefits, provide job security in a world where the tides of politics sweep all sorts of flotsam and jetsam into a school system's administration, and (with limited success) keep the issue of how we value and pay teachers in the public's attention, among other things.
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
Yes. Right now NEA is working hard to get Bush to reevaluate the failed "No Child Left Behind" program, which was a bad idea from the start. They are also very active in rebuilding support and funding for music and other arts, and improving special education services. Aside from that, they create a more beneficial environment for teachers, which adds up to significant benefits for the students as well, in the form of better teachers, staying in the profession longer, and doing so with more passion.
My father raised six children on a teacher's salary. When I was eight years old he was a local leader of a teacher's strike that lasted 4 months. We got by on almost nothing (including a big Christmas, which was a big deal in my family). But the gains he and his fellow teachers won in that sacrifice helped teachers and their families for the next decade.