Teachers Wonder, Why the Scorn?

[TomCADem]

Source: NY Times

The jabs Erin Parker has heard about her job have stunned her. Oh you pathetic teachers, read the online comments and placards of counterdemonstrators. You are glorified baby sitters who leave work at 3 p.m. You deserve minimum wage.

“You feel punched in the stomach,” said Ms. Parker, a high school science teacher in Madison, Wis., where public employees’ two-week occupation of the State Capitol has stalled but not deterred the governor’s plan to try to strip them of bargaining rights.

Ms. Parker, a second-year teacher making $36,000, fears that under the proposed legislation class sizes would rise and higher contributions to her benefits would knock her out of the middle class.

“I love teaching, but I have $26,000 of student debt,” she said. “I’m 30 years old, and I can’t save up enough for a down payment” for a house. Nor does she own a car. She is making plans to move to Colorado, where she could afford to keep teaching by living with her parents.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/education/03teacher.html?src=me&ref=general

---

The corporate right wing media. Is convinces workers to hate unions, middle America to denounce efforts to regulate corporations or tax the wealthy as socialism, liberals to hate Democrats, and everyone to admire Republicans or at least give them a free pass.

Blame the large corporations that fund the U.S. Chamber of Commerce million dollar attacks on unions, Democrats and environmentalist? No, we are trained by our corporate media masters to blame teachers, unions, liberals and Democrats.

[Newsjock]

1. Because Red America hates smart people

Smart people ask difficult questions. Teachers make smart people. Ergo, teachers are bad. That's what this country has been reduced to.

[glinda]

4. We have a winner!!!!!!!!!!!

[calimary]

93. Yes we do!!!!!

Don't forget the observation attributed to kkkarl rove: "too much education is not necessarily a good thing." And why would that be? Because the better-educated you are, the more likely you are to lean toward the liberal end of the political spectrum.

[glinda]

5. Just remember that teachers and scholars were sent to the gas chambers.

Along with homosexuals, handicapped and a lot of Poles.

[somone]

18. And Pol Pot killed everyone with glasses

[JDPriestly]

35. Just for the record, glinda, Jews, Gypsies, Christians and trade unionists

were also sent to the gas chambers. You forgot a few categories.

[Bosso 63]

56. They started with the disabled.

"lives not worth living", and then they expanded from there.

[boppers]

94. Actually, Communists were first. By a few years.

Reichtag fire->enabling act->Communists->Dissidents->Trade Unionists-> (etc. etc.) <---1933

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_T4 <--1939

[mrmpa]

7. I think you hit the nail on the head.................

Republicans/Teabaggers/Red America does hate those with intelligence. This has gone on for decades "Kennedy surrounded himself with eggheads" Carter was a nuclear submariner, Hilary is too smart, Bill too, Obama too intelligent.

It comes down now to Red America hating working people with intelligence. Corporate America wants to dumb down education through testing. You don't need educated people to teach kids how to take a test.

I could go on but I am exhausted.

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. And our president is right on board with them

Don't fool yourself. This isn't just a republican attack.

[Cobalt-60]

36. Exactly

Of all the people they fear teachers most.
Teachers speak with credibility that corporate shills just can't match.
They're trying to drive real teachers out so they can be replaced with fascist teachers.
The fascists have cobbled up a fictional American history that claims that only they had any part in the nations development.
Real teachers won't peddle that crap.
And the fascists want it peddled.

[marions ghost]

41. I think you're onto something there

n/t

[krabigirl]

37. +1

[Daphne08]

42. +10000

[AngryAmish]

45. Teachers have never struck me as particularly smart

At most competitive universities teaching is about the easiest major to get into other than agriculture. Compare engineering, accounting, medicine or any other learned profession. Usually many, many more half-wits that are teachers than in other fields.

[plumbob]

53. How could anyone look at Arthur Andersen and other accounting firms

and dream that anyone of intelligence worked there?

The same engineers that brought us nuclear waste that leaks forever, mountaintop removal, drilling in the Gulf for BP? THOSE learned professionals? Really?

[emsimon33]

122. Great data!!!! You have said it all!!!!

[Pacifist Patriot]

61. Wow, just wow.

[ieoeja]

67. And AngryAmish does not strike me as being skilled at reading comprehension.

"Teachers make people smart," is not the same as, "teachers are smart."

[callous taoboy]

88. I put this

teacher-bashing idiot on ignore a long, long time ago.

[lunasun]

103. most likely home skooled

[fishwax]

68. that's not been my experience working with undergrads at a Big 10 university n/t

[emsimon33]

121. Nor mine working at the 3rd most difficult public university

in California!

[hatrack]

69. Sorry you ended up with a lifetime's worth of shitty teachers

My condolences.

[Occulus]

174. Thankfully for the rest of us, it SHOWS.

In spades.

[Goblinmonger]

84. Yes, of course, the hard sciences are the hardest majors of all time.

It never gets old to hear that.

I would love to see an engineer in front of the class teaching math. Yeah, that personality type is going to get a lot of shit done. :sarcasm:

[RetroLounge]

101. Project much?

Jesus, WTF happened to this site?

RL

[emsimon33]

118. Thank you so much for your ignorant and uninformed observation

I have encountered more half-wits in corporate America and the medical profession than I have in American schools and I can support what I have just said with hard facts, not bias and the talking points of the blood-sucking corporate masters and the Republican puppets they control.

[lumpy]

172. Learning for teachers does not stop once the degree has been

earned, quite the opposite. To teach one must continue the learning process... on all subjects. Many extra hours are spent preparing for class presentations, researching subjects and teaching methods. Teaching is truly a calling that not just anyone succeed in doing. Teachers that I have known are the most dedicated to their responsibilities.
I really don't understand what being 'smart' has to do with anything. It takes a great deal of intelligence, foresight and patience to be responsible for the educational and psychological welfare of young minds.

[lumberjack_jeff]

64. That's not it.

They believe that taxes are theft, and therefore every public employee (who isn't a soldier or a fireman) is a thief.

[Pacifist Patriot]

74. I think that has a lot to do with it.

I know a few right wing nuts who view anyone accepting money from the government as welfare queens. They honestly can't think critically about it.

[DeSwiss]

73. True, and yet......

The petty right and the bumbling left find themselves unexpectedly meeting one another these days, as they navigate the craters of our bombed out economic landscape. Were it not for the ideological war in progress (it's not a cultural war, no matter what the university pundits say, it's a capitalist state sponsored ideological war), they would probably form a powerful combined populist movement that would scare Washington right out of its silk shorts. Naturally, political strategists on both sides do everything possible to keep the rank and file from discovering the growing overlap of liberal and conservative thinking (or in some cases, nonthinking).

Not many working people on either side still believe that what is good for Wall Street is good for Main Street, or that very much trickles down from Wall Street to our level. No matter how much money we sweat for, or borrow -- or Congress borrows in our name without ever asking us -- and throw at Wall Street, the money sticks up there on the fortieth floor. Then it disappears into that bizarro funhouse mirror of the real economy, the virtual economy -- euphemistically called banking and investment and the market. Our market system of "investment" is based upon getting in at the right moment, grabbing other people's money, then getting out fast. Which pretty much describes the key elements a bank heist.

America's bourgeois birth $ign

To the little guys like Gunther, the collapse looks like the work of immoral men within the system. That is true to a degree. But immorality was institutionalized in America a long time ago., when bourgeois capitalism monopolized not only wealth, but power and prestige in the United States, the only nation it could have happened in at the time. Early America was a clean historical slate. It had never passed through a feudal era or centuries of domination by nobility's power and wealth. No official church monopolized its morals. Born simultaneously with, and suckled on capitalism, America's mercantile bourgeoisie never faced any of the historical forces that created tension or resistance to its aims. Freed from the Old World's historical competition, and blessed with unimaginable natural resources, plus an immense and willing immigrant labor force, the national bourgeoisie grew wealthy and powerful. From its ranks grew new mercantile, industrial and banking elites, and new strata of dominance and power. Today they manifest themselves as the complex corporate-financial complex that owns our national production, employment, legal system and our politicians.

The bourgeoisie could not have produced any other kind of elites, because by its very nature, bourgeois ascendance and success goes to those individuals who most value material wealth. Those of extreme wealth necessarily dominate. And extreme wealth cannot be accumulated by individuals ,except by extracting it from the multitude of other individuals -- a little or a lot from each member if the working masses.

~Joe Bageant, http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2010/03/from-wall-street.html">From Wall Street To Skank Street

We've allowed for the Repukes (as well as the DLC-types) to control the message to the masses. We've further allowed them to create and maintain the huge rift(s) between America's working class and middle class people (with wedge issues such as: guns, race, sex, sexuality, etc.). And unless and until we're prepared to address this reality, there's little hope for any substantive change and the politicians will continue to play both ends against the middle to maintain their personal wealth and careers. They and their corporate masters are the only ones who end up winning.

A failure to bridge the divide between working class and middle class Americans -- and to educate everyone about what is really happening -- is the main problem. The perpetuation of ignorance is how the rich have always stayed in power. And the rich will never willingly support, pay for, nor simply stand by and watch while the masses are educated by a public system in such a way which will in-turn undermine the very control they now exercise over us. And which they seek to maintain. Which is why we must do this ourselves. We are the ones who must take the initiative. This is the first lesson we need to learn.

But we already know this, don't we?

I have no desire to support these so-called Tea Party groups, but the very lack of understanding of what socialism is, or exactly what constitutes a government program of socialized medicine like Medicare that many Tea Partiers have displayed, should rather than being a point of derision of them on our parts, we should be appalled by this ignorance -- into action.

We know that we are fighting the same enemy whether they do or not. The fact that they've been hoodwinked into these simplistic "solutions and answers" which have been cooked-up by people like the Koch brothers should be a point of embarrassment on our part that we allow it to stand. If we won't make the attempt to coalesce the working/middle classes then we'll never win. As long as the rich can keep us divided we don't stand a chance. None.

Red America may indeed hate smart people. But I think that's only because they're not smart themselves. It's envy, not rejection.

- And if we won't smarten them, then the Koch brothers will.......

K&R

[mmonk]

146. I recommend your post.

[tsuki]

96. I think it is more personal than that. Everyone from the spokespeople

to the puntwits are multimillionaires who screamed about extending the Bush tax cuts to be sure to get their lolly, and are now screaming about teacher to insure they get their voucher for their privately educated children. Looking out for number one is job one among those folks.

[TicketyBoo]

161. I've said it once,

and I'll say it again.

Private schools (with the possible exception of religious schools) should be outlawed.

If a public school isn't good enough for all children, it isn't good enough for any children.

Put that money toward public education. Let people who are wealthy enough to afford private schools donate what they would have spent on tuition to make public schools outstanding and good enough for everybody's children.

[babylonsister]

2. Rec'd, and blame the rethugs. THEY deserve the scorn. nt

[CreekDog]

25. some people here talk like that

it's true. luckily not that many but this is not limited to Republicans.

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. BOTH parties deserve scorn for this.

There are plenty of Democrats promoting policies that are destructive to public education and the teaching profession.

[Newest Reality]

3. Scapegoating is an effective means to keep

people pointing in the wrong direction, lest they look carefully at just who is screwing them over. More people know now than ever that this is a takeover. Some are seeing with their own eyes the huge difference between what is actually happening and the glossy Simulation that is being spewed in their faces in hopes that ignorance will be bliss and for folly to seem wise.

Corporate media and Republicans are playing in concert. However, this also may be a strong wake-up call for those still on the fence and ready to rouse from the magic spell being woven for the unwary and uninformed.

We might respond: "Stop scapegoating everyone else and trying to divide us and divert our attention from what is actual about this nightmare situation you are foisting upon us as if we were common sheep, docile and subservient to your increasingly obvious neo-Fascist onslaughts. We see the blitzkrieg and the intents and goals are crystal clear. We know who is responsible and just how much of a ride we've been taken for by the special interests of the class that now wants to rule us without limits or boundaries to their tyranny and greed."

[Newest Reality]

10. Also,

think of the benefits of attacking, disabling and then dismantling the current education system -- what's left of it, that is.

You can move to a private training system that is totally influenced by corporate mentality and doctrines. You can then easily custom design the "product", (read: graduating students) to closely fit your needs at the various strata of your profit-driven, Fascist regime. You would have so much more control over the process and what will and won't be taught, (drilled).

Then, of course, you would reserve, as usual, the actual control and decision positions for your well-educated progeny who would have an easy time of dominating the corporately educated drones being churned out.

Its the perfect scenario and a profitable solution. Its probably our future if we can't stop it now.

[Rex]

6. Because really stupid people hate really smart people yet

don't comprehend that the people they hate are merely average and that they are dumbshits that lucked out in life.

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:

[U4ikLefty]

8. Because we do such a shitty job of defending them amongst our own ranks.

Too many Dems seem to dump on teachers when they need our help the most.

This is why I rejected teaching your brat kids & got into engineering. Hell, I get paid more, get more respect, and I don't have deal with as many idiots (aka parents, administrators, and politicians).

Easy choice since I'm not a saint. God bless the teachers!!!

[TomCADem]

11. As I noted, blaming the Democrats, but giving Governor Walker a free pass!

Republican Governor Christie is ripping public school teachers with the Right Wing media cheering him on, and you are targetting Democrats? Like I said, the right wing propaganda machine frequently takes hold in DU.

[U4ikLefty]

15. Oh hell no, you didn't!!!

I am blaming those who call for "school choice" or blaming those millions of "bad teachers". Many of whom call themselves "progeressive".

There are too many in our own ranks that buy in to the pre-packaged paradigm that the media spews out.

...but I think you know the difference.

[Shallah Kali]

9. If they are glorified baby sitters why not pay them babysitter wages

http://blogs.forbes.com/erikkain/2011/03/03/are-teachers-overpaid/

Let’s imagine for a moment that teachers were paid a baby-sitter’s salary. Let’s assume that they charge $3.00 an hour per kid. They “babysit” 25 children from 8AM to 3PM Monday through Friday. That’s eight hours a day, five days a week, for approximately nine months (or 36 weeks) a year. The math, very briefly:

* 8 hours x $3.00/hr = $24 a day per student.
* $24/student x 25 students = $600 a day per class
* 36 weeks x 5 days per week = 180 days
* $600 x 180 days = $108,000.00/year salary.

The average teacher in Wisconsin – where teachers are fighting the Republican governor, Scott Walker, for their right to collectively bargain and, by extension, their right to remain members of the middle-class – makes about $51,000 a year. Their benefits package knocks that up quite a bit – some say by $39,000 to a total of $90,000 combined benefits and wages.

But that’s still $18,000 a year less than they would be making if they were actually baby-sitting.

[U4ikLefty]

12. You freakin' rule!!!

thx for that article...gonna put that one in my quiver.

[boppers]

33. "8AM to 3PM Monday through Friday. That’s eight hours a day"...

*cough*

[Shallah Kali]

77. sorry

it was late, so I cut and pasted trusting the forbes writer to get basic math correct...

[aquart]

13. Because Bush and Gates found out there was money to be made in education.

But first they had to get rid of those nasty, complaining teachers who didn't like teaching to the test or any of the other "improvements."

[Frank Booth]

14. Teachers I know make $75k a year, get summers off,

get great benefits, have nearly rock solid job security, work decent hours. They're certainly not deserving of scorn, but they do have it pretty good (not that they shouldn't have it good).

[speltwon]

16. There is vast disparity in teacher pay (and benefits) just like w.cops

or paramedics and EMT's. Some areas have it much better than others. Some get paid shit.

[Frank Booth]

19. I completely agree. Many places teachers get paid less than half of what they

should be making.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

21. Teachers I know make under $32K and have to work summers waiting tables to pay the mortgage

It varies greatly depending on where you teach.

[era veteran]

40. I always have 3 or 4 teachers waiting tables for me

College and K-12 both. Year in and year out.
Interesting tidbit I found.

Teaching quality and bargaining:

Only 5 states do not have collective bargaining for educators and have deemed it illegal. Those states and their ranking on ACT/SAT scores are as follows:South Carolina – 50th
North Carolina – 49th
Georgia – 48th
Texas – 47th
Virginia – 44th

Wisconsin, with its collective bargaining for teachers, is ranked 2nd in the country.

[speltwon]

44. I support teachers, but those #'s are bunk

because they don't account for the vastly different PARTICIPATION rates in SAT etc. testing between states.

[AngryAmish]

46. My friend you are confusing correlation and causation.

Discriminated against minorities have lower test scores than other Americans. The lowest states tend to have high minority populations. Wisconsin is overwhelmingly white.

[era veteran]

48. I am not confusing anything I expressed one set of facts

You can editorialize on the #'s but these tests ARE what is used across the country for decades. I was not saying good or bad but showing some numbers.

[AngryAmish]

49. Texas has non-union teachers and many more murders than Wisco

So does non-union teachers cause murder?

[era veteran]

50. How did we get to this??

Bored much? See you

[RobinA]

82. That's the Truth

The starting salary here in PA is a lot higher than that.

[callous taoboy]

89. Thank you, that would be this teacher.

[U4ikLefty]

22. Do you know a few Unicorns as well?

California teachers make 75K per year?

:rofl:

[Frank Booth]

24. Here you go:

http://www.teachinla.com/Research/documents/salarytables/ttableannual.pdf

[Lone_Star_Dem]

30. You pick one county (where cost of living is 38% above the NA) and pick the highest pay in LA county

Really? So, first off that means we can reduce your example by 38%. It also means you're example is flawed, at best.

[boppers]

34. *your

[Lone_Star_Dem]

72. Thanks

It was like 1 AM and I was too sleepy to think. :)

[Name removed]

47. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[CreekDog]

26. you can't buy a house in CA on 75k per year

at least not in most places.

[proud2BlibKansan]

28. And I am a teacher who doesn't know any teachers who make $75K a year

or have great benefits - what a joke! The only good thing about our benefit plan is that we have one, which gives us an advantage over the uninsured.

Job security is gone.

60+ hours a week is hardly "decent".

This meme is ridiculous, false and getting very old.

[montanto]

59. You understand $75K a year is an exceptional

salary for a teacher. 14 years with LAUSD and I make (without furlough days) less than $55K. I don't know anyone who makes as much as 75K unless they are teaching year-round: intersession, summer school, or do some other extra job on campus during off time. Perhaps with 30 years on the job a teacher with a PhD makes 75K here without extra work.

[Pacifist Patriot]

62. I call bullshit.

[Dappleganger]

65. I have never met any teacher who made that much, or got the summers completely off.

Not even retiring teachers who made that much, lol.

And no, I don't think they have it "pretty good" when they are being unfairly characterized and scapegoated by the dregs of society.

[mmonk]

149. Where do you live?

$75 K is an administrator's salary. And having worked for a public school system, I'm not aware of teachers getting the whole summer off. Give me the evidence for your post.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

17. Because America's not about educating its masses. It's about payoffs to the US wealthiest

It's much easier for them to profit if the majority of the country extremely undereducated. You see, it's really nothing personal. Teachers are just a nuisance since they keep insisting on educating. It's business, that's all.

[toddwv]

20. Tell them that they are just another name on a LONG list of the right-wing's targets.

Teachers.
Scientists.
Liberals.
Progressives.
Moderates.
Muslims.
Minorities.
Women.
Children.
Workers.
Poor People.
Middle Class.
Homosexuals.
Bisexuals.
Hell even heterosexuals in many cases.
Atheists.
Agnostics.

Sad thing is that this is just the short list.

[alarimer]

23. It is anti-intellectualism at its worst.

It sounds to me like a personal vendetta against teachers they may have hated in school who tried to make them, gasp, LEARN SOMETHING.

Instead most Americans are willfully ignorant cretins, despite the best efforts of many teachers. It's a losing game; most Americans cannot be taught anything at all. Never have and never will.

[boppers]

39. My take is a bit different.

The teachers are the anti-intellectuals. They want everybody to have the same dumbed down reality that they live in.

Example:
1+1 = ?

Answer A:
2
Answer B:
10
Answer C:
01

I used to provide multiple answers on my tests, because I could never tell when the teachers were messing with me.... turns out, in the long run, that they had no idea what I was talking about, because they were simply parroting, without thought, what they were "teaching". They didn't know binary, they didn't think about multiple base-number systems, they were basically limited to their educations... which weren't much.

[Pacifist Patriot]

70. I think you've placed responsibility for idiotic tests at the wrong feet.

Teachers may have to administer them but that doesn't necessarily mean they approve. Most teachers I know despise teaching to the test because it insults their intelligence as well.

[RandomKoolzip]

80. You're right. Let's make all the teachers in the US PAY US to have them teach our kids.

Goodamn dumb-ass ingrates! I was smarter that all of 'em! The lot of 'em!

Just like you, I had a few bad teachers too - therefore, they all deserve to be insulted, fired...shit, maybe we shoudl consider stoning them as well.

(please don't ask for a sarcasm smiley.)

[StarsInHerHair]

31. Republiscum, they get people to devalue a segment of society-this ennables

them to then get rid of that segment. Teachers, unions, scientists, police, fire-fighters, the Middle Class in general....

[Scottybeamer70]

32. Teachers

DID NOT cause the economy to crash.............but they are getting all the blame
while the banksters and Wall Street clean out the pockets of every American! Lay
the blame where it belongs.......it certainly isn't on the workers!! We have been
robbed blind while everyone else gets the blame.

[boppers]

38. What other job:

1. Doesn't require you to create functional work product?
2. Allows you to bully and harass 20 to hundreds of people based on your own political, social, and racist views?
3. Has massive unions that prevent the most incompetent people from being fired?
4. Allows bias so consistently, that the very terms for that bias ("teacher's pet") actually become part of the popular lexicon?
5. Is so loosely controlled that you can get paid.... for making people watch movies?
6. Rewards consistent failure, year after year, with no accountability?

I had 2 (yes, two) really good teachers. Out of the 70-ish I've been "taught" by. I had maybe ten merely competent ones, and vastly more who had no real grasp on their subject matter, and were simply there to collect a check.

Some examples:
The 10th grade economics teacher who didn't know what a "black market" was.
The 9th grade english teacher who thought that all poetry had to rhyme.
The 4th grade elementary school teacher that couldn't perform (let alone explain) algebra.
The 6th grade science teacher that didn't understand string theory.
The 14th grade (college, sophomore year) computer science teacher who didn't know how software compilers tokenize.

I was disappointed by an awful lot of teachers, before I realized that they were basically not prepared for their job, and if I wanted to be educated, I had to do it all by myself. There are an awful lot of folks in the profession who simply belong elsewhere.

Chances are, I could walk into *any* public school in a 50 mile radius of me, and not find a 4th grade teacher doing algebra, or a 6th grade teacher doing string theory. Hell, when I was enrolled in a generic public High School, teachers were focusing on constructing a *paragraph*, and they had actually had classes on addition and subtraction.... the kinds of things that you shouldn't be allowed to leave elementary school without knowing.

[plumbob]

55. Let's look, shall we?

1. No functional work product? Politicians, judges, bankers,television personalities, investment brokers, insurance executives, salesmen of any kind.
2. Bully and harass, etc? Any boss or supervisor.
3. Massive influence to keep incompetents from being fired - well, Clarence Thomas, John Boehner, Glenn Beck, among many thousand other lackies and flacks of the right wing work every day with no chance of being fired. That guy, Scott Walker, is at work every day.
4. How about "sucking up" to the boss, brown-nosers, ass-kisser, backscratcher, backslapper, bootlicker, doter, fawner, flatterer, flunky, kiss-ass, kowtower, lackey, minion, yes-man?
5. So loosely controlled that you get paid WITH HUGE BONUSES for collapsing the world economy?
6. Rewards consistent failure: see all above categories and with huge extras for George W. Bush, just to name one.

[Pacifist Patriot]

63. You're probably right because...

last I checked algebra was taught in the middle grades and string theory is advanced physics. Sixth graders doing string theory? Are you freaking kidding me?! I was introduced to string theory in grad school and it made my head hurt. You're examples are bizarre to say the least.

[boppers]

130. I was working on algebra in the 4th grade.

Kids aren't all as stupid as teachers seem to think they are.

[Pacifist Patriot]

148. I'd be willing to bet it was simple algabraic concepts.

My first grader can manage that.

If you can't figure out a work week is five days with a two week vacation resulting in a 50 week work year, you're clearly not the math genius you claim to be.

[JackDragna]

97. Wait, wait, wait.

Your post is a veritable garden of ridiculous claims and finger-pointing. I don't know where you've been educated, but in the district I teach, you're damned well expected to turn out educated, competent students. Bad teachers are identified and shown the door. You sound like the type of person who was likely very bright, who had to wait as the class crept along so the less intellectually gifted could get the material. I was the same way. Yet, to insist upon your insanely high standards (6th grade science teachers teaching string theory? How many of them can even do classical mechanics) is to damn pretty much everyone in the teaching profession.
Are there bad teachers? Of course. By and large, however, you do not get people to take jobs so readily where the pay is low, the hours long and the respect given out in tiny doses without those people being dedicated to their jobs. Perhaps I'm biased, since I am one, but the vast majority of teachers I've met have busted their asses trying to help their kids.

[boppers]

135. I was talking about "gifted" classes, in part, from 4th to 9th grade.

I was "educated" by TUSD, Tucson, AZ. I left the "gifted" program because if I was going to be bored, I wasn't going to do it with a churn school.

As far as a science teacher in the 6th grade who doesn't understand classical mechanics.... yes, I think they need to be shown the door. That's 300 years old, FFS.

I am pretty sure that I'm an outlier, and it was incredibly frustrating to have teachers that forced me to "creep along". With that in mind:

"Perhaps I'm biased, since I am one, but the vast majority of teachers I've met have busted their asses trying to help their kids."

The vast majority of teachers I've met busted their asses... to help the slow kids.

To flip a phase, NCLB's major failing is/was:
"No child getting ahead".

[bettyellen]

154. ha ha ha "self educated"... so THAT explains it.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

43. It makes me sick

that a prison guard..corrections officer, can make more than a teacher.

[NashVegas]

51. All Out War On People Who Get to Retire Middle Class Without Selling Their Soul

There's about to be a major war between boomers: those who went into jobs with pensions and lived modestly for 30-40 years, and those who made and spent like mad and are looking at $600k mortgages, at age 55.

[Sabriel]

52. Lots of crazy shit ideas on this thread

To the person who said teaching has decent hours: Try it sometime.
To the person who said teachers have lower grade points: We require a 3.0 to enter the program and a 3.0 to student teach.
To the person who had a six-grade science teacher who didn't know string theory: WTF? I bet that teacher didn't know any nuclear physics, either.


Overall, I would say teachers are the subject of scorn because they are--and pretty much always have been--women. Teaching is predominantly women's work, and it's OK to dump on women.

So go ahead and jump on the teacher-hater bandwagon, DUers, then sit back and watch the results.

[Bragi]

54. Teaching is public service, and public service gets no respect

That is a core right-wing belief and message -- that there is no such thing as public service, and that government employees are greedy and lazy.

Also, teachers are associated with intellectualism, and anti-intellectualism has a long and tiresome history in the social and political culture of America.

Finally, as someone pointed out above, teachers are mostly working women. Working women are also disrespected in right wing American culture.

That's why teachers get no respect, and why there is such animosity towards them in right wing circles.

[kwassa]

163. You hit all the major points.

and you must be a teacher because you boiled each major point down to one line of exposition.

Thank you. That is all it takes.

[tanyev]

57. Jon Stewart has done some excellent work on this issue this past week.

Last night he started off with a bit that compared clips of Fox personalities whining about high teacher pay and how good teachers have it and then compared it to some of the same people last year stating that $250K is practically poverty level in this day and age. His guest last night was promoting a book about education and they had a good discussion, too. I had forgotten that his mom was a teacher. This is kind of personal for him.


Edit: Just posted on Talking Points Memo!

Jon Stewart Nails Fox News Hypocrisy On Teachers Vs. Wall Street Pay Levels
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/jon-stewart-nails-fox-news-hypocrisy-on-teachers-vs-wall-street-pay-levels.php?ref=fpi

[Juche]

58. Deep red america is filled with directionless hate

In a year they will forget all about teachers and hate some other group. If it weren't teachers it'd be abortionists who filled them with hate. Or gays. Or labor. Or liberals. Or Muslims. Or Europeans. Or Obama. Or the media. Or secularists. Or science.

There are some psychological theories that some (not all though) people drawn to right wing authoritarian movements do it because they are deeply damaged emotionally, and those movements allow them socially acceptable outlets for whatever rage, hate and frustration they feel about non-political events. Republican Gomorrah

[Pacifist Patriot]

60. Call me crazy, but if teaching were perceived as a male-dominated profession...

I have to wonder if it would be demonized nearly as much as we're seeing currently.

[lumberjack_jeff]

66. Try this.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=%22fucking+pigs%22+police+site%3Ademocraticunderground.com

[Pacifist Patriot]

71. I get what you're saying, but I still think teachers are perceived as over-paid because...

most of them are "just women and not the heads of households." (Those are NOT my words by the way) Police are demonized for entirely different reasons. I've not really seen people get up in arms about police being spoiled brats because of their short hours, high pay and extended vacations.

[lumberjack_jeff]

76. I think that teachers get unfair treatment.

But I think it has nothing to do with gender.

[Ratty]

75. Seriously, I think it's all about evolution and school prayer

Republicans hate public education because they have to pay taxes even when their kids go to private schools - no different from any government program they hate. Less money for their dear mutual funds and investment portfolios. They have framed the issue in terms of the NEA forcing godless evolution down our dear children's throats and arresting them if they say the word "God" on school property and the religious right have lapped it up.

[taught_me_patience]

78. It would be nice if teachers quit bitching so much about how much work it is

Sorry, most in private sector work 270 days a year vs. teachers work 180 days of school a year.

[Pacifist Patriot]

79. Wrong

Children attend school 180 days a year. Not the same thing.

You also didn't account for vacation for the private sector. Many get about two weeks so take that down to 250 days. Except some get even more than that if they've worked at the same company for awhile.

You walk in their shoes for a couple of weeks and then tell me how cushy it is.

[boppers]

99. 2 x 7 = 20?

:shrug:

[Pacifist Patriot]

143. 50 weeks times 5 days. You really did have bad teachers didn't you?

[boppers]

168. The starting number was 270.

If you work in a job that only has 5 working days a week, thank a union.

[Pacifist Patriot]

171. A few points.

1. I don't work in a job that only works five days a week.
2. However, the five day work week is considered an acceptable standard for comparison.
3. Your little equation related to absolutely nothing in the discussion.
4. If you knew anything about me and my postings here at DU, you'd already know how very pro-union I am. Condescension entirely unnecessary, but thank you anyway.

[boppers]

177. 52 x 5 = 260.

I don't know where the 270 number came from, I assumed it was from a study that included additional work days.

1. Bummer.
2. Agreed.
3. It bumped the thread, and I like to bump threads about education when I spot errors.
4. It was veiled snark at the non-union folks who, like you and me, don't get 5 working days a week.

[maryf]

81. Try working until 10 at night grading papers...

A teacher's job doesn't end when s/he walks out the door...

[RobinA]

83. I Agree

I don't begrudge teachers whatever they are able to wrestle away from the Man, but for cripes sake quit complainin' like it's the worse gig on earth. It isn't.

[Pacifist Patriot]

145. Actually, most of them aren't.

Whenever teachers describe the reality of the job when someone like this accuses them of being pampered spoiled brats who only work a handful of days a year for an outrageously high salary someone else comes along and twists their words into complaining. Oh, I don't know. Like you?

If I described my job in detail people could assume I was complaining when in truth I love it. I work crazy hours for little to no pay, but the rewards are intrinsic not monetary. I imagine much the same is true with many teachers. The job is tough...but they love it.

[Jakes Progress]

86. And ignorance raises hit head again.

How many trite, right wing meme can you spout in one post?

[callous taoboy]

90. Always nice to be able to peek into a teacher thread

and find MORONS like yourself to add to the old ignore list.

[Pacifist Patriot]

144. At least they continue to offer proof why teachers are so absolutely necessary.

[JackDragna]

98. I do work 270 days a year.

I do it by turning in 12 hour weekdays, plus some on the weekends.

[taught_me_patience]

104. A lot of people in business are putting in 50-60 hr weeks n/t

[JackDragna]

107. ..and I bet most of them get a hell of a lot more than I'm paid.

eom

[taught_me_patience]

110. Totally irrelevant to the point.

My orignial point was about bitching about how hard it was... not about pay.


But, most likely, they don't get paid as much as you get paid. I know a prinicpal here in CA that retired at 55 with a 120k pension for life... That's probably the equivalent of a $3 million lump sum pension. Most in the private sector don't have anything near that.

[JackDragna]

111. That's a principal.

Not a teacher. What I said is also totally relevant, given this sub-thread was started with a comment about hours. How much one is paid is inexorably tied in our culture to hours worked. The general expectation is that those who work long hours deserve above-average compensation. I understand some private sector people also work long hours, but they at least have the expectation they should be compensated for it.

[JVS]

119. It's very relevant to the point. They aren't putting in 60 hours for the fuck of it.

They put that in because they want the kind of salary that their position, the same position that demands 50-60 hrs of work, provides.

[boppers]

129. If you don't want to disclose how much you get paid:

You can compare here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_States

And:
http://www.payscale.com/research/US/All_K-12_Teachers/Salary

...it looks like K-12 (public school) teachers are paid right in the *median* income range. Private sector workers are not making "a hell of a lot more". If anything, the vast majority of workers make much less than a teacher, with about 50% (47.39%) making less than $25,000 a year, while teachers make about $15,000-$18,000 more... than half of the United States.

Where I think the cognitive dissonance kicks in is that teachers compare themselves to others in the "educated elite", and see themselves as underpaid in comparison, which is true.

[kwassa]

164. Teachers should compare themselves to the educated elite.

They are educated, and are educating children.

They should be compensated as such, and not compared to fields where educational requirements are much lower.

[JackDragna]

175. Do you mean "workers" or just educated professionals?

What is the median income of all individuals working a job with a 4-year college degree? You spin worse than O'Reilly.

Edit: I just clicked through your links. The median teacher salary on the second link is roughly $42,000.0. The salary for people aged 25+ with a bachelor's degree is about $52,000.0, according to the Wikipedia link. Wow. Way to read your own links!

[boppers]

178. Thanks for clicking through.

This is why I explained reasons for the argument: Teachers are overpaid compared to the general population, but underpaid compared to those in a similar position.

This is where the "worker" simplification falls down, because of the premise is that all workers are equal.

[tanyev]

141. I taught for two years and it was the hardest job I ever had.

My job after that was for a county gov't. records department. All I had to do was be there by 8:00, work, and then leave at 5:00. I couldn't get over how my evenings and weekends were mine to do whatever I wanted. No lessons to plan, no papers to grade, no meetings to attend, no shopping for things I would need for lessons the next week, etc.

You realize teachers only get paid for 10 months of work, right? It may be spread out over 12 months, but you are only paid for the 10 you work. Lots of teachers take summer jobs to help make ends meet.

[proud2BlibKansan]

155. Bullshit

It's ignorant to believe teachers only work when kids are in school. Our kids go to school 175 days and teachers work 220.

[BOHICA12]

85. It is the consistent call for more and more money to be spent ....

but you "can't" hold educators responsible for the product message that draws the scorn. It may not be entirely fair, but annual step hikes or pay raises or both and then poorer performance by those being educated is a recipe for revolt.

[Jakes Progress]

87. Whoa. A new RW talking points winner.

Are you working from a script or do you just listen to too much rush? The number of errors and fallacies in your short post qualify you for some kind of award.

[callous taoboy]

91. This thread is a gold-mine for my ignore list, Jakes.

Wankers likes this fellow richly deserve to be forced to teach in these times where the money rolls in with every gust of wind. I'm running out of space in my classroom to put all of the great stuff all of this money is providing my district.

:rofl:

[boppers]

100. Threads like this are a gold mine about the skill levels of teachers.

"Wankers likes this fellow richly deserve to be forced to teach in these times where the money rolls in with every gust of wind."

Interesting sentence, would you care to diagram it, so you could use punctuation in an effective manner?

[JackDragna]

105. I'm sorry, we're all too busy teaching string theory to respond.

Speaking of interesting, your previous sentence really should have been broken up into two statements. "Interesting sentence" and "would you care to.." are really two separate ideas, each deserving of their own sentence. You've posted what is, at best, clumsy. Hey, what do I know, though? I's just a teecher, boss!

[boppers]

113. Learning about the basics wouldn't be so bad, would it?

When wikipedia knows more than an expert educator does, well....

Wait, there's a hidden assumption in my sentence: than one should be an expert if one is teaching.

[JackDragna]

114. Wikipedia is a site edited endlessly by people interested in a subject..

..I'm sorry, I teach biology, but I'll be damned if I can explain the complete evolutionary history of every vertebrate or describe the chemical structure of every enzyme involved in photosynthesis. You suggested that string theory should be taught to sixth graders, an age group for whom the most basic concepts in physics are just attainable. Content knowledge is key, but even more important is the ability to make the material relevant and interesting for students. I've done scientific research and have known plenty of "experts" who couldn't have taught their way out of a paper bag.

[boppers]

117. My exact wording:

"The 6th grade science teacher that didn't understand string theory."

I find that to be akin to a science teacher who doesn't understand photosynthesis.

As to your last sentence, yes, there's a huge gulf between knowledge and teaching skills.

[JackDragna]

120. The most important chemical reaction for life on Earth..

..may be in a slightly different category than a framework for the fundamental structure of the universe that has yet to make testable predictions. Saying a 6th grade science teacher should know string theory is as ridiculous as saying a 6th grade social studies teacher should be able to explain the rise to power of the Dispensers to their students.

[Occulus]

131. Ignored REALLY suggested that string theory can be taught to sixth graders?

A theory whose math is so immensely complex that you need years of very very advanced high mathematics study to even start to comprehend?

Wow. Looks like Ignored knows fuck-all about string theory.

Using something he doesn't know anything about to bash a teacher. The irony.... it burrrrnnnnssss.......

[boppers]

136. There's a difference between ignorance, and teaching ability.

I don't know enough about the Krebs cycle to teach biology.

I'm not that arrogant, to think that I can be a teacher, without understanding the fundamentals of my topic.

[JackDragna]

150. Knowledge of string theory isn't a "fundamental" for physics.

Have you seriously gone off the deep end?

[Pacifist Patriot]

158. String theory is hardly the "fundamentals."

Yep, we're not going to get over that one. LOL!

[boppers]

169. Because the makeup of atoms isn't fundamental.

:eyes:

Sure, the things that make atoms don't matter. Right. Gotcha.

[Pacifist Patriot]

170. Considering that as of September 2010 it was still considered controversial....

yeah I'd have to go with it not being a fundamental necessity in a 6th grade classroom at the moment. Or 12th grade for that matter. Should high school students know about string theory as an ongoing debate and project in the scientific community? Sure. Do they have to grasp it in the details before they are handed a diploma. Nope!

Sorry, but based upon your contributions in this thread I'm finding it highly unlikely I will accept either your view of teachers or believe you are truly proficient in advanced mathematics or physics. There probably is little point in continuing a discussion.

Now if you will pardon me, I have to go remind my eighth grader to recalibrate his hadron collider. ;-)

[JackDragna]

173. Wow! An eye rolling icon!

That sure defeats my argument. There's a difference between "fundamental" topics like photosynthesis (whose ideas are well-established and easy to understand) and string theory (an attempt at a unifying explanation for the universe, the essentials of which are far beyond 6th graders). Your false equivocation is showing.

[boppers]

176. Three questions:

1. Can you talk about what string theory is?
2. Do you think that somebody who *can't* talk about it is qualified to teach science?

Why would you know about it, if it isn't relevant?

3. Since you have focused on photosynthesis, do you think somebody who doesn't understand the wave/particle concept is capable of talking about photons?

[JackDragna]

181. Answers!

1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. No.

Anything else?

[Name removed]

156. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

123. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

152. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[BOHICA12]

133. The question was "Where is the scorn coming from."

My reply covers some of the area of that scorn. More and more money has been spent on education and the product has fallen further behind other country's product. Its the same scorn that drove people from purchasing GM and toward a Toyota & Nissan.

Now, the reaction is simplistic and misses the parental/environmental factors, but it is part of where the scorn is focused.

[JackDragna]

151. People are not cars.

The infrastructure for the middle class in this nation has gone down the tubes. There's a hell of a lot more that goes into educating children than a stark equation where dollars in equals genius out.

[BOHICA12]

167. If there were option for most in the middle class ....

in selection of schools as there are in automobiles - people & cars were be very apt in comparison. If dollars in does not equal genius out - then dollars out would not equate to dumbing-down - can't have it both ways.

[MadHound]

109. What, teachers shouldn't get the same periodic raises that workers in the private secotr enjoy?

First of all, your ignorance of teacher's pay scales is showing. They don't get annual raises, but rather raises based on years of experience, amount of education they have, and the crucial factor, whether or not there is money in the budget for those raises.

And those budgets, well they are decided by tax revenues, and are at the mercy of a super majority of voters. What other profession do you know of that has its salaries put to the whim of the voter in a vote that can be blocked by a minority of the voting public?

[boppers]

115. " the same periodic raises that workers in the private secotr enjoy"

1. *sector
2. Some teacher contracts *are* annual automatic increases. Very few private sector jobs work this way.
3. Other budget-driven professions: Firefighters, Police, Military, Public Health, etc.

[MadHound]

124. LOL! You did it, you actually did it!

You played the spelling card, like it was an actual, valid way to counter somebody's argument:rofl:

OK, let's get to your other, more substantial points.

First, very few teachers get automatic, annual pay increases. The school budgets simply don't have that kind of salary allowance. Again, how may salary schedules for teachers have you seen. I'm a teacher, I've seen quite a few, and none of them had annual, automatic increases. Wage increases for years of experience generally run at either three or five year intervals, and raises awarded for continuing education generally only goes up twice, once for a master's degree and once for a doctorates.

Second, yes, firefighters, police, etc. are budget driven. But you generally don't see bond issues, where the money from that bond is going to be used specifically for schools and teacher's salaries, are all that's being voted on. In most school districts the schools have to go to the voters to get the money for such things, and the voters get to decide on whether they deign to grant money to schools for increasing teachers' salaries and/or repairing/expanding the physical plants. Not to mention that in order to get these bonds passed, the vote has to be won by a super majority, meaning that a minority of voters can actually manipulate policy.

Firefighters, police, etc have their salaries taken out of general budgets, teachers, not so much.

*Pointing out spelling errors like it is an actual debate point*:rofl: You're grasping there boppio, you're grasping.

[boppers]

125. Oh, I've been correcting typos, math errors, etc. all over the thread.

I find it to be a rather amusing way of bumping threads about education.

As far as wage increases, I haven't looked in the last few years, but for a while, contracts in my hometown (Tucson, Arizona, TUSD district) had an automatic annual increase, premised on inflation.

[MadHound]

126. So you're judging this by *one* piece of anecdotal evidence.

Alrighty then.

Psst, many, if not most, private sector jobs get annual raises based on inflation.

[boppers]

127. One exception defeats a generalization.

The generalization:
"They don't get annual raises, but rather raises based on years of experience, amount of education they have, and the crucial factor, whether or not there is money in the budget for those raises."

But, yes, one piece of anecdotal evidence is weak. So, here:
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1245989195285460.xml&coll=3
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/AR2007022101115.html
http://www.strausnews.com/articles/2010/11/05/photo_news/news/29.txt
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_672128.html
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/watch-dog-report/article_6f0e7dae-7c17-11df-8e57-001cc4c002e0.html
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/recession_doesnt_hold_back_cen.html
http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/10/12/copy/teacher_pay.ART_ART_10-12-08_A1_H0BIPF8.html?sid=101
http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/potential-cuts-annual-raise-teachers-spark-worry?category=16
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_710450.html?_s_icmp=NetworkHeadlines

I can keep googling, if you like, but annual raises have been part of a great many contracts.

As far as "many, if not most, private sector jobs get annual raises based on inflation.", there's some wiggle room in there. I've only worked at 15-20 companies in my career, and never gotten one. I got raises based on performance, or negotiating new contracts. Where do I tend to see annual raises in the private sector is in union jobs, which it less than 10% of the workforce.

[MadHound]

138. Again, a relative few anecdotal cases.

Located in big cities where yes, unions have forged strong contracts at one time or another.

But again, that is not the case in most of the country.

Meanwhile, in the private, especially in the higher paying jobs, union or otherwise, the pay raises to keep up with inflation are guaranteed.

I've worked around the same number of jobs you have, and in my case I've found the vast majority, union or otherwise, doled out raises tied to inflation on an annual basis.

I find it interesting that you found these raises of yours only in union jobs. Another reason to get behind your local union. But sadly, far too many people seem to want to rip down professions that are compensated better than they are, reducing everybody to their own sad, sorry level of pay.

[Occulus]

132. Ignored will only keep arguing

You're never going to get your point across to Ignored and that is intentional.

There's a word for that, but we're not allowed to use it.

[boppers]

137. Points are made, and I've learned a lot from DU.

Other folks learn too.

There's a word for that, and we are allowed to use it on DU: "education".

[MadHound]

139. LOL, you are too funny,

Trying to pretend you have me on ignore, yet referring to what I do:rofl:

Hey, at least you're paying attention, perhaps you'll learn something. Or not, as the case may be.

[Occulus]

153. I wasn't talking about you.

That said, what does it say about your own posting habits that you thought I was?

[Raine]

92. Most people have had at least one bad teacher

when they were in school. I had a couple that were absolutely HORRID and tramatized me so bad that I hated school for years. Luckily though later I had some really GREAT ones that more than made up for the two that were so bad. The good ones were so good that I even considered becoming a teacher myself. I didn't though because didn't feel I had the dedication required to be really good and it is such hard work. I think the people that scorn teachers are only remembering the bad one they had and forgetting all the goods ones.

[spedtr90]

112. I've been traumatized by HORRID politicians

I've had family members suffer under the care of horrid doctors and nurses.
I've watched too many videos of horrid cops beating and tazing people for no legitimate reason.
I've purchased crap that horrid factory workers made.
Horrid bankers crashed our economy.
Must I go on?

I've seen more GREAT people in the careers above. I have never considered trashing them all or reducing their pay, benefits, or RIGHTS because of the few. All of the horrid ones - teachers included - can get fired, and they do. Some of them, including from all other professions, don't.

[kwassa]

165. great post!

[CLANG]

95. It only makes sense that teabagging hillbillies don't like teachers.

They're still pissed off that the teachers flunked them out of grade school.

[spedtr90]

102. Teach for America revered - regular teachers scorned

TFA teachers come into schools and receive wages and benefits courtesy of unions.
They get huge breaks on graduate school and qualify for AmeriCorps funds for that education after their 2 years of "service". They get recruited by the big corporations that fund TFA. How noble of them to sacrifice 2 years. The same people bashing teachers worship TFA. Every teacher in America should apply for AmeriCorps money for their service!

"Providing these grads with the opportunity to spend two transformative years teaching in low-income communities across the country is not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do, as they will arrive at Google with an excellent skill set developed in a demanding work environment and a greater commitment to the larger world."
Laszlo Bock
VP of People Operations, Google (which pays zero in taxes and contributes to TFA)

•"Corps members receive strong financial compensation. They earn a full-salary ($30,000-$51,000/year depending on region), receive full health insurance and retirement benefits, have access to an AmeriCorps education award ($5,350 each year for two years) to help pay off debt or for future graduate school, and gain access to loan forbearance programs. The comprehensive nature of Teach For America’s compensation package means that corps members are able to live comfortably and save money from the start."

http://www.teachforamerica.org/the-corps-experience/family-and-friends/why-should-my-child-join-teach-for-america/

[spedtr90]

108. where does the money go?

"Much of Teach for America's funding comes from private donors. In late January, the nonprofit announced that it had created a permanent endowment fund of $100 million that would generate about 2 percent of its annual operating budget nationwide."

Districts pay the salary and benefits of TFA teachers; colleges reduce grad school costs, AmeriCorps pays some college expenses, students pay the rest - and $100 million is TWO PERCENT of operating costs??
Oh yeah, and they recently got $50 million from the fed gov.

When is the last time a corporation donated anything to a public school? Paid for a library for a school without one?

[boppers]

128. "When is the last time a corporation donated anything to a public school?"

Here's one, for example:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9187841/Facebook_CEO_unveils_foundation_100M_donation

Happens all the time, actually, though rarely at that dollar amount. TFA gets lots of money from Amgen, Cisco, Visa, etc.

As far as how the TFA budget is spent, interesting question, but might I point out that a $100 million *endowment* is not $100 million in *funding*. Endowments are put into investment vehicles, so, if that $100 million is getting 2% interest, that's only $2 million in funding a year.

Anyways, according to their wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teach_For_America
They take in about 187 million in revenue a year.

The have details on expenditures at:
http://www.teachforamerica.org/about-us/annual-report/

[QC]

106. Big Money Inc. wants to get its hands on the nation's ed funding.

Same as with the funding for just about every other public service.

Making the public hate public institutions is the first step in justifying privatization.

[Starry Messenger]

134. ^^This^^

[QC]

157. Seems pretty obvious to me what's going on,

but I guess it's more fun to pretend that this is all about the hideous genetic catastrophes in the "red states" getting back at the liberals.

[Starry Messenger]

159. Maybe the truth is too awful to bear for some.

It's the "blue team" that has been handing over the keys to all of that lovely education money for the last two years. Conservatives would not have their nose under that tent if the power brokers in the D party hadn't been paving the way. Meanwhile every citizen in every state is just collateral damage.

[QC]

162. Cognitive dissonance can be a very painful thing. n/t

[Bozita]

116. The key to victory in the War on Workers:

[sendero]

140. Teachers..

... are expected to solve societal problems that are well beyond their control. As my 7th grade math teacher used to say - "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink".

The effectiveness of the education someone gets is 75% their doing and 25% their teachers'. You cannot educate anyone who doesn't see the value of education and want an education.

Teachers are just the latest American scapegoat. "Liberals" have been effectively silenced, time to go after someone else.

[dorkulon]

142. My only problem with teachers is that everyone is so fucking dumb.

They can't be doing THAT great a job.

Seriously though, of course teachers deserve decent wages. In fact, if their pay was better, more competent people would be drawn to the job.

[Pacifist Patriot]

147. Teachers take the brunt of the abuse for a system that is flawed.

[boppers]

180. +1

Teachers aren't required, or expected, to make people excel.

They're paid to make them just as capable as themselves. No more.

If there are smarter people, the teacher is blamed for not making the average people smarter.

If there are dumber people, the teacher is blamed, for not making them average.

[treestar]

160. Every profession gets that.

And every profession has its leaders claiming they are the bestest and most important profession ever.

[Leopolds Ghost]

166. You are right. We are TRAINED to think a certain way -- and it is only getting worse

If newspapers are eliminated entirely and people become dependent on social networking for their news, it will only serve the consolidation of mass media in this country. Thereby allowing them to further demonize the average worker and allow underemployed slobs in shitty private sector jobs to fantasize about how they are better (and less well-paid) than union employees. It's not like the middle east where there is no organized, century-old plan of media consolidation and manipulation.

[boppers]

179. What?

You do realize that newspapers were part of the disease of media consolidation?

[southernyankeebelle]

182. It is so sad what is going on in this country. When are we going to find our sanity again? OMG

the hate out there is unbelievable. Teachers are great. I am not a teacher. There are some good and there are some bad but on the whole they care.