| | | >> Please name me one profession where all the employees are great? In fact there are lots of mediocre employees in the private sector that don't get fired. I know because I've worked with them.
I don't consider "teaching" to be a profession in the traditional sense; it is more of a vocation. In fact, that is a key distinction. A profession involves a level of public trust that is self-administered as well as ethical standards which must be adhered to. Having protection from a union precludes having the characteristics of a profession, IMO.
It matters, because if teachers were "professionals", I doubt we'd be having this discussion. Professions are self-regulated and have a degree of self respect about doing so; if one of its own misbehaves (i.e., does not live up to the profession's code of professional conduct), then the profession itself deals with the problem. In the teaching vocation when a teacher fails to perform, the emphasis of the vocation is on retaining the offender, not admonishment.
If teachers want to be treated like professionals they should act like a profession. Get rid of the unions, start truly self-regulating, establish standards of professional and ethical conduct, and discipline those who don't adhere to them. Set objectives to improve the profession, not work overtime to dumb it down by joining unions to demand more and require less of themselves. |
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