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Politics : FREE AMERICA -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: goldworldnet who wrote (344)	3/24/2006 4:29:34 AM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 14758

<< "While opinions will vary with education, all of us want our children to have every opportunity to succeed." >> I'm not so sure that "all" of us do. Sure, almost all of us claim that's what we want. Sadly, there are many who have a direct impact on the education of our children whose actions bespeak something quite different from the rhetoric they espouse. I had a unique perspective into our public schools. My POV will not be popular among the teaching profession, but it is a first hand observation. I spent 14 years as an auditor for the Dept of Education - OIG. I got to see thousands of teachers on several hundred occasions up close & personal. My wife & sister, who both taught for many years, reluctantly agree with my observations as well. There are many dedicated, hard working teachers out there & I don't want to disparage them. They are but a small minority however. My personal experience left me less than enthused with the overall quality of education thanks to teachers unions (like the NEA) & less than honest teachers. In the end I had very little sympathy for those who whine & complain about being overworked, underpaid & many of their other complaints. They are like DNC Talking Points. They're designed to sound impressive, but have almost no basis in reality. And like eleutheria, they have plenty of excuses to explain it all away. So who am I to believe? eleutheria & her peers, or my lying eyes? For a large majority of the thousands of teachers I've observed, it is a part time job with excellent benefits. Other than air traffic controllers, I can't think of any other profession with a shorter overall work year (in toto). A typical work day is less than 6 hours of actual work teaching or monitoring students (study halls, etc.). They have a work week that is demonstrably less than 35 hours of actual work time. And it's only 180 days per year. Even a cushy Federal gov't job is 40 hours a week for at least 225 days a year (and that's only after you've been there 15 years & your vacation time jumps up to 26 days per year). Most professionals in America work at least 8 hours a day for 235 to 245 days per year. Like eleutheria, most teachers seem to have plenty of free time during their work day. Funny how those teachers lounges always seemed so full during the school day. Lot's of informal discussions, card games being played, newspapers & magazines being read & many had cable TV. Some teachers even slept in there. You know what was almost never seen there? Lesson plans being prepared, tests being scored or anything remotely related to the education of their students. Teachers, like most workers arrive at school within a scant few minuets of the start of their work day. Roughly 6 1/2 hours later, when that final bell rings between 2:15 & 2:45 in the afternoon, look out! It's a mad rush for the parking lot every day. And they aren't taking home any work either - most of them are empty handed (and they arrive at school just as empty handed the next day). Most teachers are off school property before the first bus of kids pulls out - every day without exception. I could go on & on with other examples of the things I saw that shot gaping holes in their various complaints/memes. Like the "overworked" meme, reality stands in stark contrast to the other memes too. When I hear them balk at being forced to compete (vouchers, etc.), I can understand why. Their unions & the teachers have a great gig. If teachers really wanted "our children to have every opportunity to succeed", it would be readily apparent in their real world actions & deeds. The sad truth is that most teachers let the unions set the standards & hide behind them to maintain the status quo. Don't believe me? See what John Stossel says. Message 22057828 Message 22168358 Message 22050950 Message 22073428 Message 22168828 Message 22193249 Message 22217285 Message 22243012 Message 22265018 Message 22283089