Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Why Do Republicans (and Daleyites Who Are Just Barely Democrats) Hate Teacher Unions?

In my experience it always comes down to one question.

Why do unions support and defend (for lack of a better phrase) "bad" teachers?

Using this question to their political advantage, Daleyites (or those who would be called Republicans in any other part of the country) try valiantly to demonize teacher unions as defending the indefensible. The "bad teachers who don't care" about kids.

Why does no one ask who hired these awful human beings?

Why does no one suggest that "management" had four (count them: 1, 2, 3, 4) years to observe and evaluate these horrible human beings?

And after four years, management (or "those who lack oversight skills") decide they are worthy of being granted tenure.

Only then do they begin the process of wailing and lamenting.

Who let these awful people into the profession? Management.

Who trained and hired the management? Management.

Who decided who would be eligible to decide who had the power to retain new hires for four years and grant them tenure? Management.

So, why is it the fault of unions for defending those who have been selected by management as deserving of tenure?

I will posit the question one more time.

Why is Education upside down compared to other "industries"? There are phrases charters and others love to use to describe why they themselves are necessary. Things like "real world" and "competition". As if what they do have some relationship to the "business" model of capitalism or something akin to "Americanism".

But in the "real" world, when something fails, the boss gets the heave-ho and new management is brought in...right?

But, as I said, Education is upside down.

In our world, when things go right, Management gets the credit. Just like the "real" world.

But when things go wrong, the workers in the trenches get the blame. This is not like the "real" world. Even if all they did was implement the policies of the "wise" managers.

They blame unions and "bad" teachers for their failures.

And no one asks, who hired the bad ones? Who let the "bad" ones stay for four years until they got tenure?

No one blames management.

Somehow, unions take the blame.

Methinks there are journalists who are not asking the right questions as they report this ongoing story.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What are your LSC and PAC and PPLC doing to address teacher hiring at Gage Park to get management to do a better job?

Anonymous said...

People change and needs change. No one should have a lock on a job for life. What you are basically saying is, if a teacher can hold it together for 4 years and earn tenure, then they should be "untouchable" for the remainder of their career. Good teachers are worth their weight in gold and no administrator with an ounce of sense will just dump one. The majority of teachers who hide behind tenure are the ones who have burned out, cannot find employment anywhere else, and make blaming the students and administration for their poor performance the major content of their unit and lesson plans.

Isabella and Victoria said...

So let me see if I get the essence of what you're saying.

People know they have to be good, hell, great for 4 years, then once the magic anniversary shows, then all of a sudden they start to slip and slide and turn into teachers from hell?

What planet do you live on?

Do you know any teachers? Have you ever worked as a teacher?

I can't imagine you are a teacher as of this moment because you seem such a Republican/American Enterprise Institute/Ann Coulter hack wannabe following a 20-year old conservative talking point that I can't even begin to honor your argument.

Please, do yourself a favor and crawl back under the rock at the Hoover Institute you came from. And don’t let reality hit you in the ass on the way out.

I know who you are…you’re the person who said WMD has already been found in Iraq…right?

 
Locations of visitors to this page