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I think that, IF, we in North America treated teachers, nurses and paramedics as we SHOULD, given their relative importance in our daily lives, we would "need" far fewer lawyers! GOOD teachers dammed well deserve top salaries and I completely agree with Buster and, gawd forbid, EVEN Birdy.

Why I dislike the BC Teacher's Federation is BECAUSE it is far too agenda-driven, BUT, so is the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, the Vancouver Board of Trade and the B.C. Bar Association, NONE of whom contribute as much to civilized daily life here as teachers do.

I know that, IF, I tried to be a teacher with teenagers, I would probably go stark raving nutter in about the first two hours....so, I respect those who can do this vital job well and do not think them over-compensated.

We have, for some reason, a large number of teachers in the church I attend. From pre-K to college professors. I am humbled most by the love for the children that I see in the public grammar school teachers. The ones I know are truly there for the children.

The public school system has the same issues as many large corporations. They are extremely management heavy. There is way to much pork. Our local Regional office has tripled in size the last couple of years. Not only in personnel but in buildings. And the buildings are opulent too. Our school taxes are currently about three times our city taxes. I haven't had a child in school for 12 years now. What am I getting for the money? The city taxes are reaping streets, fire protection, police, etc. but, what exactly am I getting for the constant school tax increases?

I mentioned the fancy new regional offices. Our school district says they need to stop using 3 or 4 school buildings because they are in such poor shape. Why? How did they get that way when we were paying taxes to maintain them? Why are the administrative offices in better shape than the school buildings?

Teachers will be targeted unfairly and blamed for many things until the pork is eliminated and government is removed from the picture. It is very distressing to hear of elderly people having to sell their houses and move because they can no longer afford the taxes. Now that I'm retired I wonder how long it will be before I have to put my house on the market.

A school bond election was finally passed last year after three previous failed attempts. This money is to repair/replace schools. They say no increase in the tax rate is expected. That just means they will greatly increase valuations. Where does it stop? Save the teachers and your own house...get rid of the pork!

I guess teachers are stupid afterall. Its the UNION guys, NOT you fellows and gals in the trenches.

get it? UNION????

not you............. ok?

geez

A voice of sanity.......+1

If you think Canadian teacher unions are agenda driven, take a look at the US. At the last democratic convention, more than a third of the delegates were either teachers or spouses of teachers. I doubt many of our teacher members here are thrilled about having their coersced union dues used to work against their second amendment rights.

I understand and completely agree, bud, I HAVE been a member of several unions, both private sector and public as well; this support of essentially totalitarian-statist and trendy "warm 'n' fuzzy" causes is WHY I am critical of ALL unions. My major concern here is that castigating teachers is, as denigrating all attorneys as "crooks" also is, far too typical of many of we "conservatives".....and it is NOT in our long-term best interests as gun owners OR believers in a free, civilized society.

To become a senior teacher here in Canada, you essentially require a "Master's" degree plus your extra "professional" year; this requires about eight years of post-secondary study and obaining EVEN entry into Baccalaureate programmes at U.B.C., for example, requires about an 85% average in secondary school. Then, to get accepted for your MSc., MA or MEd. programme requires both excellent scholastic standing and being able to handle such a long and unpaid time of study.

Consequently, Milud, the defence stipulates that teachers are WORTH as large a salary as our learned friends, barristers and solicitors, as are RNs, EMTs, Firefighters and Forestry/Fish & Wildlife officers; this is based on both the educational demands of the professions under consideration by your Ludship AND the very high levels of stress and physical danger involved in the execution of their duties....the defence rests!

But, ya, I KNOW about various unions and reform is both needed and, IMO, it is fast approaching. Too many parasites in education and medical bureaucracies AND in union headquarters, no question.

Seven Heaven nailed it, the problem is the administration, not the teachers.

Every profession has pluses and minuses, yes teachers get the summer off, but they pay a high price for that big chunk of time off. Given the level of education teachers are required, within 5-10 years of graduation they could generally be making double in the private sector.

Hey Bud...uhhhh....teacher's unions, are made up of....uhhh...teachers.

I usually agree with you but not today. I do not know how it is in NOLA but it is not that way in NC. I could blow so many holes in that it is not funny. But, I am to tired from not working as a teacher so I will go to bed instead. I do not feel like arguing. BTW, I am sure as he** not a liberal.

I'm a foster parent of 4 boys who are in the public school system. Foster kids tend to have behavior issues and academic issues. I get to spend a good deal of time in IEP meetings, as well as other meetings with administrators and teachers.

I've seen some of the best, smartest, caring people in the world be teachers. I'd honestly take a bullet for a few of them. They work hard, and get results. They don't discriminate.

I've also dealt with some of the worst teachers you can imagine. Extremely lazy. They always act like they are doing everybody a favor by "teaching". They bitch and moan, and bring the kids down with them. So sad. I've even had one brag about being "tenured". Another guy, a special ed teacher, bitched about having special ed kids in his class.. WTF did he think he signed up for?


Dan in Alaska,

I'll let you know when a biology position comes open.. You could use some "paradise"...

So, with everything, you get the good and bad. I'd sure love to see some of the teachers I deal with get fired, and I'd like to see some of the teachers get paid 100k a year.

I view the American public school system as the single greatest threat to liberty in the entire world.

Marxists, Fabians, Gramscians all espoused publicly funded mandatory public schools, and in their vision, centrally controlled. They very nearly have accomplished that in the USA.

There was an article written by a Grove City College prof on why Obama's documented Marxist connections didn't really matter to the younger generation and younger voters- they had all more or less digested subtle Marxist concepts all throughout their public ed life.

American Thinker
Why Obama's Communist Connections Are Not Headlines
By Paul Kengor

excerpt:

Of all the lectures that I do around the country, none seem to rivet the audience as much as my discourse on the horrors of communism. In these lectures, which are usually connected to my books on Ronald Reagan, I do a 10-15 minute backgrounder on the crimes of communists-from their militant attacks on private property, on members of all religious faiths, and on basic civil liberties, to their total death toll of over 100 million bloodied, emaciated corpses in the 20th century.

As I do these presentations, the young people, especially on college campuses, are locked in, amazed at what they are hearing. I think they are especially struck that I always ground every fact and figure in reliable research and authorities -- books published by Harvard University Press and Yale University Press, quotes from the likes of Mikhail Gorbachev and Vaclav Havel and Alexander Yakovlev, anti-Soviet appraisals from certain Cold War Democrats like Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy and even early liberals like Woodrow Wilson. I rarely use right-wing sources because I don't want the professors of these students to be able to later shoot a single hole in my presentation -- a potential tactic to undermine the overall thesis.

And speaking of those professors, that gets to my point here: As the young people in my audience are fully engaged, hands in the air with question after question -- obviously hearing all of these things for the first time in their lives, from K-12 to college, as they are eager to inform me after my talk -- the professors often stare at me with contempt. In one case, a British professor, who could not stop sighing, squirming, and rolling her eyes as I quoted the most heinous assessments of religion by Marx and Lenin, got up and stormed out of the room.


http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/10/why_obamas_communist_connectio.html

surprised to see this ancient thread resurrected, but the facts still remain the same. Lefty, socialist teachers ARE the problem. The Union is just the vehicle they climb on to push their socialist, anti American agenda.
Oh sure, every teacher in America is not a commie, but the vast majority are, and they all toe the line.

I feel very safe in saying that 75% of the teachers here are anti-religion, anti-hunting and sadly mostly anti-American. My son's history teacher literally teared up when describing how bad America was in WWII for putting the Japanese in internment camps. Never got around to things like the Bataan Death March. Course my wife and I were there to level the playing field.

Last fall they failed to pass a new tax levy so the schools could get even more money. Now granted they get, inflation plus 1% every year for additional funding, but that just isn't enough. So now we are involved in petty battles constantly which are basically harassment from the spoiled bureaucrats because the taxpayers said no.

Yesterday, 60 out of 84 teachers didn't show up at one school here in state to protest only getting a 6% pay increase next year. Meanwhile our state is running at a huge unemployment rate, at our company we were hit with a 10% pay cut, and haven't had a pension for years. The government employees in general don't get it and the teachers union specifically in definitely not the friend of this country.

Eisenhower warned us to beware of the Military-Industrial Complex,
I am a lot more worried about people who pull the strings of government planting a bomb (again) and using it to pull the strings of patriots, claiming it was a terrorist attack and using it (again) to violate citizen's rights
than I am of teachers or ragheads on camels in the Middle East setting off a nuke

you must be a teacher, or married to one. lol

I could do you some teaching, son:)

Personally, I fear the teacher's union way more than some camel jockey swimming across the Atlantic with some tnt tied to his camel.

Here in Pa., about 2/3rds of our property tax is for school tax. Irregardless of the economy or unemployment in our state, teacher's DEMAND yearly raises equal to or above(usually above) the CPI index or they strike.

Unemployment rises 10%,...too dam bad, give us more money.

State revenue down,...to dam bad, give us more money.

Teacher's pensions fall,...to dam bad, make taxpayers make up the difference.


Just how is throwing more money at teachers or school districts going to give students a better quality of education? It's still the same teachers who will be teaching our kids!

In our state, we're having a tremendous upswing of senior homeowners who are losing their homes to property tax delinquency. They can't keep up with the ever rising demands of the teacher's union and the subsequent ransom they're forced to pay in property tax. Everywhere cuts are being made except to the school districts because the teacher's unions feel they shouldn't have to make 'ANY' sacrifices like the rest of the country.

It's something how 70 years ago many students were taught in 1 room buildings with a modestly paid teacher while the cirriculum was quite advanced to anything taught today except for some private schools. There were no teacher's unions or fancy taxpayer funded pension plans but kids got a dam good education and homeowners were able to keep their homes. Today, we're seeing the affects of the heavy burden placed on taxpayers and homeowners while our students get test scores the rest of the world laughs at.

Do I fear the teacher's union more than Al Qaeda? Your dam right I do.

When you make these valid points, they try to label you as anti education.

Priceless.

Reynolds Wrap, aisle 5.