Image by Getty Images via @daylife"This month's NaBloPoMo challenge is to write a post every day around one word. So, today's word is greed. Greed is the extreme desire for something, and usually involves having more than one's share. When I look at the events taking place in Wisconsin, this is the word that comes to mind. The teachers are making extraordinarily good pay, and yet they believe they should have even more. They don't believe salaries should be performance based. Is it because if they were, none of the teachers would ever see a raise?
Ok, that's not a really fair statement. The good teachers, and they do exist, would be the only ones getting a raise. The lousy teachers who not only can't teach, but spend their time on facebook and playing games on the net, would never see a raise and hopefully - be fired.
To me, the whole Unions game encourages teachers to be lazy and not apply themselves. To not shoot for greatness and excellence in teaching. After all, why should they apply themselves when they'll still get the same great salaries and benefits as those who do, no matter what.
I wonder, do the good teachers actually think it's ok for the lousy teachers to have the same pay as they do? If so, how? Why? Why do they support the Union when this is what they do?" What do you think?
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1 comment:
One major problem that NYC public teachers have with performance-based decisions is how does a municipality decide which teachers are good and which aren't?
Do you go based on test results? If so, do you evenly distribute the children based on intelligence/desire/attention span/etc so that every teacher has an equal chance of succeeding?
Or maybe you go based on parental feedback? If so, you'll be leaving the decision to about 20% of parents, since most parents aren't involved in education of their children.
Maybe you think principals should decide who is doing well and who isn't. If so, what about the many cases where principals have vendettas against specific teachers? This would empower them to fire otherwise fine teachers. I personally know three NYC public teachers and all three of them have at one point or another run into a biased, surly principal. Fortunately, the union protected them and enabled them to find better opportunities within the system.
If you could find an effective, fair way to judge teachers, the union would probably be more reasonable.
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