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West Virginia Teachers Strike

wakephan09 said:
But doesn't paying politicians little or nothing just limit the field of prospective candidates to the independently wealthy?
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Does paying teachers little or nothing limit the field of prospective teachers to the independently wealthy?
 
PhDeac said:
Does paying teachers little or nothing limit the field of prospective teachers to the independently wealthy?
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I don't think that's a fair comparison. Teachers don't have to quit their jobs for a year or more to run for their jobs (unless you're considering graduate school), don't have to move to a new, expensive city and maintain two households. Etc.
 
Plenty of politicians don't have to do that either.
 
 
This dude set out to prove that outside money was behind the teachers strike in Arizona and...... failed. That'll show those underpaid teachers.

How a Conspiracy Theorist Blocked #RedForEd T-Shirt Sales

A Cave Creek critic of #RedForEd registered the name "Arizona Educators United" with the state last week, then forced a local firm to quit selling T-shirts bearing the name to help teachers.

Phoenix printing company Acme Prints and owner Dan Hargest were printing T-shirts with the highly recognizable logo of Arizona Educators United at cost, charging teachers just $6 per shirt in an effort to support their fight for increased pay and school funding.
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Could a conservative poster explain why conservatives have such a tough time believing that teachers, high school kids, Black people or any other groups can organize without being bankrolled by George Soros or whoever?

They’re so weirdly insistent that activism isn’t authentic.
 
PhDeac said:
Could a conservative poster explain why conservatives have such a tough time believing that teachers, high school kids, Black people or any other groups can organize without being bankrolled by George Soros or whoever?

They’re so weirdly insistent that activism isn’t authentic.
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Because that’s how their activism works.
 
Guilford Co Schools now closed next Wednesday after vowing not to. up to 2000 teachers by noon today taking a personal day next Wednesday to go to Raleigh.
 
IamThunderbolt said:
Guilford Co Schools now closed next Wednesday after vowing not to. up to 2000 teachers by noon today taking a personal day next Wednesday to go to Raleigh.
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They were up against a wall with the absences.

I'd be less upset if we hadn't already missed so many days this year.
 
I'm happy they did it - should have been a no brainier last week when 1000 teachers had already called out. And Duncan et. al who were so staunchly opposed can go suck it - I can't believe they just named him to the state board of Ed.
 
I've been reading a number of news articles on all these strikes and walkouts across the country, and the comments below the articles are often appalling. Common themes include "they get summers off, so they don't need more pay", "All these teachers who claim they work past quitting time are lying, my first cousin/fellow church member's son/next-door neighbor's daughter is a teacher and he/she said that they finish everything by 3:45 and don't take anything home, so I know teachers don't really work that hard", "They make more money than most people in my podunk rural county and get better benefits, so they ought to be grateful for what they get and just shut up", "I pick my kid up at at school at 3:45 and the faculty parking lot is nearly empty, they have an easy job and still whine, so screw 'em", etc, etc.

The genuine animosity of so many people towards teachers and education in many parts of this country really is depressing, imo. I know plenty of teachers, and many of them take summer jobs, do workshops, etc. to make extra cash in the summers, and they often coach after school, etc. The state legislature loves to brag about the budget surplus, yet per pupil spending in NC ranks 43rd in the nation. I know some third grade teachers who, in the last four or five years, went from having a full-time assistant in their classroom, to having to share a part-time assistant, to not having an assistant at all, due to state budget cuts. This is in spite of the fact that having an assistant improves classroom discipline and learning, and are a huge help to the regular teacher. Teaching is one of the few professions in which people who have never trained for it, nor have practiced it a day in their life, still think they are experts and will quickly dismiss the comments and experiences of the professionals who actually do the job every day. It is heartening, though, to see the surprising amount of support these strikes and walkouts have gotten, even in many deep red states.
 
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Republicans have convinced people who need good public education the most to hate teachers all to justify less government spending to they can cut taxes and shift more spending to the rich.
 
Highland Deac said:
I've been reading a number of news articles on all these strikes and walkouts across the country, and the comments below the articles are often appalling. Common themes include "they get summers off, so they don't need more pay", "All these teachers who claim they work past quitting time are lying, my first cousin/fellow church member's son/next-door neighbor's daughter is a teacher and he/she said that they finish everything by 3:45 and don't take anything home, so I know teachers don't really work that hard", "They make more money than most people in my podunk rural county and get better benefits, so they ought to be grateful for what they get and just shut up", "I pick my kid up at at school at 3:45 and the faculty parking lot is nearly empty, they have an easy job and still whine, so screw 'em", etc, etc.

The genuine animosity of so many people towards teachers and education in many parts of this country really is depressing, imo. I know plenty of teachers, and many of them take summer jobs, do workshops, etc. to make extra cash in the summers, and they often coach after school, etc. The state legislature loves to brag about the budget surplus, yet per pupil spending in NC ranks 43rd in the nation. I know some third grade teachers who, in the last four or five years, went from having a full-time assistant in their classroom, to having to share a part-time assistant, to not having an assistant at all, due to state budget cuts. This is in spite of the fact that having an assistant improves classroom discipline and learning, and are a huge help to the regular teacher. Teaching is one of the few professions in which people who have never trained for it, nor have practiced it a day in their life, still think they know all about it and will quickly dismiss the comments and experiences of the professionals who actually do the job every day. It is heartening, though, to see the surprising amount of support these strikes and walkouts have gotten, even in many deep red states.
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This was my wife’s experience over the course of 5 years in Durham County Public Schools as a first grade teacher...at a magnet school, no less. Meanwhile, her classroom grew in size every year. By the end, she had 25 first graders to get on grade level, be a mentor for, therapist, etc....with no TA and getting paid pennies on the dollar. Yet there are people who think she only worked part time and never worked past dismissal. We as a society (well, certain segments), don’t value educators anymore. There are people who have this vision of 1950s school house teachers who teach 18 very well behaved and smart kids and go home after bus duty, which is dramatically incorrect.
 
Yet they won’t give teachers the autonomy of the 1950s model. Instead they support extraneous spending on outside consultants and the accountability regime instead of just paying teachers and letting them teach.
 
PhDeac said:
Republicans have convinced people who need good public education the most to hate teachers all to justify less government spending to they can cut taxes and shift more spending to the rich.
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PhDeac said:
Yet they won’t give teachers the autonomy of the 1950s model. Instead they support extraneous spending on outside consultants and the accountability regime instead of just paying teachers and letting them teach.
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Two fantastic posts.
 
NC GA isn't going to give a shit about teachers taking one day off.
 
Our illustrious state senate leader, Phil Berger, has weighed in on the upcoming teacher walkouts in NC: "Teacher strikes are illegal in NC, and in some respects what we're seeing looks like a work slowdown, and looks like fairly typical union activity, and the people of NC don't support that sort of action." Of course, Phil knows damn well that teacher unions are illegal in NC. He persists in equating the NCAE with a union, even though it has no power other than to lobby the legislature (rather ineffectively since guys like Berger took control in 2011). I remember Berger pushing for more charter schools when he first became majority leader in the state senate, and soon after this was approved his son conveniently tried to open one of the first charters in their native Rockingham County (which failed before it could even open its doors, lol). Oh, and Berger gave his statement above at the start of teachers appreciation week. What a douche.
 
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On NC teachers:

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