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Infiltrate and Destroy
Now we know why unionists were fighting so hard for a federal “card check” law. Organizers can unionize private and public employees, forcing them to pay hundreds in union dues, before they even know anything about it. That’s the situation at the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School in Orleans, Massachusetts. Last week news broke that the reputable charter school was the second in Massachusetts to be organized by the American Federation of Teachers. Various sources indicated that the unionization effort was somewhat less than forthright. Several teachers complained that they were never informed about the process and were never asked to vote on the issue. “The union effort was coordinated by group of teachers and staff that did not include all employees,” one teacher wrote. “In fact, a number of employees were not approached at all and found out, quite by accident, that a union had been formed without our input. “A full vote of the faculty and staff was never taken and plans to unionize went ahead, anyway.” Unionization without a vote of the staff? That sounds like the nasty little practice of “card check,” which allows pro-union employees to gang up on co-workers and pressure them to sign a union membership card. Once 50 percent of them do so, the union is automatically certified. There are no private ballots involved in the process. Those who refuse to sign are exposed to all the pressure and intimidation that the union can muster. Under those conditions, it probably doesn’t take very long to gain 50 percent approval. Our research confirmed that Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed a bill in 2007 making “card check” union organizing legal for charter schools. So now an outstanding charter school has been transformed into a den of collective bargaining through a back-door coup. The longtime director of the school reacted by resigning and transferring her own children to a different school. Parents of other students began to wonder if they should do the same. We have to wonder if this would have happened if the school staff had been allowed to privately vote on certification, without union supporters looking over their shoulders. We will never know. We also have to wonder if the infiltration of Lighthouse will spell eventual doom for the small K-8 school. That is, after all, the stated goal of the AFT. Infiltrate and destroy Charter schools have always been perceived as a mortal threat by teachers unions. That’s because they offer an attractive non-union alternative to traditional public schools. Without expensive collective bargaining agreements, seniority rules and constant tension between teachers and administrators, charters have the flexibility and means to be innovative with their programs. That type of innovation has allowed many charter schools to flourish academically, which makes them popular with the public. As more children enroll in charter schools, less state money flows to traditional schools and their unions. Money is the alpha and the omega for teachers unions. The well-being of students is not a consideration. In the beginning the unions reacted by fighting the establishment of charter schools. When that didn’t work, they started pressing state governments to cap the number of charter schools. Now that isn’t working, either, so the unions have changed their strategy. Their current goal is to infiltrate charter schools, organize their teachers and change the very nature of the schools. With charters having to face the type of pressures and costs created by unions, the theory is that they will stop being special, and stop attracting parents and students. Keith Johnson, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, summed up the union strategy in a recent newsletter: “Organizing charters will strengthen our power and influence as a union. It is reasonable to believe that as more charters are faced with having to be more like traditional public schools in terms of accountability, wages and benefits, due process, and paying into the retirement system, many of them will dry up because now they will not be as profitable, thus not as appealing to those seeking to authorize them.”
In other words, infiltrate and destroy. Hear more of Johnson’s disdain for charter schools in Episode 8 of “Kids Aren’t Cars.” The union infiltration effort has been spotty around the nation so far. But it’s clearly gaining steam. In Chicago, a union consortium that includes the AFT has managed to organize 12 of the 85 charters in the city, and hopes to unionize them all. The Chicago City Council is even considering a resolution encouraging unionization of charter schools. According to a New York Times article regarding the Chicago situation, “(Charter school) administrators and operators are battling back, arguing that unionization could undermine the basic premise of the charter school model: that they are more effective because they are free of the regulations and bureaucracies that govern traditional public schools.” Don’t let it happen in your school In Cape Cod, one local news service is clearly worried that the union will destroy a very good school. “Since 1995, Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School has been a jewel in the crown of Cape Cod public education,” wrote CapeCodToday.com in an editorial published last week. “The school has a reputation for innovative teaching styles, school-wide projects and individualized instruction. “The school turns out successful, enthusiastic learners who bring an impressive skill set and love of learning to whichever high school they attend upon graduation from Grade 8. “All that came to an end when it was announced that the teachers had arranged union representation by the American Federation of Teachers. Surprise turned to concern and then to outrage as Cape Codders first expressed doubts about the school’s ability to maintain its unique culture under the thumb of a labor union and then learned of a possible schism among the faculty over the way AFT was brought into the school.” Gary Beckner, executive director of the Association of American Educators, summed up the situation in an editorial written for CapeCodToday.com. “Sadly, with the union’s lengthy contracts, contributions to partisan politics, and their ability to create an adversary relationship between faculty and staff, there seems to be no faster way of stifling the progressive environments of charters than to unionize. “Teachers and administrators need to be mindful that the union will come knocking, especially in times of transition, and inevitably undo the innovative culture of their beloved charter school. Don’t let it happen in your school.”
“What teachers should know is that they have a non-union option in the Association of American Educators, the country’s premier national alternative,” Beckner wrote. “AAE supports teachers, both in charter and traditional public schools in all 50 states, providing professional benefits like liability insurance and legal counsel at a fraction of the cost. “The non-union option provides a modern approach to teachers without the stifling contracts or partisan politics associated with the union.” by Kyle Olson |
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While we are on the subject of unions:
“If you strike a match and put your finger in, common sense tells you you’re going to burn your finger.” AFL-CIO Yeah, You can call that Socialist by Bret Jacobson Good news! We’re all one step closer to being able to call socialism by its name! According to a Bloomberg report, AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka “said he’d like to see the U.S. become more like a European nation that provides pensions and health care for all its citizens. He said he is accustomed to criticism and doesn’t mind if conservatives call that socialism.” Trumka added that “Being called a socialist is a step up for me.”* Glad we’ve cleared that up! It was so confusing to figure out another name for a union movement that has been pushing socialized medicine, cradle-to-grave entitlements, government monopoly of the school system, European-style regulation, higher taxes on working Americans to fund high government-employee salaries, auto bailouts to save union (and union boss) jobs, killing secret ballots in favor of card check, eroding private property rights, and more. * This is a true statement when one recalls that Trumka blamed a victim for his own death at the hands of militant union strikers |
There was a time when you couldn't drive a truck in NYC without being a member of the IBT. Unionizing hasn't always been a bad thing but that was 80 years ago.
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Most don't realize that unionism isn't these days so much about unions vs, management, but union members vs. non union members. The unions prevent non union members from accepting job offers with lower wages than the union members. This is anti competitive. Non union members may be willing to enter into a voluntary contract with management to accept the same job for lower wages.
If companies collude with each other to lower wages, or collude to reduce output and raise prices, that's immoral and illegal. Why isn't it immoral to for union workers to collude against non union members? |
becuase we live in a Demoncracy[sic], not a constitutional republic?
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Jeez, your unions sound worse than the mafia protection rackets.
Join us or we'll screw you into the ground. Join us and we'll screw you into the ground anyway. !!!!!! Over here, London Transport Unions have recently brokered a No Strike deal for when the Olympics are on. IIRC That involves a pay rise and a £500 bonus but there is still a get out clause that allows them to strike. :bigtu: Interesting read though, Brain |
Originally Posted by Freaky Roadster
(Post 734280)
Join us or we'll screw you into the ground.
Join us and we'll screw you into the ground anyway. !!!!!! For once, I pretty much see eye-to-eye with Jason on this. Unions certainly had their place in the world a hundred years ago, when miners and railroad brakemen were considered expendable and factory workers labored in truly deplorable conditions. But these days, OSHA (equivalent to your HSE) and the modern civil law system with its many punitive remedies have rendered the original charter of the labor union obsolete. So instead, they have evolved into a rather different entity- they are in some ways comparable to political parties, in that they have a considerable interest simply to be in power, regardless of what (if anything) they accomplish for their constituents. But more to the point, unions simply no longer serve the purpose for which they were originally intended, and instead are used as levers for ensuring that money flows in some directions and does not flow in others. So, as an individual worker, one is often faced with the choice between being forced to pay dues to join the union (typically several hundred dollars per year, up to or even over $1,000 per year in some industries), or being unable to work in certain trades, or in certain buildings. What is even more asinine is that in some areas which are "union controlled", if one objects to joining a union (say, on religious or moral grounds), then in order to work, you are forced to pay a "nonassociation fee" directly to the union. That's right- they are legally able to strong-arm even people who do not wish to join the union into paying money to the union, for which they receive absolutely no benefit whatsoever. It's a sad state of affairs. But the thing that really kills me is the sort of industries that have unions nowadays. Everybody had heard of teacher's unions and electrician's unions, and that sort of thing I can almost understand as there's at least some degree of professional regulation required. But you know who else is unionized around here? Grocery store clerks. I shit you not. When I go to the supermarket, the pimply teenager stuffing my groceries into a bag is a member of a Union- the United Food And Commercial Workers, to be specific. How in the hell did that one ever get off the ground? So far as I am aware, no grocery store clerk has ever had to shovel coal into a furnace for 18 hours a day or work next to an open pit of molten steel without so much as a guard rail around it. And yet these folks somehow managed to weasel their way into a system of collective bargaining, pension funds, and 2x-3x minimum wage for what has got to be one of the least skilled jobs on the planet. |
I think we need another Margaret Thatcher, she told the unions where to put it.
The only UK union that I would support are for the nurses, but I'm not even too sure of that considering the state of the NHS. Bob Crowe of the RMT seems to think he's in charge of London Transport and he's constantly holding Londoners and the government to ransom, threatening strikes willy nilly. A tube driver might get caught drunk as a skunk whilst operating a train and get the sack, Mr Crowe will get him re-instated, get everyone a pay rise and a bigger annual bonus. On top of that his record is kept clean:laugh: All these union people seem to want to be another Jimmy Hoffa, just wish they would all disappear too.:2cents: |
Margaret Thatcher kicked arse.
Unions are legal mafias. Profiteering parasites bleeding off the working class, while dumbing them down at the same time. I am surprised people, esp lawyers, haven't sued states for the unconstitutional practices of mandating union membership, like Wisconsin. It is absolutely unconstitutional for a government to require union membership be it public or private. I had a couple union jobs during my youth. The first one wasn't bad, the union rep was decent, but regular members complained about absolutely everything, so the credibility of the program was diluted. The second job, even if you were a union member, only the "senior" union members received any help. The union reps could have given a crap about anyone else. I wasn't a member in the first job, I was a member for a very short period of time in the second job. The union reps in the second job were the laziest, whiniest, most slovenly dudes I'd ever met at up to that time, yet they had a seriously entitled attitude. |
pwnt:
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam affixed his signature on House Bill 130 and Senate Bill 113, ending collective bargaining and giving local school boards the full authority to operate their districts in the manner they choose. |
There are people whose job is to push the buttons in the elevator in some places. You can't push them yourself. They are union workers. The unions have regulations in place that require the existence of the elevator operators or the elevators cannot be used.
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and i bet they get paid above minimum wage.
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Originally Posted by Braineack
(Post 734966)
and i bet they get paid above minimum wage.
I maybe a liberal leaning Massachusetts boy but, Unions NEED to be done with. I've worked a couple 'union jobs' through HS and college - it was quite depressing being reprimanded for working 'too hard'. There were grocery clerks making 26 dollars an hour plus time and a half on Sundays - 39 dollars an hour, 52 if it was a holiday. -Zach |
that certainly has no impact on the cost of food.
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Heard today that Bob Crowe lives in a "council" house.
That means his rent is subsidised by the tax payer and most of the maintenance is also paid for. What right has he to live in a council house whilst earning a six figure salary ????? At the same time there is a council house shortage for the underpaid and terminally unemployed lazy gits. |
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Sample:Columbus City Schools employees
http://thathero.com/wp-content/uploa...-2005-2010.gif The Ohio Education Association will assess active members $54 apiece and support-staff members $25 to generate $5 million as fuel for a referendum to repeal the state’s new collective-bargaining law. |
http://www.publicschoolspending.com/...zzacompany.pdf
A “Labor Studies Curriculum for Elementary Schools,” entitled “The Yummy Pizza Company,” takes up to 20 classroom hours over a two-week period. Important concepts in the 10 lessons, such as the value of work and money management, are critical components, but are quickly overshadowed by the fact that 40% of the curriculum is about forming Pizza Makers Union Local 18. That’s right – the program is focused on teaching kids to unionize. Art lessons are incorporated into the curriculum. Students are assigned the task of designing a union logo and membership cards. Math is also a focus. Part of the lesson involves calculating “union dues as a percentage of wages.” But the lesson doesn’t end with forming the union. What’s next? Contract negotiations, of course! Yes, elementary kids are then taught the finer points of collective bargaining. Members of the Pizza Makers Union may “vote to accept offer, negotiate further or strike.” The next lesson covers “Unions in the real world,” where “Students will learn about a real union and how it helped its members,” as well as “some labor history and a few prominent labor leaders.” Kids are then encouraged to interview their parents about whether or not they belong to a labor union. Additionally, students will “act out the life of a labor leader.” One wonders how students will manage to depict the thuggery that union bosses have become famous for. One teacher's account: “At this point, I decided, as the Curriculum stipulates, to explore the down side of management – labor relations.” So he decided to cut students’ pay in the classroom Yummy Pizza shop. “This is where the lesson became reality. A storm of protest arose, and many of the students decided to follow the example of Cesar Chavez (who we were studying) and go on strike. Twenty-one of the twenty-seven students present that day voted to strike, and strike they did. With my few faithful scabs, I tried to make pizza that next day. Strikers kept coming over to them, trying to convince them to walk out. Three did, and I was left with only three helpers. When we went downstairs to the yard to see our pizza cookies, things got uglier. Picketers walked back and forth in front of our stand, strikers came up and sneezed on the cookies, and told the other kids not to buy them and a scuffle broke out over a sign.” another teacher's account: “For over a decade I’ve been teaching my six-, seven-, and eight-year-old students to strike against me.” “…I give workers hints, like reading Si Se Puede by Diana Cohn, about the Los Angeles Janitor’s strike, or encouraging them to engage in a tug of war with me over a jump rope in which they all have to join together to bring me down. One year, students snuck into the classroom and made picket signs out of construction paper, masking tape, and poles made of linked markers or meter sticks. I’ve found it’s best to demote supervisors to a non-managerial position just as we go to lunch, so they will feel a sense of solidarity with workers, instead of terrorizing them into complacency, as nearly happened this year. “Once workers realize I’m powerless before their united action, they immediately overthrow all class rules. They scream until I surrender. After the class quiets down, I quickly explain that some rules exist to benefit the boss, the others, for the good of all. They ratify each rule anew, and have consistently thrown out the new contract as benefiting only their employer.” |
What an awesome way to collect dues:
Thousands of licensed Minnesota day care providers may soon become unionized at the stroke of Governor Dayton’s pen via executive order as an increasingly contentious, yet largely unknown, organizing campaign apparently nears an end, according to opponents. The effort to organize the approximately 12,000 licensed home-based daycare providers goes back at least five years. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) appear to be working in different counties throughout the state to form two separate unions: Child Care Providers Together-AFSCMEand SEIU-Kids First. The unions have patterned the drive after similar campaigns in other states that targeted providers with clients that receive state childcare subsidies. The process does not involve a secret ballot or a vote, but rather a controversial method called card check. Organizers go door-to-door to childcare providers on the job asking them to sign cards that give the union collective bargaining rights. The unions set out to collect signatures of more than half of the available providers or approximately 3,000 signed cards apiece. After the cards are certified, it is believed Governor Dayton will be asked to sign an executive order designating AFSCME and SEIU as collective bargaining units to negotiate with the state. In addition to personal contributions made by influential union leaders, AFSCME and SEIU PACs contributed $14,000 to Dayton’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign. “Just about everybody we have spoken to has said they were not told by signing that card they were supporting a union,” said Jennifer Parrish, a Rochester provider who’s leading opposition to the union. “The main theme seems to be people are being told they can sign up for more information or be put on a mailing list.” Jackie Seifert said that’s what happened to her when a young woman knocked on the door of her daycare business in Rochester. “She never said she was a union representative and she had no identification as far as a name badge or jacket or any of that,” Seifert said. “It was lunch time when she came and I was busy getting things ready for the kids and she asked me to sign this card for more information.” Only later, Seifert said, did she learn the woman was a SEIU organizer. She was dismayed to find that the fine print on the card she signed grants the union representation for the purposes of collective bargaining on her behalf. “I about died I was so embarrassed. I had been had, that was basically how I felt because I was misinformed,” Seifert said. Seifert demanded and received her signed card back from SEIU. AFSCME appears to have reached its quota of a majority of signed cards ready for certification, after which “yes” cards cannot be rescinded. Neither AFSCME nor SEIU union representatives returned repeated calls from the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota. In an online interview with providers opposed to the union and posted at childcareinfo.com, the lead organizers for AFSCME and SEIU defended their volunteers and said they received training in best practices. In other states, daycare providers are deemed employees of the state for purposes of the collective bargaining process. Tom Copeland, a Twin Cities attorney and childcare business expert who supports the organizing drive, says the legal step doesn’t mean the self-employed providers would actually work for the state. “They’re not an employee of the state. They don’t lose their self-employee control, the state has nothing to say about how they operate, what they charge or what rules they adopt,” Copeland said. “It’s only around negotiating higher subsidy rates and perhaps changes in those regulations and perhaps a better system of grievances and licensing rules, that’s it.” Licensed providers who oppose unionization have mounted an on-line petition drive to gather enough signatures to present to Governor Dayton before he takes potential action. Governor Dayton’s office did not respond to FFM’s email requests for comment on the issue. “Do I think he’d sign it?” Copeland said. “I think he would and I think the unions think he would.” “As a small business owner it’s my right to have my own voice and not be covered under this union and to not have to financially support a union that I don’t believe is going to benefit me or my business,” Jennifer Parrish said. “I’m very confident that if this went to a secret ballot vote where every licensed provider got to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ that we’d prevail.” Home-based childcare provider unions are operating in fourteen states. Yet the union formed in Michigan by the United Auto Workers and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees was recently cut off from receiving mandatory dues by state authorities. The Child Care Providers Together Michigan union effort led to lawsuits over designating home-based childcare workers as state employees and deducting dues from subsidies for low-income families. Providers recently reached a settlement to preclude the state of Michigan from tying union membership to state childcare subsidies in the future. A separate class action lawsuit has been filed against union officials on behalf of childcare providers by theNational Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, seeking repayment of nearly $4 million of dues collected since 2008. |
I'm surprised kids in california can even read or write anymore, but at least they'll learn how to organize.
The California Federation of Teachers produced the perfect solution with “Trouble in the Hen House: A Puppet Show.” To spare you the unpleasantness of reading this bilge, here’s the basic plot: a bunch of hens feel “oppressed” by the farmer, so they band together and create Hens United. The angry unionized chickens are too powerful a force for the farmer to handle, so he capitulates to the hens’ demands. Here’s a key excerpt: Henrietta (the hen): Farmer Brown, we have something to say. This is what we chickens want: 1. More and better food. No mold, no sand in our corn. 2. Freedom to walk around outside and a bigger hen house. 3. Each hen will lay an average of four eggs a week. 4. Stop punishing us. Let Hortensia come back. Farmer: No way! Who ever heard of chickens telling the farmer what to do? Shut up and get back to the henhouse! Chickens: No, Farmer Brown, not this time! And besides those things, you have to recognize our union, Hens United, or we’ll all stop laying eggs! Farmer: OK, OK, if I have no eggs to sell, I’ll go bankrupt. We’d all starve, so I guess I’ll have to do what you say. Since you’re all together, what can I do? Chickens: We won! We stuck together and we won! Si, Se puede. With this puppet show, educators now have a way of teaching children how to use mob tactics to get what they want from those in positions of power. This puppet show fits very nicely into a kindergartener’s school day – right after finger painting and just ahead of snack time. Lest readers are tempted to dismiss this as some wacky lesson plan that never sees the light of day in an actual classroom, consider this story about the 2009 California Federation of Teachers convention, as reported in the May 2009 newsletter of the San Mateo Community College Federation of Teachers: “…Bill Morgan uses a short puppet show, Trouble in the Hen House, to teach about the strength and value of organizing unions. His students act out a story about hens who organize a union to fight against unfair compensation and poor working conditions. Through this activity, the students learn about becoming activists, organizers, negotiators and problem solvers.” |
Disgusting.
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Part 2:
Farmer grows some balls, says "fuck you" to the hens. Hens go on strike and stop laying. Farmer calls Kentucky Fried Chicken and does a deal. Farmer retires on the proceeds or brings in non-union hens. :laugh: |
yep. or farmer does what everyone else is doing now, leaving CA for TX. Problem is they dont teach that in elementary school.
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CA is another country...
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Live by the legal sword, die by the legal sword:
Connecticut’s public sector unions have voted to reject a $1.6 billion concession package that was previously agreed to by both their union leaders and Governor Dannel Malloy, the first Democratic governor the state has had in 20 years... The concession package, guaranteed no layoffs for four years and no furloughs. Wages would have been frozen for two years, then followed by three annual 3 percent raises. Though cost-of-living increases for pensions would have been eliminated, the retirement age would have been raised by only two years, and not until after 2022. Changes in health benefits included mandatory annual physician visits and mail-order prescription plans, a detail that seemed to hurt local pharmacies more than union members. As a result of the rejection of the agreement by the unions, Governor Malloy says he will now have to lay off 7,500 state employees in order to balance the state budget. In addition to the direct loss of jobs, in a state in which the unemployment rate is already at 9.1%, citizens will undoubtedly be dealing with the closing of state offices, elimination of services, and cuts to municipal aid... The governor’s Democrat-controlled legislature already passed a budget that included the highest tax increase in the history of the state, scheduled to go into effect on July 1st. Also initiated in the budget was an earned income tax credit of about $1700 for those who do not pay taxes. |
Originally Posted by Braineack
(Post 742198)
Live by the legal sword, die by the legal sword:
lol B) Did you notice the last section where they passed the largest tax increase in the state's history while giving more money to people who don't pay taxes? With stories like these and a dearth of positive ones reported to counterbalance, it is no wonder people are not optimistic about the future... |
the WI supreme court overturned the cirucit courts ban on the law. They lost their fight.
yes, it's funny. |
The folks are wise:
Minority parents in New York have a message for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT): you are hurting our children. In New York Monday, charter school parents staged another of several rallies to voice opposition to a lawsuit brought by the UFT and NAACP against the New York City Department of Education. If the organizations are successful with their suit, it would prevent enrollment or re-enrollment in 17 charter schools and stop the closure of 22 public schools. The UFT and NAACP’s decision to sue has roiled inner city parents who depend on charter schools to ensure their children get a good education. On Monday a slew of parents appeared before UFT headquarters to protest. Nearly a month earlier the NAACP felt their wrath when another estimated 3,000 people showed up at State Administrative Building in Harlem, carrying signs reading “NAACP don’t divide unite,” to protest the NAACP’s involvement. “I am the product of the public school system that allows 70 percent or more of its black men to not graduate from high school,” said Candido Brown, a charter school teacher at May’s rally. “I could barely believe my ears when I found out that the NAACP was trying to shut down some of the most successful schools serving black and brown children in our city. NAACP, do not take away this awesome education from our children.” |
More indoctrination.
Read this newletter article written by Kate Lyman, an elementary teacher in the Madison, Wisconsin school district. http://www.publicschoolspending.com/...n-Uprising.pdf Lyman described the mass “sickout,” which forced some districts, including her own, to cancel classes, as “four exhilarating days, four confusing days, four stressful and exhausting days.” For the record, she’s speaking on behalf of the self-serving school employees. She’s not talking about the working parents that had to scramble to find child care because their children were not in school. At first Lyman, who already has a warning in her personnel file for violating the school’s “controversial issues” policy, claimed she simply invited students to share their personal observations of the recent protests. One student said Walker would “send (illegal immigrants) back to Mexico.” Lyman apparently didn’t correct this idiotic notion. Another said, “Does he want to be rich?” “Yeah, he wants to be rich!” Then there were the assorted “He’s selfish,” “He’s crazy,” “He’s guilty,” “He’s greedy” and “He should go to jail, even though he’s governor.” We’re certain their teacher was pleased with their responses, and her own successful effort to transplant her own thoughts into their minds. Lyman’s efforts went even further. She created math problems with the attendance numbers from the protests. Lyman’s student teacher created a PowerPoint presentation, with side-by-side pictures of the Madison protests and images from the civil rights fights in the south. Then, she went lower than I thought was possible even for union activists. Quoting Lyman: “I hesitated to ask this last question as the students were examining a photo of white segregations (‘We want a white school!’) juxtaposed to a Walker supporter (‘WisSCOTTsin’). But we talked extensively about rights, in the context of both the Civil Rights Movement and the Capitol protests.” I bet you can’t guess how old these kids were. Surely if they were tuned into the news, they must be high schoolers. No, Lyman is warping the brains of 2nd- and 3rd-graders. This is a perfect example of what the professors’* paper was calling for. Brainwash them while they’re young and they will support the revolution when they’re older. We don’t believe Wisconsin taxpayers would agree with this strategy. They pay taxes so children will be taught the fundamentals of learning. They do not pay to send the kids to leftist indoctrination camps. The superintendent of Madison schools should make sure Lyman understands that point, once and for all. *the professor he mentioned is Howard Zinn, who wrote: “If teacher unions want to be strong and well-supported, it’s essential that they not only be teacher-unionists but teachers of unionism. We need to create a generation of students who support teachers and the movement of teachers for their rights.” (emphasis added) |
oh yeah and lol at the NBA union.
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Aaaaahhhhh, America
Land of the free, Home of the brave ..... ............. and breeding ground for commie pinko's. If the kids formed their own union, would the teachers unions have to recognise it ??? If so, how long before an all out strike against education........... permanently.:laugh: |
:rofl:
Andrew Buikema, a music teacher with Grant Public Schools for the past nine years, is tired of being forced to belong to a union that he says doesn’t “stand up for kids” and “always seem(s) to put adults first.” Buikema expressed his displeasure in a recent email to MEA Secretary-Treasurer Peggy McLellan. In her response, McLellan wrote, “You’re right that MEA stands up for adults; that’s because it’s the adults who are under attack, not the kids.” :rofl: :rofl: |
lol
Every week the NLRB publishes a summary of NLRB decisions. In the Board’s latest weekly summary, there was one decision summary that seemed rather unique since it stated: The Board granted the Acting General Counsel’s Motion for Default Judgment based on the Respondent’s failure to file an answer to the complaint. The Board found that the death of BLSI, LLC’s owner and the insolvency of his estate did not constitute good cause for the Respondent’s failure to answer the complaint. |
:laugh:Death is no excuse for not answering to "Officialdom", still gotta pay your taxes even though you're 6' down or on the BBQ.;)
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Originally Posted by Braineack
(Post 741178)
I'm surprised kids in california can even read or write anymore, but at least they'll learn how to organize.
BTW, "Si, Se puede" is spanish for yes, we can. Ring a bell? |
I love this thread :bigtu:
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More on unions:
AFSCME: Big Government Bully or Ward of the State? In Illinois, prior to his reelection, Governor Pat Quinn negotiated $75 million worth of raises for state workers, only to rescind the promised increases after he was reelected due to a lack of money. Now, AFSCME bosses are suing Quinn in court for breaking his pre-election promise. If AFSCME is successful, with no money to fund the increases, Illinois politicians will have to make some tough decisions—do they lay off more employees? Or, do lawmakers pass the costs on to Illinois taxpayers who are still reeling from a 67% income tax hike earlier this year? In Democrat-controlled Detroit, AFSCME has refused to face reality when it comes to dealing with that city’s fiscal morass. AFSCME’s refusal to accept concessions, according to Detroit’s Mayor David Bing, was costing the city $500,000 per month. Yet, AFSCME’s response has been to call for tax increases and declare Bing’s plan ‘racist,’ despite the fact that Bing is black. In Connecticut, the state’s union-friendly Democrat governor, Daniel Malloy, raised taxes a record $2.6 billion on all taxpayers earning more than $50,000. His budget plan was contingent getting the state’s government unions to agree to concessions. However, the unions—principally AFSCME—balked at the concessions. Now, without a deal, Malloy has announced he is laying off 6,500 government employees and closing motor vehicles branches, welfare offices, as well as other state services. In New York, Democrat Andrew Cuomo negotiated concessions from government union only after threatening to lay off nearly 10,000 workers. “This agreement reflects the financial reality of the times,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement. “I am pleased that we could avoid these layoffs, protect the work force and the taxpayer.” In Maryland, though, the politicians continue to reward union bosses while delaying the inevitable. While the state has a $33 billion pension shortfall, AFSCME bosses received a windfall, courtesy of the politicians who passed a “fair share” bill requiring all non-members covered by a collective bargaining agreement to pay $360 yearly to the union, netting the union up to $4.7 million per year.The union federation’s president, Kenneth Brynien, made clear that the impending layoffs were a driving force in reaching the deal. Meanwhile, back in Wisconsin—center-stage of the fight over government union power—AFSCME thugs began bullying business owners with threats of boycotts if businesses did not display pro-union signs in their windows. This occurred even as AFSCME bosses were selling out their members by negotiating concessionary contracts to keep their dues flowing. |
These union organizers give me the feeling of a bourgeoning Nazi party.
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What's awesome about them is that where ever they are setup, they force you to pay dues, so they have MAJOR power.
Government Union Power is Dependent on Dues Unions collect more than eight billion dollars per year in union dues. As private-sector union membership has dwindled to a mere 6.9%, government unions have overtaken their private-sector counterparts in both power and political influence. As NY AFSCME boss Victor Gotbaum once declared: “We have the ability, in a sense, to elect our own boss.” Last year, Larry Scanlon, the AFSCME’s Director of Political Operations raised eyebrows when he spoke of his union’s spending $87.5 million on the 2010 mid-term elections. “We’re the big dog,” Scanlon told the Wall Street Journal. “But we don’t like to brag.” Scanlon’s matter-of-fact non-boast of AFSCME’s political expenditures came as something of a surprise to those who may not yet have been familiar with unions’ influence in the political process. However, the fact that union bosses (in general) spent nearly $2.2 billion of their members’ money on politics from 2007 through 2010 (including $1.1 billion on the 2010 election cycle) is not at all surprising to union watchers. As it turns out, AFSCME was the biggest dog in the pack during the 2010 mid-term elections. According to Duquesne University Professor Anthony Davies, union bosses have given twice as much money to politicians as the telecommunications, insurance, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, and real estate industries combined. However, that is really no surprise either. According to AFSCME’s Scanlon, it’s a simple equation: Mr. Scanlon, who has run elections for AFSCME for nearly 15 years, acknowledged the connection between the number of government jobs and the union’s political clout. “The more members coming in, the more dues coming in, the more money we have for politics,” Mr. Scanlon said. AFSCME’s membership has grown 25% in the past decade. Since the growth of government unions has come at a premium price, paid for by taxpayers, it is ultimately the union members who are experiencing the wrath of those who foot the bill. As understanding grows about the fiscal nightmare AFSCME bosses (as well as other government union bosses) and their political puppets have placed states, counties and municipalities in, many taxpayers across the country are completely fed up with the power government unions wield.In fact, as AFSCME members across the country face layoffs, concessions at the bargaining table, and ridicule from an angry and unsympathetic electorate, about the only ones who have not suffered are the AFSCME bosses themselves. In Florida, for example, AFSCME bused members to the statehouse to protest the legislature’s move to stop the state from collecting union dues. As ridiculous as it seems, however, while Florida state workers have not had pay increases in several years, the president of AFSCME District Council 79, Jeanette Wynn, saw her salary increase 18% from 2009 to 2010, to over $150,000. In fact, Ms. Wynn has averaged $9,700 worth of salary increases every year since 2006–a far cry more than the government workers she represents received. It’s little wonder why Ms. Wynn and the rest of the AFSCME bosses are protesting efforts to remove the collection of union dues. At AFSCME’s headquarters in Washington, over the last five years, according to reports on file with the US Dept. of Labor, AFSCME members’ dues have paid the union’s pinstripe-suit wearing president Gerald McEntee nearly $3 million. During that same period, from 2006 through 2010, AFSCME’s now-retired secretary-treasurer William Lucy was paid over $2.3 million. In fact, in 2010, in addition to paying Lucy’s replacement, Lee Saunders, over $179,000, AFSCME paid Lucy $847,810. In 2009, AFSCME’s McEntee applauded the Senate adoption of an amendment capping CEO salaries at $400,000 for banks that received bailouts while he raked in over $479,000. Ironically, in a Huffington Post piece, McEntee wrote: It’s time for Congress to pass legislation that gives shareholders a voice in how top corporate executives are paid and a chance to elect directors who will represent shareholder interests. We need bold action to bring these rampant abuses to an end. McEntee’s call on Congress to pass legislation that would give shareholders a voice on executive compensation is more than AFSCME’s top boss gives to his own members. Yet, the government union boss is unrepentant on his own fat cat lifestyle, which is paid for the union dues taken from workers (sometimes against their will) who are paid by governments funded through taxpayers’ money.As states, counties and municipalities wrestle with the havoc wrought by AFSCME’s influence in the pushing politicians who pass unsustainable debt onto taxpayers’ shoulders, perhaps it’s time for Congress to pass legislation giving taxpayers a say on how much of their taxes should be funneled back to government union bosses to line their pin-striped pockets. |
You guys do realize that mostly east/North east schools are union right? So is Kali. A lot of school districts and state are non union. Do not throw all "teachers" into the union mix. Tx is a non union state. Plus some choose to not join the optional unions because we do not like what the unions stand for.
Do not go thinking that all teachers get paid a kings ransom or get cut a government check because someone has bargained for them. I know I sure dont. |
also on the topic of charter schools/magnet schools (I went to the "magnet" HS for my district. It practicality has 100% passing state exams), they do not necessarily get higher scores because the public education system sucks but because they get the cream of the crop.
Think about it this way. Public ed is like clubroadster you get a bit of everything. The output is the same. GT classes are like miata.net. A bit more mature and can get a lot more done. MT is like the magnet school. You get all the cool things coming from here because the people (students/parents) give a care. Think of what these kids do to make the other websites/schools look good when they are there instead of just one "brainy" school. Think of what the sites/schools loose when they migrate to just one location. It is not all the teachers fault. Private schools (similar to charter schools) in some sense are another beast altogether. They do not have to accept you because the simply do not like you as a student, or because they do not want to service someones physical/mental impairment. They are private and do not have to follow the same rules on accepting people as public schools do. |
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Ironing: While Nation Sputters on Jobs, Wisconsin Economy Begins to Hum [Madison, Wisc…] Earlier this month, analysts were dismayed by the nation’s anemic job creation numbers. On Thursday, state officials were pleased as they released data that showed more than half of the net new jobs added in the US in June came from Wisconsin. “We have made difficult decisions in our state, but they are beginning to payoff,” said Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R). “The national job figures remind us that we can not rest after one month of good news; while there will be ups and downs along the way, we must help lead the nation to recovery.” Using seasonally adjusted data, the 12,900 private-sector jobs created in June marks the largest one-month gain in Wisconsin since September 2003. The state’s net new job gain for June is 9,500 jobs, more than half of the nation’s net gain of 18,000 jobs for the same month. |
Originally Posted by Pitlab77
(Post 750585)
Do not throw all "teachers" into the union mix. Tx is a non union state. Plus some choose to not join the optional unions because we do not like what the unions stand for.
Originally Posted by Pitlab77
(Post 750585)
Do not go thinking that all teachers get paid a kings ransom or get cut a government check because someone has bargained for them. I know I sure dont.
B) I don't think anyone here believes primary school teachers get paid "a king's ransom." I do think that the critics of public school teacher unions believe that the unions do far more harm than good and that public unions are not at all like private sector unions. As has been discussed before, private sector unions sit across from the company management and the two parties negotiate over splitting the profit pie. Public sector unions sit alongside the politicians and try to negotiate for higher salaries and benefits which must come via tax increases. In effect, it then becomes union management + politicians versus taxpayers. That's totally dysfunctional. It is also why seeing governors and other state politicians stand up to the public sector unions is so shocking.
Originally Posted by Pitlab77
(Post 750588)
also on the topic of charter schools/magnet schools (I went to the "magnet" HS for my district. It practicality has 100% passing state exams), they do not necessarily get higher scores because the public education system sucks but because they get the cream of the crop[...]
It is not all the teachers fault. B) I do not believe anyone here thinks a student's performance is "all the teacher's fault." I do believe that most here believe that there should be some form of performance-based recognition in promotion and pay. Those teachers that work harder and put more effort in should be rewarded greater than those that just show up and don't do anything outrageously egregious enough to get fired. As with everything, though, "the devil is in the details" of how that performance is recognized. |
Hell no, we won't go!
Any good community organizer knows an effective protest requires two things: a bully to excoriate and a catchy slogan that resonates in the public mind. Even though most protestors are “uncomplicated” people, don’t be deceived; staging an effective rally is not a simple task. First, a bully must be identified. For progressives, a bully is anybody who disagrees with you politically, so there is no shortage of candidates. However, as Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” explains, it’s best to settle on one target to isolate and attack. Next, protestors need to come up with a catchy slogan to shout at the designated bully. Most people don’t have the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s “gift” of reducing complex ideas into simplistic rhymes. This skill must be taught. This charming six-part lesson plan is designed to stamp out (mostly) gender-based bullying from Pre-K all the way through 6th grade. Most readers will agree that bullying is a problem and that teachers should talk to students about it in a thoughtful, reasonable manner. But thought and reason are totally absent from the “Gender doesn’t limit you” lesson plans, which only provide children with a designated slogan to shout at suspected bullies. Here’s an example from Lesson 4 – Biased Judgments: To start the lesson, teachers are instructed to tell students that, “Sometimes one group of kids thinks that they are better at something than another group because of their gender.” The teacher then tells students that whenever someone makes a highly offensive remark such as “boys are better at soccer than girls,” they should tell the offender, “Give it a rest. No group is best.” Since repetition is crucial to the learning process, the plan provides teachers with four scenarios to read to students. After each one the class is instructed to shout, “Give it a rest. No group is best.” Here’s one of the scenarios from Lesson 4: (Teacher): “Paul and Vanessa are baking cookies together. Vanessa says that girls are better at baking than boys. What do we tell Vanessa? One, two, three GO!” (Class): “Give it a rest, no group is best.” That’s the extent of the lesson. Identify a bully (doesn’t that Vanessa sound like a monster?), give the kids a slogan to shout, and practice with a few scenarios. It’s like that for each lesson, although the quality of the slogans varies. Here’s a Cliff’s Notes version of the lesson plans: For the “Peer Exclusion” lesson, kids are instructed that “not letting someone play with you just because of their gender is called bullying….” Applicable slogan: “You can’t say, ‘Boys/Girls can’t play.’” For the “Role Exclusion” lesson, students are told that, “Boys and girls can have any job they want to, or do any activities that they want.” If some insensitive lout attempts to define gender roles in the children’s presence, they are to say, “Not true! Gender doesn’t limit you.” And so it goes for six lessons. Some of the remaining slogans include “That’s weird! Being boys and girls doesn’t matter here” and “I disagree! Sexism is silly to me.” As you can see, the quality of the sloganeering fades with each lesson. You can also see the “lessons” aren’t designed to develop critical thought or meaningful classroom discussions. In fact, the researchers who designed these lessons brag that “teaching students catchphrases to interrupt gender bullying” is far more effective than “using literature to challenge gender stereotypes.” What this curriculum seems best designed for is to teach kids there’s a bully around every corner and the best way to handle him (and you just know it’s a “him”) is to shout clever slogans. Sure, the kids whose school careers are frittered away with such tripe might not be prepared to enter the competitive world of work or college. But rest assured, these kids will know what to do when a bully like Scott Walker or Chris Christie tries to take away their seat on the government’s gravy train. That’s right, these lesson plans will produce some wonderful union activists someday. |
Originally Posted by Scrappy Jack
(Post 751797)
A) If you work for a public school, I am pretty positive that means that you do get cut a government check. Who pays your salary if not the local or state municipality? ;)
A) I think there is validity to this point, but it's an oversimplification. It is also not a reason to argue against school choice. B) I do not believe anyone here thinks a student's performance is "all the teacher's fault." I do believe that most here believe that there should be some form of performance-based recognition in promotion and pay. Those teachers that work harder and put more effort in should be rewarded greater than those that just show up and don't do anything outrageously egregious enough to get fired. As with everything, though, "the devil is in the details" of how that performance is recognized. -If I taught at a magnet school I could be the worse teacher in the district and I would still have good numbers. -What if I was the "best" teacher in the district and taught ESL first year students that were learning and showing growth but were forced to take 2~3 days of state testing completely in English. My "performance" would look horrible. (imagine taking a test completely in Kanji after only being in Japan for 8 months. You might have verbal, and some reading but you will not have the academic reading, neither the nuances to fully understand a test). -Or lets change that to special needs students. -Or lets change that to parents that have situations that force them to not be there to assist the student. -What if I taught in a well to do suburban area vs. a poor title 1 school Pay for performance would not/is not as fair as int the business world unless someone develops a way to measure "good" performance not based on test. |
Ex-Union Member Fights $200,000 Union Fine For Working Non-Union:
Unions have rules. Union members who break those rules can be placed on trial by their union and, if found guilty, can be expelled or suspended from the union. They can also be fined, as Nathaniel Musser has learned the expensive way. http://biggovernment.com/files/2011/...ur-Respect.jpg Musser, a former member of the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters, according to his lawyer, could not find work through his union. So, as union members sometimes do, Musser found work on his own–at a non-union company. As working non-union is against many trade unions’ rules, the Carpenters’ union filed internal union charges against Musser and imposed a $300,900.00 fine against Musser. Although Musser appealed and the fine was later reduced to $200,850.00, Musser is also fighting the reduced fine as well. According to ChicagoUnionNews.com, Musser is alleging in his court documents that the union maintained a policy that precluded members from resigning from the union. “If he would have known about a way to resign, he would have resigned before he worked for a non-union employer,” [Musser's lawyer Stanley] Niew said. Joe Heilgeist, identified in court papers as a business representative and organizer of Local 250, declined to comment and the attorney representing the union did not return phone calls. Frank Libby, president of the Regional Council, said he was unfamiliar with this particular case but said the situation was common. “It makes sense,” Libby said. “He went to work with a non-union contractor while he held membership. You can’t do that. . . . He made a conscious decision apparently to say the hell with the union.” [Emphasis added.] Note: If you are an out-of-work construction trade union member, before you start working non-union, check your union constitution and local union bylaws. As a union member (in most trade unions), you can be placed on trial for working non-union. |
Originally Posted by Pitlab77
(Post 751857)
-What if I was the "best" teacher in the district and taught ESL first year students that were learning and showing growth but were forced to take 2~3 days of state testing completely in English. My "performance" would look horrible. (imagine taking a test completely in Kanji after only being in Japan for 8 months. You might have verbal, and some reading but you will not have the academic reading, neither the nuances to fully understand a test).
-Or lets change that to special needs students. -Or lets change that to parents that have situations that force them to not be there to assist the student. -What if I taught in a well to do suburban area vs. a poor title 1 school Pay for performance would not/is not as fair as int the business world unless someone develops a way to measure "good" performance not based on test. There are many ways to measure performance and they need not be mutually exclusive. Performance can be measured using both absolute and relative returns. Surely, between academia and the government, there must be enough statisticians and mathmeticians that they can come up with some formulas that vary weightings based on some simply defined characteristics like ESL and special needs. An "F" school that moves to a "C" should be rewarded, as should an "A" school that maintains that level. A "C" school maintaining that level should not necessarily be rewarded. Likewise, surely some "curving" can be applied to ESL and Special Needs students. I would argue that other demographics need not necessarily be accounted for if using a combination of relative and absolute performance. Lowering standards for people is not the way to motivate them to do better. |
RE: Nathaniel Musser.
If his union really could not find him suitable union contract work, then surely they failed in their duty to him as a paid up member. Counter sue for $1m for neglect of duty, failure to honour contract blah blah blah. I am truly disgusted that your unions can hold it's members in "consenting" slavery. Be told who and where to work but can't be bothered to actually provide the work. :twofinger to the unions. |
Originally Posted by Scrappy Jack
(Post 755433)
Can I ask what subect(s) you teach? This seems so simple to me - in broad terms - as to be silly.
There are many ways to measure performance and they need not be mutually exclusive. Performance can be measured using both absolute and relative returns. Surely, between academia and the government, there must be enough statisticians and mathmeticians that they can come up with some formulas that vary weightings based on some simply defined characteristics like ESL and special needs. An "F" school that moves to a "C" should be rewarded, as should an "A" school that maintains that level. A "C" school maintaining that level should not necessarily be rewarded. Likewise, surely some "curving" can be applied to ESL and Special Needs students. I would argue that other demographics need not necessarily be accounted for if using a combination of relative and absolute performance. Lowering standards for people is not the way to motivate them to do better. Never did I say lowering anyone standards. It is just the the way that the educational system is set up under NCLB, scores are what is looked at. So is meeting AYP (annual Yearly Progress). But the standards are being ratcheted up each year to a point were even the magnet schools might have trouble passing. Trust me I want good teachers working besides me. You also have to remember things that seem so simple become ugly monsters when introduced into politics. There is so much to talk about it is not something that can be just written about on a message forum. For example all these national test you here the US sucks at, well what they don't tell you is amongst the nations that do the best on them teach a curriculum aligned to the standards that those test teach. It does not mean that are kids aren't just as bright or educated. Or that other countries put students on career plans (eg. you will do lawns, you will be a Dr.) as early as middle school. Education, and its guidelines rules etc, are a can of worms just as big as the debate you see over the economy on the news. I'm in grad school for educational administration and let me tell you the political red tape that is found is ridiculous. |
I forget what we are debating/discussing. :) I am for performance-based pay in nearly every field, including education. Imagine if the people at the DMV got paid based on a combination of how many people they served and the quality of that service rather than a base hourly wage.
Pitlab - Is your position that you are for performance-based pay for public school teachers, just not the current iteration? If so, what improvements would you offer? |
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"The Guide for Integrating Issues of Social and Economic Justice into Mathematics Curriculum”
by Jonathan Osler http://www.radicalmath.org/docs/SJMathGuide.pdf The social justice crowd knows that many Americans still cling to the antiquated notion that math teachers should stick to teaching students about math and not politics. Osler answers that criticism by arguing: “Our classrooms are politicized spaces before we walk in the door because political parties in our country are dictating what should and should not be happening in our classrooms. What we’re supposed to teach, and how we’re supposed to teach it, has been predetermined by someone with a political agenda. My goal is to provide my students with varied sources of information and support them in coming to their own conclusions.” Osler isn’t finished. He concedes that math can be used to help people, but argues: “ … [M]ore often it has been used to hurt them. Math was behind the development of nuclear weapons. It is used to maintain an economic divide between a handful of wealthy, White people and the billions of poor people of color around the world. It is used as a rationale for depriving people of access to cheap, life-saving drugs. So my question is: what good has the progress of mathematics as an intellectual discipline done for people? Maybe if our mathematics had a background in social justice, we wouldn’t have so many people suffering around the world.” There was a time when math class existed to train the next generation of engineers and researchers. Now, math class is being used to inspire the next generation of social activists and community organizers. |
Another Indoctrination Friday:
Many Americans reason that if the test covers the essential things kids need to know, then “teaching to the test” makes sense and wonder what all the fuss is about. Frankly, I wondered that myself – until I came across “Teaching About Global Warming in Truck Country” by Jana Dean, an eighth grade science and social studies teacher in Washington state. Dean’s article is included in “Rethinking Our Classrooms: Teaching for Equity and Justice, Volume 1.” In the article, Dean recounts the difficulty she had in selling students on the dangers of man-made global warming. Dean teaches in a rural community where most families still use trucks in their everyday activities. Early on in the global warming unit, one student asked if Dean was telling him he could never drive a truck like his father does. Dean writes: “ … When Alex first crossed his arms, I began to realize that indicting our beloved motors for global warming before building a ton of background would be like petting a cat in the wrong direction. At the same time, it was a sign that I was going in the right direction: Change doesn’t happen without resistance. … My upfront commitment to action had activated in my students a fear of losing a way of life they’d been raised to inherit. … I decided to carefully sidestep any mention of the causes of global warming until we thoroughly understood the effects.” (emphasis added) In order to sufficiently scare the children, she used a curriculum developed by the Union of Concerned Scientists that links global warming to floods, droughts, heat waves, wildfires – basically anything weather-related. Then students learned how global warming is melting the polar ice caps and causing an increase in malaria and other diseases in tropical Africa.Believing she had sufficiently primed the pump, Dean then “asked students to write about what concerned them most about global warming. As they shared aloud, I wrote down their worries on poster paper hung at the front of the class. The mood was somber. My students sat so still and silent we could hear each other swallow.” “I thought that by then we might have been ready to look again at the causes of climate change,” Dean writes. But instead of reaching for a science textbook, she reached for a video produced by Greenpeace that “bombards (viewers) with a message about our cars, our trucks, our factories, our consumption.” The film did not go over very well: “As he put his notebook away, Ron slammed it shut and said, ‘I don’t get it. What are we gonna do? Stop driving?’ Consternation ran through the class. ‘What about my quad … my motorcycle … how will we get to school … too far to ride my bike.’ I had no answer.” Dean “spent the next two weeks building science background,” which amounted to having students learn about greenhouse gases and how the manufacturing industry spews more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere with every product it makes. Dean writes:“By the end of the period they saw greenhouse gases everywhere – in tailpipes of tractors, in stockyards, in the power behind the pump, in oil wells, in the manufacturing of hydraulic fluid, in the coal that powered the cement kiln.” Like a good propagandist, Dean issued a call to action to her students, instructing them to find ways they could “combat global warming” within their families, their school, their country and the world at large. The class identified a variety of possible actions, from taking shorter showers to urging the passage of international treaties “to decrease dependence on fossil fuels.” The lesson culminated in a recycling program Dean’s class established for the school. “But the recycling project helped my middle school students see … how the actions we take collectively speak much louder than words. And I want my students to see themselves as agents in our world, rather than subject to it. They made a change in their school that will last much longer than their short stay in 8th grade. And they’ve established a climate of concern in their school that I can take further next year.” (emphasis added) Not only has Dean crossed the line that separates teaching from propagandizing, but she spent almost a month’s worth of class time on her global warming unit, with the grand result being a few recycling bins placed around the school and a “climate of concern” among the students.It is doubtful that Washington state’s standardized test asks students to explain how owning a truck helps contributes to global warming. That means in a nine-month school year, Dean only has eight months to teach the rest of the 8th grade science curriculum – the stuff that kids will actually be tested on. It is clear that “teaching to the test” leaves less time for their social engineering lesson plans, which cramps the propagandists’ style in a major way. Here’s how one social justice educator summed it up: “Teachers who are pressured to teach towards an exam, or to teach from a textbook that their school district has chosen, find it very difficult to try anything non-traditional in their classrooms for fear of reprisal from their administration and concern that their students won’t pass high-stakes tests.” Parents and taxpayers want kids to leave school with the knowledge and skills that will allow them to succeed in life. That stands in contrast to the progressives’ goal of creating a generation of good global citizens who are equipped to identify and combat the suffering caused by capitalism, which is the driving force behind most of the world’s greed, inequality and pollution.Standardized tests are designed to measure math and reading skills, but they cannot measure a student’s commitment to social justice or disdain of the free market system. Suddenly the left’s hatred of standardized testing makes sense, doesn’t it? |
Two funny headlines:
Three of four [IL] state grads not ready for college, ACT scores show http://www.suntimes.com/news/educati...ores-show.html Only 23 percent of Illinois’ 2011 high school graduating class — public and private — met college readiness standards in all four ACT subjects tested: English, reading, math and science. Talks break down between teachers union and CPS over pay raise http://www.suntimes.com/news/7222811...pay-raise.html Teachers upset enough to ask for strike vote, union chief says http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhal...hief-says.html “We have teachers who have been extremely vilified for political purposes,’’ Faced with a tougher new bar for approving a strike, Lewis said she would only call for a strike vote if teachers came to her and requested it. But, given the disrespect and “loss of dignity” teachers feel, Lewis said, the likelihood of teachers wanting a strike vote is “very high.’’ While the kids suffer, the unions are getting ready to strike. let that be a lesson to you kids. |
It is unfortunate that all teachers and all public workers tend to get vilified to some degree because it detracts from the real issue.
Then again, this is politics. :( |
they shouldn't unionize, they work for me.
these two statements can be true: 1. teachers are kind, caring people. 2. teachers care about job security. |
Pitlab spotted:
Orange hair, hipster glasses. :) :) |
LOL @ hipsters.
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