teacher tenure song

[netherfield2000]

Try working in an rough area. Every year in, you earn your battle scars. Is it so much to ask that if a teacher lasts for more than a few years, that they have the right to keep their job? There are assessments in place to weed out problems or mentor staff.

You can complain all you want, but I challenge you to go into a classroom and teach for a year.

[ticks4ticks4]

@netherfield2000 Again, if ease of entry (not as a substitute) were that easy! And I could afford college--incl. teaching credential-& GUARANTEED employment upon completion! You bet--I sure would be a teacher! But of course, the teachers with YEARS of senior will have "grandfather clause" status. It's about SENIORITY. And going through the motions of "pretending to care" and "pretending to be inspiring". I'd even get involved with the PTSA. "GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS"!

[destinylorance]

Tenure is only a teacher's right to know why they are not being renewed. Tenure is only a process. I believe that it is a person's right to know why they are not renewed.

[MrJammer90]

Tenure should not be eliminated because administrators would use that to get rid of teachers that were getting close to retirement or take on extra duties. I have witnessed teachers getting harassed by those in power and if not for the union, they would've lost their jobs. We all agree bad teachers should be fired. (There are a couple at my school that need to go.) However, I see many lazy and incompetant people in the private sector that keep their jobs because their boss is family or a pal

[MrJammer90]

I prey for your health and I hope and wish you all the luck. However, I work at a school where the teachers work their butts off and we have tenure. I for one teach 6th grade, coach the girls' basketball team after school, leader of safety patrol etc....I have worked in many jobs and found teaching the most demanding job by far.Just because I have tenure, does not prevent me from working hard. It is called pride.

[lvll138inrs]

tenure should be elimnated so teachers can be easily fired. firing a bad teacher is far too difficult

[MrJammer90]

Yea...I like the fallacious statement...tenure means you don't have to work hard. Teachers are the hardest working people in American and they don't get paid crap. You want an easy job....Go into the military. That is where some of the most lazy and uneducated people in our country go and they get treated as being heroes for doing nothing more than sitting on their ass in a motor pool all day collecting a check. Unless they are in combat, most of them are worthless.

[ticks4ticks4]

@MrJammer90 No, tenure doesn't mean you don't have to work hard. It means you can get away without working hard--at least when it comes to the teaching profession.

[danbarn72]

What a fucking douche bag! This guy doesn't have a clue! Dislike!

[vivalaleta]

What other job in America gets the luxery of "tenure"? Would you like your garbage men to have it? Sure, he keeps spilling trash and breaking my cans but he has TENURE. How much less should we undervalue one of the most important jobs there is?

We live in a small town and have had really wonderful teachers and some that, if they had ANY other job, would have been let go. Oh, but it was too late. They were entrenched. Tenure is an archaic and unuseful thing. Let's get rid of it.

[bausland]

Sorry to have to interject a bit of factual information into this conversation but, contrary to popular belief, in all but three states, there is no such thing as tenure for public K-12 teachers...it is a term that is used for teachers that move beyond temporary or probationary status and simply means that IF they are let go, there has to be due cause or reason given. Tenure in the sense of "permanency " as it is being used in this song and entire ensuing conversation is a university element.

[ticks4ticks4]

Technically, that is true. To be a K-12 teacher, you have to have SOME mental stability (but senility is okay!). And follow certain "State Board of Education" guidelines---WAY more LAX than ANY "at will" or ANY other union jobs--and NOTHING like ANY private employer that pays anything at minimum-wage or above---except for the rare "sheltered workshops"--or "make-work" for individuals who have disabilities or work for their friends of family members. So you are correct. "Thumbs up"!

[MrJammer90]

If it is so easy, why don't you get off your ass and teach? Because you would have to actually have to work for your check. Teachers are the hardest working and under appreciated people in this country. If you think it is all just inservices and summers off you are ignorant and clueless. Most schools are year round and teachers work during their holidays and weekends. Must be nice to have job like some of you jackasses..You lazy people work 9-5 and go home and just jack off.

[ticks4ticks4]

@MrJammer90 Because it is not so easy to enter the profession these days! (In case you're interested, specifically, I have health problems that prevent me from entering most professions and college, but if I could, then YES, I would go to college and be a teacher!! I am not joking!! I have even said this to people many times before! You should see the "Teachers Gone Wild" intro on YouTube about the New Jersey teachers laughing about their tenure and such!!

[ticks4ticks4]

@ticks4ticks4 Sorry, I meant tell you to search for "Teachers UNIONS Gone WIld" on YouTube!

[ticks4ticks4]

@MrJammer90 Because: 1) I cannot afford college; 2) the ease of entry into the field is lacking; 3) I would lack the SENIORITY (remember---merit means NOTHING in terms of job security).

[bishonenboy]

It's true that with due cause a "Tenured" K-12 teacher can be fired but this is usually the exception rather than the norm. It's incredibly hard to fire a tenured teacher, in the since that a K-12 teacher is tenured, involving the school board, teachers union, and in cases the court. More often for poor performing teachers they are looked over instead of going up against the teacher's union to fire them- instead, it takes an egregious act that may inspire media attention to oust a teacher.

[ticks4ticks4]

@bausland Technically speaking, yes, but you should see how hard--and expensive for the government (taxpayers) to ATTEMPT to fire them!

[MrRandyDick]

@vivalaleta You seem to think that teaching is a walk in the park. How do you

expect to attract people to the profession if you don't offer any benefits? They're

not getting paid what they deserve so you'd better come up with something else.

How about we'll knock off one of the two performance evaluations and let you have due process? Maybe we can let you retire on a pension a few years earlier

than others. Sorry, no stock options, college classes for free, travel, conventions,

etc.

[ticks4ticks4]

@MrRandyDick True, but in my county, teachers K-12 teachers (regarding if you're Kindergarten or 12th grade or in-between), you start at $39,415 AT LEAST (with an additional stipend if you have a Master's Degree), and get raises by the year after your tenure kicks in after 2 years. After 12 years, it's over $88,000 per year!

[MsJanetWood]

@ticks4ticks4 Administrators make much, much more than that! And, what do they do exactly? Walk around with a clipboard in one hand and a latte in the other!

[ticks4ticks4]

@MsJanetWood True--administrators, too, are WAY overpaid!

[Leetlemonkeysandiego]

lets not let the "some" that sit at their computers while students fill out worksheets soil the reputation of tenured teachers who work hard and are devoted to providing the best education for their students.  They are the norm.

With that said, we all have to be able to laugh at ourselves and poke fun at each other.

[truthadvocate]

Then why do they need tenure? If they were truly devoted to providing the best education for their students, they would support free competition between teachers. May the best man or woman excell. Let the bad teachers get laid off regardless of their seniority. THAT would show devotion to educational quality. Tenure is just a way of decreasing competitive pressures, and the result is a lower standard of education.

[NicoleAgent]

And if the best teacher is sick and gets worst because they can't go to the doc, because they don't have a medical plan? One of the bests teachers I ever had got cancer half way through the year and had to be out for six months while she was being treated. She came back the next year but if she didn't have tenure and her medical plan she would have NEVER been able to pay off her bills and continuing care and I as well as my fellow students might have missed out on an amazing teacher.

[truthadvocate]

Your life is your most basic necessity. The first thing anyone should do as an independent is to acquire health insurance. If they don't they are playing Russian roulette with their life, & expecting others to bail them out when they loose. Not a good role model for kids.

If your employer does not provide health insurance, it is your responsibility to purchase it, just like you purchase your food, water, shelter & other basic necessities.

You don't need tenure to buy insurance.

[ticks4ticks4]

Exactly. That's why a minimum-wage job pays you a living wage, and it's your RESPONSIBILITY to allocate your finances towards HEALTH insurance and rent (basic necessities) if your employer doesn't--and if you CANNOT AFFORD THAT, then you are---IRRESPONSIBLE! (Note my sarcasm!)

[truthadvocate]

The majority of people that CLAIM they can't afford health insurance today are the same people that vote for politicians that needlessly drive up healthcare costs. I feel little compassion for people that spread suffering & then complain about conditions they help create. If we had separation of economy & state, the cost of living would drop like a stone. Without an indiscriminate safety net, people would find a way to afford healthcare. The tiny minority who can't would be easily taken care of.

[bishonenboy]

People misunderstand the economics and origin of health insurance.

In its inception, health insurance was only meant to cover catastrophic care- care with costs so high it could bankrupt a family. Back then, when people paid the real cost of medical care, the costs were reasonable. These instances of catastrophic care are rare enough that the pool of money coming into an insurance company could build up and easily cover patients needing major medical attention.

[bishonenboy]

For common medical care its your responsibility to pay for the care you receive.Forcing insurance to cover common health care costs have gone up both with insurance and in the hospitals-because these things happen predictably and periodically there is no lottery type buildup of reserves in the insurance companies (who have an average of 4-6% profit margin today) Ironically forcing insurance to cover common care leaves them unable to cover major health issues that are financially catastrophic.

[vivalaleta]

The problem with tenure is it covers too wide of difficulties. What if a teacher is just a poor performer? I've had to deal with very snide and completely disinterested teachers. They knew that unless they broke a law (and were convicted) I was dead in the water. Tenure is obsolete.

[ticks4ticks4]

They are not the "norm"! This "video clip" of sorts is GREAT! Don't work too hard! It doesn't matter! And tell everyone that you "try your best"!  And enjoy your "summers off!" And enjoy "working your booty off" (while you sit on your booty in those "in-service conferences"---really demanding! So stressful! Better take some Vicodin, Soma, and Xanax, for that sciata and anxiety and stress! Thanks for that full HEALTH PLAN!

[blackroselux]

Yes they can, but I think you are missing the point, it's a joke and a very funny one at that. Once teachers get tenure it does become incredibly hard to get fired. I know some who sit at their computer all period while the students fill out worksheets and have done so for years. Love the song.

[ya19375]

teachers with tenure can and do get fired for lack of performance as a teacher.