@scottasing Really? So if we got rid of the teachers unions, we would suddenly have fixed all of the educational problems? Wow, way to use those critical thinking skills. You must watch FOXnews.
No one will want to teach ESL or remedial classes! (Students with behavior problems usually have academic deficiences.)
Furthermore, administrators with llitte classroom experience are evaluating teachers?
The truth is that they just just want to get rid of all the older, experienced, but expensive teachers and replace them with cheaper, albeit clueless younger teachers!
God bless the hard-working teachers of the inner-city, who risk their lives daily, teaching in the ghetto.
The teachers union destroyed LAUSD.. Takes HALF A MILLION DOLLARS to fire an incompetent teacher... The unions perpetuate poor teaching and destroy the future of innocent children.. All they care about is greed and ego, not the education of children. LAUSD + Teachers Union = 40% HS GRADUATION RATE.. - source: LAWEEKLY Dance of the Lemons
@SKUNKBALLScom Your dumb as hell. Do you seriously think that firing teachers will boost our performance? Really, you can not blame it all on teachers. You think people are going to chase every single student around and tell them to do their homework and study for the test? This is why we need smaller class sizes. Teachers will be able to get to students easier which will boost performance. But go ahead vote for Your old republican pals again; let 'em increase class size.
The real teachers are the parents... The teachers are assistants!!!! I should not be forced at gun point to send my child to a government school, especially if the teachers are jerks!! Yes, I said it!! Some are there because they like to control, molest, and hurt little people. We should be allowed to fire teachers if they are doing a crappy job!! Get a clue, Matt Damon!!!!
@carzthtgobm there are billions of teachers out there, and the only ones that get really famous are the ones that do bad things. Teachers are there to help, and most of them do a good job. Yes, we should be allowed to fire the "crappy" ones. but Matt Damon is right.
I LOVE THIS MAN!!! I love how he speaks his mind about real issues! My mom's a teacher, so therefore I get what he's speaking about! Teacher's need a pay raise not a pay cut! and just another random piece of information... my uncle is totally a teacher to one of Matt Damon's kids!!!
The government needs to get out of the education business period. Who gives a crap about the teachers I care about the students. Students need superior teachers not lousy teachers with a paise raise.
@gideondavid30 I agree government needs to stay out of education, but that's never going to happen. And secondly no teacher is lousy. If you saying that because kids now a day's can't find jobs, or never graduate or go to college... it's not the teachers fault. It's the fault of government and the fault of the lazy students, who don't do their work!
Government scum, aka government school teachers demanding even more money be stolen from taxpayers for their uncompetitive schools. Ever notice how the Left is always talking about "choice" but it's really only when it comes to killing babies...when it comes to school, health, or retirement, the Left isn't for choice at all.
I am a student teacher, this is my second day as a classroom observer and I already have gathered some supplies to help a student, I am recycling the things I can barely afford to buy as I juggle working part time in a law office full time class load and part time teaching duties. I do this for the student and despite the vitriol that has been hurled at the teaching profession; because this kid is worth that and whatever else I can do to help him succeed including after school tutoring.
The Government gets the education they require. The aim is not to develop intelligent, creative, deep thinkers who can work things out systemically & strategically.
The real aim is to 'train' citizens for a life of dullness, trivia & mediocrity - so that they are happy & content with a grim life, devoid of meaning & connection.
Such people make the very best slaves. Especially when they are trained to believe they are free.
Thank you. I often get dumb abusive comments when I state such things - so it's most refreshing to come across someone who can also see the illusion for what it is.
Thank you very much. It is inspiring to hear that.
It is also uplifting to come across someone educated who can assess the reality that surrounds them. Someone who has not been totally bamboozled by the constructs that enslave humanity.
If y'all want to see why our education system is so jacked up watch the documentary "The Cartel" it specifically focuses on the corruption and waste in New Jersey. Matt Damon can talk about how this is an Attack on Teachers. Its really not, its an attack on wasteful spending within the SEIU. Its not the same everywhere though. In Maryland they have about 90 districts, in New Jersey they have over 600, yet they are both densely populated and very small states. Too Much "Administrating" going on.
Matt Damon, what an ignorant liberal. Charter schools are subject to the same rules as all public schools. The difference is most of them cost less money, and the students show better results in Grades (not by teachers who help children cheat either). We spend 2X the amount on Public Education as we did in the 70's (with inflation) yet grades are still about the same as they were then. A Teachers salary is about $80,000 (with benefits), King High in New Jersey spent $313,000 per class in 2007
@siradon2000 With all do respect Teachers are underpaid. Maybe it is different where you live but in Illinois I am going into education and I will start at about 39,000 a year depending on my school, that isn't much. My uncle has been teaching for 37 years and he just makes 50,000 dollars. And, the reason students have bad grades isn't because of the schools or teachers or even parents, it's the kids. They just don't care, how can you teach someone that doesn't care? You can't!
@Starsky5O How about you go into a profession for the love of it instead of the money. I am changing professions and going to one that makes less money because I don't like the current one I am in. $39,000 a year is decent money if you are smart with it.
@whyamimrpink78 I agree. But, I never said I was doing it for the money. I was just pointing out that they do not make 80,000 dollars year in my area. I want to be a teacher. I want to enrich peoples lives and help them succeed in their lives. It is a fine profession that a lot of people look down upon. And, yes 39,000 isn't bad at all, but teachers should be paid a lot more though for what they do.
@Starsky5O $80,000 for a teacher!? Sorry to burst you bubble but teaching in the public sector isn't that difficult of a job to obtain. I know a lot of teachers who shouldn't have been in college to begin with but have teaching degrees. You aren't doctors or engineers. Also, you most likely receive benefits, some professions don't. I would admit, in the public sector it is crap politicians make so much but teachers and cops don't. But teachers do make a decent living compare to most jobs.
@whyamimrpink78 I think we are off on the wrong foot I replied to a person who said teachers make about 80,000 dollars a year. I was simply saying he was wrong, I don't know any teachers who make that. 39,000 isn't bad and teachers do get a decent pay with good benefits but the fact that people berate them and belittle them for their work is just disgusting. I agree with you that teachers and police do not get paid as much as they should though.
@whyamimrpink78 Teaching requires a post secondary education and multiple standards based tests. It is the law and has been for some time. there may be teachers who might come close to that level of pay after many years of teaching and a M.S. However starting salaries are far lower even in highly paid areas of the country. And teachers never working a weekend...exactly when do you think teachers grade papers, devise lesson plans and plan assessments?
@Quellathebitter I know, I was studying to be a teacher at one point but decided against it. The truth is is that being a teacher doesn't really require that much work or education. Like I said, I met many education majors who had now business being in college in the first place (like people who did poorly in biology 3 times or math). And those education classes aren't that difficult, especially compared to engineering courses.....
@whyamimrpink78 I am no math scholar but I passed my coursework in those subject areas to get my B.A in
US History. While my curriculum at the University where I am getting my teaching certificate may not be as rigorous as the work was at UC Berkeley where I got my degree, it is indeed thought provoking and challenging and vast. And given the fact that I know engineers who can barely write a sentence perhaps we should not focus on what people cannot do but rather on what they can.
@whyamimrpink78 Also, given that you did not teach how can knowledgeably speak to how much work a teacher puts in on a given week? And as to loving teaching...I wonder really how many people went into teaching for the money? That is quite hilarious if you ask me...one should only go into teaching for the love of it because that is what our students deserve. I do, however, deserve to make a decent salary for my efforts. I deserve that dignity.
@Quellathebitter Teachers do make a decent salary, more than a lot of people. You just have to be smart with you money and life. If you can't afford a kid then do have one or sacrafice something else. By a cheap car and learn to fix it to keep it up to shape. Don't get an expensive phone deal. You have to make sacrafices in life, I have made many an live without certain things. Maybe you should reconsider being a teacher and find a higher paying job....
@Quellathebitter .....because right now you are complaining about the work and how little pay you get. You must not like it because if you did money wouldn't be the issue. Also, greed is what got us into the mess we are in this country, we don't need greedy public teachers making it worse.
Actually I get paid nothing; I am a student. and I am not complaining I am merely asserting that teachers deserve fair compensation for their work and that most teachers are highly qualified ( as required by NCLB) I will not discuss numbers with you because the cost of living varies greatly among parts of the country. And I do not need a lecture on spending thank you I doubt many people could manage on my budget. Guess I am better at math than I give myself credit for.
@Quellathebitter .....because right now you are complaining about the work and how little pay you get. You must not like it because if you did money wouldn't be the issue. Also, greed is what got us into the mess we are in this country, we don't need greedy public teachers making it worse.
Correction: teachers do not go into teaching for a high paying salary but they go into it because its a secure job with benefits.
Not everybody has the gift to teach or has the big heart needed to do the job. The problem is those who CANNOT TEACH are not weeded out of the system.
@gideondavid30 I thnk that may be a part of the reason, it does fascinate me that other than clergy this seems to be the only profession people believe a person should enter into without thought of compensation. Such is not required of doctors, policeman or firemen but should one become a teacher then such considerations as pedestrian as salary and health insurance are somehow money grubbing?
Cops and teachers take RISKS jackass everyday. Their are hazards on that job. The pay is not fantastic...but like teaching it has benefits with a retirement. Doctors go to school for yearsssssss........its called delayed gratification. They usually are in debt as well after school.
The fact of the matter is people choose their profession because they love it or think they are good at it. However, when you find that you are not good at something you should leave the profession.
My concern is with the system not with teachers. It is the system that protects lousy teachers and does NOT reward excellent teachers. True, theire r is an intrinsic reward for good teachers...the problem is they are few and far between and they are limited by a BIG BUREAUCRACY known as the department of education.
@Quellathebitter ....If a teacher wants to get paid more money then they should pursue a masters in chemistry or business and teach in private schools instead of going public. And in the big picture, teachers should teach for the love of it, not the money. I am changing careers to a lower paying one that requires more and odder hours but I like it better than what I am doing now.
@whyamimrpink78 I understand what you are saying for the most part but surely you do not think that Teachers should not be able to live on their salaries? I mean do you think a teacher should be able to pay a mortgage? How about rent? should they be able to buy a car? what about paying phone bills? Gas and electric? Food? Should a teacher be able to afford a pet? A child? Should a teacher be able to support their spouse while the spouse is pregnant and raising an infant?
@Starsky5O How much with benefits though, and what is the general rate of pay increase each year? Personally I don't think that's bad for people who don't work for over 2 months out of the year, have pretty much every weekend off, every holiday guaranteed, plus only actually work for about 7 hours out of the day. As I stated earlier though, its not the cost of the teachers we're complaining about here. Its the new cost of "Administration", new buildings (specifically for administrators).
Its excessive, and is of no actual benefit to the children in the classroom. People don't really pay attention to the cost of employing someone. Worker's comp, un-employment. When you have benefits (like medical, dental, optical) that the place you're employed pays for (which is pretty rare unless you work for the government). When you're done you're talking a lot more than whats on your paycheck. Again in the previous post I was talking average salary for New Jersey Teachers, with benefits
It's part of society now, part of the reason is because people aren't allowed to discipline their children like they used to. I'm well aware of the problem with children. However not all parents or children are to blame either. The specific person I was talking about who didn't know their ABC's and his highest solvable math problem was 4X4, after only a year in a local New Jersey church run program could read at the 8th grade level. So its not all the students fault, or the parents either.
That being said I do believe that parents need to take more interest in their children's lives. I do however believe that there are some really horrible teachers who have managed to make it into the union that need to be fired. In the "Cartel" there was a man, who I believe was a Principle, who stated that "probably about 70% of teachers were good teachers, the rest really had no place in education, and needed to find another profession". Again from New Jersey.
@Myrkman It's a monopoly because only the wealthy can escape public schools. If your school sucks, you either have to pay tuition on top of property/school taxes or move. That's definitely a monopoly.
I think the issue is there shouldn't be a "system" at all. A system just means that someone tries to design something to fit extremely diverse culture, talents, skills, and social/economic issues - that will never work. You need to allow parody & diversity at the local level - allow alternatives.
What really needs to happen ~ is the government needs to start making the right people accountable and that's the parents! TN already has the 50% of your evaluation is test scores, they have also made it virtually impossible for anyone to get tenure. One way to make parents accountable is to take away their child tax credit if their child(ren) do not make proficient or better on the test.
@Aljeron100 Because unions seek to benefit their members, state servants accountable to the state for the benefit of the populace, and corporations seek to benefit their shareholders, accountable to nobody and out to benefit themselves? A facile comparison.
@wungabunga I think what he was referring to was the fact that Public Unions collect dues from tax payer funded individuals then use that tax payer money to win political support via donations. Thus everyone who pays taxes is almost directly electing someone they may have no support for, this does not happen in the private sector because unlike the govt. enterprises large and small usually(except subsidized conglomerates like GE)operate on voluntary transactions not a coercive legal apparatus.
@ThaFreeMind Accepting your point - for argument's sake - I repeat: Unions represent working people, who themselves pay taxes, and whose work benefits the populace (firemen, teachers etc). That is a transaction, your taxes that fund their wages is not flushed down the drain. They also spend their wages and help the economy tick over. World of difference.
@wungabunga So many fallacies in such a small response. First, I have no problem with Unions, I am an Anarchist, who cares what people if it hurts no one. The problem I have is with the monopolization of affordable education through Govt. apparatus which then coerces public servants into a "sacred" mentality by forming public unions that somehow fight the injustices of the highest paying sector in the United States. Then they donate this money to a politician who fights for them.
@wungabunga Also about the idea that their money is put back into the economy. This is the Broken Window fallacy on steroids. First, at least some of their wages goes to Union dues which is transferred to special interests politicians and lobbying to continue their govt. monopoly and the money that they get in wages did not appear from thin air it came from the pockets of coerced men and women who would have allocated it as they see fit rightfully.
Unions seek to benefit their members at the cost of others just as corporations seek to benefit their members over the welfare of the general picture. Yes, the ideas of unions are great and good but the execution of many current big-standing unions have shown an alarming trend as these unions abuse their power to secure benefits for own members even if it's not beneficial to society. Who holds the unions accountable? Their members? The politicians that are in their pockets? Who?
@Aljeron100 While not seeking to defend all union management practice throughout the ages, I fail to see how defending the rights of public servants - who themselves pay taxes and oil the wheels of the economy - is harming the 'bigger picture'? Look to the causes of your financial crisis, ask if the instigators are paying or being subsidised massively (clue- it's the latter)? Then, maybe, attack the people who teach your kids.
LIKE A SCAPEGOAT ON A PENDULUM (LASOAP)! It's my pro-teacher documentary that addresses many of the issues Mr. Damon is discussing. It's free...and all on youtube.
THIS JUST IN OFF THE NEWSWIRES: "Matt Damon, Reality Declare Ceasefire"
Our sources are reporting that supply and demand, prices and markets are willing to come to the negotiating table, albeit on the condition that Matt Damon admits tax dollars do, in fact, pay for public school teacher salaries, and he is not the 3rd most brilliant person in America behind Barbara Boxer and Sean Penn.
"having been raised by a teacher..." bingo, for some reason people feel much more inclined to protect teachers from normal criticism than any other profession. My father is a public servant, deputy in the county, yet I criticize him for his position, union, and benefits and we still have a good relationship. I believe people let their politics get intertwined with their emotions too much, if you cannot discuss politics civilly without getting emotional, what part do you play in policy making?
@ThaFreeMind "people feel much more inclined to protect teachers from normal criticism" um, I wish I lived in YOUR world, because my experience is the opposite - people are more inclined to harass and demean teachers who don't want to sacrifice their own families to their profession. I really, really, really wish my experience matched yours.
@ClixDis And to that I say me too. I don't feel bad for teachers when they get criticized because virtually every profession is criticized for one reason or another. Police are threatened, called pigs, demeaned, disobeyed. Many wealthy investors are targeted, threatened, blamed for America's problems. So when someone scrutinizes a teachers productivity or tenure, I see nothing wrong with it.
@ThaFreeMind see, I approach it from the opposite direction: when a person or group is unreasonably criticized, I object. Now, Murdoch? That's fair game. ;)
@ThaFreeMind When you criticize teachers you are undermining their credibility as experts. Students hear the lies and it affects their impression not only of teachers but also of the education system in general. How is a student to see value in something that is attacked from all directions including financial. We hear the US test scores compared again and again to other countries yet those same people are silent when it comes time to support learning and teachers as valuable.
@rachiti I refuse to elevate teachers, simple public servants, to a level of sacred political immunity. They are just as open to criticism as anyone else. Have you been to a modern day public school? The fact that you call them "experts" tells volumes about your lack of experience with the staff in our school systems as they are far from "experts". Students should question their teachers and what they learn just as they should question all authority and transactions that are not voluntary.
@ThaFreeMind "simple public servants" would apply better to those who lack specialized academic ongoing training in their field. I spent 12 years attending public school as a student. I have also spent time as an educator in the classroom as well. Are you a certified teacher? Have you spent years compiling statistics on teacher education? If not then you have no in-depth knowledge on the subject which makes your opinion worthless.
@ThaFreeMind Do you dismiss doctors' diagnoses or architects' ability to construct sound buildings and bridges also? If so you must live in a cave and shun all modern medicine since education also forms the basis of their knowledge. If not, then you DO subconsciously recognize that specialized training, including teacher education, provides a reliable, sound basis for considering someone an expert.
@rachiti Dismiss is a strong word, but I certainly question them. By your standards Doctors and Architects would never be questioned so doctors would still be diagnosing mental impairments as "demons" and Architects building bridges out of mud and straw. Innovation is a product of questioning the effectiveness of the status quo. I refuse to believe that just because an individual goes to college for X amount of years we should trust everything this individual says. I tend to think freely.
@ThaFreeMind 'Dad, I think you do a great job but you're overpaid and get too many days off, plus you being represented by a union is really undeserved'. You think he doesn't look at you and think 'jesus.....'?
@wungabunga No actually he agrees. I guess he is the Warren Buffett of Public Unions but just because he is my father does not mean I have to agree with him or respect his profession. I am a Voluntaryist/Post Left Anarchist so I think we demonstrate individual autonomy of beliefs in my home.
@wungabunga Are you being sarcastic or genuinely curious? I find it rude to employ sarcasm when I am not the one defending the monopolization of affordable education.
@BrettDunbar Teachers are stuck in the middle of the problem - yes, a lot of them are quite unwilling to look at the fundamental changes that are needed because it would definitely impact them quite a bit. I would say in the long run everyone wins, but that's going to take a lot of convincing.
But you're right in that this really is an assault on the students - most are stuck in the drone factories that we call public schools.
@jwinter228 They are drone factories because teachers do not have the liberty to teach with passion anymore...it's all about the testing, getting ready for the test, and teaching to the test.
@comick1 Very true- there is virtually no freedom for any party involved - teachers, students, or parents. They all suffer. You'll never have the full spectrum of creativity, choice, opportunity, or true success in any monopoly. I just wish that teachers would understand that they're getting a bad deal, too. If teaching, learning, and care for students is most important to teachers, I would hope that they would be open to the idea of allowing alternatives - for their own sake, as well!
@jwinter228 Don't just complain if you really want change attend your board meetings and site based meetings. Better yet join them because they determine how your school is run.
@juliesgotmail why should my kid's education be subject to the vote of a majority? If I want a good car, I research, test drive, and go *choose* the best one. Surely, a car is much less important than a child's education, no?
The "FREE Market' has been subsidized by the workers and middle class in order to keep it functioning. By definition the market should be able 'to work itself out through competition' without intervention. But it failed due to deregulating competition as greed and corruption ran rampant through Wall street. We brought that business model to healthcare and its been disastrous as corporations worked to deny claims in order to protect profits. Lets not do the same to education.
@barbcinque Oh no, that is not what republicans say if you ask them about pathetic functioning of health insurers in the US. They will tell you that because government regulates health insurance companies, its not actually free market and hence its not working properly.
@gabsave Once again your ignorance is stunning. The govt does regulate health insurance. In fact the 1945 McCarran Furguson act allowed states, in contradiction to the US constitution, to regulate interstate commerce in insurance. Result is that each state has its own insurance board that typically adjusts the rates as patronage thus raising the costs for everyone else. It's not a free market and it's not working properly, just like our godawful state education cartel.
@4thstuning If state insurance boards are responsible for the atrocities perpetrated by health insurance companies, you would think that there would be some states that had fewer atrocities. Unfortunately, this is a nationwide problem. SCOTUS also ruled this spring hospitals can't sue when they've been shafted by pharm companies. Some regulation.
@cindiburkey There IS health ins. variation amongst the states but the power to redistribute is to my knowledge always exercised to some degree. The SCOTUS issue seems to be 1.) a legal nuance concerning 2.) pharm companies - ruling was 8-0. The entire problem is using govt to create cartels: state ins. boards, licensing of medical practitioners, creation of the FDA and their prohibitive requirements to "prove" efficacy where the real purpose was to create barriers to competition.
@4thstuning The Constitution? You mean the one that says only congress can supply and control currency according to the U.S. Constitution - yet here we are with a cartel of private banks doing so, and we owe them 5 trillion dollars? That constitution?
@4thstuning The U.S. Supreme courts have ruled, twice, that the sixteenth amendment to the constitution made no provision for any new kinds of taxation. Congress tried to introduce an income tax in 1894 and the Supreme courts ruled it unconstitutional. They tried again in 1913 and again it was ruled unconstitutional. If it was unconstitutional then, it's unconstitutional now. There is no law which requires American citizens to file tax returns!
@4thstuning Oh the IRS will kick your door in, no question, but it's unconstitutional, just sayin' - they are gangsters no doubt - but that doesn't change the fact that income tax is unconstitutional, that's my point.
@Nautilus1972 I agree. So much "law" is based on corrupt Supreme Court decisions. Most Americans can read the constitution, understand it's intent, and evaluate law accordingly - if there wasn't so much law and regulation that is. What bothers me is that so many people believe the constitution is a dynamic document subject to reinterpretation to account for the times which is the same as saying there's no constitution. Imagine if contract law were operated similarly.
Public school policies need changing and improving however Public schools have already proven to be superior to charter schools in most cases. I would prefer my ELECTED OFFICIALS... as in people I vote for and can hold accountable, be in charge of that system more so than a board of directors or a CEO whose only agenda is making profits and who can bankrupt if his "business" is not doing well.
@barbcinque The most important aspect of business is not profit, but loss. Fear of loss keeps them constantly yearning to please the customer - or else they go out of business. Companies go bankrupt if they don't perform, government branches just receive more funding. They almost have a perverse relationship w/ performance in that failure can lead to more benefits.
Mind you, our corporatist politicians use regulations & special privileges for banks & other industries to subvert losses.
Everything Matt said is very true. It's all confusing- the politics of it. What ever happen to just teaching- what teachers love to do. No people in so called higher places have to stick their politics in it. NOW no matter the statis qoe on who has the most or least money... Teachers still have to pay for school supplies for their classrooms, because OOOPS White house says you've had, have, been given, too much money. LOOK OUT! carpets coming out from under you, with no warning.
@sylmaria77 Don't forget that teachers must obtain a given number of hours of professional development in education to renew their license, in AZ I think it is 180 hours every six years and they pay for that as well.
We're not competing for quality, corporations are competing for profits and low costs. How did these huge corporations wind up absorbing everything in their path and putting so many communities in peril? How come america is producing NOTHING? much of what is produced is of little quality because you increase PROFITS when things must be replaced repeatedly.
How do we compete with SLAVE LABOR THAT PAYS A FEW CENTS HRLY AND EXPLOIT WORKERS UPON PENALTY OF VIOLENCE?
What is in competition? Not the outcome because the stats dont indicate this. Private corps are only concerned with and have a fiduciary responsibility to INCREASE PROFITS AND CUT COSTS.
@barbcinque A true marketplace is a conspiracy for all profits to go to zero. The schools do want to be profitable and be efficient, which I think makes sense, but by doing that, they have to please the customers. If they can't do all of that, they lose. Right now, if they don't meet expectations, there's a chance they'll be shut down, but usually that isn't the case because kids are forced to go there. Public schools are fine - just let them fairly compete against other schools :)
What will you cut inthe education system to compete with lower costs? Teachers? books? manipulatives? libraries? In an intensive study done across 16 states by CREDO, they found 17% of charters were providing good education while 50% were on par with the current public schools and nearly 40% were significantly worse opportunities, unqualified teachers and student progress
HA HA Someone should tell this pseudo intellectual Damon ass licker about the long history of Albert Shanker and the UFT which raped fucked America's schoolchildren for years ALL IN THE NAME OF KISSING TEACHER'S ASSES, to the total neglect of educating them. Even good teachers can and often do start to suck after they've "settled in." Fuck Damon, why should anyone care what he has to say? Cocksucker way too overpaid and should be smacked on sight.
I read your response. It is exactly what Damon said it was ... over simplified paternalistic nonsense. There are innovative things going on in schools.
Schools operate under the constraints of state law and their local governing agencies. In Ohio, that means the school board. This is not a union issue. If you want to change schools, vote. Vote for state officials who understand education rather than just give it lip service. Vote for school board members who do the same. NOT A UNION ISSUE!
Yeah, because educating kids is exactly like selling cell phones. Genius analogy. Tell me ... when your cell phone refuses to work, do you have to keep it? Schools do. They have to educate every kid that walks through the door.
@jhwolford read my response below - all I'm saying is that if we free up schools, I think it would solve many of our problems. Education is supposed to be dynamic, free, innovative, etc - how do you expect that to happen when the current system is a one-size-fits-all monopoly that only rich kids can escape?? Things are standardized, taught the same way for kids that are completely different, and there's little choice or variety - that's all that I mean when I talk about cell phones.
@jwinter228 I read your response. It is exactly what Damon said it was ... over simplified paternalistic nonsense. There are innovative things going on in schools.
Schools operate under the constraints of state law and their local governing agencies. In Ohio, that means school board. This is not a union issue. To change schools, vote. Vote for state officials who understand education rather than just give it lip service. Vote for school board members who do the same. NOT A UNION ISSUE!
They don't care about having good teachers. All they care about is having a bunch of under-educated peasants to serve their economic and political interests.
How about a war on bad parents? Teachers can only do what they can with the material (students) they are presented with. The problems come from the home, hot the teachers and schools.
unions set minimum comp for teachers when prices (of labor) should be determined by the market. any teacher whose skills DON'T merit that minimum won't find employment as a teacher. that teacher can't compete for higher wages when he/she's unemployed. price controls have never worked. its another example of unions distorting the market. you'd think GM going from major auto manufacturer 2 the largest healthcare provider in the US to bankrupt might wake people up about unions
Matt is completely right. No one does talk about the real problems. Such as the lack of parental involvement. Parents that don't come to parent teacher conferences, don't return phone calls, don't make their students do homework, let them stay up until 3 am, etc.. and the only time they do call is when their child got in trouble
@skhaney When most parents are working real hard to keep their jobs and enrich the corporations, how can family and do well with one parent at home and not earning ? Between work and shopping (in this consumer centric and money driven capitalism) who has time to spend with kids ? Except if you are a wealthy millionaire who doesn't need to work. Talk about equal opportunities :)
Education will not improve unless we improve our teacher training. Pretty much everyone I know who got a teacher's certificate has told me that their teacher ed classes were useless and their student teaching experiences varied wildly. Unless we turn this around things like performance based pay and breaking up unions won't make a damn bit of difference.
Matt knows salaries are too low,. Matt has it all figured out. Who needs free markets when you have Matt? This is truly a remarkable talent Damon has. Maybe we could just hire someone (Damon would set the wage, of course) to follow Damon around on movie sets and just shout out different occupations, minor league basketball player, painter, auto mechanic, in-home massage therapist etc. and Damon would shout out in return what the salary should be.
What exactly makes Matt Damon the sole arbiter for determining what wages should be? By what magical means has he devised that wages are wrong? Can he do it for other careers too? Doctors? Janitors? Actors?
If wages are too low it's due to the vast inefficiency of government run education. Spending on education has skyrocketed in the past few decades, and does anyone actually believe the quality is any better?
Get government out of education and the free market will bring us prosperity..
How about stop the war on kids? The point is - I'm fine with unions - as long as they are willing to compete against other schools. We wouldn't tolerate a monopoly on the production of cell phones, but for some reason we tolerate a monopoly on the education of our kids?! Competition makes things better. If you want teachers that care, you need to give them an incentive to attract kids and parents to their classroom.
@jwinter228 How does private schools stop war on kids ? Does govt force you to send kids to public schools ? Don't you have a choice to send them to private school ? If no student enrolls to a school, that school will be closed by government as well. Sure public schools are inefficient. Privatization of public schools is not the only way to improve efficiency. The government can be efficient as well. If you want examples looks at public schools across many countries.
@gabsave The government forces everyone to pay for education - so poor families can't pay their property taxes and pay tuition at the same time - only rich families can handle that. If you at least give the kids & parents the money to take to their school of choice, it becomes a beacon for any kid.
It's just opening up to competition. Monopolies don't work - they never work. How do progressives love anti-trust but don't apply the same principle to schools? It really *really* boggles my mind.
@jwinter228 If I accept your idea, why should I allow the tax payer money to go as profits to the shareholders and owners of your private schools. I don't want my tax money to end up in their deep pockets which are already full.
@gabsave This is really sad to be having this conversation - your envy is more of a driving force in your decision-making than the results. I know you're scared of or don't like people making money - but if kids are better off and their pockets are deeper, who cares?
Maybe you'll own a school, maybe a non-profit science foundation will - you have to be able to imagine beyond the current dynamic - then again, you were probably brought up in a crummy govt school so you're not used to it :)
@jwinter228 First of all, understand money can't be made. It has to be taken from somebody else in return of a product or service (who cares if the buyer is happy with the product or service, right ?). Money doesn't grow on trees. If I can vote for a school which can provide decent education without cushioning some wealthy as*, Sure I would because there is no need to do that.
@gabsave "First of all, understand money can't be made. It has to be taken from somebody else in return of a product or service (who cares if the buyer is happy with the product or service, right ?)" Good Lord, why would anyone want to have a conversation about economics with someone this stupid. Wealth is not matter. The fact that you believe such marxist drivel is precisely why our godforsaken public school system needs to be done away with
@Ironhawk86 Truth hurts. Now I know that private schools only teach Friedman's economics, which makes sense. Why would they want to hurt themselves by giving any other ideas ?
@gabsave Jesus Christ, you're one dumb little cunt. You do realize that logic can be turned around on publik ejukayshun only teaching what sustains them, right? Only difference is the Friedman-teaching private school functions PRIVATELY and isn't stealing the taxpayers money to promote its self-serving agenda. But you elfty twats don't care about them. You just want to have your hands in the govt cookie jar cause you're entitled slobs.
@Ironhawk86 Don't love private enterprise just because you hate government. I promise you, they are not all honest. A government is a democratic organization while a private company is autocratic or oligarchic. Its good to believe in democratic ideas but not autocratic. If ever a democratic organization fails, it can only because it wasn't executed properly. The problem is not in the idea but execution.
@gabsave "Don't love private enterprise just because you hate government. I promise you, they are not all honest" Newsflash, dumbass: private compnaies can't imprison you if you don't buy their product. Oh wait, because of Obamacare NOW THEY CAN. So much for "democratic ideals", huh? Ready to have your mind completely blown: The US is not and has never been a democracy
@jwinter228 You don't need to imagine something which already exists and has been experimented in many countries. It's not the panacea. Open your eyes and learn from others.
@gabsave Look at what the marketplace has done with technology - a vast array of amazing products with high quality and low costs. Why? Incentives, competition, & consumer sovereignty. Schools could work the same - maybe you'd have kids learning based on their skill level (rather than age), their interests, & schools would have to constantly prove they're high quality to attract students. No monopoly will ever do that - even though some countries are better - we can do much better than that.
@jwinter228 Oh by the way, abolish property taxes and increase income tax for the wealthy. Why should you pay tax on a item that you already own. Do you pay tax every year on your shirt ?
@gabsave As long as we have property taxes we don't own our property. We should just have user fees for the use of the resources that may need. I wouldn't raise income taxes- end the wars, drug war, end all corporate welfare, release many federal agencies or at least push them down to the local level, free the healthcare/banking industry (ie no socialism for the rich) and lower everyone's taxes dramatically. Remember, the economy is *not* a fixed pie- you having X does not mean I have X - Y.
@jwinter228 I'm a liberal and I support a smaller and meaner federal govt. I believe any concentration of power leads to its abuse. Whether it is money power or political power. So I don't like rich people or powerful politicians. Surprised ? :)
@gabsave I think we'd have a much more egalitarian system if the costs of government weren't placed on the middle class. The wealthy are seen by many as a problem because the threshold to reach such a level of wealth is more difficult.
I think the wealthy are really the consequence of the actual problem - inflation in food/energy/healthcare/education is a cost of govt economic policies that becomes a regressive tax on the middle class. Many poor are actually protected from many of these costs.
@jwinter228 Could you name me one wealthy nation where that works? Every wealthy nation, especially those in Europe, has a high quality of life because of taxes. What you want is a third world nation, and not counting the wars, those "cuts" you want are microcosmic since social security and entitlements are what mostly make up the budget.
@Theblizzardking You honestly think prosperity comes through taxation? If the state just had more guns and laws to confiscate more wealth from peaceful individuals, most of our problems would be solved, right?
Most nations right now are held hostage by the central banking systems. Note that the ECB just announced another bond purchase program and the US Fed will soon follow suit. Inflation is a tax that you, me and everyone else is paying right now to the hilt - and you're too blind to see it.
@jwinter228 Oh, you're a "the Jews control the FED" believer. Inflation is important to maintaining capitalism. In 1919 there was less than 1 trillion dollars in the country's circulation. Now there's over 60 trillion held collectively by everyone in the country (mostly wired through computers), and this is because the government kept inflating since back when we had less than a trillion. Our money would be worth a lot more, but it would be impossible to transfer money.
@Theblizzardking haha Jews? Central banks are essentially banking cartels - they're there to support the government, banks, and related interests. Inflation is simply the money supply in relation to the amount of economic output - nGDP.
Capitalism & wealth come from a combination of savings, investment, entrepreneurship, and trade - lol @ "inflation is important to maintaining capitalism". Inflation is used as a tool of social/economic engineering- unfortunately most often in destructive ways.
@Ironhawk86 Yes, I proudly support lower and middle class, but not rich class. I don't hate government for the exact same reason, because only govt cares for sick, poor and middle class. Your wealthy friends don't. If they did care, they would have voluntarily donated their excess money to government/charity. If they had voluntarily donated their money, there would be no need to raise their tax. Quote, "I don't want to be a rich man in a poor country" - Unknown.
@gabsave Now this is just getting sad. I figured envy was the prism from which you viewed the world but I honestly didn't think you were THIS stupid. You honestly mean to tell me that the only charity done in this country is done by the govt? Private philanthropy doesn't exist AT ALL? FYI, rational people don't support one "class" of people over another. They support laws that are applied to everyone EQUALLY. Sounds like you would be more comfortable in a country with titles of nobility.
@Ironhawk86 Come up with a practical solution to take care of poor, sick and elderly in this country in your NO GOVT benefits economy. Then we will see about it.
@scottasing Really? So if we got rid of the teachers unions, we would suddenly have fixed all of the educational problems? Wow, way to use those critical thinking skills. You must watch FOXnews.
hopereturns 1 week ago
teachers unions ARE the problem.
scottasing 2 months ago 2
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No one will want to teach ESL or remedial classes! (Students with behavior problems usually have academic deficiences.)
Furthermore, administrators with llitte classroom experience are evaluating teachers?
The truth is that they just just want to get rid of all the older, experienced, but expensive teachers and replace them with cheaper, albeit clueless younger teachers!
God bless the hard-working teachers of the inner-city, who risk their lives daily, teaching in the ghetto.
MsJanetWood 3 months ago
The teachers union destroyed LAUSD.. Takes HALF A MILLION DOLLARS to fire an incompetent teacher... The unions perpetuate poor teaching and destroy the future of innocent children.. All they care about is greed and ego, not the education of children. LAUSD + Teachers Union = 40% HS GRADUATION RATE.. - source: LAWEEKLY Dance of the Lemons
SKUNKBALLScom 3 months ago
@SKUNKBALLScom Your dumb as hell. Do you seriously think that firing teachers will boost our performance? Really, you can not blame it all on teachers. You think people are going to chase every single student around and tell them to do their homework and study for the test? This is why we need smaller class sizes. Teachers will be able to get to students easier which will boost performance. But go ahead vote for Your old republican pals again; let 'em increase class size.
zetsukitty12345 3 months ago
The real teachers are the parents... The teachers are assistants!!!! I should not be forced at gun point to send my child to a government school, especially if the teachers are jerks!! Yes, I said it!! Some are there because they like to control, molest, and hurt little people. We should be allowed to fire teachers if they are doing a crappy job!! Get a clue, Matt Damon!!!!
carzthtgobm 4 months ago
@carzthtgobm there are billions of teachers out there, and the only ones that get really famous are the ones that do bad things. Teachers are there to help, and most of them do a good job. Yes, we should be allowed to fire the "crappy" ones. but Matt Damon is right.
tkdpanda999 1 month ago
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THE REPUBLIKKKAN PARTY HATES YOU AMERICA!
johnxavierie 4 months ago
THE REPUBLIKKKAN PARTY HATES YOU AMERICA!
johnxavierie 4 months ago
THE REPUBLIKKKAN PARTY HATES YOU AMERICA!
johnxavierie 4 months ago
I LOVE THIS MAN!!! I love how he speaks his mind about real issues! My mom's a teacher, so therefore I get what he's speaking about! Teacher's need a pay raise not a pay cut! and just another random piece of information... my uncle is totally a teacher to one of Matt Damon's kids!!!
lostluver23 5 months ago
The government needs to get out of the education business period. Who gives a crap about the teachers I care about the students. Students need superior teachers not lousy teachers with a paise raise.
gideondavid30 5 months ago
@gideondavid30 I agree government needs to stay out of education, but that's never going to happen. And secondly no teacher is lousy. If you saying that because kids now a day's can't find jobs, or never graduate or go to college... it's not the teachers fault. It's the fault of government and the fault of the lazy students, who don't do their work!
lostluver23 4 months ago
Government scum, aka government school teachers demanding even more money be stolen from taxpayers for their uncompetitive schools. Ever notice how the Left is always talking about "choice" but it's really only when it comes to killing babies...when it comes to school, health, or retirement, the Left isn't for choice at all.
vince33x 5 months ago
TEACHERS....NEED A JOB? Fire Obama 2012
jaiba41 5 months ago
I am a student teacher, this is my second day as a classroom observer and I already have gathered some supplies to help a student, I am recycling the things I can barely afford to buy as I juggle working part time in a law office full time class load and part time teaching duties. I do this for the student and despite the vitriol that has been hurled at the teaching profession; because this kid is worth that and whatever else I can do to help him succeed including after school tutoring.
Quellathebitter 5 months ago
Matt Damon has a good heart, but he's confused about about economics.
TheCapitalistdog 5 months ago
Matt Damon is pretty cool I guess
quicksilvr59 5 months ago
The Government gets the education they require. The aim is not to develop intelligent, creative, deep thinkers who can work things out systemically & strategically.
The real aim is to 'train' citizens for a life of dullness, trivia & mediocrity - so that they are happy & content with a grim life, devoid of meaning & connection.
Such people make the very best slaves. Especially when they are trained to believe they are free.
explorer2101 6 months ago 15
@explorer2101 That is genuinely the best comment I've ever had the pleasure of reading on Youtube.
SolidSmush 4 months ago
@SolidSmush
Thank you. I often get dumb abusive comments when I state such things - so it's most refreshing to come across someone who can also see the illusion for what it is.
explorer2101 4 months ago
@explorer2101 Thank you for getting it. I just wrote my masters research project on this topic... well summed up.
Immaculate2133 4 months ago
@Immaculate2133
Thank you very much. It is inspiring to hear that.
It is also uplifting to come across someone educated who can assess the reality that surrounds them. Someone who has not been totally bamboozled by the constructs that enslave humanity.
Sometimes it gets a bit lonely.
explorer2101 4 months ago
If y'all want to see why our education system is so jacked up watch the documentary "The Cartel" it specifically focuses on the corruption and waste in New Jersey. Matt Damon can talk about how this is an Attack on Teachers. Its really not, its an attack on wasteful spending within the SEIU. Its not the same everywhere though. In Maryland they have about 90 districts, in New Jersey they have over 600, yet they are both densely populated and very small states. Too Much "Administrating" going on.
siradon2000 6 months ago
Matt Damon, what an ignorant liberal. Charter schools are subject to the same rules as all public schools. The difference is most of them cost less money, and the students show better results in Grades (not by teachers who help children cheat either). We spend 2X the amount on Public Education as we did in the 70's (with inflation) yet grades are still about the same as they were then. A Teachers salary is about $80,000 (with benefits), King High in New Jersey spent $313,000 per class in 2007
siradon2000 6 months ago
@siradon2000 With all do respect Teachers are underpaid. Maybe it is different where you live but in Illinois I am going into education and I will start at about 39,000 a year depending on my school, that isn't much. My uncle has been teaching for 37 years and he just makes 50,000 dollars. And, the reason students have bad grades isn't because of the schools or teachers or even parents, it's the kids. They just don't care, how can you teach someone that doesn't care? You can't!
Starsky5O 6 months ago
@Starsky5O How about you go into a profession for the love of it instead of the money. I am changing professions and going to one that makes less money because I don't like the current one I am in. $39,000 a year is decent money if you are smart with it.
whyamimrpink78 6 months ago
@whyamimrpink78 I agree. But, I never said I was doing it for the money. I was just pointing out that they do not make 80,000 dollars year in my area. I want to be a teacher. I want to enrich peoples lives and help them succeed in their lives. It is a fine profession that a lot of people look down upon. And, yes 39,000 isn't bad at all, but teachers should be paid a lot more though for what they do.
Starsky5O 6 months ago
@Starsky5O $80,000 for a teacher!? Sorry to burst you bubble but teaching in the public sector isn't that difficult of a job to obtain. I know a lot of teachers who shouldn't have been in college to begin with but have teaching degrees. You aren't doctors or engineers. Also, you most likely receive benefits, some professions don't. I would admit, in the public sector it is crap politicians make so much but teachers and cops don't. But teachers do make a decent living compare to most jobs.
whyamimrpink78 6 months ago
@whyamimrpink78 I think we are off on the wrong foot I replied to a person who said teachers make about 80,000 dollars a year. I was simply saying he was wrong, I don't know any teachers who make that. 39,000 isn't bad and teachers do get a decent pay with good benefits but the fact that people berate them and belittle them for their work is just disgusting. I agree with you that teachers and police do not get paid as much as they should though.
Starsky5O 6 months ago
@whyamimrpink78 Teaching requires a post secondary education and multiple standards based tests. It is the law and has been for some time. there may be teachers who might come close to that level of pay after many years of teaching and a M.S. However starting salaries are far lower even in highly paid areas of the country. And teachers never working a weekend...exactly when do you think teachers grade papers, devise lesson plans and plan assessments?
Quellathebitter 5 months ago
@Quellathebitter I know, I was studying to be a teacher at one point but decided against it. The truth is is that being a teacher doesn't really require that much work or education. Like I said, I met many education majors who had now business being in college in the first place (like people who did poorly in biology 3 times or math). And those education classes aren't that difficult, especially compared to engineering courses.....
whyamimrpink78 5 months ago
@whyamimrpink78 I am no math scholar but I passed my coursework in those subject areas to get my B.A in
US History. While my curriculum at the University where I am getting my teaching certificate may not be as rigorous as the work was at UC Berkeley where I got my degree, it is indeed thought provoking and challenging and vast. And given the fact that I know engineers who can barely write a sentence perhaps we should not focus on what people cannot do but rather on what they can.
Quellathebitter 5 months ago
@whyamimrpink78 Also, given that you did not teach how can knowledgeably speak to how much work a teacher puts in on a given week? And as to loving teaching...I wonder really how many people went into teaching for the money? That is quite hilarious if you ask me...one should only go into teaching for the love of it because that is what our students deserve. I do, however, deserve to make a decent salary for my efforts. I deserve that dignity.
Quellathebitter 5 months ago
@Quellathebitter Teachers do make a decent salary, more than a lot of people. You just have to be smart with you money and life. If you can't afford a kid then do have one or sacrafice something else. By a cheap car and learn to fix it to keep it up to shape. Don't get an expensive phone deal. You have to make sacrafices in life, I have made many an live without certain things. Maybe you should reconsider being a teacher and find a higher paying job....
whyamimrpink78 5 months ago
@Quellathebitter .....because right now you are complaining about the work and how little pay you get. You must not like it because if you did money wouldn't be the issue. Also, greed is what got us into the mess we are in this country, we don't need greedy public teachers making it worse.
whyamimrpink78 5 months ago
@whyamimrpink78
Actually I get paid nothing; I am a student. and I am not complaining I am merely asserting that teachers deserve fair compensation for their work and that most teachers are highly qualified ( as required by NCLB) I will not discuss numbers with you because the cost of living varies greatly among parts of the country. And I do not need a lecture on spending thank you I doubt many people could manage on my budget. Guess I am better at math than I give myself credit for.
Quellathebitter 5 months ago
@whyamimrpink78 re greedy public teachers...REALLY? I can't go on with this that is just a silly statement.
Quellathebitter 5 months ago
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@Quellathebitter .....because right now you are complaining about the work and how little pay you get. You must not like it because if you did money wouldn't be the issue. Also, greed is what got us into the mess we are in this country, we don't need greedy public teachers making it worse.
whyamimrpink78 5 months ago
Correction: teachers do not go into teaching for a high paying salary but they go into it because its a secure job with benefits.
Not everybody has the gift to teach or has the big heart needed to do the job. The problem is those who CANNOT TEACH are not weeded out of the system.
gideondavid30 5 months ago
@gideondavid30 I thnk that may be a part of the reason, it does fascinate me that other than clergy this seems to be the only profession people believe a person should enter into without thought of compensation. Such is not required of doctors, policeman or firemen but should one become a teacher then such considerations as pedestrian as salary and health insurance are somehow money grubbing?
Quellathebitter 5 months ago
Cops and teachers take RISKS jackass everyday. Their are hazards on that job. The pay is not fantastic...but like teaching it has benefits with a retirement. Doctors go to school for yearsssssss........its called delayed gratification. They usually are in debt as well after school.
The fact of the matter is people choose their profession because they love it or think they are good at it. However, when you find that you are not good at something you should leave the profession.
gideondavid30 4 months ago
My concern is with the system not with teachers. It is the system that protects lousy teachers and does NOT reward excellent teachers. True, theire r is an intrinsic reward for good teachers...the problem is they are few and far between and they are limited by a BIG BUREAUCRACY known as the department of education.
gideondavid30 4 months ago
@Quellathebitter ....If a teacher wants to get paid more money then they should pursue a masters in chemistry or business and teach in private schools instead of going public. And in the big picture, teachers should teach for the love of it, not the money. I am changing careers to a lower paying one that requires more and odder hours but I like it better than what I am doing now.
whyamimrpink78 5 months ago
@whyamimrpink78 I understand what you are saying for the most part but surely you do not think that Teachers should not be able to live on their salaries? I mean do you think a teacher should be able to pay a mortgage? How about rent? should they be able to buy a car? what about paying phone bills? Gas and electric? Food? Should a teacher be able to afford a pet? A child? Should a teacher be able to support their spouse while the spouse is pregnant and raising an infant?
Quellathebitter 5 months ago
@Starsky5O How much with benefits though, and what is the general rate of pay increase each year? Personally I don't think that's bad for people who don't work for over 2 months out of the year, have pretty much every weekend off, every holiday guaranteed, plus only actually work for about 7 hours out of the day. As I stated earlier though, its not the cost of the teachers we're complaining about here. Its the new cost of "Administration", new buildings (specifically for administrators).
siradon2000 5 months ago
Its excessive, and is of no actual benefit to the children in the classroom. People don't really pay attention to the cost of employing someone. Worker's comp, un-employment. When you have benefits (like medical, dental, optical) that the place you're employed pays for (which is pretty rare unless you work for the government). When you're done you're talking a lot more than whats on your paycheck. Again in the previous post I was talking average salary for New Jersey Teachers, with benefits
siradon2000 5 months ago
It's part of society now, part of the reason is because people aren't allowed to discipline their children like they used to. I'm well aware of the problem with children. However not all parents or children are to blame either. The specific person I was talking about who didn't know their ABC's and his highest solvable math problem was 4X4, after only a year in a local New Jersey church run program could read at the 8th grade level. So its not all the students fault, or the parents either.
siradon2000 5 months ago
That being said I do believe that parents need to take more interest in their children's lives. I do however believe that there are some really horrible teachers who have managed to make it into the union that need to be fired. In the "Cartel" there was a man, who I believe was a Principle, who stated that "probably about 70% of teachers were good teachers, the rest really had no place in education, and needed to find another profession". Again from New Jersey.
siradon2000 5 months ago
That was teachers who were actually under him.
siradon2000 5 months ago
Public schools should compete just like everything else.
How would you like the govt to produce your cars? Then why education?
Let parents choose. Freedom of choice.
H1TMANactual 6 months ago
@Myrkman It's a monopoly because only the wealthy can escape public schools. If your school sucks, you either have to pay tuition on top of property/school taxes or move. That's definitely a monopoly.
I think the issue is there shouldn't be a "system" at all. A system just means that someone tries to design something to fit extremely diverse culture, talents, skills, and social/economic issues - that will never work. You need to allow parody & diversity at the local level - allow alternatives.
jwinter228 6 months ago
What really needs to happen ~ is the government needs to start making the right people accountable and that's the parents! TN already has the 50% of your evaluation is test scores, they have also made it virtually impossible for anyone to get tenure. One way to make parents accountable is to take away their child tax credit if their child(ren) do not make proficient or better on the test.
wendyjeans 6 months ago
How about fighiing the war against big unions? They're just technically big corporations that seek only benefits themselves.
Coporations and Unions are all big amalgamation of a group of people that seek a common goal.
Aljeron100 6 months ago
@Aljeron100 Because unions seek to benefit their members, state servants accountable to the state for the benefit of the populace, and corporations seek to benefit their shareholders, accountable to nobody and out to benefit themselves? A facile comparison.
wungabunga 6 months ago
@wungabunga I think what he was referring to was the fact that Public Unions collect dues from tax payer funded individuals then use that tax payer money to win political support via donations. Thus everyone who pays taxes is almost directly electing someone they may have no support for, this does not happen in the private sector because unlike the govt. enterprises large and small usually(except subsidized conglomerates like GE)operate on voluntary transactions not a coercive legal apparatus.
ThaFreeMind 6 months ago
@ThaFreeMind Accepting your point - for argument's sake - I repeat: Unions represent working people, who themselves pay taxes, and whose work benefits the populace (firemen, teachers etc). That is a transaction, your taxes that fund their wages is not flushed down the drain. They also spend their wages and help the economy tick over. World of difference.
wungabunga 6 months ago
@wungabunga So many fallacies in such a small response. First, I have no problem with Unions, I am an Anarchist, who cares what people if it hurts no one. The problem I have is with the monopolization of affordable education through Govt. apparatus which then coerces public servants into a "sacred" mentality by forming public unions that somehow fight the injustices of the highest paying sector in the United States. Then they donate this money to a politician who fights for them.
ThaFreeMind 6 months ago
@wungabunga Also about the idea that their money is put back into the economy. This is the Broken Window fallacy on steroids. First, at least some of their wages goes to Union dues which is transferred to special interests politicians and lobbying to continue their govt. monopoly and the money that they get in wages did not appear from thin air it came from the pockets of coerced men and women who would have allocated it as they see fit rightfully.
ThaFreeMind 6 months ago
@wungabunga
Unions seek to benefit their members at the cost of others just as corporations seek to benefit their members over the welfare of the general picture. Yes, the ideas of unions are great and good but the execution of many current big-standing unions have shown an alarming trend as these unions abuse their power to secure benefits for own members even if it's not beneficial to society. Who holds the unions accountable? Their members? The politicians that are in their pockets? Who?
Aljeron100 6 months ago
@Aljeron100 While not seeking to defend all union management practice throughout the ages, I fail to see how defending the rights of public servants - who themselves pay taxes and oil the wheels of the economy - is harming the 'bigger picture'? Look to the causes of your financial crisis, ask if the instigators are paying or being subsidised massively (clue- it's the latter)? Then, maybe, attack the people who teach your kids.
wungabunga 6 months ago
kudos for matt damon
robertk2007 6 months ago
LIKE A SCAPEGOAT ON A PENDULUM (LASOAP)! It's my pro-teacher documentary that addresses many of the issues Mr. Damon is discussing. It's free...and all on youtube.
anovellife 6 months ago
This is all a little political for youtube. Bring on the bed intruder song!!!
LexL94 6 months ago
THIS JUST IN OFF THE NEWSWIRES: "Matt Damon, Reality Declare Ceasefire"
Our sources are reporting that supply and demand, prices and markets are willing to come to the negotiating table, albeit on the condition that Matt Damon admits tax dollars do, in fact, pay for public school teacher salaries, and he is not the 3rd most brilliant person in America behind Barbara Boxer and Sean Penn.
beavis408 6 months ago
Matt Damon = BAMF!!!!!!!
biggametizo 6 months ago
"having been raised by a teacher..." bingo, for some reason people feel much more inclined to protect teachers from normal criticism than any other profession. My father is a public servant, deputy in the county, yet I criticize him for his position, union, and benefits and we still have a good relationship. I believe people let their politics get intertwined with their emotions too much, if you cannot discuss politics civilly without getting emotional, what part do you play in policy making?
ThaFreeMind 6 months ago
@ThaFreeMind "people feel much more inclined to protect teachers from normal criticism" um, I wish I lived in YOUR world, because my experience is the opposite - people are more inclined to harass and demean teachers who don't want to sacrifice their own families to their profession. I really, really, really wish my experience matched yours.
ClixDis 6 months ago
@ClixDis And to that I say me too. I don't feel bad for teachers when they get criticized because virtually every profession is criticized for one reason or another. Police are threatened, called pigs, demeaned, disobeyed. Many wealthy investors are targeted, threatened, blamed for America's problems. So when someone scrutinizes a teachers productivity or tenure, I see nothing wrong with it.
ThaFreeMind 6 months ago
@ThaFreeMind see, I approach it from the opposite direction: when a person or group is unreasonably criticized, I object. Now, Murdoch? That's fair game. ;)
ClixDis 6 months ago
@ClixDis Sadly I do not know enough about the Rupert Murdoch scandal to give my input but it does not surprise me either haha.
ThaFreeMind 6 months ago
@ThaFreeMind When you criticize teachers you are undermining their credibility as experts. Students hear the lies and it affects their impression not only of teachers but also of the education system in general. How is a student to see value in something that is attacked from all directions including financial. We hear the US test scores compared again and again to other countries yet those same people are silent when it comes time to support learning and teachers as valuable.
rachiti 6 months ago
@rachiti I refuse to elevate teachers, simple public servants, to a level of sacred political immunity. They are just as open to criticism as anyone else. Have you been to a modern day public school? The fact that you call them "experts" tells volumes about your lack of experience with the staff in our school systems as they are far from "experts". Students should question their teachers and what they learn just as they should question all authority and transactions that are not voluntary.
ThaFreeMind 6 months ago
@ThaFreeMind "simple public servants" would apply better to those who lack specialized academic ongoing training in their field. I spent 12 years attending public school as a student. I have also spent time as an educator in the classroom as well. Are you a certified teacher? Have you spent years compiling statistics on teacher education? If not then you have no in-depth knowledge on the subject which makes your opinion worthless.
rachiti 6 months ago
@ThaFreeMind Do you dismiss doctors' diagnoses or architects' ability to construct sound buildings and bridges also? If so you must live in a cave and shun all modern medicine since education also forms the basis of their knowledge. If not, then you DO subconsciously recognize that specialized training, including teacher education, provides a reliable, sound basis for considering someone an expert.
rachiti 6 months ago
@rachiti Dismiss is a strong word, but I certainly question them. By your standards Doctors and Architects would never be questioned so doctors would still be diagnosing mental impairments as "demons" and Architects building bridges out of mud and straw. Innovation is a product of questioning the effectiveness of the status quo. I refuse to believe that just because an individual goes to college for X amount of years we should trust everything this individual says. I tend to think freely.
ThaFreeMind 6 months ago
@ThaFreeMind 'Dad, I think you do a great job but you're overpaid and get too many days off, plus you being represented by a union is really undeserved'. You think he doesn't look at you and think 'jesus.....'?
wungabunga 6 months ago
@wungabunga No actually he agrees. I guess he is the Warren Buffett of Public Unions but just because he is my father does not mean I have to agree with him or respect his profession. I am a Voluntaryist/Post Left Anarchist so I think we demonstrate individual autonomy of beliefs in my home.
ThaFreeMind 6 months ago
@ThaFreeMind Oh my word! You describe yourself as WHAT? Post left? hahahaha! Tell me all about it...
wungabunga 6 months ago
@wungabunga Are you being sarcastic or genuinely curious? I find it rude to employ sarcasm when I am not the one defending the monopolization of affordable education.
ThaFreeMind 6 months ago
@wungabunga Are you actually curious or being rude and sarcastic?
ThaFreeMind 6 months ago
Maybe Matt should worry about acting and stay out of politics.
rickster348 6 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
After 3 summers of jobless recovery, there are now many unemployed professionals more qualified to teach than the current crop of teachers.
Public employee pension funds are going broke and they want more money without any opposing negotiators on the other side of the bargaining table?
Public schools are a union of the voting public, the teacher unions are extortionist thugs who do not care about education...
SirWinstoneChurchill 6 months ago
FUCK teachers. STOP THE WAR ON STUDENTS!!!
BrettDunbar 6 months ago
@BrettDunbar Teachers are stuck in the middle of the problem - yes, a lot of them are quite unwilling to look at the fundamental changes that are needed because it would definitely impact them quite a bit. I would say in the long run everyone wins, but that's going to take a lot of convincing.
But you're right in that this really is an assault on the students - most are stuck in the drone factories that we call public schools.
jwinter228 6 months ago
@jwinter228 They are drone factories because teachers do not have the liberty to teach with passion anymore...it's all about the testing, getting ready for the test, and teaching to the test.
comick1 6 months ago 16
@comick1 Very true- there is virtually no freedom for any party involved - teachers, students, or parents. They all suffer. You'll never have the full spectrum of creativity, choice, opportunity, or true success in any monopoly. I just wish that teachers would understand that they're getting a bad deal, too. If teaching, learning, and care for students is most important to teachers, I would hope that they would be open to the idea of allowing alternatives - for their own sake, as well!
jwinter228 6 months ago
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comick1 6 months ago
@jwinter228 Don't just complain if you really want change attend your board meetings and site based meetings. Better yet join them because they determine how your school is run.
juliesgotmail 6 months ago
@juliesgotmail why should my kid's education be subject to the vote of a majority? If I want a good car, I research, test drive, and go *choose* the best one. Surely, a car is much less important than a child's education, no?
jwinter228 6 months ago
I would say that teachers are not underpayed. Just my opinion.
rmeyerson2 6 months ago
The "FREE Market' has been subsidized by the workers and middle class in order to keep it functioning. By definition the market should be able 'to work itself out through competition' without intervention. But it failed due to deregulating competition as greed and corruption ran rampant through Wall street. We brought that business model to healthcare and its been disastrous as corporations worked to deny claims in order to protect profits. Lets not do the same to education.
barbcinque 6 months ago
@barbcinque Oh no, that is not what republicans say if you ask them about pathetic functioning of health insurers in the US. They will tell you that because government regulates health insurance companies, its not actually free market and hence its not working properly.
gabsave 6 months ago
@gabsave Once again your ignorance is stunning. The govt does regulate health insurance. In fact the 1945 McCarran Furguson act allowed states, in contradiction to the US constitution, to regulate interstate commerce in insurance. Result is that each state has its own insurance board that typically adjusts the rates as patronage thus raising the costs for everyone else. It's not a free market and it's not working properly, just like our godawful state education cartel.
4thstuning 6 months ago 14
@4thstuning If state insurance boards are responsible for the atrocities perpetrated by health insurance companies, you would think that there would be some states that had fewer atrocities. Unfortunately, this is a nationwide problem. SCOTUS also ruled this spring hospitals can't sue when they've been shafted by pharm companies. Some regulation.
cindiburkey 6 months ago
@cindiburkey There IS health ins. variation amongst the states but the power to redistribute is to my knowledge always exercised to some degree. The SCOTUS issue seems to be 1.) a legal nuance concerning 2.) pharm companies - ruling was 8-0. The entire problem is using govt to create cartels: state ins. boards, licensing of medical practitioners, creation of the FDA and their prohibitive requirements to "prove" efficacy where the real purpose was to create barriers to competition.
4thstuning 6 months ago
@4thstuning The Constitution? You mean the one that says only congress can supply and control currency according to the U.S. Constitution - yet here we are with a cartel of private banks doing so, and we owe them 5 trillion dollars? That constitution?
Nautilus1972 6 months ago
@4thstuning The U.S. Supreme courts have ruled, twice, that the sixteenth amendment to the constitution made no provision for any new kinds of taxation. Congress tried to introduce an income tax in 1894 and the Supreme courts ruled it unconstitutional. They tried again in 1913 and again it was ruled unconstitutional. If it was unconstitutional then, it's unconstitutional now. There is no law which requires American citizens to file tax returns!
Nautilus1972 6 months ago
@Nautilus1972 "There is no law which requires American citizens to file tax returns!" Good luck with that :)
4thstuning 6 months ago
@4thstuning Oh the IRS will kick your door in, no question, but it's unconstitutional, just sayin' - they are gangsters no doubt - but that doesn't change the fact that income tax is unconstitutional, that's my point.
Nautilus1972 6 months ago
@Nautilus1972 I agree. So much "law" is based on corrupt Supreme Court decisions. Most Americans can read the constitution, understand it's intent, and evaluate law accordingly - if there wasn't so much law and regulation that is. What bothers me is that so many people believe the constitution is a dynamic document subject to reinterpretation to account for the times which is the same as saying there's no constitution. Imagine if contract law were operated similarly.
4thstuning 6 months ago
@barbcinque Bravo! The vested interest is children and not commodities.
juliesgotmail 6 months ago
Public school policies need changing and improving however Public schools have already proven to be superior to charter schools in most cases. I would prefer my ELECTED OFFICIALS... as in people I vote for and can hold accountable, be in charge of that system more so than a board of directors or a CEO whose only agenda is making profits and who can bankrupt if his "business" is not doing well.
barbcinque 6 months ago
@barbcinque The most important aspect of business is not profit, but loss. Fear of loss keeps them constantly yearning to please the customer - or else they go out of business. Companies go bankrupt if they don't perform, government branches just receive more funding. They almost have a perverse relationship w/ performance in that failure can lead to more benefits.
Mind you, our corporatist politicians use regulations & special privileges for banks & other industries to subvert losses.
jwinter228 6 months ago
Everything Matt said is very true. It's all confusing- the politics of it. What ever happen to just teaching- what teachers love to do. No people in so called higher places have to stick their politics in it. NOW no matter the statis qoe on who has the most or least money... Teachers still have to pay for school supplies for their classrooms, because OOOPS White house says you've had, have, been given, too much money. LOOK OUT! carpets coming out from under you, with no warning.
sylmaria77 6 months ago
@sylmaria77 Don't forget that teachers must obtain a given number of hours of professional development in education to renew their license, in AZ I think it is 180 hours every six years and they pay for that as well.
juliesgotmail 6 months ago
@sylmaria77 a
juliesgotmail 6 months ago
We're not competing for quality, corporations are competing for profits and low costs. How did these huge corporations wind up absorbing everything in their path and putting so many communities in peril? How come america is producing NOTHING? much of what is produced is of little quality because you increase PROFITS when things must be replaced repeatedly.
How do we compete with SLAVE LABOR THAT PAYS A FEW CENTS HRLY AND EXPLOIT WORKERS UPON PENALTY OF VIOLENCE?
barbcinque 6 months ago
@barbcinque Excellent points my friend!
gabsave 6 months ago
What is in competition? Not the outcome because the stats dont indicate this. Private corps are only concerned with and have a fiduciary responsibility to INCREASE PROFITS AND CUT COSTS.
barbcinque 6 months ago
@barbcinque A true marketplace is a conspiracy for all profits to go to zero. The schools do want to be profitable and be efficient, which I think makes sense, but by doing that, they have to please the customers. If they can't do all of that, they lose. Right now, if they don't meet expectations, there's a chance they'll be shut down, but usually that isn't the case because kids are forced to go there. Public schools are fine - just let them fairly compete against other schools :)
jwinter228 6 months ago
What will you cut inthe education system to compete with lower costs? Teachers? books? manipulatives? libraries? In an intensive study done across 16 states by CREDO, they found 17% of charters were providing good education while 50% were on par with the current public schools and nearly 40% were significantly worse opportunities, unqualified teachers and student progress
barbcinque 6 months ago
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HA HA Someone should tell this pseudo intellectual Damon ass licker about the long history of Albert Shanker and the UFT which raped fucked America's schoolchildren for years ALL IN THE NAME OF KISSING TEACHER'S ASSES, to the total neglect of educating them. Even good teachers can and often do start to suck after they've "settled in." Fuck Damon, why should anyone care what he has to say? Cocksucker way too overpaid and should be smacked on sight.
tomkes100douchebag 6 months ago 2
I read your response. It is exactly what Damon said it was ... over simplified paternalistic nonsense. There are innovative things going on in schools.
Schools operate under the constraints of state law and their local governing agencies. In Ohio, that means the school board. This is not a union issue. If you want to change schools, vote. Vote for state officials who understand education rather than just give it lip service. Vote for school board members who do the same. NOT A UNION ISSUE!
jhwolford 6 months ago
Yeah, because educating kids is exactly like selling cell phones. Genius analogy. Tell me ... when your cell phone refuses to work, do you have to keep it? Schools do. They have to educate every kid that walks through the door.
jhwolford 6 months ago
@jhwolford read my response below - all I'm saying is that if we free up schools, I think it would solve many of our problems. Education is supposed to be dynamic, free, innovative, etc - how do you expect that to happen when the current system is a one-size-fits-all monopoly that only rich kids can escape?? Things are standardized, taught the same way for kids that are completely different, and there's little choice or variety - that's all that I mean when I talk about cell phones.
jwinter228 6 months ago
@jwinter228 I read your response. It is exactly what Damon said it was ... over simplified paternalistic nonsense. There are innovative things going on in schools.
Schools operate under the constraints of state law and their local governing agencies. In Ohio, that means school board. This is not a union issue. To change schools, vote. Vote for state officials who understand education rather than just give it lip service. Vote for school board members who do the same. NOT A UNION ISSUE!
jhwolford 6 months ago
They don't care about having good teachers. All they care about is having a bunch of under-educated peasants to serve their economic and political interests.
AntiSchiff 6 months ago
How about a war on bad parents? Teachers can only do what they can with the material (students) they are presented with. The problems come from the home, hot the teachers and schools.
mrdramirez09 6 months ago
Why is anyone listening to this jerkoff?
spec24 6 months ago
unions set minimum comp for teachers when prices (of labor) should be determined by the market. any teacher whose skills DON'T merit that minimum won't find employment as a teacher. that teacher can't compete for higher wages when he/she's unemployed. price controls have never worked. its another example of unions distorting the market. you'd think GM going from major auto manufacturer 2 the largest healthcare provider in the US to bankrupt might wake people up about unions
yahlers 6 months ago
@yahlers Making cars = educating kids. Sure it does.
jhwolford 6 months ago
Haha - my brother is over his left shoulder @ 27sec and his gf over his left shoulder at 47sec
maholler2010 6 months ago
Its not the teachers fault its the kids for being stupid and hanging with the wrong crowd. That is what causes kids to give up and not give a shit.
TheRedDash 6 months ago
Matt is completely right. No one does talk about the real problems. Such as the lack of parental involvement. Parents that don't come to parent teacher conferences, don't return phone calls, don't make their students do homework, let them stay up until 3 am, etc.. and the only time they do call is when their child got in trouble
skhaney 6 months ago
@skhaney When most parents are working real hard to keep their jobs and enrich the corporations, how can family and do well with one parent at home and not earning ? Between work and shopping (in this consumer centric and money driven capitalism) who has time to spend with kids ? Except if you are a wealthy millionaire who doesn't need to work. Talk about equal opportunities :)
gabsave 6 months ago
@gabsave Is this a joke?
skhaney 6 months ago
Education will not improve unless we improve our teacher training. Pretty much everyone I know who got a teacher's certificate has told me that their teacher ed classes were useless and their student teaching experiences varied wildly. Unless we turn this around things like performance based pay and breaking up unions won't make a damn bit of difference.
mfiorell 6 months ago
@mfiorell The problem with the performance based as that you'll see something happen like what happened in Atlanta.
skhaney 6 months ago
Unions are the only voice for the working class, power to the people and the Unions against the repukes!
gmc07joe 6 months ago
Matt knows salaries are too low,. Matt has it all figured out. Who needs free markets when you have Matt? This is truly a remarkable talent Damon has. Maybe we could just hire someone (Damon would set the wage, of course) to follow Damon around on movie sets and just shout out different occupations, minor league basketball player, painter, auto mechanic, in-home massage therapist etc. and Damon would shout out in return what the salary should be.
100percenteri 6 months ago
ya know.
ampdesign 6 months ago
Thanks, Matt! Too bad that Jimmy Kimmel couldn't make it, though. Time issues.
walk4trot2canter3 6 months ago 9
What exactly makes Matt Damon the sole arbiter for determining what wages should be? By what magical means has he devised that wages are wrong? Can he do it for other careers too? Doctors? Janitors? Actors?
If wages are too low it's due to the vast inefficiency of government run education. Spending on education has skyrocketed in the past few decades, and does anyone actually believe the quality is any better?
Get government out of education and the free market will bring us prosperity..
weablez 6 months ago 2
How about stop the war on kids? The point is - I'm fine with unions - as long as they are willing to compete against other schools. We wouldn't tolerate a monopoly on the production of cell phones, but for some reason we tolerate a monopoly on the education of our kids?! Competition makes things better. If you want teachers that care, you need to give them an incentive to attract kids and parents to their classroom.
jwinter228 6 months ago 7
@jwinter228 How does private schools stop war on kids ? Does govt force you to send kids to public schools ? Don't you have a choice to send them to private school ? If no student enrolls to a school, that school will be closed by government as well. Sure public schools are inefficient. Privatization of public schools is not the only way to improve efficiency. The government can be efficient as well. If you want examples looks at public schools across many countries.
gabsave 6 months ago
@gabsave The government forces everyone to pay for education - so poor families can't pay their property taxes and pay tuition at the same time - only rich families can handle that. If you at least give the kids & parents the money to take to their school of choice, it becomes a beacon for any kid.
It's just opening up to competition. Monopolies don't work - they never work. How do progressives love anti-trust but don't apply the same principle to schools? It really *really* boggles my mind.
jwinter228 6 months ago
@jwinter228 If I accept your idea, why should I allow the tax payer money to go as profits to the shareholders and owners of your private schools. I don't want my tax money to end up in their deep pockets which are already full.
gabsave 6 months ago
@gabsave This is really sad to be having this conversation - your envy is more of a driving force in your decision-making than the results. I know you're scared of or don't like people making money - but if kids are better off and their pockets are deeper, who cares?
Maybe you'll own a school, maybe a non-profit science foundation will - you have to be able to imagine beyond the current dynamic - then again, you were probably brought up in a crummy govt school so you're not used to it :)
jwinter228 6 months ago
@jwinter228 First of all, understand money can't be made. It has to be taken from somebody else in return of a product or service (who cares if the buyer is happy with the product or service, right ?). Money doesn't grow on trees. If I can vote for a school which can provide decent education without cushioning some wealthy as*, Sure I would because there is no need to do that.
gabsave 6 months ago
@gabsave "First of all, understand money can't be made. It has to be taken from somebody else in return of a product or service (who cares if the buyer is happy with the product or service, right ?)" Good Lord, why would anyone want to have a conversation about economics with someone this stupid. Wealth is not matter. The fact that you believe such marxist drivel is precisely why our godforsaken public school system needs to be done away with
Ironhawk86 6 months ago
@Ironhawk86 Truth hurts. Now I know that private schools only teach Friedman's economics, which makes sense. Why would they want to hurt themselves by giving any other ideas ?
gabsave 6 months ago
@gabsave Jesus Christ, you're one dumb little cunt. You do realize that logic can be turned around on publik ejukayshun only teaching what sustains them, right? Only difference is the Friedman-teaching private school functions PRIVATELY and isn't stealing the taxpayers money to promote its self-serving agenda. But you elfty twats don't care about them. You just want to have your hands in the govt cookie jar cause you're entitled slobs.
Ironhawk86 6 months ago
@Ironhawk86 Don't love private enterprise just because you hate government. I promise you, they are not all honest. A government is a democratic organization while a private company is autocratic or oligarchic. Its good to believe in democratic ideas but not autocratic. If ever a democratic organization fails, it can only because it wasn't executed properly. The problem is not in the idea but execution.
gabsave 6 months ago
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@gabsave "Don't love private enterprise just because you hate government. I promise you, they are not all honest" Newsflash, dumbass: private compnaies can't imprison you if you don't buy their product. Oh wait, because of Obamacare NOW THEY CAN. So much for "democratic ideals", huh? Ready to have your mind completely blown: The US is not and has never been a democracy
Ironhawk86 6 months ago 2
@jwinter228 You don't need to imagine something which already exists and has been experimented in many countries. It's not the panacea. Open your eyes and learn from others.
gabsave 6 months ago
@gabsave Look at what the marketplace has done with technology - a vast array of amazing products with high quality and low costs. Why? Incentives, competition, & consumer sovereignty. Schools could work the same - maybe you'd have kids learning based on their skill level (rather than age), their interests, & schools would have to constantly prove they're high quality to attract students. No monopoly will ever do that - even though some countries are better - we can do much better than that.
jwinter228 6 months ago 2
@jwinter228 Oh by the way, abolish property taxes and increase income tax for the wealthy. Why should you pay tax on a item that you already own. Do you pay tax every year on your shirt ?
gabsave 6 months ago
@gabsave As long as we have property taxes we don't own our property. We should just have user fees for the use of the resources that may need. I wouldn't raise income taxes- end the wars, drug war, end all corporate welfare, release many federal agencies or at least push them down to the local level, free the healthcare/banking industry (ie no socialism for the rich) and lower everyone's taxes dramatically. Remember, the economy is *not* a fixed pie- you having X does not mean I have X - Y.
jwinter228 6 months ago 8
@jwinter228 I'm a liberal and I support a smaller and meaner federal govt. I believe any concentration of power leads to its abuse. Whether it is money power or political power. So I don't like rich people or powerful politicians. Surprised ? :)
gabsave 6 months ago
@gabsave I think we'd have a much more egalitarian system if the costs of government weren't placed on the middle class. The wealthy are seen by many as a problem because the threshold to reach such a level of wealth is more difficult.
I think the wealthy are really the consequence of the actual problem - inflation in food/energy/healthcare/education is a cost of govt economic policies that becomes a regressive tax on the middle class. Many poor are actually protected from many of these costs.
jwinter228 6 months ago
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@gabsave you have absolutely no clue do you?
skhaney 6 months ago
@jwinter228 Could you name me one wealthy nation where that works? Every wealthy nation, especially those in Europe, has a high quality of life because of taxes. What you want is a third world nation, and not counting the wars, those "cuts" you want are microcosmic since social security and entitlements are what mostly make up the budget.
Theblizzardking 6 months ago
@Theblizzardking You honestly think prosperity comes through taxation? If the state just had more guns and laws to confiscate more wealth from peaceful individuals, most of our problems would be solved, right?
Most nations right now are held hostage by the central banking systems. Note that the ECB just announced another bond purchase program and the US Fed will soon follow suit. Inflation is a tax that you, me and everyone else is paying right now to the hilt - and you're too blind to see it.
jwinter228 6 months ago
@jwinter228 Oh, you're a "the Jews control the FED" believer. Inflation is important to maintaining capitalism. In 1919 there was less than 1 trillion dollars in the country's circulation. Now there's over 60 trillion held collectively by everyone in the country (mostly wired through computers), and this is because the government kept inflating since back when we had less than a trillion. Our money would be worth a lot more, but it would be impossible to transfer money.
Theblizzardking 6 months ago
@Theblizzardking haha Jews? Central banks are essentially banking cartels - they're there to support the government, banks, and related interests. Inflation is simply the money supply in relation to the amount of economic output - nGDP.
Capitalism & wealth come from a combination of savings, investment, entrepreneurship, and trade - lol @ "inflation is important to maintaining capitalism". Inflation is used as a tool of social/economic engineering- unfortunately most often in destructive ways.
jwinter228 6 months ago
@gabsave "Oh by the way, abolish property taxes and increase income tax for the wealthy."
Aww you were were on your way to making an intelligent statement, but you fucked it up with your usual class warfare BS at the end.
Ironhawk86 6 months ago
@Ironhawk86 Yes, I proudly support lower and middle class, but not rich class. I don't hate government for the exact same reason, because only govt cares for sick, poor and middle class. Your wealthy friends don't. If they did care, they would have voluntarily donated their excess money to government/charity. If they had voluntarily donated their money, there would be no need to raise their tax. Quote, "I don't want to be a rich man in a poor country" - Unknown.
gabsave 6 months ago
@gabsave Now this is just getting sad. I figured envy was the prism from which you viewed the world but I honestly didn't think you were THIS stupid. You honestly mean to tell me that the only charity done in this country is done by the govt? Private philanthropy doesn't exist AT ALL? FYI, rational people don't support one "class" of people over another. They support laws that are applied to everyone EQUALLY. Sounds like you would be more comfortable in a country with titles of nobility.
Ironhawk86 6 months ago
@Ironhawk86 Come up with a practical solution to take care of poor, sick and elderly in this country in your NO GOVT benefits economy. Then we will see about it.
gabsave 6 months ago
@gabsave Hey dumbass, YOU'RE the one who thinks redistribution of wealth is the responsibility of the