The Truth about Teachers

Teachers have become scapegoats for the current budget crises of many states in America. This video was created by teachers in defense of who we are and what we do. Please contact your state government and tell them to stop this assault on teachers and other public workers!

Category:

Education

Tags:

• teachers
• public workers
• education
• pension
• benefits
• charter schools
• educational

[drstevil3]

I sincerely hope that the MD in JohnLeeMD means you're a doctor because it will make this comment all the more poignant. Dr. Lee, you will now be paid solely based on the cholesterol you lower, the smokers and drinkers you get to quit, and the BMI of your patients. I don't care how overweight or stubbornly set in their ways they are when they come to you, either fix it or you're fired. And I don't want to hear excuses about genetic history, either.

There's merit pay for you, still like it?

[Mooncut]

An April 1994 meta-analysis -- an analysis that pools all data from many studies on the same subject and removes statistical "noise" -- by Larry Hedges of the University of Chicago found that raising teacher salaries and reducing class sizes does make a positive difference. This analysis refuted dozens of studies that appeared to show that funding made no difference in student performance. Cheapening our way into the future isn't the answer folks. You get what you pay for.

[drstevil3]

@Mooncut Very well put. Having less clients makes it easier to give more attention to the ones you have. Teachers nationwide are having to contend with classes as big as 35-40 students. And in urban districts, most of those students are probably coming to school with serious problems that affect their success in school. Why we think it would be better to add MORE STRESS AND PRESSURE to our current predicament is beyond me.

[drstevil3]

@cptphilb So we're not ok with auto workers making a decent wage, but we're not going to address the exorbitant salaries made by CEOs, Tiger Woods, or Charlie Sheen? The rich can keep on getting richer but the rest of America has to take a pay cut? Obscene is A-Rod making $500 million for failing 7 out of 10 times, AND THAT'S WHEN HE'S CHEATING! But if you're ok with the end of the middle class, let's keep buying those Yankee tickets while the working man goes under.

[drstevil3]

I find it fascinating that, among the negative comments, I find grammatical, usage and spelling errors. You're right, people. We don't need to pay teachers well. We're already so smart.

[photodharma]

I quit teaching, and made 3 times as much $ in the private sector. This is pretty well the norm. With the same education and training, teachers will make 3 times as much in other industries. It's ridiculous to ever state that they're overpaid.

[droslovinia]

@ragsfan Teachers only work five and a half hours a day like the clergy only works two days a week, pro athletes only work one, and movie stars only work for a couple of hours on a film. If you really believe any of that, you're too willfully ignorant for teaching to do you much good.

[droslovinia]

@billy1263 I'll fall for it. If your spouse really only worked for under 6 hours a day as a teacher, I'm sorry, but she she was a poor one. You're probably a lot better off, at least emotionally, now that she's gotten into a line of work that she's qualified to do.

[JohnLeeMD]

@squirrelfriend If that is your impetus, your drive--hat's off to you. But you will acknowledge that a large amount of your teaching brethren aren't. (If you aren't able to acknowledget hat, then you aren't being objective.) They are, by & large, complacent and entitled... and lest u think I'm anti-teacher--I'm not.

I AM informed (on this matter), and I AM being respectful to the profession. I just think the young blood shouldn't be barred.

[squirrelfriend]

@JohnLeeMD I have taught for over 15 years. I make a decent salary for my area...but merit pay is not the answer. I teach special education. My impetus to excel is my love for my students and my love for teaching. How do you use test scores to judge my hours of work with students who will not ever have the cognitive skills to pass the tests. Teachers are willing to look at merit pay...just not based on one day of test scores.

[JohnLeeMD]

Teachers should NOT be paid/employed based on seniority. That's a TRUE statement. Because the result, is the mediocrity and sense of entitlement that is now baked into the system. Teachers will deny it, and say "Not in my experience", etc. But that's because they aren't objective. There is no impetus to EXCEL, after employment is guaranteed.

[bocobob]

Teachers have the summers off, all the school vacations, and they and cry how hard they have it. The unions also make virtually impossible to fire a bad teacher.It's for the kids, right?

[ragsfan]

@billy1263 You know very few real teachers. It's pretty arrogant of you to assume that because that's what your wife did, all teachers do the same.

I teach foreign language and I have four levels of students. Sometimes I have more than one level in each class. Neither your wife nor you could manage to do one WEEK of that, let alone the 13 years I've been teaching. Nice try, though.

[billy1263]

@ragsfan My wife was a teacher and I know how the system works. Now that she does not work for the BOE I can make comments like this and she ONLY worked 5½ hours a day...She graded papers while the kids read what the BOE class plan said (prep for the standardized testing) she didn't teach... No one teaches any more...Instructional materials? The school made the kids bring that stuff in... I won't fall for the poor teacher speech ...But any way have a nice day...