It is mid-week. A very long seeming week for some I am sure. Amazing how time can seem to drag and speed up. Well the silver lining is there are still just seven days in a week, each just 24 hours long.
I am beginning to enjoy Steve Urbon's column's in the Standard Times. I don't always agree with his slant. The thing I like the most is his ability to hit the nail on the head as far as his arguments. The ability and willingness to do so.
Today's piece is sure to cause a stir (Teachers lose face while blogging ugly). It should. Primarily that's the point behind opinion pieces. Get people thinking, get a reaction. What seems to separate Mr. Urbon from the now too prevalent methods in most opinion columns in the papers is the fact that he seems to do it with real conviction and the fact his arguments actually make sense (note: if someone is making sense, it doesn't mean you have to ultimately agree with them, but it should cause you to ponder the issue).
As to the specific issue regarding teachers, I will be the first to admit that I am too unfamiliar with the new law to offer any firm stance on it.
I count a fair number of people who are teachers as friends. I know even more people who are teachers. I am glad to say that most of them are individuals I would have no problem with teaching my child. They are dedicated and caring individuals. There are a few, and I do mean a few, who I would not be able to say that about.
The Urbon piece speaks for itself, and quite well. I am looking at the issue within the issue ...
Teachers' seniority rights no longer can be relied on as the No.1 criteria to maintain their positions. My question is why should this simply be limited to the teaching profession? Seriously?
Making sure we have the best doing the job isn't something we should expect only from teachers. To paraphrase a quote on the onpolitix site from a Jason Williams, the work all employees do everyday should count, it should matter, it makes a difference and it should count.
I am not advocating getting rid of anyone simply because you think you got someone better for the job. When it does come time to have to let someone go however the only criteria for someone staying shouldn't be seniority.
We shouldn't be singling out the teaching profession on this one.
The new law came about by the way to avoid a ballot question in November. It was a compromise reached involving a group pushing for even more change in the process and the teachers' union. The teachers' union at the statewide level didn't want the matter on the ballot.
The Chamberlain reference in the Urbon piece comes from comments made on the NBEA blog comparing the MTA president's "compromise" with that of Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler. In the context of this blog, neither clever of subtle.
There are times you best be prepared to make lemonade out of lemons. Put another way, when you are willing to cut off your nose to spite your face, all you end up with is a bill from the plastic surgeon.
The compromise avoids the real potential for even broader "reform", keeps the union from having to fight an issue which it would really be hard pressed to justify given today's reality, and let's the legislature breath a collective sigh of relief about having to eventually try to craft something after the ballot vote to remedy the fallout.
Those in trenches may not be happy. Some may feel betrayed. Others adopting a fait accompli attitude. Others still I think realizing that it was the right political move at this time, and the right thing to do.
The resentment shouldn't be about what was done, and the resentment shouldn't be limited to the teaching profession. The resentment should be from all of us, and we should wonder why if this makes sense for teachers, why shouldn't it make sense across the universe?
Too far to travel in an election year I think.
Too far to travel in an election year I think.
"I am a huge supporter of school teachers, but I think that all of them would benefit from working full-time for at least six months in a blue collar job outside the schools so they will no longer say, "we are preparing students for the real world". Most teachers go from high school to college to employment in a school system which makes them successful academics but not realistic judges of what employment in the real world feels like. Thank goodness the social dynamics of working in the real world doesn't mimic the food chain that is middle/high schools. Bruce Springsteen's, 'Glory Days' sums it up nicely."
ReplyDeleteI had posted this is under your FB quote b/c it was the first thing that entered my mind when I read it and I hadn't read Steve Urbon's piece or your blog prior. I respect and admire most every teacher I meet but I don't understand why they fight to protect the jobs of their underperforming peers when they know the damage that bad teaching can inflict on a young mind. My husband is a highly qualified, respected,well educated and talented nurse manager of a day surgery center, in the "real world". He and his colleagues would not protect the job of another who performs the job in ways that would risk the lives of patients.