Still, the idea that attacking antiquated concepts, like granting tenure to third-grade public school teachers, is somehow equivalent to bashing teachers themselves is very effective. Most teachers are highly respected—even beloved—in their communities. A 2013 Gallup poll revealed that 73 percent of people have “trust and confidence” in public school teachers. That number rose to 78 percent when filtered to respondents under the age of forty.
A 2006 Harris poll found similar levels of admiration for public school teachers: 75 percent of respondents said teachers have “very great” or “considerable” prestige. A 2013 Pew Research Center poll revealed that 72 percent of people believe that teachers contribute “a lot” to society’s well-being.
Despite union leaders’ best efforts to conflate the two, teachers and their unions are far from the same thing. In fact, only a very small percentage of teachers take any interest in their union at all. In most states they become dues-paying union members because that is what’s required to get a job in a public school. Those dues are usually deducted involuntarily right from their paychecks.
What would happen if union membership were optional in more states? It’s hard to know for sure but it’s instructive to look at Wisconsin, the birthplace of progressivism, for some evidence. In 2011 the state adopted Act 10, a law that made union membership voluntary for public employees. The state’s largest teachers’ union quickly lost about 50 percent of its membership and had to send volunteers door-to-door to collect delinquent dues.
The problem is not the teachers; it’s the system they’ve been put into. Which brings me back to the quote by Ms. Samsa about the “rhetoric” over firing bad teachers, which she equates to “teacher bashing.” Samsa says that “the key to saving American education is not getting rid of bad teachers; it is making the profession more attractive to the good teachers, thus making school more attractive to students.”
I respectfully disagree. (I hope she doesn’t consider that teacher bashing.) The key to saving American education is doing both of those things. We absolutely must attract more good teachers, but we also have to clear the pond of those who lack the necessary skills or motivation. In what is arguably the most important “industry” in our country we tolerate failure and reward mediocrity far too often. We allow poor teachers to hang around and plague our schools until they choose to retire.
If you've never been exposed to the insidious nuances of a covert verbal abuser, you may not realize what is happening to you. And having fantasies about a terrible blackout at the decisive moment in the final exam can be enough to cause panic and nausea among students. The sun began to singe her hair and skin, and she felt her strength ebbing away. Explaining Why You Can't Extend Payment Terms
Combined with the private giving of praise and punishment, the multiple outcomes of behavior chains also allow for a cost/benefit analysis of the consequences of our behaviors. Shrug off any setbacks (as much as possible) and keep on moving forwards. Now right now of course there's still that feeling [of turbulence], but I have a feeling of progression, that part of my life has blocked itself off like this already and one phase has been talked about and blocked off. Yet it isn't that I have managed to calm this level, it's still there, it's still turbulent, but it's a feeling of making progressions with that turbulence.
There are several ways to use your Creative Current to assist you in sending your heart's desires out into the world for more abundance and attracting those things back to you in physical form. These techniques will help you focus on the indirect approach while continuing to live your life. Another example would be a new car. What are the things you want to do and experience with this vehicle? Networking to build social capital, like strategically mixing. I was thinking before reacting, before choosing when and how to convey themselves, considering meaning and priorities.
Those two honest remarks have done a lot to dispel a myth that the teachers’ unions have been nursing, developing, and depending on for decades: that their labor goals incorporate the needs of students, and that they are the guardians of student interests.
We see this sentiment displayed on union protest signs all the time—“We’re here for the students.” The idea is even implanted in the name of the nation’s largest teachers’ union: the National Education Association. This moniker is designed to conjure up pleasant feelings about an entire organization dedicated to quality education and the well-being of children.
Successfully selling that concept does a lot for unions at contract time, when residents of any given community come out of the woodwork to support their teachers in negotiation showdowns with evil school boards. Unions prey on this goodwill by publicly protesting and picketing when things don’t go their way at the bargaining table. Isolated school boards, inundated with nasty messages and phone calls from residents, usually end up caving in to union demands.
