Boy, glad I'm not walking a union picket line in Minneapolis or Harrisburg. LOL

In the case of teachers unions, most, not all, but most districts across the country have "union shop" which means if you don't join the union you still have to pay the equivalent dues either to a charity or some other enterprise. They gotcha by the gonads.

I never liked that our union would back so and so for office, either president, governor or state officials, and about break your arm to vote like they said. So I did the next best thing............in the last 5 presidential elections good old Bob got at least one write in vote. And yes, the NEA/AFT are very pro Democrat, which I agree with about 1% of the time.

The one good thing the Nea/AFT tries to maintain is that we as teachers are treated as professionals and paid fairly. HA! on that last one. I retired after 42 years and just in the last 2 years cracked $50,000 salary....barely. Montana is the 2nd lowest state behind Mississippi in teachers salaries. It ain't any cheaper to live here than anywhere else.
Most nationwide school districts require teachers to have a masters degree within a certain period of time or you're shown the door, or you can't advance on the pay scale. No district in Montana pays even one cent for graduate required courses.

And finally, look at everything that your city, state, etc gouges you money for. Water, garbage collection, street improvement districts (sid's), property taxes, estate taxes, license plate taxes, boats, school taxes, and state sales taxes. (we don't have a sales tax in Montana.) Now, how many of those can you vote down in an election? Not many except school mill levies and bond levies. And that's the sorry point of it all. We can't do a damn thing about most taxes, so we vote down what we can vote for and the schools get it in the shorts.

I'm done with my sermon......blame this all on Cheesey. (lol)

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I'm amused how many partisan talking points have been thrown out in this thread. I feel like I walked into an election debate.

The most important thing we can teach our children, more so than any facts or subject matter, is HOW to learn and think. This starts to take place at a fairly young age, and must be developed. Unfortunately, young children are pretty much pushed through their early grades whether they developed as learners and thinkers or not. If I had to implement one change, it would be to hold back younger students at a far greater rate so that their grade isn't solely determined by age. Testing should include essay answers and possibly oral examinations to go along with the more common standardized tests. If students are held back as often as they SHOULD be, there should be enough of it happening that individual kids won't be singled out as freaks or idiots. Instead, a spirit of competition and giving a shit will evolve, among the students, parents, and teachers.

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Bob.....why is it MY fault???LOLOL!!!
Anyway.....he's right. I have yet to see a union, in ANY capacity, back anyone but a democrat. And i and my wife have been in a union at one time or another. She is right now, and of course we got "junk mail" from the union praising Obama and cutting McCain (and all republicans on the local level too).

As far as schools. They need to start holding students to a higher expectation level.
In the past, they lowered the expectations, and when more kids "graduated" because of it, they bragged how the schools "improved".
Does that make ANY sense? (Unless you are in the government, that is).

If the kids won't do the work, fail them.
I have seen (and know personally) of people that have graduated high school, without being able to read or write. HOW is that possible?

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The other change we need - you should be able to kick out gang bangers from school. Most middle-class folk have no idea what it's like to go to schools overrun by gang bangers. An environment like that isn't exactly ideal for learning. You just want to stay alive.

Kick 'em out. Leave some children behind. Screw them. Am I cold? No. There are plenty of kids out there in those schools who actually WANT to learn.

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GREAT point Zombie!
Not only do the gang bangers not learn, they keep others from learning too.
I have NO use for those punks. They arn't man enough to stand on their own.

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Thanks Cheesey.

Yeah, that's my beef. You got kids who want to learn but are afraid of going to school.

All this making things fair crap only punishes those who want to get ahead.

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I was bullied something terrible by a punk in high school. I didn't even try to fight him, cause he was twice my size and would have killed me. I can only imagine what it's like for some kid targeted by a gang.

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I was just messing with you Cheesey. Hey, like the punks in school.....When things go wrong, blame the nerd or the straight A student, or the science whiz, or the custodian, or the crossing-walk guard, or the teachers, or your parents. But above all, never, never take responsibility for your own actions.


Unless it's something good. Then milk it for all it's worth.

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lol - well good to know that it really might come in handy for them after all. i get that they want to make learning 'fun' & have little kitchy ways of doing so. i'm just amazed that teachers no longer have to make lesson plans because they're handed the curriculum on a silver platter. the good teachers will take those canned lessons & make them their own...the bad ones will use it as a crutch.

One change... limited to a single change.

To me, going through high school, and in essence three different colleges, I would focus on the teachers/professors themselves.

Basically, in a nutshell, there are teachers that can and cannot teach... some that have a passion to do it and some that just go through the motions.

In college, I would attend the first couple classes, get a read on the prof, then either stay, drop or alter the schedule to get the hell out of their class. I wasn't going to waste my time on some round head that cares less.

So, I would have some sort of review process at the collegiate level to would cross examine these profs from those that ultimately pay their salaries and some outside independent from the institutions reach to create a grading scale on these leaders of the class room.

If am am forking over tens of thousands of dollars for an education, those supplying the education better be plugged in and passionate about their end of the bargain.. if not... get the flock out.

I would guess, at no better than 50 to 60% of the professors I had were acceptable.. in this country, that is pathetic.

High School and below, I don't think the same process would work..

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