Dept of Education nominee

[erynthered]

Yup. Here's a reformer.

 

 

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/arti...px?RsrcID=40911

[VABills]

Yup. Here's a reformer.

 

 

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/arti...px?RsrcID=40911

You don't get it. It was the problem with Kennedy and Bush NCLB. They don't care about educating students, the problem the dems had was they wanted to protect the teachers and their unions at all cost. Kids don't vote.

 

NCLB, for all it's warts, made teachers teach. Put them on notice to lose their jobs if they didn't. That's why the unions and the a lot of teachers hated it was because they were going to lsoe their jobs where they get usually above the average pay for an area and had no oversight, and a 6.5 hour normal work day. And don't tell me about lesson plans, correcting papers, etc... I take work home all the time as well and spend 9 hours at the office.

 

This is someone the unions will love. No requirement to actually do their job. Isn't America great.

[erynthered]

You don't get it. It was the problem with Kennedy and Bush NCLB. They don't care about educating students, the problem the dems had was they wanted to protect the teachers and their unions at all cost. Kids don't vote.

 

NCLB, for all it's warts, made teachers teach. Put them on notice to lose their jobs if they didn't. That's why the unions and the a lot of teachers hated it was because they were going to lsoe their jobs where they get usually above the average pay for an area and had no oversight, and a 6.5 hour normal work day. And don't tell me about lesson plans, correcting papers, etc... I take work home all the time as well and spend 9 hours at the office.

 

This is someone the unions will love. No requirement to actually do their job. Isn't America great.

 

 

 

 

Only 17% of 8th Graders in Schools Overseen by Obama Education Secretary-Designee Can Read at Grade Level. Thats quite a record of achievement. Thank God he was available to possibly take on this new assignment.

[VABills]

Only 17% of 8th Graders in Schools Overseen by Obama Education Secretary-Designee Can Read at Grade Level. Thats quite a record of achievement. Thank God he was available to possibly take on this new assignment.

I read it, hence my response. Someone who will pony up to the good voting teachers union and not fire them when they can't do their job. The continued dumbing down of American.

[molson_golden2002]

His Energy Secretary seems like a good pick. I hope Obama places some armed forces at this guys disposal and gives him summary power to execute anyone that gets in his way.

 

 

The appointment is being hailed by environmental groups who see Chu as a science nerd who can ably articulate how snowpacks and glaciers are disappearing, and how the poor will disproportionately be hit by droughts and storm surges spawned by climate change. He is unafraid to call coal an environmental "nightmare." He comes from those corners of curiosity that leave no rock, bacteria, yeast, ray of sun, or blade of switchgrass unturned, or unexamined for alternative energy. He has even cited the potential of decaying logs crawling with termites that convert cellulose into ethanol.

 

Chu has forged industry partnerships without being accused of selling out, attracting $500 million from Big Oil's BP for biofuel research.

 

Last year, Chu told Reuters, "If I were emperor, I would put the pedal to the floor on energy efficiency and conservation."

 

His appointment is the best sign yet that eight years of official hostility to science is about to end. We hope he guns the engine on energy independence.

 

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editoria...idea_at_energy/

[Adam]

What a shame.....when we need to extend the school day/year and increase the curriculum to include tougher coursework, we get this. Current work which is college level should be in elementary school. No child left behind? Please- some need to be left behind- let the best rise to the top and let the others learn to do useful things, like build computers, cars and other needed resources- you can make enough money to live well, don't need a degree and won't water down the educational system.

[John Adams]

What a shame.....when we need to extend the school day/year and increase the curriculum to include tougher coursework, we get this. Current work which is college level should be in elementary school. No child left behind? Please- some need to be left behind- let the best rise to the top and let the others learn to do useful things, like build computers, cars and other needed resources- you can make enough money to live well, don't need a degree and won't water down the educational system.

 

Lengthening the school year (and day) would be just about the best thing we could do for schools.

 

Imagine the teachers' reaction to that. God forbid we actually do something that has been proven beyond any doubt to actually work.

[Adam]

Lengthening the school year (and day) would be just about the best thing we could do for schools.

 

Imagine the teachers' reaction to that. God forbid we actually do something that has been proven beyond any doubt to actually work.

And I am also for bringing back the dreaded bell shaped curve......forget self esteem- let the best rise to the top and the rest fall to the bottom.

[Chump Change]

His Energy Secretary seems like a good pick. I hope Obama places some armed forces at this guys disposal and gives him summary power to execute anyone that gets in his way.

 

 

 

 

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editoria...idea_at_energy/

 

Nice attempt at deflecting the question. Do you and the other lemmings support this guy?

 

*crickets*

[Lurker]

Nice attempt at deflecting the question. Do you and the other lemmings support this guy?

Who the fug cares if the Hoi Poilloi on this board support him?

 

He's getting good marks from people who actually know something about the issues involved.

[erynthered]

Nice attempt at deflecting the question. Do you and the other lemmings support this guy?

 

*crickets*

 

 

Sure they do. That was my point. Its change that they believe in. Failure is their mantra. Its their voter base.

 

I hope Barney Frank and Chris Dodd sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl. Though they probably cant remember the words.

[justnzane]

You don't get it. It was the problem with Kennedy and Bush NCLB. They don't care about educating students, the problem the dems had was they wanted to protect the teachers and their unions at all cost. Kids don't vote.

 

NCLB, for all it's warts, made teachers teach. Put them on notice to lose their jobs if they didn't. That's why the unions and the a lot of teachers hated it was because they were going to lsoe their jobs where they get usually above the average pay for an area and had no oversight, and a 6.5 hour normal work day. And don't tell me about lesson plans, correcting papers, etc... I take work home all the time as well and spend 9 hours at the office.

 

This is someone the unions will love. No requirement to actually do their job. Isn't America great.

as usual, your ignorance on topics shows. First off, NCLB didn't make teachers teach, instead it made teachers teach to a test, without funding for training in new curriculum. It put paperwork requirements on stuff and made education an even bigger bureaucracy than it was before. While I'll agree that unions can be very shady and that it gave more ways to get rid of sh------- teachers, I don't think that the Democrats are really interested protecting sh------- teacher number 27 in east bum!@#$ kansas.

 

In addition teachers are raking in superfluous amounts of cash as you believe. Quite honestly for the degrees required for education, teachers are generally paid below average. Even in NYS, the city of Buffalo starts teachers at 30 grand/year.

 

6.5 hours a day? you have to be joking. On any given day, I have to be in work by 8 and the earliest i can leave is 3:30. However, this does not include tutoring that I provide, times when I have to stay after or come in early for meetings. In addition, there isn't enough time in the workday to always get stuff done, so teachers tend to bring a ton of work home to do. On average for me, I generally pull 9-10 hours/ day at the school and another 1-2 at home. Even during our off-time, teachers have to go through training sessions any whatever else.

 

There are a ton of reasons why there is a shortage of good teachers at the moment: The pay is not stellar. the stress is enormous, especially when having to call parents or dealing with kids that can be sh-- heads. Neverending work, which sucks away your personal life.

 

There are two reasons that every teacher does their job: They love working with the majority of the kids and they want to help the kids succeed.

 

But yeah, in VA's diluted world, we are all worthless sacks of crap that sleep on the job, refuse to do our jobs, and bring in 6-figured salaries

[John Adams]

6.5 hours a day? you have to be joking. On any given day, I have to be in work by 8 and the earliest i can leave is 3:30. However, this does not include tutoring that I provide, times when I have to stay after or come in early for meetings. In addition, there isn't enough time in the workday to always get stuff done, so teachers tend to bring a ton of work home to do. On average for me, I generally pull 9-10 hours/ day at the school and another 1-2 at home. Even during our off-time, teachers have to go through training sessions any whatever else.

 

Thanks for that. I needed a good laugh. I know a lot of teachers. I'll let you know when I meet one that puts in a 9+ hour workday.

 

I have been to a lot of schools. At 5pm (the end of an 8 hour workday), they are empty. Stop with the whining or whine on your Summer vacation. Or your 2 week Christmas break. Or your 1 week Spring Break. And on and on. You have a good important job. Just do it already.

[DC Tom]

as usual, your ignorance on topics shows. First off, NCLB didn't make teachers teach, instead it made teachers teach to a test, without funding for training in new curriculum. It put paperwork requirements on stuff and made education an even bigger bureaucracy than it was before. While I'll agree that unions can be very shady and that it gave more ways to get rid of sh------- teachers, I don't think that the Democrats are really interested protecting sh------- teacher number 27 in east bum!@#$ kansas.

 

In addition teachers are raking in superfluous amounts of cash as you believe. Quite honestly for the degrees required for education, teachers are generally paid below average. Even in NYS, the city of Buffalo starts teachers at 30 grand/year.

 

6.5 hours a day? you have to be joking. On any given day, I have to be in work by 8 and the earliest i can leave is 3:30. However, this does not include tutoring that I provide, times when I have to stay after or come in early for meetings. In addition, there isn't enough time in the workday to always get stuff done, so teachers tend to bring a ton of work home to do. On average for me, I generally pull 9-10 hours/ day at the school and another 1-2 at home. Even during our off-time, teachers have to go through training sessions any whatever else.

 

There are a ton of reasons why there is a shortage of good teachers at the moment: The pay is not stellar. the stress is enormous, especially when having to call parents or dealing with kids that can be sh-- heads. Neverending work, which sucks away your personal life.

 

There are two reasons that every teacher does their job: They love working with the majority of the kids and they want to help the kids succeed.

 

But yeah, in VA's diluted world, we are all worthless sacks of crap that sleep on the job, refuse to do our jobs, and bring in 6-figured salaries

 

I would never be a teacher. Miserable, thankless job. Been falsely accused of child molestation yet? I'm sure you will eventually...

 

 

But I don't think you've ever dealt with the American Federation of Teachers, either. I believe VA has. I know I have. His evaluation of the unions is damn near spot-on. I'm not rabidly anti-union (generally so on principle...but I don't universally condemn them). The AFT, however...a more worthless, self-serving group of !@#$s I've never seen (big surprise, since they derive from NYSUT, reflecting the best of union corruption that New York City has to offer), and the NEA is little better. You could wipe the teachers' unions off the face of the earth, and the education system would be better off.

[Simon]

Thanks for that. I needed a good laugh. I know a lot of teachers. I'll let you know when I meet one that puts in a 9+ hour workday.

 

I have been to a lot of schools. At 5pm (the end of an 8 hour workday), they are empty. Stop with the whining or whine on your Summer vacation. Or your 2 week Christmas break. Or your 1 week Spring Break. And on and on. You have a good important job. Just do it already.

7:30 - 4:00 every day. I get 25 minutes for lunch but still deal with multiple students even during that brief "break". And that's just the part of the job that's actually in the building. That's 8.5 hours at a minimum.

I'm also single-handedly doing a job that the PaDeptofEd suggests should have a minimum of 3.5 people. And my budget that was already below state minimum standards was just cut by 78% in one year.

And I'm not complaining at all because the truth is that I actually love what I do and I'm damned good at it. So don't tell me I'm not working hard to help these kids be better, stronger, wiser people. Cuz I am.

 

Is the teacher's union too strong with its priorities often out of whack?

Yes.

But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, brother. There's a lot of people who bust ass for those kids and painting them all with a broad brush is an insult to their dedication.

 

As for NCLB, it's a complete load of horseshit and has done more real world harm than good, imo. If I had even half the state minimum standard budget I could use it wisely to do a lot of good for a lot more students. But my paltry budget is being carved to pieces so your and my tax dollars can go to a bunch of f'ing testing companies and pay state universities for years worth of utterly pointless continuing education classes, while educators are forced to teach to a standardized test that has absolutely nothing to do with teaching these kids how to be the kind of innovative, forward thinkers that helped make this country great.

This bureaucratic government intervention has done more than be a pain in good teacher's asses while doing nothing to weed out bad teachers; it's done a huge disservice to kids who are being taught little more than how to fill in a bunch of circles with #2 pencils.

[DC Tom]

As for NCLB, it's a complete load of horseshit and has done more real world harm than good, imo. If I had even half the state minimum standard budget I could use it wisely to do a lot of good for a lot more students. But my paltry budget is being carved to pieces so your and my tax dollars can go to a bunch of f'ing testing companies and pay state universities for years worth of utterly pointless continuing education classes, while educators are forced to teach to a standardized test that has absolutely nothing to do with teaching these kids how to be the kind of innovative, forward thinkers that helped make this country great.

 

It's funny. That's as good a criticism of NCLB I've ever seen. It's also as good a criticism of the teachers' unions positions on education that I've ever seen.

 

Yet the unions hate NCLB. Despite promoting the same exact flawed education philosophy. Probably they just hate seeing the money go to the private testing companies.

[Simon]

Yet the unions hate NCLB. Despite promoting the same exact flawed education philosophy.

 

The unions are incoherent and utterly self-serving at every turn.

I refused to join the union and was part of the <5% of our district's employees who wanted no part of it.

Their response?

Next year they're enacting a "fair share" program that forces non-union members to still pay union dues because we're the grateful beneficiaries of their lucid and far-sighted wisdom!

[justnzane]

The unions are incoherent and utterly self-serving at every turn.

I refused to join the union and was part of the <5% of our district's employees who wanted no part of it.

Their response?

Next year they're enacting a "fair share" program that forces non-union members to still pay union dues because we're the grateful beneficiaries of their lucid and far-sighted wisdom!

I have to do the same thing down here... and probably closer to 20% doesn't want any part of the unions in my district.

 

Simon, your analysis was spot on.

[DC Tom]

The unions are incoherent and utterly self-serving at every turn.

I refused to join the union and was part of the <5% of our district's employees who wanted no part of it.

Their response?

Next year they're enacting a "fair share" program that forces non-union members to still pay union dues because we're the grateful beneficiaries of their lucid and far-sighted wisdom!

 

I sympathize, really. I was directly involved in two state AFT campaigns (Minnesota and Maryland), and during each wanted to scream from the rooftops "Don't affiliate with these idiots! What is wrong with you people?" It's an organization dedicated solely to wasting $150M/year.

 

Somewhere, on the 12th floor of their headquarters, they spent a good amount of money on climate-controlled storage for Al Shanker's (relatively famous NYSUT leader, look him up) wine collection. Seriously. Your union dues at work.

[John Adams]

7:30 - 4:00 every day. I get 25 minutes for lunch but still deal with multiple students even during that brief "break". And that's just the part of the job that's actually in the building. That's 8.5 hours at a minimum.

I'm also single-handedly doing a job that the PaDeptofEd suggests should have a minimum of 3.5 people. And my budget that was already below state minimum standards was just cut by 78% in one year.

And I'm not complaining at all because the truth is that I actually love what I do and I'm damned good at it. So don't tell me I'm not working hard to help these kids be better, stronger, wiser people. Cuz I am.

 

Is the teacher's union too strong with its priorities often out of whack?

Yes.

But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, brother. There's a lot of people who bust ass for those kids and painting them all with a broad brush is an insult to their dedication.

 

730-4 is a decent day's work. My painting of teachers is born of this thing they (you) all do to justify your importance. Some (like you) probably are that good and important. In my experience as a student, father, and teacher, I've run into more teachers who were poor than those who were good. That's my anecdotal evidence. Testing and the state of education provides objective support.

 

The good news is that good teachers make school worthwhile.