Comments on: Is there any more self-serving, harmful group in the US than teachers unions?

By: kburke

kburke — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:06:24 +0000

I agree that corporations can be harmful, when they seek rent (when they lobby for protective laws), but for the most part, they are actually a good thing. When corporations pursue profits, they are usually selling products that we the public want, and competition ensures that they sell them at a low price. Too many people tend to think of buying products as a transfer (as in, Boy these guys are ripping me off and only getting richer) instead of as an exchange (money for a product or service, which you value more than the cash). When corporations pursue their own interest (profit), everyone wins because they have an incentive to maximize revenue (selling a product people want) and minimize expense (keep costs and prices low). Furthermore, most people can buy shares in a corporation if they desire to capture some of the profit for themselves. When unions pursue their own interest it is always at the expense of everyone else, a decline in net welfare.

If corporations were to become more involved in schools, the result would probably be a product that’s more responsive to consumers and less expensive than schools are currently.

By: Candice

Candice — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:16:14 +0000

Thank you for your insight on the ridiculous vote of the Mass. union.

The elimination of AP courses caps the advancement of a child’s knowledge, and the expertise of a teacher’s practice.

A lot of rhetoric circulates about differentiation for students performing below grade level. However, it is the moral obligation of a school to provide differentiation for students and teachers willing to work the extra hours, look differently and more closely at literature, art, or history.

AP courses not only refine a teacher’s practice, but offer students the chance to develop a critical eye, and their reading and writing skills in a way that assures college preparedness.

If you would like to believe that all children and teachers perform at the same level, none worthy of a reward for better work, and you are willing to cap the progression of a child’s knowledge at the expense of such a belief, you are certainly meeting your goals.

Equality is not fair.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:12:44 +0000

There is a more self-serving harmful group than teachers unions: Corporations! Thats why they exist. The more susceptible we allow education to be to market forces the worse it will get for the kids with or without teachers unions.

By: steven germain

steven germain — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:03:14 +0000

Starting in kindergarten I noticed something about my teachers. Most if them were bored and could not relate well to kids. Every once in a while you had a good teacher. Parents craved good teachers and in small towns its a bit of local chatter to know before hand what teachers are good in whatever grade your kids is about to enter. I suspect some parents are even good at getting their kids enrolled in the good teacher’s class (this is sometimes called “advocating”). I have no idea if the problem is unions per se but for sure the system we have now makes no sense at all. There is no incentive to get better at what you do as a teacher. Instead teachers are encouraged to take in service credits in order to move up the pay scale. The theory is that these in service classes provide training and new ideas. In fact they are completely light weight make work classes that teachers simply go through in order to get a raise. College professors are not much better. For the most part very bored by their students and by their subject matter. There is so little genuine excitement about learning and about the subject matter – Its bad enough at really “good” schools in middle class suburbia. In urban schools its a nightmare. I put a lot of blame on the system but a lot lies at the feet of the teachers themselves too.

Normally I would not comment on this state of affairs (its easy to be an outside critic and often not of much use) but I do now because I think something else is going on now that may have an impact on the system – state finances and the economy. Schools are funded by local property taxes and subsidized by state governments. Property taxes revenue is, on a net basis, going down along with property values as have state revenues due to the economy (e.g. California). This actually will result in higher property taxes for thise who do not move, sell or lose their house). Schools are going to get squeezed as a result (that started this year but is going to accelerate as school budgets are met with resistance from voters). Over the last ten years school budget increases rose significantly in excess of inflation, two reasons: increasing teacher costs and a strong economy that enabled parents to indulge their materialistic impulse to “buy” the best they could (a very questionable approach when it comes to pubic school education). A generation of parents who grew up with a sense of entitlement wants nothing but the best of their above average children. The result is that school budgets are out of control, the art of good teaching is too rare and the system has very few rational built in checks and balances to encourage any self correction.