[quote=“crazy Horse”]" nobody seems to care!"
You can’t see the forest for the trees. People do care, but they aren’t buying what you are trying to sell.
You are trying to sell an argument to a populace that doesn’t trust you. Whether it is right or wrong, perception is reality.
When you have a group of people, especially those paid by the people, that make more money, get more time off, have better benefits and pension, and still come across as wanting more and more, you lose their sympathy.
Add to this the resistance to accept any performance accountability, the willingness to use students as hostages to get your way, and the complete protection of the bad teachers, or even the good ones that dress like slobs or have bad hygene, or any other issues that in most “professions” contravene a code of conduct.
Now, you might not agree with what is written here, and it is probably an unfair characterization for many teachers. But they will always be painted by the same brush as those of the lowest common denominator.
It isn’t the government (representing the rest of us) that has to change, it is the BCTF.[/quote]
Teacher Unions wield immense power and influence over democratic processes, not only in this country but also in the United States and the UK. Democratic calls for educational reform go unheeded by these lobbyist powerhouses.
Note how ‘the government’ which represents ‘the people’ is painted as the Evil Empire in this and any such dialogue. whereas the non-democratic teacher’s union, in that it only represents a selected and cloistered few, self-promotes as the corporate Captain America.
The Teacher’s actually view the democratically-elected representatives of the people as the enemy and vehemently resist any intrusion by ‘the people’ to implement accountability, improvement or change.
Debating change and improvement with this selective, secretive society is a circle argument. Reflection to the union means a mirror. In that it’s always the common people who will be viewed as wrong, corrupt or in need of change, never the appointed private teacher club members.
Public-funded teacher salaries are pretty sweet, even though the union stance says otherwise. Some districts have taken to publishing all salaries with names as part of an increase in public accountability. Union leaders are bothered by this practice. You might be bothered too if you saw what the public is paying teachers. Especially when you hear them complain it’s far from satisfactory.