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Group hopes $10,000 will get "worst teachers" to quit
An anti-union group is asking parents, students and other teachers to nominate the "worst unionized teacher in America." It will then choose 10 and offer each $10,000 to quit; "winners" must allow the center to write about them on its website. || Speaking of bad teachers.... one is accused of secretly filming girls in a bathroom. (USA Today)
March 11, 2008 | Permalink
Comments
Only in America is failure rewarded. This is illustrative of the utter failure of the public school system. Public schools are nothing more than daycare for minorities and staffed by moronic teachers and administrators, many of whom fail the competency exams in the subjects they "teach." Sending your child to public schools is tantamount to neglect. Homeschooling is the answer.
Posted by: Dick Tater | Mar 11, 2008 10:09:13 AM
I'm in for $20 if they extend this plan to Bush admin officials.
Posted by: Mojotron3000 | Mar 11, 2008 10:14:48 AM
This is moronic. Why would a bad teacher quit their cushy job for a measly $10,000? Say a person went to teaching school for four to six years and still can't teach. What are they supposed to do, work in the field that they can't teach children about?
Posted by: jdotglenn | Mar 11, 2008 10:21:26 AM
In other news I saw a pervert cross the road today cause his penis was stuck in a chicken.
Posted by: The Asshole Guy | Mar 11, 2008 11:19:17 AM
The problem is that most of the people that make good teachers are making double a teacher's salary with better benefits at other jobs in government and industry.
For a lot of people, teaching is a last-ditch job because they couldn't get hired for other better paying jobs. Believe me, I was almost about to go down that path myself.
Posted by: LittleKitty | Mar 11, 2008 11:40:13 AM
10K will only pay the bills and living expenses for a few months .... who the hell would quit for that? Its chump change, but I guess this is more about publicity than actually removing the "worst" teachers.
Also, how do you identify a "bad" teacher? I'm not sure about elementary and high schools, but in university settings, "bad" professors are usually identified based on student evaluations -- which is a notoriously bad system. The difficult teachers who don't gift students with unearned high grades are usually the ones that students don't like....even though, they may learn more from that teacher than a vacuous, but more highly rated instructor.
Posted by: KF | Mar 11, 2008 11:40:50 AM
"In other news I saw a pervert cross the road today cause his penis was stuck in a chicken."
That's the funniest thing I've heard all day!
Posted by: twerp | Mar 11, 2008 11:41:43 AM
Only in America is failure rewarded? PUH-LEEEZE.
Royal Families. We don't have them.
'nuff said.
Posted by: DCer | Mar 11, 2008 11:50:45 AM
This is an obvious publicity stunt designed to promote teacher-bashing and, by extension, union-bashing.
The reality is teachers are no more protected than any other employee from termination for cause. If a teacher is doing a bad job, the school has all the tools it needs to terminate that teacher.
Any school worth a damn has the same procedure in place that any company worth a damn would have. If an employee is underperforming, they are talked to, written up, put on an improvement plan, monitored, mentored, retrained ... and if all that fails, or the employee doesn't cooperate ... fired.
Also, the training, certification and professional development requirements for teachers are FAR, FAR higher than most other jobs; even most professionals don't have to fulfill the high continuing education requirements that teachers do.
Posted by: Tank | Mar 11, 2008 12:00:18 PM
For $10,000? Those would have to be some stupid teachers.
There's a reason the teacher's union is so strong. Your precious snowflakes are assholes because you don't know how to raise children. Without that union and the tenure, nobody would be willing to teach at the current wages. But please, do terminate the unions and see what quality candidates you get. It's not like unionized teachers don't have to continue educating themselves or risk losing their certification. Well, teachers in CT have to do this.
Posted by: Sean, Torrington CT | Mar 11, 2008 12:00:56 PM
This seems really self defeating. Lets just do away with the unions.
Posted by: Cherie | Mar 11, 2008 12:01:58 PM
"teaching is a last-ditch job because they couldn't get hired for other better paying jobs"
I whole heartedly disagree with this statement. My spouse was a child counsellor for troubled kids for years and left that job to become a special education teacher. It wasn't a last-ditch job - he made much more $ as a counsellor than he does as a teacher. He thought, and still believes, that he could do more good in the schools.
I don't think that my spouse is the exception to the rule either. Many teaches that he works with are excellent teachers, and specifically went into teaching to educate kids, not because it was a last-ditch job.
Posted by: lawdog | Mar 11, 2008 12:07:34 PM
"The problem is that most of the people that make good teachers are making double a teacher's salary with better benefits at other jobs in government and industry."
Not necessarily true. Where I am, teachers generally make more than your average government worker and school administrators make on par with the governor.
Posted by: E | Mar 11, 2008 12:10:21 PM
"Royal Families. We don't have them."
Are you really so sure about that?
Posted by: sometimesilie | Mar 11, 2008 12:14:57 PM
Royal family? Sure, I could see that ...
King George the Greater
followed by ...
King William of Many Appetites
followed by ...
King George the Lesser
followed by ... ???
Posted by: Tank | Mar 11, 2008 12:21:46 PM
It is not the unions that allow incompetence to exist in the feild of teaching, it is bumbling bureaucrats. The damned government employment rules and regulations protect these assholes. I am the President of a large union(not teachers)that builds the huge infrastructure of this country, (dams, bridges, high rises, etc.). Our union doesn't condon nor promote incompetence.
Posted by: Rock Marine | Mar 11, 2008 12:37:24 PM
I'm not a big fan of unions and wouldn't mind if they got rid of them, but the main problem like KF mentioned is how do you measure performance? Some of these schools are so bad you can be a great teacher and it doesn't mean squat. Plus in some school systems (like NYC) they standardize the curriculums so that a teacher with good ideas has no ability to implement them.
Posted by: G-Man | Mar 11, 2008 12:40:49 PM
good one Tank!
...and don't forget Paris Hilton and her ilk.
Posted by: sometimesilie | Mar 11, 2008 12:50:21 PM
unions allow incompetence because those who run unions are incompetent....
Posted by: AngrySockMonkey | Mar 11, 2008 12:51:52 PM
unions are incompetent anyway....
Posted by: AngrySockMonkey | Mar 11, 2008 12:53:16 PM
Even the dude from the right-wing American Enterprise Institute thinks this is a pointless publicity stunt. That should tell you something right there.
I too think that the problem isn't the teachers as much as the educational bureacracy.
Posted by: Phranqlin | Mar 11, 2008 12:55:03 PM
TAG- best laugh in a long time. thanks
Posted by: mydogFoster | Mar 11, 2008 2:10:28 PM
it would only cost the district $3000.00 per to hire a hitman to get rid of the teachers. You do the math
Posted by: AngrySockMonkey | Mar 11, 2008 3:14:58 PM
So this guy is known for his in-your-face attacks on consumer, safety and environmental groups. Just another idiot who doesn't understand what he is really saying.
him: "You consumer, safety and environmental groups are bad for America."
What he is really saying:
Consumer: "Who cares if you are getting over-charged for shoddy merchandise or that filthy food is getting into your prepackaged eats? I'm getting paid big bucks to say *%^$ you!
Safety: "Who cares if your kids get lead poisoning or you get a product that sets your house on fire? I'm getting paid big bucks to say *%^$ you.
Environmental: "Who cares if the latest studies show toxic waters and fish that you can't eat in our National Parks? I'm getting paid big bucks to say *%^$ you."
I wonder why people pay him any mins.
Posted by: David | Mar 11, 2008 4:12:55 PM
correction to last word in previous post - mind
My typing, it is not leet.
Posted by: David | Mar 11, 2008 4:14:06 PM
