Teacher Tenure

The Attack On Teacher Tenure An Attack On Education Itself!

Ronald 4 Comments

The decision of a California judge against teacher tenure in California is the alarm bell of attacks on public education, and really, educational standards itself!

There is no question that there are people in the teaching profession who should not be allowed to keep their jobs, due to incompetence, inappropriate behavior in the classroom, and refusal to update their skills and motivation to work.

There is, certainly, a need to give administrators the power to remove such teachers from the classroom and the profession, and therefore, there is a need for reform of tenure.

But the sweeping decision in California will promote right wing attacks on education itself, and will have deleterious effects as follows:

Veteran teachers who are at the top of the pay and benefits scale, after many years of hard work and dedication, could be forced out of the profession simply based on cost factors.

The ability of teachers to have academic freedom will be compromised, and it will discourage innovation and new ideas, out of fear of antagonizing administrators and parents.

The promotion of religion over science will be accelerated, creating a future of ignorance on the challenges that face us, and promoting instead a concept of obedience to the literal interpretation of the Bible, which already, one third of the American people believe in as fact.

The promotion of a flag waving patriotism, which sweeps historical reality and fact under the rug, and ignores the truth of our shortcomings and mistakes, is the promotion of a dangerous nationalism, which advocates the greatness of America, while showing lack of respect and knowledge of the rest of world history and civilization. This will also discourage the study of foreign languages and cultures, further isolating America from world affairs knowledge and understanding.

The movement to privatize education makes it a profit making institution, which education should not be, and will condemn generations of students to right wing propaganda, including attack on the institution of labor unions itself, which made America a middle class society, but now in danger of becoming an autocracy ruled by the top one percent of billionaires and millionaires for their own aggrandizement!

Florida Governor Rick Scott: The “King” Vs. The Legislature And The People!

Ronald Leave a comment

Today marks the beginning of the Florida legislative session, with more than a two thirds majority of Republicans in both houses, but a new Republican Governor who fought the establishment and won the Governorship, and has acted as if he is a monarch, since he became Governor nine weeks ago!

Despite his involvement in Medicare scams in the 1990s, for which he should have gone to federal prison instead of paying heavy fines, Scott utilized $73 million of his own fortune to win the Governorship by the smallest margin in Florida history, about 50,000 votes. He was the only Governor candidate nationally, and actually the only wealthy person to win public office mostly based on his personal fortune, other than Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson. Like Ron Johnson, he ran as the anti establishment candidate of the Tea Party Movement, and he has already shown evidence that he does not wish to cooperate with his own party leadership, and to act stubborn and inflexible, and ignore the news media as much as he can.

Scott has enraged many, including his own Republican Party, by canceling the bullet train project from Orlando to Tampa, turning down $2.4 billion, which now will go elsewhere, while Florida lags on planning future transportation needs in central Florida.

Scott has refused to allow a prescription data base to keep track of pill mills, which have become endemic in South Florida, and with Florida leading the nation with drug addicts based on illegal pill prescriptions, on the basis of privacy rights, even though 42 other states have such databases. This is insane, with the reality that there are more pill mills in Broward County, Florida, alone than there are McDonalds or Starbucks in that county, with its main center being Fort Lauderdale.

Scott sold two state jet airplanes without legislative permission, and that will lead to increased costs for future Governors when they need to purchase a plane, as Scott is using his own private plane, and not thinking of future costs.

Scott unveiled his two year budget plan before a Tea Party crowd, rather than before Republican colleagues or the mainstream news media. He is calling for more than $3 billion in cuts in education and health care, while drastically decreasing corporate income taxes and property taxes by $1.7 billion, and cutting state regulation of utilities and insurance companies. College tuitions would skyrocket, and Scott has rejected taking federal funds to start implementation of the Obama Health Care Plan, and is fighting in court to repeal it.

Scott also wants to end teacher tenure, force major pension contributions by state workers, cut unemployment benefits and Medicaid, privatize state prisons, and end collective bargaining as is being attempted in Wisconsin and Ohio, and already exists in Indiana.

Scott is a nightmare even to his own party, and although they are very conservative, many of them are upset at his haughty, arrogant, dictatorial approach, as if there is no legislature or courts, and that somehow he expects that everything he wants to do will be done because KING RICK wants it so!

There is, as reported earlier, a move to pass a recall law, and some even wonder if Scott could someday face impeachment if he refuses to recognize the role of compromise, even within his own party in the legislature, let alone considering the opposition.

Florida seems to be on the road to total disaster, with the state, already in the bottom ten in education and other social services, about to face a political, social and economic crisis that will put it front and center, even ahead of Wisconsin and Ohio and other states with “bully” Governors!

The War On Teachers Nationwide: A Tremendous Mistake! :(

Ronald 1 Comment

At a time when the teaching force of America is undergoing a great transformation with the retirement of the “Baby Boomer” generation, we are seeing a war on the teaching profession led by Republican Governors across the nation! 🙁

Because of the budget crisis that exists, we are seeing the attempt at the systematic destruction of teachers unions, which worked over many years to improve the conditions of work of the nation’s teachers. We are also seeing the organized plan to take away teacher tenure and benefits, including pension plans, the only reason many people entered the teaching profession, as anyone who wants to be honest knows that the average teacher is paid a salary much lower than any other profession! 🙁

And yet, it is the teaching force which is supposed to educate the future generations of children, many of whom will become professionals, but many others who will have great trouble ever making a living in an organized, consistent manner!

Teachers are supposed to be magicians, and make up for family shortcomings and failure of the taxpayers to be willing to pay for adequate educational standards!

If teaching were an honorable profession treated with respect and dignity, then we would not have an overwhelmingly female work force, as men would also see it as a rewarding career. There is a dire need for more male influence in education, what with the reality that a large portion of America’s families fail to have a decent male role model for the children, but to commit to education these days is to wish for poverty or for a secondary, not a primary income! 🙁

If America’s teachers are to be judged by examinations of student performance, then parents must be required to do their part to promote a healthy educational environment, as one cannot expect that in six to seven hours a day for nine months, that teachers can overcome the disadvantages of bad parenting in millions of homes!

If all we are going to do is show lack of respect for teachers, pay them low wages due to taxpayer resistance, constantly test them and give them a sense of insecurity about their jobs, deny them tenure, give them a future of a pension they cannot live on when retired, and have politicians, including Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey and Governor John Kasich of Ohio and Governor Rick Scott of Florida constantly berate and insult them, then we will have what we deserve–a constantly changing teaching force of only mediocre, low level teachers who will stay a few years and leave, rather than a dedicated, qualified work force of the “best and the brightest”, who will want to be in the field of education and will be willing to dedicate their lives to such a venture!

If we continue down the road that the Republican Governors are taking us in many states across the country, the brain drain will continue, and we will get what we deserve as a nation, a citizenry poorly educated, ignorant, and unable to compete in the 21st century world! 🙁