Wednesday, February 29, 2012

A Debate About Teachers' Unions

Brought to us by our friends at Xtranormal, here is a debate about teachers' unions. Via Ari Mendelson. As the saying goes... priceless!

Posted by Stuart Schneiderman at 1:53 PM

2 comments:

Dennis said...

If one wants to take a look at how bad teaching is in this country one only has to look at the young men who have graduated from these public schools. The number of men going into the military with less than average grades who after they serve their enlistment go to colleges and universities under the GI Bill and have a very good GPA and graduation record is indicative of something being very wrong with public education. The number of men I meet in the military who did poorly in high school and subsequently had excellent grades while getting both bachelor and graduate degrees is too significant to write off. And the vast majority of these men did not get affirmative action assistance.
Why is this happening? What is it about public education that turns so many qualified and intelligent males off?
I wonder if many of them are like me and begin to realize how bad the teaching was in high school and below when they have to self teach that which they should have gotten? I would posit that much of this has to do with teaching unions who have little interest in teaching and have a bias towards most males. They have turned public schools and academe into a female finishing school with all that entails. When you have academics that believe that a Women's Study degree has more value to the economy than a degree in engineering, et al
the country has a problem with developing the skills and abilities needed to compete in a global economy.
Unions only perpetuate unions and seldom have any desire for excellence or quality. It is antithetical to being in a union.

March 1, 2012 at 7:08 AM
JP said...

Dennis says:

" The number of men going into the military with less than average grades who after they serve their enlistment go to colleges and universities under the GI Bill and have a very good GPA and graduation record is indicative of something being very wrong with public education. The number of men I meet in the military who did poorly in high school and subsequently had excellent grades while getting both bachelor and graduate degrees is too significant to write off. And the vast majority of these men did not get affirmative action assistance."

Some of this has to do with coping skill and emotional maturity and nothing to do with the skill of the teaching. I could sleep through calculus / chemistry and still do better than everyone else in the class.

For instance, in my case, I went from doing extremely well in high school to what amounts (for me) complete collapse in college, in part because I was very emotionally immature (although extremely intelligent).

The military is probably helping them to develop the real world skills necessary to function in the college environment.

You also have the issue of fit for the student. For example, I have a degree in chemical engineering, which is almost precisely worthless for both me and society. I had no interest in the area and never had any intention of using it. However, I got a full scholarship to major in something in which I had no interest. However, since it was the non-transferable source of my funding, I viewed myself as being trapped in it.

March 1, 2012 at 9:17 AM

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