Striking Teachers

Originally posted by @suzianne
Looks like I was right about the snark, though. It sounded exactly like it came from your mind.

Citing the “school of hard knocks" is a pretty drab and meaningless 'debating point' in so far as anyone can apply it to themselves and apply it to whatever twaddle they come up with. Saying that one has come up via "the school of hard knocks" sounds like the classic cliched opening gambit of the ill-informed pub bore.

Originally posted by @suzianne
I'm trying to follow his "business model" thinking.

Better teachers can command higher wages, so if you're offering low wages, the better ones aren't going to apply in the first place, unless they are desperate for a job. "You get what you pay for" is apropos here.

Some of the best teachers I have ever come across decided to work with people living in grinding poverty for next to nothing and in difficult circumstances. Back in your system, people with this kind of vocational calling and this willingness to meet the challenges created by deprivation should be well rewarded for it as part and parcel of some hefty investment in offsetting the disadvantages.

SecondSon's "business model" thinking is lazy conservative-waffle; it's all about giving teachers who have to do it tough less and giving those who operate in the most advantageous circumstances more.

Originally posted by @fmf
Some of the best teachers I have ever come across decided to work with people living in grinding poverty for next to nothing and in difficult circumstances. Back in your system, people with this kind of vocational calling and this willingness to meet the challenges created by deprivation should be well rewarded for it as part and parcel of some hefty investment ...[text shortened]... ve to do it tough less and giving those who operate in the most advantageous circumstances more.

I lectured on chess in one of the poorest school districts in the US back in the 1970's. There I met some of the most dedicated teachers. Amazing people, simply amazing.
America's "War on Education" is real and the results are obvious.

Originally posted by @fmf
"school of hard knocks": definition - an indiscriminate virtual institution offering self-accreditation that its graduates use to lend credibility to whatever they have just asserted, regardless of whether it is right or wrong.

See also: Private Reality.

That sounds a lot like atheists who claim to have a theology degree. Did they go to the school of hard knocks?

Originally posted by @fmf
I just wrote it, that's all. We're on a message board. I think it's a wry and observant definition ~ it's concise, original and a lot wittier than the highly repetitive kinds of put-down that you serve up.

Your tendency to impress yourself knows no limits.

Originally posted by @fmf
How does having a proportion of your teachers - more often than not working in the most deprived and challenging parts of your society - relying on food stamps and constantly being one month's wages [or one costly medical emergency] away from financial disaster - contribute to improving your education system?

Where are teachers in America on food stamps? Do you have a news article or stats to back that up?

Originally posted by @fmf
I thought my personal definition of "school of hard knocks" has a degree of originality and wistful humour that you seem incapable of. I find your constant put-downs boring. We don't have to be fans of each other's contributions. I would have more respect for yours if you were less repetitive.

Your tendency to impress yourself - and no one else - appears to have no limit.

Originally posted by @fmf
Citing the “school of hard knocks" is a pretty drab and meaningless 'debating point' in so far as anyone can apply it to themselves and apply it to whatever twaddle they come up with. Saying that one has come up via "the school of hard knocks" sounds like the classic cliched opening gambit of the ill-informed pub bore.

<<Saying that one has come up via "the school of hard knocks" sounds like the classic cliched opening gambit of the ill-informed pub bore.[/b]>>

Don’t talk about tiger like that!

Originally posted by @fmf
Some of the best teachers I have ever come across decided to work with people living in grinding poverty for next to nothing and in difficult circumstances. Back in your system, people with this kind of vocational calling and this willingness to meet the challenges created by deprivation should be well rewarded for it as part and parcel of some hefty investment ...[text shortened]... ve to do it tough less and giving those who operate in the most advantageous circumstances more.

Public school teachers in America are paid by the municipal government that oversees the area in which the schools are located. Obviously, teachers in public schools located in affluent areas will be paid more than teachers in public schools in poor areas simply because the tax base is wealthier and people in that tax base need less in the way of government services.

Originally posted by @suzianne
Concerning your "run education like a business" model, you might consider that "you get what you pay for". Pay crappy wages and you end up with crappy teachers, when all the good teachers leave the calling to find a job they can feed their families with. Considering that one might like to provide the next generation with a quality education, denying teachers a level of pay commensurate with their responsibility to our own children is folly.

Let me just say I agree in principle with what you're saying. Teachers are people with families to feed too, and they deserve wages commensurate with their education and experience.

I'm just a guy posting in a forum in a thread started by another poster who it seems has an axe to grind over every little word.

I'm not qualified to speak to the subject of teachers strikes with any authority anyway. Just speaking my mind and voicing my opinion is about all there is to it.

Originally posted by @romans1009
Public school teachers in America are paid by the municipal government that oversees the area in which the schools are located. Obviously, teachers in public schools located in affluent areas will be paid more than teachers in public schools in poor areas simply because the tax base is wealthier and people in that tax base need less in the way of government services.

Would you think differently if a separate school district were created in a very poor area while there was an adjacent and established school district which didn't want to absorb this area because the people were very poor and had very little commercial tax revenue available ? One such as this was created in San Antonio around 70 years ago and is still among the 10 poorest school districts in the US. Google " Edgewood ISD, San Antonio, Texas" and read all about it.

Originally posted by @caissad4
Would you think differently if a separate school district were created in a very poor area while there was an adjacent and established school district which didn't want to absorb this area because the people were very poor and had very little commercial tax revenue available ? One such as this was created in San Antonio around 70 years ago and is still amo ...[text shortened]... st school districts in the US. Google " Edgewood ISD, San Antonio, Texas" and read all about it.

Would I think differently about what? I wasn’t stating an opinion; I was stating a fact about how public schools are financed in America. Nearly all (or a sizable majority) of the revenue comes from the municipal government that oversees the area where the schools are located and the municipal government gets its money by taxing the property (houses, commercial buildings) of property owners. Some money comes via state grants to education.

That’s my understanding of how public schools are financed. I wasn’t saying whether it’s good or bad and really haven’t given any thought to whether a better model could be developed.

Originally posted by @secondson
I'm not qualified to speak to the subject of teachers strikes with any authority anyway. Just speaking my mind and voicing my opinion is about all there is to it.

And that opinion - of teachers taking industrial action - is "Fire the bums" (page 2). Noted.

Originally posted by @fmf
And that opinion - of teachers taking industrial action - is "Fire the bums" (page 2). Noted.

Is going on strike now known as “taking industrial action” the way getting an abortion is known as “reproductive health” and “reproductive rights?”

Why not just call teachers going on strike “eating an ice cream sundae on a hot day” and even more people will back the idea.

Originally posted by @fmf
Yes. That's why teachers would be taking industrial action.

You mean going on strike?