As for the money issue, I ran a survey amongst teachers from three schools (part of a high-school class) asking whether they would rather see a 5% pay increase or be allowed to personally select the books their classes would use. 78% preferred the latter. By and large, teachers would love to be paid a wage more suitable to their job, but they would forgo that simply to be rid of some of the idiotic bureaucracy dictating how they do their job. In my home district, there are currently three people pulling six-figure salaries essentially for spying on the teachers and school staffs. They are directly sanctioned by the NEA, though paid by the district, and their job is to roam about collecting information under the pretext of “evaluating areas of improvement”. In reality, they look for anything that is going against the will of the NEA, any teacher who dares to spurn the mandatory posters, anything they can use to maintain or increase the NEA’s power. As for administrators, anyone above the level of principle is likely vetted for the position by the NEA, and they receive salaries far larger than any educator’s while doing jobs far easier. The biggest money problem tends to be absurd amounts frittered away on ridiculous salaries for glorified secretaries and bureaucrats, pointless projects, and the sums that simply go nowhere (save into certain pockets).

All in all, most teachers would love to do their job, but they have to deal with an oppressive, overpowered union; idiotic and wasteful bureaucracy; and arrogant, overpaid administration.

Incredible. Thanks for this, Wendy.

I just told my husband, “So it’s against the civil rights of black and Hispanic kids for white kids to get ahead!”

My husband said, “It’s worse than that: it’s against the civil rights of black and Hispanic kids for white kids to want to get ahead.”

Fine, Cortillaen, have it your way. The problem is students who refuse to learn no matter what the teachers do. We believe you. However, in exchange for that concession, I expect the teachers’ unions to agree that they will never again scream at Congress about a “lack of funding,” since an increase in funding will (by their own admission) serve no purpose. Seriously. Not ONE peep.

Anyone who honestly believes that doesn’t know of what they speak. With a mother teaching elementary grades, I’ve had a front-row seat of the fear even the best teachers live in regarding standardized testing. When your salary and, for non-tenured teachers, job are placed on the line with these tests, you do not teach students what they need to learn. You can’t. Instead, you “teach to the test”, trying to make sure even the dumbest student can manage a decent result, even if it’s by rote memorization of useless facts. The unfortunate truth is that some students refuse to learn, and, bereft of any real means of discipline, teachers cannot force them to do so. Standardized tests do not measure a teacher’s performance anywhere near as much as they measure the class’s willingness to be taught.