Sharon stays up until 11:00 every night lesson planning.

Teachers EARN their summer vacation... and then some.

exactly, 75% of 'above average' students. And no respect for the institution of education, but instead see it simply as vocation. The 'you can do anything' bullshit spoon-fed to kids whose dreams come into harsh contact with reality either in college or in the real world when 'limitless' means making the equivalent of 30,000 for rest of their lives while their health benefits and retirement opportunities are scaled back year by year and college tuition soars through the roof.

Or they jump in the lemming line, and get their MBAs or JDs and think they are somehow superior to those aforementioned 30k earners in every way, intellectually, genetically, culturally- because they drive a BMW or have a 50 year mortage on a 5000 sq. foot home for their DINK lifestyle.


Grow Up.

Because this thread is about teachers. Go ahead and fire the awful prison guards and police, too. Hell, I'm still pretty pissed Annapolis Police Dept. didn't fire this numbskull cop who coerced a confession from a guy who had already asked for counsel. Just for background, the guy who got off had carjacked a guy, murdered him in his own driveway, then drove over the body with the stolen car. His accomplice? A guy with one arm who was witnessed at the scene just before the murder. But he gets off because APD has seen too many cop movies.



Our county superintendent just left short of two years, maybe even closer to one year. We had thrown a big pile of money at him to get the Bigshot Educator up here with plans to revamp an already successful public education system. He's consulting for Harvard now.

Why? Because the teachers union hated him. The straw that broke the camel's back was an internal school system audit of human resources that revealed inconsistent compensation practices and lmissing background checks on school employees. How dare he!

I'm all for public education. But I think some radical changes are in order. I don't think "small class sizes" or "more money" (for the sake of money) are good answers. I don't know what the rule is now, but back when I was toting books teachers could get tenure in two years. TWO YEARS. Hang on for two years and we couldn't fire you. That's fucked up. And this is a pretty good school system—don't even try to dip your toes into the mess that is Baltimore City.

Ahhhh, was my ringtone for quite a while. Too many musical idiots around here for it to convey the intended shock and irony value that I was striving for when I got a call when parents were around.

What is the answer then? Everyone assumes that "schools are failing" and "reform is needed".. based on what evidence? What is a fundamental crisis in terms of class, race, and privilege is presumed to be schools' fault. That the life in central cities is about survival, not opportunity, is somehow schools' fault... that is, what is an acheivement gap is actually an opportunity gap. Teachers, giving their formal education and presumed expertise, are paid much less than other "professions." Job security has been an incentive to make up for the inability to pay what is paid in the private sector.

There are huge problems in public education. Teacher tenure is about number 21 on the list.

<-- Dual income, no kids
<-- 30 yr mortgage, 850 sq ft
<-- Pursuing an MBA
<-- Pretty humble, thanks
<-- No desire for a BMW
<-- Got tired of begging for shitty jobs


I'd like to cordially invite you to kiss my fucking ass.

Also it's been my experience that superintendents and other supervisors usually find their way there through incompetence or at least that's what happens here.

Yeah, not to fly off the handle or nothin', but taking shots at JD / MBA's is fucking trivial. Yes, there are a good number of people who get these degrees for reasons I might not like. But not everyone is one of them, nor are even the majority (in my experience).

I'm just not sure why I'm supposed to feel bad about not having kids yet, getting a specialized degree doing what I like, and buying what I could afford downtown.

Oh and my mom's a lawyer/judge, and makes about 30k a year. Goddam stereotypes.

Cause all rich people and people who don't want to live their lives on the brink of poverty are assholes.

<--------Mom is a teacher and Step-Dad is a retired principal in one of the lowest paying education systems in the country.

It's simpler than people realize to get those jobs that seem ungettable or whatever (ie, jobs that pay more than 30k a year and don't require anal intercourse on camera).

Get off your ass, take the entrance test as many times as it takes to get a good score, then go interview with the best school you can drive to and tell them why the fuck you deserve to be there. Take out loans, or get a TA position, whatever it takes. Just don't sit back and snipe at people who do it, as though you couldn't have. And if you truly couldn't have (the dumb or something), then whose fucking fault is that? (hint: not anybody else's, possibly nobody's)

You're right, i just gotta figure out what advanced specialized degree i want. Or if i've got what it takes to do that job. I kind of feel like the only two things i excel at are playing music and cooking. I might be wrong and have untapped talents of unfathomable depths. But i might be fairly two dimensional as well.

It's really not bad. We live pretty modestly, but I never feel like I need anything I can't get - and I buy a lot of musical gear.

I work 185 days a year. I'm home by 3:00 and I get to spend a whole lot more time with my daughter than most dads I know. My room is my domain - I don't have to deal or work closely with other adults. My professional life has a distinct end in May. It's fun - I pretty much laugh all day long in my classroom. And like the good Prince said, sometimes teaching is really, really great and inspiring. Despite what you may think, most kids are pretty neat.

The cliff is that way, lemming

I'm probably just wacky, but I think 100% job security with "I don't paid enough so I'm going to work-to-rule" is a bad combination.

I also think people should be paid for performance, not formal education or presumed expertise.

I don't think all school systems are in crisis, but that also doesn't mean they shouldn't improve. Unfortunately, to improve schools you have to pick from predetermined solutions like "smaller classes" or "hire more teachers". I work in the newspaper industry, which has the exact same problem. Innovation isn't valued, and therefore doesn't go very far. If you don't make purely surface changes that don't really make waves, then you aren't welcome. Which is why you tread water at best.

Phil - The fact that your two currently diagnosed passions are fairly disparate, (music and cooking don't have a lot of cross-over skills), suggests to me that you're probably good at a lot of other things too, and these two are just what's cropped up so far because they both get you laid.

But finding out what else you'd like to do is a bitch. I looked at my situation in a fuzzy sorta way - from a distance, very abstract. I like systems. I like to take things apart, fix them, put them back together. Then I went through degrees offered here, and the specialization I got into is an mba, but focused on hands on systems.

I'm really curious to see if you're actually serious.

I forgot what F4DF does for a living?

Allow me to put this in simpler terms for all you holier than thou pissants.. if my generalization doesnt fit you and your mug of a wife/husband then ignore it.. simple as that.

My experience seeing droves of non-thinking, knee-jerk reacting, students get their JD or MBA and work on meaningless (to me) drivel in order to afford the things that society says they should have makes me stand by my generalization. If suddenly, the majority of JDs and MBAs made 30k a year, none of these aforementioned people would be in law or business- simple as that.

Man, i'm at work by 7... 8 at the latest, and i haven't been home before 9 in over 8 days.

I'm getting slammed with all kinds of commitments that i don't get a say about and don't get compensated for. Then trying to sneak in band rehearsal after that is tiring.

Im never serious when I read or post something on Obner - otherwise I would have stopped long ago.. that is, if by serious you mean, care or remember what Ive read or posted 5 minutes after the post.

On another note, honestly Phil, and I say this because sometimes someone on the outside can spot patterns easier (not because I think my opinion matters to you in the scheme of things), all you have ever done about teaching is complain.. and you have complained a lot about it.. but you never do the one thing that you know could alleviate that complaining and that is, stop fucking teaching. The kids arent going to change, your reaction to the way the kids are isnt going to change, so why continue to do it?

I shape young minds

University lecturer, I believe. In Connecticut?


... & yes, I'm stalking him. Everybody on Obner, actually.