The Teachers Union

[Real World]

This should be all one needs to know about where the teachers unions priorities are.

"When school children start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of school children."

Al Shanker, longtime president of the American Federation of Teachers

[Patters]

Originally Posted by Real World

This should be all one needs to know about where the teachers unions priorities are.

"When school children start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of school children."

Al Shanker, longtime president of the American Federation of Teachers

How long has Al Shanker been dead? 20 years?

Besides, the union represents teachers, not students. That's its job. Its parallel is a corporate board whose job it is to represent shareholders, not consumers.

[Real World]

Originally Posted by Patters

How long has Al Shanker been dead? 20 years?

Besides, the union represents teachers, not students. That's its job. Its parallel is a corporate board whose job it is to represent shareholders, not consumers.

He died in 1997, and is only the founder of the teachers union we know today. He served from 1947 to 1997 (50 years for you public schoolers...hehehe j/k), and actually died while still in office as acting president. So I'd say this quote is pretty on point when discussing our hijacked school system.

[RoadGrader]

Originally Posted by Patters

How long has Al Shanker been dead? 20 years?

Besides, the union represents teachers, not students. That's its job. Its parallel is a corporate board whose job it is to represent shareholders, not consumers.

Patters......

so in a Public School System scenario, who would represent the shareholders of the Teacher's Union and who would represent the consumers of the School System?

[QuiGon]

Originally Posted by Real World

This should be all one needs to know about where the teachers unions priorities are.

"When school children start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of school children."

Al Shanker, longtime president of the American Federation of Teachers

Great quote..!!

[Patters]

Originally Posted by Broomer

Patters......

so in a Public School System scenario, who would represent the shareholders of the Teacher's Union and who would represent the consumers of the School System?

I would put it this way:

The union's job is to represent the interest of teachers. (The teachers themselves are the shareholders; they hold the stocks in a closely held company.)
The teacher's job is to represent the interests of the students
The elected School Board's job is to represent parents and community values

[Patters]

Originally Posted by Real World

He died in 1997, and is only the founder of the teachers union we know today. He served from 1947 to 1997 (50 years for you public schoolers...hehehe j/k), and actually died while still in office as acting president. So I'd say this quote is pretty on point when discussing our hijacked school system.

A union's job is to represent teachers, just as a corporate board's job is to represent shareholders. If you think that unions exist to represent students, do you also think that Chambers of Commerce or corporate lobbyists should represent consumers?

Just as corporate boards take into account consumers when representing shareholders, the same holds true for teachers unions. Fair hiring practices, financial support for additional teacher training, the fight for safer schools and better facilities, better salaries with which to recruit better teachers, are all examples of issues where unions, by representing teachers, also represent students.

Since you don't understand the basic premise behind unions, you might look at this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_unions

[Patters]

Originally Posted by QuiGon

So when will public schools be allowed to teach about the most widely read book in the history of Western Civilization, the Holy Bible..? Whoops..!! Look out, everyone, here comes the ACLU..!!

Public schools can teach the Bible as literature and, in fact, often do, and they can also look at religious history. They cannot teach the Bible as fact or as the guiding light on how to live one's life. Too bad you're so misinformed.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/ps_bibl1.htm

Seems to me QuiGon, you neither understand the role of unions nor the role the Bible can play in a school curriculum. Exactly, what do you understand about this subject? You seem very misinformed.

[Blue Collar]

Excellent job of informing and bring info links to a debate to back up the facts. Have a great day patters

[FreeTedWilliams]

Patters, you are exactly right about the NEA/UFT being all about the teacher's best interests.

It is with that fact, that they should be COMPLETELY ELIMINATED FROM THE PUBLIC DEBATE ABOUT WHAT IS BEST FOR THE SCHOOLS.

Because, as you have correctly stated, their only goal is to better the teachers, not the students.

So when the NEA/UFT opposes things, like, home schooling, school choice, merit pay, etc. You can correctly assume that the NEA/UFT opposes them because they are bad deals for the teachers, not the students.

The government schools should be completely eliminated. Everyone can get more for their tax dollars in privately funded schools. Plus. like everything else, the schools will get better when they have to compete for students/funds. Don't tell me that poor inner-city kids would get screwed in this deal, because frankly, their current schools, are so bad, that they are almost doomed to failure from the start. It is amazing that any of them emerge from those school systems at all.