Teachers - What I Know

I've been busy lately so I haven't had much of an opportunity to follow the events in Wisconsin. The Governor out there in the guise of "fiscal restraint" is attempting to (what?) decertify the statewide teacher's union.

The Democratic minority w/o the votes to defeat the governor's legislation have used the "quorum" rule to stall & hopefully beat said legislation by literally leaving the state of Wisconsin. Considering I myself decried the buffoonery of my own state legislature using the lack of quorum tactic back in 2009, I'm not sure how I feel about it.

That being said here's what I DO know.

The Wisconsin teachers were not the ones that got the state into the fiscal mess. Nor did anyone point a gun to the administration's head when they blessed off the current contract not more than 2 years ago.

Here's what I also know. Teaching is not your typical 9-5 job.

1. When you're home veggin in front of the TV, they're home correcting papers.

2. Know that Winter Vacation you take w/ your kids, guess what those teachers are reading their student written essays in the frantic hope to get them done before the vacation ends.

3. Know that unruly employee you can fire because they're disrupting production, guess what, not teachers.

4. Try dealing w/ an unsupportive administration or parents who CONDONE cheating (like buying essays) because their child in their zeal to remain competitive is unable to manage their own time.

5. For many of these children, teachers become the defacto parents or at the very least one of the only positive role models they know.

6. They don't get paid for writing their lesson plans late at night.

7. Try dealing w/ statewide requirements & deadlines that fail to take into account the local situation (like the brutal blizzards we've had this winter)

8. Unlike the private sector where a person w/ a Masters degree can easily command $60K+ starting out, teachers consider themselves lucky if they can get even $23K/year.

If anyone in the private sector had to put up w/ this garbage, we the public would applaud them for standing up for themselves. Yet for some reason time & again, teachers are the target of a public hit job. We want them to be the best but when it comes to actual worth, we pay & treat them like crap.

Its part of this do-as-I-say culture, not do-as-I-do culture.


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This is Cristen, taken back in 2008.



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