patrick.net

"House passage is considered a foregone conclusion, but Ford said the union will keep seeking changes to make the bill more palatable."

Do the UNIONS think we are stupid, more palatable meaning allowing them to bend over parents and students while they get paid. Get outta here!

"That includes adding a due-process element to let teachers appeal poor evaluations that can lead to missing out on merit pay or outright dismissal. The union also wants to reduce the state Department of Education's power and give more authority for implementation to local school districts."

Ohh, you mean you want to be like New York and have us fund 100 million in salaries for lemon teachers who are undeserving. Get outta here!!!!!

"Evaluations would be based 50 percent on student performance over a three-year period with the rest based on principals' assessments and other factors including advanced degrees -- but only if they are in the teacher's subject area."

Whats unfair about that?

Tell some talented kid he should become a teacher. Hey, there's no job security, but if you are good, and can fit in well politically at your school, they will give you the kind of students that you can move ahead well and be paid accordingly.

But yeah, no job security. When you're 55 or so, maybe sooner, don't be surprised if some cost saving administrator, decides he can save the school money (maybe get a bonus for lowering costs) by replacing you with a 23 year old. At that point, you may wish you had chosen a career that was more lucrative than a public service job working with kids. But hey, at least you will know that for a while you made a difference, maybe enjoyed it in many ways.

Just make sure you have some skills to cover you those last 15 years. Maybe you can find some sort of charter school in a terrible neighborhood to go to.

And to think, a lot of teachers don't make it 5 years in the profession now, even with the job security , and benefits. They're making it real attractive down in Tallahassee.

I guess it's easy to be an expert on something you know next to nothing about. Clarence, or Ray, whatever your name is, welcome to my ignore list.

The school system is broken because the premise is flawed: there is no such thing as a one sized solution to education. Kids are all different - their parents priorities, their environment, their personal druthers and expectations, etc. -- and forcing them all into the same monopolized, kid warehousing system only creates disaster. Using the system "as it is" as a baseline for arguing is like arguing about what the best direction was for the titanic to motor on after it hit the iceberg: it's a complete and utter useless distraction from the problem.

What's needed is radical reform, bottom up, top down. Scrap it. Start new. Rid us of all laws related. Rid us of compulsory education. Rid us of mandatory union requirements to teach. Rid us of school districts. Rid us of the education industrial complex and its $ billion lobby. Sell off all the public held assets. The market will solve the problem far better of turning the highest % of kids in the most productive citizens they can become.

but it requires radical thinking outside of the box. It requires radical inventiveness. It requires shattering the protected nature (primarily about self-interest) of the status quo. It requires no longer subsidizing mediocrity and failure. It requires ending the inevitable ever-growing problems related to all things redistributionista related. It requires freeing up the $billions of dollars dedicated to education from those who control the system, allowing the most inventive educators to access the capital to provide results, vs. the current structure which rewards those who have the greatest political power, at the expense of all else.

Another education expert has the easy answers. The idea that the whole thing is broken is insane.

People, please read this.

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2010/09/27/100927taco_talk_lemann