Hello Kitten

[49er]

FYI

Here in California, teachers have the right to go on strike

[Sportsdude]

I just never understood why teachers can't when everyone else can.  

[P.C.]

Just out of curiostiy SD.....do you think doctors and/or hospitals should have the right to go on strike?

[kitten]

I know I don't agree with it, but there should be some sort of pay increase every two to three years that comes automatically.  Medical matters are really essential services.

[49er]

for people working  in essential services or for first responders, and strike is not an option, the final step in negotiations is to settle by arbitration

[Sportsdude]

  P.C. wrote:
Just out of curiostiy SD.....do you think doctors and/or hospitals should have the right to go on strike?

Well if you don't want certain folks to go on strike you've got to understand what they deal with and that when they ask for something and don't get it, more people suffer as a result.

Teachers are treated too much like the enemy, especially around here. Some people just don't understand the crap teachers go through.  Then the only time teachers can get progress going is through ballot initives and hoards of people end up giving them the finger.

If you don't want to see people go on strike you need to see their needs met. But when you continually ignore and ingnore the problems of the system, teachers have no choice.
 

[P.C.]

Well if you don't want certain folks to go on strike you've got to understand what they deal with and that when they ask for something and don't get it, more people suffer as a result.

Teachers are treated too much like the enemy, especially around here. Some people just don't understand the crap teachers go through.  Then the only time teachers can get progress going is through ballot initives and hoards of people end up giving them the finger.

If you don't want to see people go on strike you need to see their needs met. But when you continually ignore and ingnore the problems of the system, teachers have no choice.
 

Well, I suppose I'm a little hard nosed in this area.  I think that if there is a person in the teaching profession that isn't aware of what they're getting into, they don't belong there.  I DO understand 'the crap teachers go through'.  I would imagine, being a former 15 year old, that things can get tough.  Are these people not aware of that BEFORE they chose to be a teacher?

  It's a bit of a stretch to call teaching an essential service.....until you realize, that students.....especially young students are greatly affected by the interruption in their lessons when their teachers decide their wages are more important that the students' continuity in education.

  Don't misinterpret this for a lack of appreciation for what teachers do.  They are extremely important in our children's lives......but it's that very importance that makes it unacceptable for them to negotiate their terms of employment on the student's time.

[Sportsdude]

Its not about teaching salaries here its about no child left behind act where the teachers spend half the year NOT TEACHING but telling students how to pass this test so the school doesn't lose  accrediation. (if your school is not accredited,  the  kids will never get into university because universities on accept people from accredited schools)
My mom has 5 autistic kids in her class, a kid that wets himself, a girl who tried to drown her sister, and parents who think their kid should be taught algebra.... in first grade.
Then during teacher conferences she's told she's a f*cking idiot by parents and had to have the cops called in on a parent vs. parent fight. And this is a suburb school not a city school.

Its stuff like this that pisses me off and then the parents have the nerve to say that they will never vote for a tax increase because teacher unions are evil is insane.

There's someone more hated then politicians in the world and its teachers. Shame.
 

[P.C.]

Please don't think I'm minimizing the trials and tribulations that teachers undergo SD.  I know that their job is a tough one.  I just don't believe striking is the answer.  Of course I don't have the answer to HOW they should go about having their needs met......but punishing the students just doesn't seem productive to me and puts students in a position that they are helpless and powerless to change.  

[Sportsdude]

I don't believe in it either and neither does my mom but something has to give here. Politicians favourite whipping boy is the teachers and they blame them for everything when the teachers have no power.

Its like biting the hand that feeds.

 

[kitten]

I can see your point, SD.  When there is no incentive to teach, the teaching will suffer.  If the politicians made teacher's wages and vice versa, the quality might drastically improve.  I personally think that teachers contribute more to a child's future than politicians do.

[P.C.]

Wish I had a good answer SD.....but I don't.  I will always believe that it's a form of blackmail when teachers strike.  I know they feel they need to do it this way to demand our attention and hold parents captive, but I think of all the people in the world to resort to this tactic, it shouldn't be the people that are molding our children's minds.  They're targeting the wrong people.    

[Sportsdude]

but how else are they going to get the public's attention to issues when the voters themselves continue to ignore?
And its worse in the country. My cousins high school has books from the 80's.
Districts are cutting music, shop, sports because they aren't getting the funding they need.
 

[P.C.]

Those are all hugely important issues SD.   And I would never claim that my viewpoint on this, is correct.  I guess I would just like to see people who teach......be capable of coming up with a course of action that doesn't make the children the ones who suffer from their actions.

[Sportsdude]

teachers have never had that power.