TEACHERS' UNIONS
I can hear the left wing screeching in the background - Okay, crash course on Unions. A union is when a group of people want to work together to force an employer to give them more money. That's literally it. Unions are useful for when you're being cheated (like being paid pennies to get shot at, hint hint, POLICE OFFICERS) ~ however when it comes to teachers, things are a little bit different.
22 states in the USA do not have "right to work" laws. A right to work law means, you cannot be forced to join a union. Why do we want Right to Work? Its pretty simple: Unions are some of the BIGGEST influencers of American elections around, and its a TERRIBLE thing.
In 22 states, you're forced to give this group money, that they'll spend bribing politicians through donations, to force other states, to give this group money. Until eventually, everyone is FORCED to pay unions. Unions, eventually, want to CRUSH right to work, so everyone must join the union. Everyone must pay the union. Union power doesn't come from consent, it comes from force. If you want to teach the youth of America, unions will force you to pay them, so the union can push its own political interests. ALSO - unions are HARD LEFT WING, and support the democrats with all those forced union dues. If you are not a democrat, sucks to be you, you're paying the union to give money to democrats.
Let me make this clear, its called a TEACHERS union, not a STUDENTS union. Its an organization that pushes a policy that, after TWO YEARS working as a teacher, you now have tenure, meaning you CANNOT be fired unless you're caught stealing or beating a kid. TWO YEARS - working as a teacher, then you can never be fired. This leads to a policy of "Last hired - First Fired" - meaning the oldest teachers ARE NEVER FIRED even though most of them are inefficient and inflexible. Getting a job as a teacher starting out is harder than ever - because no one is leaving their job, even if they're terrible at it! I've experienced it myself. Teachers can just put up a documentary and ask for notes, then call that a curriculum. That's if you're lucky, some teachers will hand out worksheets, never teach, and then call THAT a curriculum.
***Bad teachers cannot be removed because of the unions, and ONLY the students are hurt by that***
Because as a teacher, the more years you spend teaching, the higher you're paid. So even if you hate students, you're motivated to stay, because the longer you stay, the more money you make. If you teach for over 10 years, expect a cool 100 grand working 30 hours a week [in Southern California]. 100 grand for 30 hours a week - plus vacations - and you'll never be fired. Can you expect that from any other job?
(Ah but teachers are angels sent from God!)
No. They're just people. People who took some tests at college, watched someone teach, then tried it for themselves. And there's plenty of bad teachers who fly under the radar - don't act like you've actually seen anyone teach - Because its illegal to have cameras in classrooms - and BECAUSE OF UNIONS - you usually have to tell the teacher you're going to drop in - That way they can make a lesson plan for that one day and then continue being a bad teacher every other day.
By the way, many unions caps hours. What does that mean? It means no matter your subject, you're being paid from 8am to 3pm. If you stay after hours, who cares, you're not getting paid. Now just think about this:
An art teacher, probably won't be offering after school tutoring ~
But guess what, a chemistry teacher HAS TO offer that tutoring ~
For chemistry, tutoring and extra help is basically a neccesity ~
BUT, you're only paid 8am to 3pm. So tutoring services are becoming rare ~
If teachers were paid on an individual basis - you better believe the art teacher will make less than the chemistry teacher - and rightfully so! What you teach, should effect what you are paid. In other words - teachers unions hurt students AND teachers.
Oh, and in case you didn't realize, taxes pay for teachers - So 100K for 30 hours plus vacations, plus never being fired, plus totally covered benefits like healthcare and such - plus they aren't even teaching - all paid for, by you.
BONUS - As a member of the union, you are FORCED to go on strike when the union says so. Even if you still want to work, you are facing MASSIVE fines and penalties if you don't strike. So you're forced to join the union, give them money, and miss out on work when they say so.
TL-DR - everyone must pay unions - so unions can pay politicians - to force you to pay unions... All while ignoring your child and leaving them with bad teachers.
Teaching is THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB in our society, so lets remove the corruption, remove the bad teachers, and prioritize the students ahead of your tenure.
Summary:
Bad teachers cannot be fired
Bad teachers that don't even teach
Union corruption wants to force everyone to join them and pay them
Old and inept teachers are never fired while young teachers struggle to find jobs
INSANE benefits given to teachers purely based on time teaching and not performance
Work 30 hours a week and make 30K a year ONLY AT FIRST
Teach for 8-10 years and you'll make six figures on 30 hours a week
Plus vacations and healthcare and dental and everything else
There's no way to measure teacher performance outside testing
Especially because no one is allowed to monitor their teaching
Unions ensure everyone is paid the same no matter how hard they work
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Now for some counters!
1) If teachers leave unions, they can and will still find great pay and benefits. Those things existed before unions and will exist after ~ if you're a great teacher (look at the politico article linked below) ~ then schools will be bending over backwards to have you ~ and you'll make more than unionized teachers because you won't have to give up money for unions to push their politics. More counters when I see great arguments!
SEE YA!
