No...there really aren't. coming to the point of a strike means that the negotiations with management have come to the point where the demands of the worker force will not only not be met, but not met by a wide enough margin as to be unacceptable to that workforce.

The best ways to get an adversary to negotiate in good faith and with the intention to reach a compromise is to either threaten military action, economic sanctions or take hostages.


In a teachers strike they are effectively taking hostages, albeit in a generally non violent way. Never the less, parents are forced to put pressure on the school district to meet the demands of the teachers, kids are not getting the education that they are required to get, etc. All in all, its a very effective way to get what you want. So it makes perfect sense for teachers to go on strike. Even though, based on the ever declining results they have been producing over the last three decades I think they should be rounded up and herded off a cliff.

 

Does that last sentence reflect your opinion of teachers in general, as a group?

 

Teachers, administrators, school boards, secretaries of education, departments of education and their employees. The entire education system in the U.S. has been in a state of profound decline for the last several decades. The complaints of large classes and not enough teacher pay, as well as demands for ever increasing quantities of treasure to use for education have resulted in a declining level of education among the students that these snake oil salesmen have insisted will get better when we give them more money.

They get historically better pay than in the past, they get far more half days for planning, schools get far more per student than in the past. And yet kids aren't able to pass the same tests their parents did at the same age. The unmitigated gall to demand more money for less product in an area as critically important as education is at best absurd, and at worst criminal. As it stands right now, China produces more honor students each year than the United States produces graduates.

There is a small school here in Washington state that receives about one third of the average number of dollars per student in the state. They still use science textbooks that say things like "one day, when man finally walks on the moon..." The school educates 1st grade through fifth grade in the same room, and all of junior high and high school in another room. When it rains, the students take turns moving buckets to catch water that comes through the roof and emptying those buckets outside. This school produces nearly 100% graduation rates and qualifies more than 90% of its graduates for university education. All this with a fraction of the resources that other schools get every year. And yet for some reason people seem to think that schools need more money...I think not.

 

How many special education students does that school in Washington have?

 

DUH! They can't strike during the summer because they're on VACATION!

 

why should a teacher need to go on strike at any time?
in most cases they act as the parents to most children because their real parents are too busy with work and stress and bills and their routine bullshit to even think about the best for the kids
we ask teachers to educate, discipline, feed, nurture and more for our kids but we dont want to pay them what they are worth?
you asked for parents to answer and i will
i have 5 kids the oldest is now 10 and is 2 grades above others her age
my 7 year old is 1 year over
because i do not rely on a school to teach them anything
i teach them and we have every family member teaching them
we will be the ones that teach our kids about sex and life that is not a schools right or responsibility

 

In the UK schools just made exams substantially easier in order to saying everyone is improving.

The point of a graded exam is to differentiate the best from the worst.

Just to show how much easier it has got.

[YOUTUBE]Xzn2ecB4Hzs[/YOUTUBE]

 

oops

I mean this video.

[YOUTUBE]Ah4DnxAJQ44[/YOUTUBE]

 

Institute year-round school and I'm sure they'll have no problem striking during summer time.

 

The average teacher out here makes more than $70K per year with all the best benefits. They work about 9 months, have the summer off and yet they always want to strike over "unfair" pay or benefits.

I usually laugh when I see them striking. They pretend they are so mistreated, it actually is funny. But that's just me.....

 

None. They all get taught in the same class as everyone else rather than being singled out for "special education." Special education is just code for warehousing students that don't fit conveniently into the box so that they don't become a hassle. One of the key advantages of having multiple grades in the same classroom is that the older students or the students that are better than others are available to help the ones that have a hard time. Sort of like built in teachers assistants.

 

Strike in Summer? And ruin their vacation, not likely...

 

You are partially correct.

Because teachers are paid so abysmally, it is difficult to get qualified people to go into teaching, so generally you get sub-standard teachers (not all, by any means, but in any school with 20 teachers, a dozen probably shouldn't be allowed in a classroom). People who SHOULD be teachers can make twice, three times or more in salary in an office job somewhere.

So, because the system refuses to pay for quality teachers and education declines, it is the teachers' fault.

Genius.

 

I'd like to know where "out here" is an what the cost of living is.

HERE, teachers make half that and have not had a raise in over four years. Most have to work part-time jobs in evenings as well as the Summer to make ends meet.

 

Don't be a shithead, Rick. I haven't had a summer off in 8 years; I work 50-60 hours a week and am on-call most weekends.

Sure, there are teachers that don't give a crap, but if teacher salaries were higher, we could weed out the dead wood and attract more qualified and dedicated people.

 

More shitheadedness.

This kind of attitude is WHY the education system is in decline.

 

I thought teaching was what people with degrees fell back on when they couldn't find a job anywhere else.
Teaching is just about the easiest college degree to get.

 

Well I'm certainly not going on strike during my vacation time!! Lol!!

Just a joke........not to be read into........Lol!