VRWC relentlessly attacking (unionized) teachers

[boutons_deux]

AEI and Heritiage VRWC stink tanks at "work":

Teacher Pay Study Asks the Wrong Question, Ignores Facts, Insults Teachers

American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation -- have recently announced a "finding" that defies common-sense: America's teachers are overpaid by more than 50 percent.

The new paper from Jason Richwine and Andrew Biggs fails on several levels. First, it asks the wrong question. Second, it ignores facts that conflict with its conclusions. Lastly, it insults teachers and demeans the profession.

McKinsey & Co. did a study (PDF) last year comparing the U.S. to other countries and found that America's average current teacher salaries -- starting around $35,000 and topping out at an average of $65,000 -- were set far too low to attract and retain top talent.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arne-duncan/teacher-pay-study-asks-th_b_1084881.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

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What's the objective? It's always money and politics, NEVER about education.

1) destroy teacher unions as source of Dem contributions and votes.

2) privatize public schools and/or oppose them with subsidized charter schools to suck in taxpayer property taxes.

[101A]

AEI and Heritiage VRWC stink tanks at "work":

Teacher Pay Study Asks the Wrong Question, Ignores Facts, Insults Teachers

American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation -- have recently announced a "finding" that defies common-sense: America's teachers are overpaid by more than 50 percent.

The new paper from Jason Richwine and Andrew Biggs fails on several levels. First, it asks the wrong question. Second, it ignores facts that conflict with its conclusions. Lastly, it insults teachers and demeans the profession.

McKinsey & Co. did a study (PDF) last year comparing the U.S. to other countries and found that America's average current teacher salaries -- starting around $35,000 and topping out at an average of $65,000 -- were set far too low to attract and retain top talent.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arne-duncan/teacher-pay-study-asks-th_b_1084881.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

============

What's the objective? It's always money and politics, NEVER about education.

1) destroy teacher unions as source of Dem contributions and votes.

2) privatize public schools and/or oppose them with subsidized charter schools to suck in taxpayer property taxes.

"Top Talent"?

Other than for a handful of high end honors and AP High School classes, why the hell should we be attracting "Top Talent" to that profession? Hell, even if I give you ALL High School teachers, that is only 4/13 (and in many cases (4/14) of the teachers in a district. But, yes, we ought to pay SOME teachers more; but the unions make DAMN sure we pay a starting Kindergarten baby sitter the same as a first year Senior Physics teacher.

Also, it is almost impossible to find a teacher with an advanced (or even undergraduate) degree that doesn't have "education" in its title. "B.A. in Chemistry Education" is not at all the same as "B.S. in Chemistry". Salaries have gone up dramatically for teachers beginning in the 70's, and spending on education even more so. Test scores - not so much; even declining. Say what you want public teachers unions = bad news. Even FDR agreed.

[Capt Bringdown]

This isn't a D vs R issue, Obama is as much of a market-oriented education reformer as the Repugs, perhaps even more so. His RTTP is NCLB on steroids.


It's Not Change... It's Stupidity (http://www.schooltechconnect.com/2010/07/its-not-change-its-stupidity.html)

"I know what's good for my daughters. Public schools, do the opposite." That's the long and short of Obama's public education policy. As a parent, he specifically chooses schools for his own children that do not participate an any of these notions of accountability. Not a single one.

I know the independent school world fairly well, and I've met very few educators in that world who would every voluntarily choose to teach in an environment maniacally driven by high-stakes testing and the constant fear of being shut down by an actuary in Washington. Why is it that his vision for school accountability is so clubby, subjective, and so polar-opposite-of-IMPACT for his own children, but for the children of poverty (or even the shrinking middle class) his vision is so bureaucratic and industrialized?

- more - (http://www.schooltechconnect.com/2010/07/its-not-change-its-stupidity.html)