Less anyone wonder why the teachers unit in Minneapolis is out on strike – besides grabbing “their share“ of the “surplus“ – their union boss spells it out pretty clearly:
At least she was honest-ish.
For The Children
23 thoughts on “For The Children”
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The average teacher in Minneapolis public schools makes over $70,000/year.
Just wondering how much teachers in socialist countries get paid.
If you are angry because your children aren’t learning anything while teachers are on strike, I can understand that sentiment but must point out that it comes from a place of privilege.
Teachers simply cannot educate everyone equally and the first step of fixing the problem is to admit the current system isn’t working. I can imagine a future without teachers. I urge money to be redirected from a “militarized school system” to things I feel would greater benefit the community.
For those of us for whom the system is working, I think we need to step back and imagine what it would feel like to already live in that reality where sending our children to school may mean more harm is done. In the very immediate, we have to lean into whatever changes we can make to the existing school system.
I’ve done an analysis of all the reasons people send their children to school and I’ve looked at ways we can shift the response away from reading, writing and arithmetic into a more appropriate response for students suffering low esteem, mental health issues, victims of domestic violence, and health-related concerns.
Defund the schools.
/hat tip Lisa Bender/
Nicely played, JD. Especially since teachers don’t teach the 3 Rs anyway.
LessLest anyone wonder…FTFY Mr. English major
I just laugh every time I see or hear one of these morons go off. If it’s really about the children, why do the teachers using them as hostages or pawns for everything?
If they are “against capitalism”, why are they asking for raises? Capitalism allows taxes, that pay their salaries and generous benefits programs. Classic DemoCommie wag the dog tactics.
Our current reality one ups Aldus Huxley’s vision of dystopia.
We’ve got a society wherein marginally sane, intelligent people who are holding the threads of civilization together are surrounded by people with intentionally lowered IQ’s intent on playing centrifugal bumblepuppy and rutting like dogs until it’s Soma time.
John hung himself; I’d rather pass rope out.
I’ve completely given up on the moderation game.
Typical white male. Not a word about the LGBT+++, BIPOC or indigenous community.
FIGHT THE PATRIARCHY!!!!!!
Blade;
I’m right there with ya’! I’m also in moderation already. I think the trigger on mine was a word that starts with “mo” and ends with “rons”.
I’ve long listened to the rhetoric about teacher pay, about the level of education needed to be a teacher, etc. Then, every time I meet an actual teacher, all that I have heard is disproven. Actual teachers in Minneapolis public schools, tell me that they are paid well. Actual teachers have gotten jobs with an undergrad degree.
The one constant that I have heard that teachers do prefer is smaller class sizes. But, larger class sizes in MSP seems to be related to two things: 1- the cities keep changing school boundaries so that they can “integrate” schools and 2- heavy administration salaries rather than reducing some of the top in order to pay for the smaller class sizes that the teachers actually want.
But the unions and the school board and superintendents are never going to fight for anything that would truly make a difference, nor is the government going to hold anyone accountable. If they keep up the narrative of poor teacher, the kids suffer, etc, then they can justify ongoing tax increases for the schools.
Minneapolis public school teachers are paid from the taxes paid by Minnesotans.
When you have a labor dispute, you need to look at how much they are paid versus their peers.
It would be great to have a spreadsheet that show public school teachers’ compensation (including retirement bennies) versus education and years of experience.
I can’t find one. The data is out there, but it is broken into different data sets that are not compatible.
I would have more respect for Gazelka if he would use his office to prepare a report like this.
But I am a resident of Wisconsin, not Minnesota, so it makes little difference to me.
Ah, takes me back to something from my 2005 vintage blog:
A hard lesson
Posted on August 17, 2005 by The Night Writer
This is the beginning of a much more in-depth education program, in which we tell our members why and what Wal-Mart does — not just to small towns, but to workers,” said Louise Sundin, president of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers. (Strib: Twin Cities teachers unions push Wal-Mart boycott)
Honest, Mom, I wasn’t doing anything. I was sitting in my American History class and Ms. Wolverton was talking about the founding fathers, and when she got through telling us about the first president — Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labor, that is, so you know I was paying attention — she told us to take out our Diversity Journals and write about what it would feel like to be beat up by cops employed by fatcat capitalists and to not have health insurance besides.
So I was opening up my backpack when it slipped – honest! – and everything spilled out on the floor. Well, not everything, because I was able to catch my iPod, you know, and then the Wolf, I mean, Ms. Wolverton points at the floor next to me and says, really mean-like, “What’s that?”
Well, I look down and I say, “Nothing Ms. Wolverton, that’s just the condoms they gave us in third period today.”
“No,” she says, “What’s that?”
Then I say, “You mean this flyer about what time Tuesday morning we’re to catch the school bus to take us to the state capital to protest for higher education spending?”
“No!” she says, and now she’s really mad. “That looks like one of the new Trapper Keepers that Wal-Mart is advertising in the newspaper! How dare you bring something like that to school?”
“Hey, it’s not mine,” I said. “Someone must have stuck that in there just to get me in trouble, probably during Conflict-Resolution class!” Really, Mom, that Billy Swedberg is sooo passive-aggressive.
So anyway, now Ms. Wolverton is all, “shopping at Wal-Mart is the first step to economic servitude, and how buying a Trapper Keeper seems innocent enough now but, like, the next thing you know I’ll be listening to talk radio and voting Republican,” you know? Then she says something like, “someday when you’re working 70 hours a week for $1 you’ll wish you’d paid more attention in class.” Well, I didn’t really know what to say to that, but she gave me the idea, so I said, “I’m sorry, my ADD is acting up – what was the question again?”
Well, that seemed to calm her down and I thought it was all going to blow over when she says, “I don’t know what people are looking for when they go into a den of iniquity and social injustice like Wal-Mart.”
OK, Mom, I knooow I should have kept my mouth shut, but I wasn’t really thinking because I was still so nervous, so I said, “Good values?” And that’s when she went ballistic and told me I knew I wasn’t allowed to use that kind of language in school and that I had to go to the principal’s office and they were going to call you to come and get me.
So, am I in trouble?
If stopping public school teachers from discussing sex and racism is infringing on their free speech rights, why is it okay for ANY organization to enforce speech codes?
If I work for a company, how can they stop me from bad mouthing that company on their time? Aren’t NDA’s a violation of free speech rights?
Night, that’s just awesome.
Why do teachers think that they are the only human beings with free speech rights?
Just wondering how much teachers in socialist countries get paid.
Exactly as much as doctors and janitors, Greg.
Just wondering how much teachers in soci@list countries get paid.
Exactly as much as doctors and janitors, Greg.
Fuck 3R’s, gotta make room for:
Private School Teachers Nationwide Implementing Race-Essentialist Curricula, Trained by Black Panther
Several years ago, when there was a mild uproar over the increasing costs of tuition at Minnesota colleges, a brave writer called out the high administration costs of the U of M. He observed that there were 68 people in the HR department and wondered why they needed so many bodies in there. He also pointed out that they employed a large grounds maintenance staff, with equipment and suggested that function could be outsourced for far less money. If I were running the Department of Education, I would order a full audit of every school that receives federal funds, every two years. My auditors would have the authority to lay a smack down on any abuse, reporting it for economic sanctions, i.e. suspension of funds and/or fines. Of course, unless the right administration is in power, (read; Trump style), the left would be screaming for my head.
NW, best non-fiction I’ve read all week, but it’s a little dated.
For the current year, you have to toss in some trannies teaching proper dilation to the kiddies, and the beat-down the student received from marginalized blacks on the way to the Principals office.
Thanks, Blade. It’s hard for a blogger to be as timeless as Dickens, especially when parody keeps turning into documentary. Could we just say, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”?
NW 👍🏻
MP: We’d be remiss not to observe, $70k for 9 months work ($90k for top tier step and lane). And that’s ignoring the several weeks off for national holidays and their union week at the beach.
They make a metric shit ton more than the uniformed idiots trying to put a lid on the all out black on black war y’all got going up there. And there’s zero chance they’ll ever spend 40 years in prison for doing their jobs.
Most of them are also completely unqualified, nay incapable, to do anything else at half the salary.