5 ms·

As others have said this is a ploy to allow the school district to get rid of bad union teachers and I think that's a good thing. It's probably not. They prob

As others have said this is a ploy to allow the school district to get rid of bad union teachers and I think that's a good thing. It's probably not. They probably have no idea who the bad teachers are. It's most likley an attempt to get rid of the most senior teachers, regardless of ability. And political -- an attempt to kill organizations that tend to be Democratic (this would be equivalent to trying to dismantle fundamentalist churches, as their Republican leaning). Everyone looks to Finland as this great example of how education should be done, yet it looks nothing like what is being done here. And Finland is 100% teacher's unions. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sharon-higgins/why-do-the-education-refo_1_b_775087.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sharon-higgins/why-do-the-educ...

uvdiv 16y ago
And political -- an attempt to kill organizations that tend to be Democratic (this would be equivalent to trying to dismantle fundamentalist churches, as their Republican leaning). I'm sure that would be an issue if fundamentalist churches were funded with public taxes and compulsory to attend.
- kenjackson 16y ago
  Churches do get preferential tax treatment. But the problem with fundamentalist churches isn't in their existence, but rather their beliefs. The opposite is the problem that the right has with unions. They aren't against teachers per se, but they're against labor having any power -- regardless of what the profession is (and the fact that its public/private labor is a red herring).
  - yummyfajitas 16y ago
    The right is against workers having the power to quit their job and find a better one? I was completely unaware of this. Could you tell me when the Republicans stopped being abolitionists?
    - kenjackson 16y ago
      The right is against workers having the power to quit their job and find a better one? I was completely unaware of this. As am I.
lionhearted 16y ago
> And political -- an attempt to kill organizations that tend to be Democratic (this would be equivalent to trying to dismantle fundamentalist churches, as their Republican leaning). Whoa, this just sunk in with me. I guess it's commonly accepted that most teacher's unions lean Democrat, but I never considered that the people educating children are fundamentally partisan. That's... kind of scary. Hell, you equate with them as the equivalent of the most fanatic members of the right. That really can't be good that the kids are being educated by fanatic partisans, if your analysis here is correct.
- kenjackson 16y ago
  First, there's a difference between the teacher's union and teachers (just as all unions). Unions are generally partisan. Why? Because Republicans are anti-labor, hence anti-collective bargaining. The actual teachers probably lean left, as they're educated (who generally tend to lean left), but as most teachers aren't actively part of collective bargaining (although benefit from it) it usually isn't part of their calculus. Things like abortion, gay marriage, gun rights, taxation, affirmitive action, and other issues like that are likely just as important to any individual teacher.
  - jdminhbg 16y ago
    "The actual teachers probably lean left, as they're educated (who generally tend to lean left)" Nope: http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=539 http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=539
    - RK 16y ago
      Plots would really help that table. Edit: OK, I messed around with matplotlib and made a couple plots. This kind of data is not my specialty. The bottom plot groups the different Democratic and Republican categories into just Democratic and Republican. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/407960/political_parties_and_education.png http://dl.dropbox.com/u/407960/political_parties_and_educati... The strongest trend seems to be that people in the "strong Republican" group increase with educational attainment. I made the (poor?) assumption that teachers are most likely to fall into the graduate degree category, thus the bottom plot.

uvdiv 16y ago

And political -- an attempt to kill organizations that tend to be Democratic (this would be equivalent to trying to dismantle fundamentalist churches, as their Republican leaning). I'm sure that would be an issue if fundamentalist churches were funded with public taxes and compulsory to attend.

kenjackson 16y ago
Churches do get preferential tax treatment. But the problem with fundamentalist churches isn't in their existence, but rather their beliefs. The opposite is the problem that the right has with unions. They aren't against teachers per se, but they're against labor having any power -- regardless of what the profession is (and the fact that its public/private labor is a red herring).
- yummyfajitas 16y ago
  The right is against workers having the power to quit their job and find a better one? I was completely unaware of this. Could you tell me when the Republicans stopped being abolitionists?
  - kenjackson 16y ago
    The right is against workers having the power to quit their job and find a better one? I was completely unaware of this. As am I.

lionhearted 16y ago

> And political -- an attempt to kill organizations that tend to be Democratic (this would be equivalent to trying to dismantle fundamentalist churches, as their Republican leaning). Whoa, this just sunk in with me. I guess it's commonly accepted that most teacher's unions lean Democrat, but I never considered that the people educating children are fundamentally partisan. That's... kind of scary. Hell, you equate with them as the equivalent of the most fanatic members of the right. That really can't be good that the kids are being educated by fanatic partisans, if your analysis here is correct.

kenjackson 16y ago
First, there's a difference between the teacher's union and teachers (just as all unions). Unions are generally partisan. Why? Because Republicans are anti-labor, hence anti-collective bargaining. The actual teachers probably lean left, as they're educated (who generally tend to lean left), but as most teachers aren't actively part of collective bargaining (although benefit from it) it usually isn't part of their calculus. Things like abortion, gay marriage, gun rights, taxation, affirmitive action, and other issues like that are likely just as important to any individual teacher.
- jdminhbg 16y ago
  "The actual teachers probably lean left, as they're educated (who generally tend to lean left)" Nope: http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=539 http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=539
  - RK 16y ago
    Plots would really help that table. Edit: OK, I messed around with matplotlib and made a couple plots. This kind of data is not my specialty. The bottom plot groups the different Democratic and Republican categories into just Democratic and Republican. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/407960/political_parties_and_education.png http://dl.dropbox.com/u/407960/political_parties_and_educati... The strongest trend seems to be that people in the "strong Republican" group increase with educational attainment. I made the (poor?) assumption that teachers are most likely to fall into the graduate degree category, thus the bottom plot.