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I recently encountered a Reddit comment that might clear your confusion, paraphrased thusly: "We never see the any teachers union consistently come out in defen

I recently encountered a Reddit comment that might clear your confusion, paraphrased thusly: "We never see the any teachers union consistently come out in defense of pedophiles amongst their members"

refurb 6y ago
Clearly untrue. You've heard of the "rubber rooms" correct?
thaumasiotes 6y ago
We see that all the time. You can read articles in major newspapers about the "rubber rooms" where teachers who can't be fired -- but who certainly also can't be put in front of a class -- are required to spend their workdays.
- lazyasciiart 6y ago
  If police unions would do that to the officers who kill or beat prisoners, many people would be satisfied.
  - fingerlocks 6y ago
    I would not be satisfied if my tax dollars paid the salary of police officers that killed and beat people, rubber room or otherwise.
    - infogulch 6y ago
      I would be more satisfied with a rubber room than the scenario where they are paid to actively beat and kill people.
- anonAndOn 6y ago
  In at least one major school district, the beginning the year shuffle for matching the unfilled classrooms with the unwanted staffing is called the "Dance of the Lemons". Those that don't get an assignment are still clocking in every day at HQ & assigned useless tasks like creating lesson plans (that nobody will ever use). Wouldn't that be great if violent cops were assigned to create Public Safety materials all day that went straight into the bin? They can't be fired so their job is to do something completely worthless until they quit.
  - twic 6y ago
    Years ago, the police wronged me, and i raised a successful complaint. I got an apologetic phone call from an officer who, i got the impression, had the job of sitting in a police station making apologetic phone calls. He spent about forty seconds apologising, then went on an umprompted several-minute rant about how the police knew who all the criminals were, and if the government would just give them guns (this was in the UK), they could end crime tomorrow. I think it's simply connecting the dots to assume he was stuck on phone duty because he was a colossal liability to have walking around in public.
    - collyw 6y ago
      BLM protests showed the police to be quite useless in the UK.
- jakelazaroff 6y ago
  Why can’t they be fired? AFAIK, tenure generally does not protect teachers who do grossly illegal acts, such as assaulting a student.
  - moduspol 6y ago
    How do you know they've done it? Do you have to leave them in front of kids teaching students until they're convicted? What if that takes months? Or never actually happens? But the teacher has crossed the line inappropriately enough times that no parent wants their kid in the same room with him? In the most positive light, a union might protect a genuinely good teacher being unfairly accused or targeted for political reasons from being put out of work. But sometimes following the processes for ensuring that can be so unreasonable to work through on a practical level that it's easier to just keep them employed but away from students until it gets resolved or they quit. There's a famous PDF that gets shared when this comes up (although it's geared toward an incompetent teacher): https://reason.com/wp-content/uploads/assets/db/12639308918768.pdf https://reason.com/wp-content/uploads/assets/db/126393089187...
  - DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
    US teacher salaries are abysmal. When education funding gets cut the school boards the unions successfully negotiate stronger employment protections (after all, if a job pays poorly you need to attract employees some other way, such as good PTO, benefits, or in this case: a job for life). It’s also entirely possible that even without the unions, the school boards don’t want to get rid of bad teachers simply because they’re already, and chronically, understaffed.
    - DuskStar 6y ago
      US teacher salaries aren't nearly so bad as you're thinking. Median is around $60k, which compares favorably to the median household income of $59k - and teachers get better benefits, too. Yes, it's not tech-level pay. But it's not exactly "abysmal" either.
      - heavyset_go 6y ago

I recently encountered a Reddit comment that might clear your confusion, paraphrased thusly: "We never see the any teachers union consistently come out in defense of pedophiles amongst their members"

refurb 6y ago

Clearly untrue. You've heard of the "rubber rooms" correct?

thaumasiotes 6y ago

We see that all the time. You can read articles in major newspapers about the "rubber rooms" where teachers who can't be fired -- but who certainly also can't be put in front of a class -- are required to spend their workdays.

lazyasciiart 6y ago
If police unions would do that to the officers who kill or beat prisoners, many people would be satisfied.
- fingerlocks 6y ago
  I would not be satisfied if my tax dollars paid the salary of police officers that killed and beat people, rubber room or otherwise.
  - infogulch 6y ago
    I would be more satisfied with a rubber room than the scenario where they are paid to actively beat and kill people.
anonAndOn 6y ago
In at least one major school district, the beginning the year shuffle for matching the unfilled classrooms with the unwanted staffing is called the "Dance of the Lemons". Those that don't get an assignment are still clocking in every day at HQ & assigned useless tasks like creating lesson plans (that nobody will ever use). Wouldn't that be great if violent cops were assigned to create Public Safety materials all day that went straight into the bin? They can't be fired so their job is to do something completely worthless until they quit.
- twic 6y ago
  Years ago, the police wronged me, and i raised a successful complaint. I got an apologetic phone call from an officer who, i got the impression, had the job of sitting in a police station making apologetic phone calls. He spent about forty seconds apologising, then went on an umprompted several-minute rant about how the police knew who all the criminals were, and if the government would just give them guns (this was in the UK), they could end crime tomorrow. I think it's simply connecting the dots to assume he was stuck on phone duty because he was a colossal liability to have walking around in public.
  - collyw 6y ago
    BLM protests showed the police to be quite useless in the UK.
jakelazaroff 6y ago
Why can’t they be fired? AFAIK, tenure generally does not protect teachers who do grossly illegal acts, such as assaulting a student.
- moduspol 6y ago
  How do you know they've done it? Do you have to leave them in front of kids teaching students until they're convicted? What if that takes months? Or never actually happens? But the teacher has crossed the line inappropriately enough times that no parent wants their kid in the same room with him? In the most positive light, a union might protect a genuinely good teacher being unfairly accused or targeted for political reasons from being put out of work. But sometimes following the processes for ensuring that can be so unreasonable to work through on a practical level that it's easier to just keep them employed but away from students until it gets resolved or they quit. There's a famous PDF that gets shared when this comes up (although it's geared toward an incompetent teacher): https://reason.com/wp-content/uploads/assets/db/12639308918768.pdf https://reason.com/wp-content/uploads/assets/db/126393089187...
- DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
  US teacher salaries are abysmal. When education funding gets cut the school boards the unions successfully negotiate stronger employment protections (after all, if a job pays poorly you need to attract employees some other way, such as good PTO, benefits, or in this case: a job for life). It’s also entirely possible that even without the unions, the school boards don’t want to get rid of bad teachers simply because they’re already, and chronically, understaffed.
  - DuskStar 6y ago
    US teacher salaries aren't nearly so bad as you're thinking. Median is around $60k, which compares favorably to the median household income of $59k - and teachers get better benefits, too. Yes, it's not tech-level pay. But it's not exactly "abysmal" either.
    - heavyset_go 6y ago