4 ms·

While I'm sympathetic to the struggle teachers have, the line about taking advice from your child's teacher like you'd take advice from your lawyer or doctor re

While I'm sympathetic to the struggle teachers have, the line about taking advice from your child's teacher like you'd take advice from your lawyer or doctor really irked me. You can choose your lawyer, choose your doctor, choose your auto mechanic etc. You can take their advice, look for someone different or just seek a second opinion. For parents with children in public school they have no choice who teaches their children.

mtviewdave 15y ago
My parents would always meet with the principal before the school year started, to discuss who would be teaching my sister and me. They even got my sister transferred to a different teacher mid-year at one point, because she couldn't make it work with the teacher she had (I had had the same teacher myself incidentally; it wasn't that the teacher was bad, but that different teachers work better for different students). I can't speak for everywhere, of course, but my parents absolutely had a choice as to who would teach their children.
bradfa 15y ago
Well, if you can't afford private doctors or lawyers, you get what the government provides when you are in dire need of doctor or lawyer services. You're stuck with what the state or other overseeing entity is willing to provide. If you want someone better, you pay for it personally. Get arrested, can't afford your own lawyer, you get one for free provided by the state. You don't get to choose. Get really sick and rushed to the hospital, you get a doctor for free provided by the state or hospital. You don't get to choose. Car breaks, tough shit. State's not going to pay to fix it. Ride the government subsided bus. Lose your job, get welfare and food stamps. Go find another one yourself. Same goes for education. Don't like your kid's teacher or school, go pay for a private school or tutor or home school. That's how everything in life is. If you don't like what's provided by your government for "free," go pay for your own. "Free" as in you are required to pay taxes, it's compulsory. Same way you pay for public defenders for those who can't afford (or don't want) to hire their own lawyers, you will pay for public schools for those who can't afford (or don't want) private ones. Deal with it.
- jasongullickson 15y ago
  I think you're missing adamtmca's point, which is that when you are given advice from someone who you have no opportunity to evaluate their capabilities it is necessary to question their advice when it contradicts your own evaluation of the situation. In the scenario you present, I would expect adamtmca to question advice from the appointed physician, lawyer, etc. as they would that of the public schoolteacher. I'd go even further to state that you should aways question the assertions of specialists regardless of their credentials or prior experience when their opinion does not agree with your own; any rational professional should be capable of explaining there position reasonably and if they cannot, then further evaluation is in order.
  - adamtmca 15y ago
    Exactly. Of course I wasn't asserting that in every situation you are able to choose the specialist you work with. I was pointing out that public school parents have little to no opportunity to evaluate and choose their children's teachers and, understandably, this makes accepting a teacher's opinion carte blanche seem pretty unreasonable, even foolish. Picking who teaches your children should be nothing like arriving in the emergency room with a bullet wound. It's not hard to conceive of a public education system where parents are given a lot more choice about the teachers teaching their children.
- OstiaAntica 15y ago
  There's no reason the government can't provide a voucher that allows a child to attend the public or private school of their choice.
  - nitrogen 15y ago
    Actually, there is: public school teachers' unions lobby against school vouchers. Since they have twice or more the budget of any private school groups advocating for vouchers, the populace is convinced that vouchers are evil. This happened in my state: those advocating for vouchers mailed a folded 8"x10" flyer to voters. In response, the teachers' union mailed a folded 16"x20" flyer.

mtviewdave 15y ago

My parents would always meet with the principal before the school year started, to discuss who would be teaching my sister and me. They even got my sister transferred to a different teacher mid-year at one point, because she couldn't make it work with the teacher she had (I had had the same teacher myself incidentally; it wasn't that the teacher was bad, but that different teachers work better for different students). I can't speak for everywhere, of course, but my parents absolutely had a choice as to who would teach their children.

bradfa 15y ago

Well, if you can't afford private doctors or lawyers, you get what the government provides when you are in dire need of doctor or lawyer services. You're stuck with what the state or other overseeing entity is willing to provide. If you want someone better, you pay for it personally. Get arrested, can't afford your own lawyer, you get one for free provided by the state. You don't get to choose. Get really sick and rushed to the hospital, you get a doctor for free provided by the state or hospital. You don't get to choose. Car breaks, tough shit. State's not going to pay to fix it. Ride the government subsided bus. Lose your job, get welfare and food stamps. Go find another one yourself. Same goes for education. Don't like your kid's teacher or school, go pay for a private school or tutor or home school. That's how everything in life is. If you don't like what's provided by your government for "free," go pay for your own. "Free" as in you are required to pay taxes, it's compulsory. Same way you pay for public defenders for those who can't afford (or don't want) to hire their own lawyers, you will pay for public schools for those who can't afford (or don't want) private ones. Deal with it.

jasongullickson 15y ago
I think you're missing adamtmca's point, which is that when you are given advice from someone who you have no opportunity to evaluate their capabilities it is necessary to question their advice when it contradicts your own evaluation of the situation. In the scenario you present, I would expect adamtmca to question advice from the appointed physician, lawyer, etc. as they would that of the public schoolteacher. I'd go even further to state that you should aways question the assertions of specialists regardless of their credentials or prior experience when their opinion does not agree with your own; any rational professional should be capable of explaining there position reasonably and if they cannot, then further evaluation is in order.
- adamtmca 15y ago
  Exactly. Of course I wasn't asserting that in every situation you are able to choose the specialist you work with. I was pointing out that public school parents have little to no opportunity to evaluate and choose their children's teachers and, understandably, this makes accepting a teacher's opinion carte blanche seem pretty unreasonable, even foolish. Picking who teaches your children should be nothing like arriving in the emergency room with a bullet wound. It's not hard to conceive of a public education system where parents are given a lot more choice about the teachers teaching their children.
OstiaAntica 15y ago
There's no reason the government can't provide a voucher that allows a child to attend the public or private school of their choice.
- nitrogen 15y ago
  Actually, there is: public school teachers' unions lobby against school vouchers. Since they have twice or more the budget of any private school groups advocating for vouchers, the populace is convinced that vouchers are evil. This happened in my state: those advocating for vouchers mailed a folded 8"x10" flyer to voters. In response, the teachers' union mailed a folded 16"x20" flyer.