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realist71 says:
For all of those who think merit pay is this magic cure all. What do you do if you teach special needs children? If you have children in your class who qualify under autistic or mental retardation, what are your chances under this so called wonder cure for education (merit pay)? It is easy to throw all of these wonderful ideas about the problems in education. Blame the teachers and the unions for all of the problems.

Get rid of tenure and then you get administrators who abuse their power and punish teachers who don't kiss worship at their feet. For you naysayers who don't think it happens, why don't you come into the profession and see for yourself. You can also have the honor of dealing with parents who think their children do no wrong.

By the way I teach special needs children. I enjoy working with them and am frustrated by the testing movement. My children make educational gains but they make it at their rate and should not be put into a one size fits all type of categorization such as NCLB.
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Syndicate says:
Merit pays a tough one. My wife is a teacher and for her just seeing the children learn is reward enough. Well that and her regular paycheck. I think merit pay may actually decrease the amount of good advice she has gotten from other teachers. The best advice she has received was to make the kids double check their work. She walks around during test and tells individual students to double check things. After doing this a few times it has become automatic for the kids. She also gets very excited when the kids do well and in return the kids strive to do well.
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Clemsson says:
Pretty typical liberal stance: No accountability. Just shovel more taxpayer money at the problem and close your eyes to the subsequent dismal results.

I say dissolve the Department of Education and return control of schools to local school districts. Private schools are much more successful at teaching our children, and they cost less!
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realist71 replies:
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Last time I checked private school was not cheaper. Secondly it is called private for a reason. They can select who is admitted into their school while the public school admits and serves all.
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obfusc8tr says:
I know teachers hate the "teach to the test" mentality, but if you've taught them all year your way, and they can't pass a simple test, how can you say that you did a better job? How can you say that they learned *anything?* Better that they learn what's on the test rather than nothing at all!
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Clemsson says:
Remove the image of the concerned, dedicated teacher from your mind. Substitute the image of a hard-nosed, closed-minded union hack who cares more about union POWER than teaching children. As with any union, they doggedly defend the incompetent in their ranks, amassing huge "war chests" to battle for bad apples simply based upon their union membership and with disregard to their worth as a teacher.

As with all unions, you hear about them most often not in an education context, but in a political context. Ads flood the airwaves and pages of newspapers instructing you to vote this way or that, or in a thinly veiled fashion, for this candidate or the other. If unions spent their budgets improving the quality of their membership rather than trying to push a liberal political agenda, they might garner some respect.

I know that if I see the NEA or a local teachers union favoring a political cause, I will vote the OPPOSITE of what they propose. That is a sure way of knowing you are on the right side of an issue.

Unions never saw a tax proposal they didn't support, and never admitted a member they didn't doggedly defend, as if they are gifted by God to be flawless saints. It makes me laugh when they demand respect based solely upon their career choice. "I'm a TEACHER," they exclaim, as if that SETTLES some issue and negates any view but their own. How arrogant.
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NoEasyAnswers replies:
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Hey Clemsson -- How about I put it this way -- I (mostly) your own words: "Remove the image of the concerned, dedicated citizen from your mind. Substitute the image of a hard-nosed, closed-minded political hack who cares more about their party's POWER than teaching children." There! How does that sound? -- I really believe that you really know NOTHING about what it takes to be a good teacher who cares about and works with kids -- Maybe even your kids -- But I do believe that you DO know about spreading the "lies" you've come to believe! How sad!
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fedup12 says:
IDK about merit pay working but I sure as heckfire know that paying them just to warm the front of a classroom does not work.

Tenure smenure.
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Clemsson replies:
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I'm really sick of how teachers put themselves up on a pedestal. Their self-image of the god-like hero, who should be sainted for lowering themselves to teach YOUR idiot children, is REALLY getting old.

And their contempt for parents, as illustrated again and again in these posts, makes me want to vomit.
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jankebenzone says:
Actually, the whole concept of merit or performance pay is good idea, esp. for the unionists who all too often are over paid and under worked. If America wants to get back in the global market, every one will have to do with less.
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Wolf1944 says:
One of the main things wrong with education is education majors. Having taught in two universities, I have experienced over and over the education major who keeps whining, "I shouldn't have to learn English/math/science/history/anything of any nature whatever."

Get rid of the bachelor's in education. Require a degree in a real subject with a teaching certificate or an MS in education.
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roach9703 replies:
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But, forget about the MS in education unless it is a M. ED in a real subjects like MSc or Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science,etc.
realist71 replies:
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Come and teach in an innercity school instead of your ivory tower.
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centralcacoast says:
Maybe the uptick in the Florida's school rating was because of the 29 replaced teachers, not the extra bucks. Furthermore, any teacher can prepare for a test..but do the students learn anything else? Any teacher that spends a year training a class for one test is bound to excel at that test.
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trillion1 says:
If it weren't for their union half the teachers would be kicked to the curb. We know one who thinks female students are there for sex, one math teacher who can't do simple math in his head and another hasn't got the common sense of a gnat. All making at least $50K and not even working a full year.
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3/5