Here’s the reality, our teachers don’t teach. We seem to have institutions that have been put on a pedestal in this country. Teachers and firemen head that list. Firemen due to 9-11.
Firemen, but not cops. We have shredded policemen due to incidents like Ferguson, MO.
Here’s the reality on firemen. I have a friend who is very close to how a fire department works in a small town. It worked pretty well until the union came in and now it’s broken badly. Demands by the union are crazy. Property taxes in this small community are outrageous. Services are not commensurate with the tax rate. Disability is rampant in the fire department. Too many officers and not enough firemen. This is consistent across the country. When you make heroes of all, and the unions know that’s the case, you will pay through the nose for good men and women who simply take advantage of the system. Yes, you want the firemen when you need them, but in so many cases it’s not a high risk call for the firemen.
Back to teachers. I have been on a kick about the fact that we love our teachers in this country. Like the firemen most are union employees. If we have such good teachers and we spend more than any other country in the world per capita for educating our kids, why do we have this?
In the test results for 34 countries the US ranks as follows: 17th in reading, 20th in science, and 27th in math. And, we are dropping not going up.
If this were a company in the Dow the shareholders would be howling. The board of directors would be changing management. The stock would be tanking. Bankruptcy would be on the horizon.
Yet we rock along doing the same thing the same way and keep saying , ‘we have really great teachers in this country”.
If so, why aren’t they teaching?
