by David Safier
I am now and always have been a union man, and especially a teacher union man. Without the unions, school conditions would be dramatically worse for students and for teachers.
Having said that, I always felt uncomfortable when the union protected teachers who weren't any good at their jobs. Every time I saw those teachers, it upset me to think about how destructive they were to the students who passed through their classrooms, and it rankled that so much effort went into helping them keep their jobs.
I understand and respect the union's argument. If the union doesn't protect all its members as a matter of principle, teachers are going to be subject to arbitrary firings, experienced teachers will be cut and replaced by less expensive younger teachers, teachers will be afraid to stand up to administrators, and so on. I agree with the principle.
But I'm willing to bet, in most schools you could find reasonable consensus among teachers and administrators on which teachers truly don't belong in the classroom. In an exceptional school, all the teachers may range from competent to strong and all of them should stay in the profession. But in other schools, you could pinpoint, say, 10% of the staff that wasn't getting the job done — the bottom 2-3 at a small school with 20-30 teachers, the bottom 8-12 in a larger school with 80-120 teachers.
To allow those teachers to continue standing in front of classrooms when most people agree they're giving their students sub par educations is simply wrong.
The dangerous movement to wipe out teacher tenure completely has grown lately. Its promoters tend to be anti-union and are often anti-public school to boot.
And their primary argument for ending tenure is, We have to stop protecting bad teachers just because they've been around for a long time.
Unions need to find a way to defuse the main argument of the anti-tenure crowd by working with school districts to weed out the poorest teachers quickly and effectively without sacrificing legitimate protections for the rest of the staff. I don't know what the solution is, but I know it involves the union, teachers and administrators working together to make tough, uncomfortable decisions which will do the most good for children and the least harm to good, dedicated teachers.
If unions refuse to budge on this issue, more states are going to pass draconian anti-tenure laws like the one Arizona passed this year. The union needs to make the difficult but necessary adjustments which have the potential to benefit everyone involved — with the exception of teachers who should not be teaching in the first place.
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Both comments above are correct. The “real” problem is that it is easy to scape-goat teachers. They are in the classroom and very visible as the primary contact with the students. The REAL problem with the schools is waaaaay more complicated. It is the condition of our society where it now takes 2 parents working at least one job – sometimes 2 jobs – stressed with LIFE and the schools are a very handy target. My solution? Get the entire community involved in supporting and working with students and the educational system. Steve Gall is retired. He coaches kids in tennis and is running all over the state trying to get someone – preferably everyone – to understand the need for recess!
My solution for the problem is for all of “us” – whoever “us” may be – get behind our schools. Work with Reading Seed. Establish and volunteer for mentoring programs. TAKE RESPPONSIBILITY! Each and everyone of us – take responsibility for helping and quit blaming “them” – whoever your “them” might be. And look at the alternative – no public schools – which regrettably, many in our legislature seem to support? The public school system is the greatest contribution to our society. We all have a stake in its success so let’s get busy!
Although I agree that bad teachers should be “weeded out” – when will bad administrators be weeded out? It seems that bad and terrible management continue to be protected in any industry, including education.
What I do think happens, in this situation and repeatedly everywhere else, when you ‘weed out’ the bad (who defines bad?) then next round, you weed out more. It continues to raise the standard higher and higher, so that good becomes the weakest, and next round they are ‘weeded out.’ It continues to make impossible goals for the average worker. And we all know that most people fit into the ‘average’ category. I am sick of repeatedly being asked to do more and more, higher and higher goals and objectives to the point of exhaustion. (I do not work in the education field).
It is the philosophy of Enron. It was a hit job, continually ‘getting rid’ of some. In fact, the managers there were ‘forced’ to pick out someone on a regular basis. It makes terrible pressure on employees, and can lead to cheating and falsifying results by those who have no morals.
I am not sure if this is correct, but I think there may be a natural selection within the system as well. I do not teach because I would not like dealing with 25-30 children every day. I would likely be a good teacher (for adults) but not for children. This is the reason I do not work there, and I suspect those who do not like teaching would not stay.
Principals can fire bad teachers, whether the teachers are old-timers or newbies.
It is a several step process that requires work, work that some principals don’t don’t want to do.
But it is not impossible, not even difficult, just takes some time and effort. So the anti-tenure crowd is using a straw-man argument when they start railing against unions and teachers. This is really about something else than the idea that principals can’t fire bad teachers because of union rules. I have seen two principals go through the steps to fire experienced teachers. Not mission impossible; it’s actually entirely possible.
Another variable in the equation though, one that doesn’t get mentioned, is there is a dearth of very skilled replacements….and principals know this. It’s not easy to find a person who can walk into a 7th grade English class and be very successful. This is one reason why seasoned principals would rather invest time in trying to motivate or rehabilitate an old teacher rather than spending time and energy to fire him/her. It’s almost impossible to find really skilled newbies.