I guess this is a dollar short and a day late since the election is over, but I came across a blog which is calling for reform of the Howard County Board of Education. On this blog you can watch a short trailer for a longer documentary about HoCo public schools (a link to the longer documentary is provided as well). I watched the trailer- Gail Bates appears in it for a few seconds although she didn't say anything useful (par for the course).
One thing going against educational choice and public school reform in this county and this state is the strength of the teachers union. As the landslide victory of slots proves, anything can get done in this town if it is strongly backed by the teachers union. Labor unions benefit their members at the expense of those who consume the services that the unionized labor provides. In other words, the teachers union works to benefit teachers, not students or parents. Go figure, the teachers union does not support public school choice.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
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3 comments:
Which explains a lot. Students are last on the list of importance, a mere irritation. The attitude about students is ridiculous, and the attitude about parents is worse in public school.
I just don't think you can possibly imagine how much the teachers care about the students and how hard they work daily to educate the children in the county. Yes, I am a teacher, but not a union member, I travel from school to school and see so much wisdom, caring, creativity and many successes. I feel that you are on the outside looking in, and without much knowledge.
Julia, I don’t know if your comment was directed at me or the anon commenter- for someone who claims to be a teacher you are not a clear communicator- but if you are going to paint a picture of public schools being an oasis of wisdom, caring, creativity and success, then I would think that you would embrace school vouchers and school choice. After all, if you think public schools are so wonderful, then surely those public schools could easily compete with private schools. Many of your unionized colleagues are unwilling to compete with the private sector. My guess is that concern for education has little to do with that decision.
You can tell me that I am an unknowledgeable outsider until you are blue in the face, but unless you are willing to have public schools compete with private schools I suggest that you are a special interest who lacks credibility.
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