I bet it will be all public sector unions, that the public will grin and bear it if there is strikes. Since most of us do not have the perks and benefits that cushions life’s economic roller coaster, especially in today’s climbing prices in shelter, food, and transportation. Another 5 % increase by the grocery chains,  for groceries by May, on top of the 7 % increase predicted in consumer prices, which includes inflation. And on the economic pages, the good news is that as consumers are cutting back in non-essential items, the banks are raking in record profits. Increasing taxes, to pay for raises of public sector unions, will not be as easy as the unions thinks it will be, in the current economic picture.

can’t access this video. Apparently it’s unavailable to all locations of the province.

P.S. - all I got was a black, dead screen.

P.S.S. - If Wayne is still looking in here you might like to tune in to Paul Bennett’s educhatter to read Doug explaining to the folks there why you decided to leave the forum. I offer this only because things may not be as Doug is describing them to the educhatter group.

Try http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-february-28-2011/crisis-in-dairyland—-message-for-teachers

Is This Anti-Teacher Unions Or For Teacher Unions?

I was able to view Jon Stewart on:

http://dailyshow.thecomedynetwork.ca/

Now, I’ve seen it only once, the one about teacher unions and Scott Walker in Wisconsin….I thought it was a warning to teacher unions.

But a friend thought exactly opposite.  He says Jon Stewart is a lefty and is for teacher unions and is for the middle-class.  Stewart, my friend says, contrasts the teacher union pay against the Wall Street contracts and bonuses and high pay and they should have their high rewards cut back.

I have to see that episode again. Right now I’m watching Ravitch—someone I strongly dislike because I see her on the side of progressives and teacher unions.  She’s not in the public eye for any money considerations.  She has enough $ to leave the spotlight.  She’s one a mission.  What is it? 

For one thing, Ravitch is not on the side of parents at all.  In fact, she shows disdain and contempt for parents.  When I criticized her views on the Washington Post education blog, Ravitch’s secretary came on and showed quotes from Ravitch’s books.  These were simply the equivalent of “Parents do your job at home, prepare them for school, read to them, blah, blah, blah ... BUT leave school matters to the public school”.

Also, she’s squarely against school choice, so that again shows distrust of parents being able to make informed decisions for their children.

Furthermore, I do believe she is against diversity as it seems like she wants 100% of children to go to public schools with unionized teachers.  I believe this but don’t have any quotes to support this.

In her latest efforts she seems very one-sided—for the producer side, not for the consumer or taxpayer side.  No sympathy. On accountability she says: “Accountability as we know it now is not helping our schools.” In her latest book she spends oodles of space on how teachers, principals, districts “game the system”.

I do know that she is the darling of teacher unions and has honors from them and sits on some institute related to the now departed teacher union leader, Al Shanker, who never disavowed being called a Marxist.

Thanks Tunya, for the video clip. I should have thought to look for it on another network. I would like to add, after watching it I picked up the struggle to maintain the status-quo against the background of the economic woes. Somewhere in the future, governments of the world are going to pay a steep price, for not being cost-effective and avoiding restructuring. Centralization of government services are costing a sweet penny, and it is not the front-line workers that is at fault here, but rather the infrastructure and staff that is needed to micro-managed the schools. I believe the current situation in Canada will be to maintain the upper levels of the education system and its arms, at all costs, in order to maintain power and political control.  The lower levels, like teachers and the taxpayer will be the ones who are hit, to maintain the upper levels and their high salaries, that outstripped all salaries at the lower levels. Nothing makes me more angry than a educrat looking down at me with disdain, telling me in so many words, but without verbally saying the words, we know best to the parent or taxpayer. What is even worse, are the reasons and excuses that are hailing from the top when things do not work out well at the lower levels. One has to take their word, because there is no mechanism in place, to be able to check if their word is correct.

An audit should happen, taking piece by piece apart to be able to follow the money, and how it is spent. It would be no surprised to me, by micro-managing the schools, it prevents schools from doing their jobs, and in the end, no student has their learning needs addressed adequately.