Re: [Phys-l] Kozol fasts to protest NCLB - defense of unions

[Rick Tarara <rtarara@saintmarys.edu>]

While I fully understand the reasons for the 'need' for teacher's unions in 
public education, the net effect has not been entirely positive.  In my 
mind, the most serious problem with unions is that they foster a 
'blue-collar' attitude on the part of far too many teachers.  That is, way 
too many teachers are 'punching the clock' rather than being professional 
educators.  That, unfortunately, seems to be the nature of the union beast. 
[Seen personally and related to me by my wife who spent half her career in 
public schools--never a willful member of the union--both as teacher and 
administrator.]  When teachers act like teamsters, they will be viewed in 
the same light--perhaps positively by other union members but negatively by 
the general public.

Teacher salaries are not necessarily out of step.  Look at the average 
income of American workers and look at experienced teacher salaries--and 
compare those to other government workers--never losing site of the fact 
that these are nine-month jobs (for the most part) -- with many more 
holidays than the general worker.  Yes I know all the outside work that many 
put in, but not everyone is as dedicated as the people on this list or their 
immediate compatriots.  The public perception is that teachers have 20-25% 
fewer work days than most people for salaries that range from 30 up to 
80,000 dollars a year.  Sure if you choose to live and work in San Francisco 
you can only afford a 3rd floor walkup, 3 room apartment, but you can get 
'free' health care from the local socialist government.  ;-)   At least 
around here (Midwest) the top end of public teachers salaries are about the 
same as associate/full professor salaries at smaller colleges (which is 
either a sign of good teacher pay or lousy College pay).

The 'merit' component of those salaries is only in the educational level 
which is folded into the years of experience to set the pay scales. 
Unfortunately, that system then promotes a cottage industry of educational 
businesses that provide academic credit for various workshops that too often 
are taken ONLY to get the credit--not to improve skills and knowledge (part 
of the 'blue-collar' thing.)

As with most human endeavor, there is good and bad with unions.  They do 
protect workers from the abuses that seem to naturally flow from management, 
but when they get big and powerful, they seem to morph into a kind of 
abusive management of their own.  [Locally we've had illegal strikes with 
the union and union members abusing those who chose to remain law abiding 
and continued to work.]   Then there are the economics.  The UAW may have 
gotten high wages for its workers, but those same high wages have crippled 
the American auto industry.  There is no mystery why unskilled and 
semi-skilled labor jobs are being outsourced--the cost of local labor. 
That's not to say American workers should be paid Chinese wages--it is 
costly to export the technology and import the goods--all of which can go 
into higher wages here, but when the labor costs are many times what can be 
had on the world market, just what has been accomplished.  {Compare the 
hourly rate for teachers and auto workers!}

So, IMO, unions--more importantly the attitudes fostered by unions amongst 
what should be a highly professional group of people--is part of the 
problem.  Administrations are clearly another.  But I do agree with John 
that without more support from the home--the task of educating our children 
will be extremely difficult.  Now if we want to get into political 
philosophies and tossing around blame for things--we could look at the 
disintegration of the family and cultural (sub-cultural) attitudes towards 
education, but maybe we should skip that for now.  ;-)

Rick



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Barrer" <forcejb@yahoo.com>
> Finally, I would argue that teachers unions have
> generally been unsuccessful at maintaining the
> standard of living of most teachers, relative to the
> rest of the workforce. So, on several grounds, I
> believe that portraying teacher's unions as a
> significant part of the problems facing our schools is
> just a bit disingenuous. I think the real emphasis
> ought to be on dramatically increasing out-of-school
> (parents,etc)support  of and co-operation with the
> in-school educational process. I have no insight as to
> how to accomplish this, but I don't think it's an
> issue that can dealt with by classroom teachers.
>
> John BArrere