Why Scott Walker Must Win

[the atomic punk]

Not in my area. Maybe a shortage in the inner cities...who'd want to go there? And yes, good teachers can be had for less than $75,000. A lot of university lectures and professors make less than that.

A lot of public school teachers make less than that too, $75,000 is the average.

According to the the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as quoted from the American Association of University Professors 2008-09 survey, the average salary for professors was $108,749; associate professors earned $76,147; assistant professors earned $63,827; instructors earned $45,977; and lecturers earned $52,436. That's without benifts and that is for dealing with college age students who presumably want to be there.

I always find it funny that none of the people who think teachers are getting such a great deal ever go into teaching. I wouldn't deal with a bunch of snotty nosed brats every day for twice what they are making.

[bueno bob]

Honestly, to my mind, it's not the teachers that need more money. I find it amusing that people just go ahead and assume that a teachers individual paycheck is what I'm talking about when I talk about refinancing the education system. I think it's pretty apparent, though, that the overall education system in the U.S. is falling behind because the school systems are not funded properly (with one kid in middle school, one kid in high school and another going to college in August, I've felt the brunt of that and seen it first hand), classes are overcrowded and there is a significant shortage of qualified teachers to handle the workload.

Still, it's important to remember that it's not just teachers we're talking about in Wisconsin, we're talking overall union busting here...the people being impacted are not just teachers and it's not just an argument for what will or won't fix education...

[jhale667]

So who should fix it? The KKKoch brothers? Or should we just close all the public schools and force every kid into right wing religious indoctrination camps, paid for with public money (like Chuck Norris wants)

Here's a question: Wouldn't that somehow violate separation of church and state, if those parents are using state money fund pushing that tripe on their poor kids?? I mean, my parents didn't get breaks for sending me to private schools, they busted their asses to afford it...(and while I DID end up better off in the scholastic sense than the other kids in my neighborhood, I still renounced the religious BS as soon as I was old enough to think for myself)

It sure sounds better than possibly turning out with your mentality...

NEWSFLASH: Yeah...you've got no room to criticize ANYONE's "mentality" fuckwit.

[Seshmeister]

Looks like the governor is going to lose.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_state_surveys/wisconsin/wisconsin_governor_walker_43_approval_rating

It’s also interesting to note that among households with children in the public school system, only 32% approve of the governor’s performance. Sixty-seven percent (67%) disapprove, including 54% who Strongly Disapprove.

This may be partly due to the fact that 77% of Wisconsin voters have a favorable opinion of the state’s public school teachers. However, only 50% have a favorable opinion of the teachers’ union.

[Seshmeister]

You are quoting Drudge now. While it's true that 2/3 of WI 8th graders can't read "proficiently" (meaning at or above grade level, not that they "can't read"), that is sadly above the national average.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201102220030

[bueno bob]

Looks like the governor is going to lose.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/publ...pproval_rating

Yep...you can ball-bust and beat your chest and spread lies, misinformation and wholesale bullshit to mental midgets all day long, but at the end of the day, SANE people know what's right and what's wrong and can, in fact, draw a clear line between the two.

Nice to see we're still the majority.

[ELVIS]

NEWSFLASH: Yeah...you've got no room to criticize ANYONE's "mentality" fuckwit.

I've got room to criticize ANYONE's "mentality" I want, coward...

[bueno bob]

I've got room to criticize ANYONE's "mentality" I want, coward...

How very Christ-like of you.

[FORD]

Verily.....

[Seshmeister]

Some teachers are doing a decent job...

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[Dr. Love]

$75,000 is stilll too high. The fucks don't even want to contribute to their own healthcare or pension costs.

lol?

$75,000 (pay + benefits) per year is considered too much? Do you know how much teachers work? Have you ever considered how much it would cost someone to babysit 200+ children a day, much less teach them anything? Let me put it this way -- would you be willing to put up with a bunch of hormonal children, their upset parents and all the hours you have to spend writing lesson plans, grading papers, doing conferences and sponsoring extracurricular activities for only $75k a year (certainly less in actual pay)?

My wife is a teacher, and the desire to make a difference in the lives of kids drives her to keep going more than the pay or benefits, which is sad. She would make a LOT more money in the professional field when total compensation is factored.

[chefcraig]

lol?

$75,000 (pay + benefits) per year is considered too much? Do you know how much teachers work? Have you ever considered how much it would cost someone to babysit 200+ children a day, much less teach them anything? Let me put it this way -- would you be willing to put up with a bunch of hormonal children, their upset parents and all the hours you have to spend writing lesson plans, grading papers, doing conferences and sponsoring extracurricular activities for only $75k a year (certainly less in actual pay)?

My wife is a teacher, and the desire to make a difference in the lives of kids drives her to keep going more than the pay or benefits, which is sad. She would make a LOT more money in the professional field when total compensation is factored.

Also, there is a laundry list of intangibles that are never even mentioned in the job description, which are unjustly taken for granted and glossed over by anyone outside the profession. For instance, what of individual counseling, the sympathetic ear lent not for pay but by compassion which self obsessed, asshole parents or siblings fail to provide? What of role modeling, of trying to make a difference when the pay scale and odds are against you, set by the absurd amount of children that are crammed into your classroom? For teachers dealing with "students" above kindergarten, what of threats of violence or assault brought on by simply doing your fucking job everyday? What of work taken home, as there simply are not enough hours in the workday to complete it? The fact is, these people put in around seventy hours per week at their job, and wind up being payed less than minimum wage for their efforts, without the benefit of overtime pay and with little (if any) compensation beyond that.

In an ideal world, teachers would be paid like rock stars. Yet in this one, instead we have self-important dimwits like Charlie Sheen thumbing his nose at his employers, (who idiotically pay the shithead 2 million dollars per episode for his "skills") and getting fired, all the while claiming it as a victory. In the same amount of time his apparently important show has been on the air, it's likely that hundreds of thousands of people who would have made a difference in how our kids were raised (and ultimately how this nation will eventually be) have made the decision to either leave the teaching profession or have chosen not to enter it in the first place. Compound that with slashed budgets by governments or municipalities along with ass-backward thinking and expectations by those who just happen NOT to be educators, is it any wonder why this country appears to headed towards (if not already in) the shitter?

[jhale667]

I've got room to criticize ANYONE's "mentality" I want, coward...

No, you don't - you pathetic little "man". You live in a partially-submerged glass trailer. STFU.

How very Christ-like of you.

Verily.....

He went to Bible school to learn to be more judgmental, apparently...

[sadaist]

lol?

$75,000 (pay + benefits) per year is considered too much?

ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY!


Considering that the majority of the people who are funding that $75k per year job are themselves only pulling in $40k on average. And pay much more in health & benefits coverages. Not to mention funding their own retirements. Oh, and the fact that it's nearly impossible to lose their jobs and they get a fuckload of days off (holidays, vacation, sick days, pto, flex). Oh, and their shit services they provide (been to the DMV?). At least they only have to provide those services from 9-4 (closed from 12-1 for lunch of course).

FUCK THEM ALL! Greedy bastards.

[Dr. Love]

Fuck all those greedy bastards, huh. I assume by that you are referring to the ones that offered to take reduced pay to help mitigate the budget problems but were told that wasn't enough?

That sure does sound greedy!