"While plenty of the blowback teachers as a group are receiving is fair and reasonable considering the context of nearly a year of shuttered schools... .". Experts say that it's possible to open schools safely, not that you can just open schools and call it safe. If I as an educator got the accomodations that hospital workers got I would be happy to go back- if I weren't pregnant.
I am a Covid ICU nurse. Our unit has two negative airflow rooms (out of 14), we don’t use either because - why bother? My colleagues and I - up to 9 or 10 nurses, 2 or 3 respiratory therapists, and our aides - share a break room smaller than my bathroom (about 8x10). Most of us eat at the nurses station...in a unit SURROUNDED by a deadly virus. I’m pretty fortunate that I work for a hospital that at least provided N95’s and hospital gowns; at my former hospital, my former colleagues were wearing literal trash bags and were asked to bring their own cloth masks, even bandanas, to protect themselves, until they could get a supply in. We don’t get social distancing opportunities, and I’m in close contact with well over a hundred people a day.
So sure, take my “accommodations”. I mean, it’s not like school districts haven’t had a LITERAL YEAR of child-free buildings to unstick windows, improve ventilation, repair plumbing, etc, and want to use US as the litmus for safety. Nobody’s paying any attention to how many of us have died, yet every teacher death is written up in great detail - even if they were remote only and likely got it from the grocery store; the bias is glaring. If our accommodations are what you’re really waiting for, you could have gone back ages ago.
Unfortunately I think the profession of teaching just attracts lazy, I want to take the easy way out and not be held accountable people. Many factors go into this...their cake schedule, the protection they have, their hours, lifetime pensions, and benefits.
I was with you until the end. The complaining parents are a privileged group that are used to getting everything they wanted when they bought into their school district and now hopefully have learned their lesson and will help the other struggling parents who have struggled with the schools bc they are poor. Wow!
Bottom line is teachers in most of the country negotiated jumping in line ahead of this with a fifty percent chance of death of they got COVID, and whether good or bad teachers in an ethical or occupational sense, as is the case for all unions, ALL the teachers benefit.
Why on earth we are still talking about not opening schools full time is a corruption scandal of epic proportions. May I remind you a few months back EVERY. SINGLE. LOST. JOB. For that week was a woman. Nationally.
They got to jump the line and get a vaccine and now it’s time to teach.
Shame on you for gaslighting parents writing about their abuse then abusing them.
....and maybe you are thinking outside of the NYC context only but most parents who can buy into a district can also buy into private school and their take away is likely “I tried but I do t want to sacrifice my kid for my equality ideal” (see podcast “Nice White Parents”, which despite the name really depicts reality and humans of any color quite well). Then also there are parents of kids with IEPs who struggle hard to get their kids into a supportive school. Your intentions may be good but the last paragraph is really tone deaf.
This is a broad generalization, but teachers are generally not the brightest members of our society. Of the many teachers I know in the Chicago area, most are the type that scored a 21 on their ACT and got a "masters degree" from some bogus university to increase their pay and pension. There are certainly exceptions, but mediocre intelligence, limited life experience from decades in public schools, and the safety of being un-fireable with lifetime pensions makes teachers too callous, self-centered, and ignorant of the often harsh realities of life the rest of us deal with. Who would you rather have teaching your kids about science - a certified professional engineer with real world experience? Someone who built a business or developed some useful innovation? Or some guy who went to Illinois State University and has done nothing but taught his whole professional life? These people are a joke for the most part, and like any organized syndicate a variety of entrenched interests keep them enshrined in their positions. If we want to solve this mess, I believe the biggest impediment is rethinking the process of accreditation, letting more meritorious members of the community get involved in the classroom, making school bidding processes (ie for building contractors) more open to scrutiny, and replacing standardized curricula with an emphasis on actual learning. If free-thinking private schools can do it, public schools can too. First, taxpayers need to organize to take control of the public resources THEY pay for.
I appreciate your vote of confidence, but neither I nor most people with kids have the time or financial flexibility to pursue an MAT from a legitimate school. If there was a way to teach a couple classes or a day a week in my subject area I (and I'd guess many others) would do it in a heartbeat. I hasten to add - my wife is a former teacher and I have many friends who teach. My comment probably comes off pretty harsh, and reflects my own observation that I grew up with some really committed, eclectic, inspiring teachers, and right now see a lot of people looking at it as a career with unlimited job safety rather than a vocation or public service.
Your comment is harsh and you're wrapping up your politics and using it to impugn a profession. The requirements for the job when you were a kid were basically the same. It's a little more difficult today because teachers are now required to demonstrate subject matter competency which was not required in earlier eras.
It's a pretty easy thing to criticize when you're not doing it, especially when the path is fairly open and apparantly doesn't require too much intellectual skill as you suggest.
Who said anything about politics? I object to the idea that public employees can and would hold children hostage. They are demonstrating both a lack of character in putting themselves before the community, and a lack of intellect in thinking children represent any threat to their well-being. We have plenty of data and side-by-side comparisons to show that full-time, in person learning, masks optional, will have no effect on the spread of Covid, which is an endemic, seasonal virus that is not very dangerous unless you're 85 and in hospice care. "Oh, but Dr. Fauci told us to wear 3 masks!" I would like to expect that the people spending all day with my child, many of whom are making 6-figure incomes, have the critical thinking skills to figure out what is now obvious to the majority of the population.
You know where you lost me this year? When my kid was in an "active shooter drill" that was modified to keep the kids over 6 feet apart so they didn't get covid while they were hiding from imaginary madmen. Public school has never been perfect, but it has become the refuge of the braindead.
Dude you're all over the place. I guess you're really making use of that axe grinder you got for Christmas. Good for you.
I don't know how you can claim that you're not saying anything about politics. Are you for real? Everything you said is political.
Public employees are holding children hostage? Yeah that's not dramatic at all. Jeez. Sounds like you would be better off keeping your kids at home. That way no teacher will take them hostage and you'll have control.
Maybe you should go ahead and put the good of the community before yourself and become a teacher.
Gabriel, if you learn to speak without constant use of sarcasm, people might understand what you're getting at. There is nothing inherently "political" about one's interpretation of pandemic statistics. I am a habitual Democratic voter who voted for Biden. Nonetheless I have no illusions about the fact that Covid data and the pronouncements of governors and public health officials have been politicized.
By "holding hostage" I mean teachers' unions are holding hostage childrens' right to an adequate public education. Remember when it was "2 weeks to flatten the curve"? Now it's tiptoeing to compulsory vaccinations with every ridiculous step in between. Chicago public school teachers didn't want kids back until CPS paid for automatically-closing toilet seats in every stall. Have you read the stories about the many children, some as young as 9 and 10, who have killed themselves over the despair caused by being locked away for a year? Does that bother you? Might it help you understand why parents like me are losing respect and sympathy for teachers and might want better people in our childrens' lives?
"While plenty of the blowback teachers as a group are receiving is fair and reasonable considering the context of nearly a year of shuttered schools... .". Experts say that it's possible to open schools safely, not that you can just open schools and call it safe. If I as an educator got the accomodations that hospital workers got I would be happy to go back- if I weren't pregnant.
I am a Covid ICU nurse. Our unit has two negative airflow rooms (out of 14), we don’t use either because - why bother? My colleagues and I - up to 9 or 10 nurses, 2 or 3 respiratory therapists, and our aides - share a break room smaller than my bathroom (about 8x10). Most of us eat at the nurses station...in a unit SURROUNDED by a deadly virus. I’m pretty fortunate that I work for a hospital that at least provided N95’s and hospital gowns; at my former hospital, my former colleagues were wearing literal trash bags and were asked to bring their own cloth masks, even bandanas, to protect themselves, until they could get a supply in. We don’t get social distancing opportunities, and I’m in close contact with well over a hundred people a day.
So sure, take my “accommodations”. I mean, it’s not like school districts haven’t had a LITERAL YEAR of child-free buildings to unstick windows, improve ventilation, repair plumbing, etc, and want to use US as the litmus for safety. Nobody’s paying any attention to how many of us have died, yet every teacher death is written up in great detail - even if they were remote only and likely got it from the grocery store; the bias is glaring. If our accommodations are what you’re really waiting for, you could have gone back ages ago.
Unfortunately I think the profession of teaching just attracts lazy, I want to take the easy way out and not be held accountable people. Many factors go into this...their cake schedule, the protection they have, their hours, lifetime pensions, and benefits.
Unbelievably rude and disrespectful comment but one that illustrates why so many teachers have been pushed to the breaking point.
Written like a person who has no idea what teaching actually involves, nor can see past the propaganda about benefits and pensions.
I was with you until the end. The complaining parents are a privileged group that are used to getting everything they wanted when they bought into their school district and now hopefully have learned their lesson and will help the other struggling parents who have struggled with the schools bc they are poor. Wow!
Bottom line is teachers in most of the country negotiated jumping in line ahead of this with a fifty percent chance of death of they got COVID, and whether good or bad teachers in an ethical or occupational sense, as is the case for all unions, ALL the teachers benefit.
Why on earth we are still talking about not opening schools full time is a corruption scandal of epic proportions. May I remind you a few months back EVERY. SINGLE. LOST. JOB. For that week was a woman. Nationally.
They got to jump the line and get a vaccine and now it’s time to teach.
Shame on you for gaslighting parents writing about their abuse then abusing them.
....and maybe you are thinking outside of the NYC context only but most parents who can buy into a district can also buy into private school and their take away is likely “I tried but I do t want to sacrifice my kid for my equality ideal” (see podcast “Nice White Parents”, which despite the name really depicts reality and humans of any color quite well). Then also there are parents of kids with IEPs who struggle hard to get their kids into a supportive school. Your intentions may be good but the last paragraph is really tone deaf.
This is a broad generalization, but teachers are generally not the brightest members of our society. Of the many teachers I know in the Chicago area, most are the type that scored a 21 on their ACT and got a "masters degree" from some bogus university to increase their pay and pension. There are certainly exceptions, but mediocre intelligence, limited life experience from decades in public schools, and the safety of being un-fireable with lifetime pensions makes teachers too callous, self-centered, and ignorant of the often harsh realities of life the rest of us deal with. Who would you rather have teaching your kids about science - a certified professional engineer with real world experience? Someone who built a business or developed some useful innovation? Or some guy who went to Illinois State University and has done nothing but taught his whole professional life? These people are a joke for the most part, and like any organized syndicate a variety of entrenched interests keep them enshrined in their positions. If we want to solve this mess, I believe the biggest impediment is rethinking the process of accreditation, letting more meritorious members of the community get involved in the classroom, making school bidding processes (ie for building contractors) more open to scrutiny, and replacing standardized curricula with an emphasis on actual learning. If free-thinking private schools can do it, public schools can too. First, taxpayers need to organize to take control of the public resources THEY pay for.
Probably you should be a teacher then. You would do a better job.
Funny thing is, you, or anyone you suggest CAN be a teacher. The process isn't secret or hidden. There isn't a cap. Go do it. Be a teacher.
I appreciate your vote of confidence, but neither I nor most people with kids have the time or financial flexibility to pursue an MAT from a legitimate school. If there was a way to teach a couple classes or a day a week in my subject area I (and I'd guess many others) would do it in a heartbeat. I hasten to add - my wife is a former teacher and I have many friends who teach. My comment probably comes off pretty harsh, and reflects my own observation that I grew up with some really committed, eclectic, inspiring teachers, and right now see a lot of people looking at it as a career with unlimited job safety rather than a vocation or public service.
You are the person who changed; not the teachers.
Your comment is harsh and you're wrapping up your politics and using it to impugn a profession. The requirements for the job when you were a kid were basically the same. It's a little more difficult today because teachers are now required to demonstrate subject matter competency which was not required in earlier eras.
It's a pretty easy thing to criticize when you're not doing it, especially when the path is fairly open and apparantly doesn't require too much intellectual skill as you suggest.
Who said anything about politics? I object to the idea that public employees can and would hold children hostage. They are demonstrating both a lack of character in putting themselves before the community, and a lack of intellect in thinking children represent any threat to their well-being. We have plenty of data and side-by-side comparisons to show that full-time, in person learning, masks optional, will have no effect on the spread of Covid, which is an endemic, seasonal virus that is not very dangerous unless you're 85 and in hospice care. "Oh, but Dr. Fauci told us to wear 3 masks!" I would like to expect that the people spending all day with my child, many of whom are making 6-figure incomes, have the critical thinking skills to figure out what is now obvious to the majority of the population.
You know where you lost me this year? When my kid was in an "active shooter drill" that was modified to keep the kids over 6 feet apart so they didn't get covid while they were hiding from imaginary madmen. Public school has never been perfect, but it has become the refuge of the braindead.
Dude you're all over the place. I guess you're really making use of that axe grinder you got for Christmas. Good for you.
I don't know how you can claim that you're not saying anything about politics. Are you for real? Everything you said is political.
Public employees are holding children hostage? Yeah that's not dramatic at all. Jeez. Sounds like you would be better off keeping your kids at home. That way no teacher will take them hostage and you'll have control.
Maybe you should go ahead and put the good of the community before yourself and become a teacher.
Gabriel, if you learn to speak without constant use of sarcasm, people might understand what you're getting at. There is nothing inherently "political" about one's interpretation of pandemic statistics. I am a habitual Democratic voter who voted for Biden. Nonetheless I have no illusions about the fact that Covid data and the pronouncements of governors and public health officials have been politicized.
By "holding hostage" I mean teachers' unions are holding hostage childrens' right to an adequate public education. Remember when it was "2 weeks to flatten the curve"? Now it's tiptoeing to compulsory vaccinations with every ridiculous step in between. Chicago public school teachers didn't want kids back until CPS paid for automatically-closing toilet seats in every stall. Have you read the stories about the many children, some as young as 9 and 10, who have killed themselves over the despair caused by being locked away for a year? Does that bother you? Might it help you understand why parents like me are losing respect and sympathy for teachers and might want better people in our childrens' lives?