The Monday letter, “Tough decision, serious matter” covered many areas of teacher discontent, and as is usually the case, the strikes are allegedly put on “for the children.”
My take on this letter is that the teachers want more money, less work and no measurable teacher standards that can universally be applied to teacher performance in the classroom and provable student achievement.
Couple this with a work year of about 1,550 hours compared with the 2,070 hours, or more, for most workers. Overworked are we? How much of this 1,550 hours is truly spent in the classroom teaching the subject matter? Do not civil service contracts have a “no strike clause”? How does a breach of a contract teach children responsibility?
Higher education academic degrees (bachelors, masters, doctorates) are fine learning measurements, but normally have little to do with “in the classroom teaching skills,” and thus should not be a stand-alone reason for increased compensation. Step increases seem to be paid for job longevity, rather than increased productivity.
I would hope that these underpaid, overworked, do-not-want-to-be-evaluated folks could easily find more suitable jobs elsewhere.
James Vibbert
Stanwood
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