Posted on 08/28/2014 10:37:14 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
After the Vergara v. California decision in California’s state Supreme Court, which held that key job protections for teachers are unconstitutional, anti-union advocates everywhere began spawning copycat lawsuits. But while reformers may genuinely want to fix education for everyone, their efforts will only worsen diversity in the teaching corps. The truth is that an attack on bad teacher tenure laws (and ineffective teachers in general) is actually an attack on black professionals. If the Vergara clones succeed, black children will lose effective teachers and the black community will lose even more middle-class jobs.
Black workers are most likely to hold public sector union jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, among the major ethnic groups, blacks (13.6 percent) represent the highest percentage of union members among the total number of workers (whites are 11 percent; Asians are 9.4 percent; and Hispanics are 9.4 percent), and the highest unionization rates among all professions were in the education services occupations (35.3 percent). In 26 of the 48 jurisdictions (states plus the District of Columbia) where at least some black and some white teachers are covered by collective bargaining agreements, blacks are more likely to be covered by agreements than whites. This is the case in California, where the Vergara decision originated. Blacks are more likely to teach in urban areas in many states, and so are more likely to be covered by collective bargaining. Therefore, black teachers have much at stake in the Vergara decision.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
What WaPo is saying makes no sense at all.
If the laws allow the firing of bad teachers then there is no way that school districts “will lose effective teachers.”
The only answer is really good administrators who maintain discipline, don't pull favorites, and are consistant in their demands for excellence from staff and students alike. Administrators such as this should have the freedom and the willingness to get rid of the failing teachers and the disruptive students. And the federal government should get out of the classroom. JMHO
Pure garbage. How can removing poor performing teachers be an attack on Black Professionals, unless you’re admitting that Black Professionals make up the largest portion of the poor performing teachers? If they are substandard why would you want to keep them, other than to collect Unions Dues that are funneled to liberal political causes.....
Just another baseless screed from the public union activists.......
Seems pretty black & white....
Isn’t the use of “black” and “professional” in the same sentence a contradiction in terms?
Shorter: This is what happens when you lower standards, ethics and overall intelligence to reach a favorable number, statistically.
It’s irrelevant that they cannot read, write, spell or teach worth a damn. Just as long as they are NOT Caucasian!
Working definition of “diversity”:
fewer white men,
less Western Culture
Everything is racial to progressives.
Any school with tenure pretty much advertises the fact that they really don’t give a smelly Obama about the quality of their staff.
“There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs-partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs. ~ Booker T. Washington (1856-1915.) ~ Educator, Author, Civil Rights Leader
The grievance industry expects highest profits ever! Each lawsuit against school districts expected to bring a minimum of ten million dollars. Yes, if you are black you are entitled to take advantage of your Black Privilege . . . .
How necessary are teacher tenure laws in our era?
First, it depends on how true is the notion that teacher tenure laws preserve a teacher’s freedom to speaker his/her mind on controversial subjects. It is a no-brainer to me that Americans are accosted in the work place for speaking their minds. This is especially true for conservatives. It is even more true for conservative teachers. Think about being a global warming skeptic, a Christian, or a political conservative. Do we honestly think they are free to speak in their workplace?
Second, it depends on how fair-minded one considers public school administrators. I don’t consider them fair-minded at all. So many of them are elevated elementary teachers or phys/ed teachers who have no business evaluating anyone, and certainly not math/science teachers at a higher level than their own teaching certifications. Also, there is a huge issue with cronyism and nepotism in our school systems. Administrators, as humans, elevate their pals and stiff arm those who aren’t pals. What does this mean when it comes to evaluation time? You will say, “The tests will level it out.” Not really. I’ve heard of some bizarre things. The strangest is a geometry teacher who was given an end of year evaluation test to administer to students, and the test did not include even one geometry question. Why? Because some incompetent administrator purchased a testing evaluation scheme that didn’t fit reality. (No doubt the company provided ‘incentives’ for purchase.)
So, do teachers still need tenure due to overbearing systems that will unfairly censor them and unfairly evaluate them?
Yes.
I can believe there is disparate impact.
When I went to school in Louisiana, we had some “quota” teachers that were just horrible.
Quota’s that put unqualified people in jobs should never be used.
The author anchors his argument on the premise that black teachers make up the middle class core of the urban (black) community and that by their being unemployed (due to not being able to make the grade) it weakens the black community.
It has NOTHING to do with education.
I will note that teachers unions are the money and muscle behind the Democratic Party (close second are trial lawyers). Many teachers are delegates to the Democrat Party convention (as well as the pool for candidates up and down the ticket).
There’s more and better $$$ in signing on as a CNN or other lame stream media Commentator or Talking Head.
As long as you toe the party line.
We had a “science” teacher when I was in High School. Fresh out of Alabama State. It was clear from the first day he was an idiot but about the 2nd week he explained to us what an atomic bomb was.
“You got this big ole crate. And it’s packed full of metal...old tanks, jeeps, airplane parts etc. What ever they can find. That’s called the “scrapple”(shrapnel?). Then, they pack it full of 10,000 tons of dynamite.(Seems like the yield of an early bomb was 10,000 tons of TNT?). Then, when they drop it, it’s so heavy that it knocks everyone within 1 mile up in the air and the scrapple wipes’em out.
Really. No, I’m not kidding, joking or just making that up. Hell, it was an answer on one of his “tests”. They whole damn year went like that.
He didn’t get tenure though so I hope I didn’t hijack the thread.
Even if you point to a white lousy teacher it’s still racist
Can’t wait to vote
“According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, among the major ethnic groups, blacks (13.6 percent) represent the highest percentage of union members among the total number of workers”
Hmm, thats an interesting stat right there....not surprising but interesting.
The author is making no judgement upon the competency of black teachers. His argument is ‘disparate impact’, that any policy, even those with good intentions, that have a greater adverse impact upon a minority is discriminatory.
Title VII prohibits employers “from using a facially neutral employment practice that has an unjustified adverse impact on members of a protected class. A facially neutral employment practice is one that does not appear to be discriminatory on its face; rather it is one that is discriminatory in its application or effect.
The author’s point is that since black constitute a higher percentage of teachers affected by the court decision then they may have a case under Title VII. The operative point is whether these impacts are justified.
Nope, assuming that black people make bad teachers is racist. Assessing everyone as an individual and holding them accountable for their performance is the opposite of racist.
From Wikipedia:
Scrapple, also known by the Pennsylvania Dutch name panhaas or “pan rabbit, is traditionally a mush of pork scraps and trimmings combined with cornmeal and wheat flour, often buckwheat flour, and spices. The mush is formed into a semi-solid congealed loaf, and slices of the scrapple are then pan-fried before serving.
Never heard of anyone gettin’ killed with pig guts. lol
Sounds like dude needed to be diggin’ ditches somewhere.
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