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The Lie Factory on Education and Teacher Salaries
Market ticker ^ | 5/3/2018 | Karl Deninger

Posted on 05/03/2018 3:25:54 AM PDT by ImaGraftedBranch

The latest screamfest from the various teacher's groups is that they're "grossly underpaid."

Well, no.

First, let's not forget that teachers are paid for 12 months but work 9. Indeed the "standard" school year is 180 days. The standard man-year of work is 2,000 hours -- 40 hours across 50 weeks.

But 180 days is 1,440 hours, not 2,000, or 72% of a standard work-year.

And before you talk about "overtime" do realize that professionals don't get paid overtime. I never did as a professional writing code or building networks for other people. It's a professional job, and is exempt -- just as is being a teacher.

So that "horrible" $40,000 salary (which, I remind you, typically comes with 100% health care coverage for the entire teacher's family, an expense that is nearly always over $10,000/year) is actually $50,000 / 0.72 or approximately $70,000 in salary.

That's underpaid?

Uh, no. It's grossly overpaid, especially considering this:

Earlier this month, the 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress, aka The Nation's Report Card, was released. It's not a pretty story. Only 37 percent of 12th-graders tested proficient or better in reading, and only 25 percent did so in math. Among black students, only 17 percent tested proficient or better in reading, and just 7 percent reached at least a proficient level in math.

Leave the racial disparity behind for a minute.

Exactly why would anyone get paid anything if only one quarter of those who were the "product" of that work met the objective requirements to be considered acceptable?

Why is not that the question put to these "teachers"?

Is there some "reject rate" acceptable in any production of anything? Certainly. Some percentage of parts made in a factory fail to pass inspection, some percentage of wafers in a fab don't make it into the final output as a computer chip, etc.

But if your success rate is only 25% on the basic facts that define the ability to function as an adult in society, say much less understand the physical and economic world around you then you have no right to be out pounding the street demanding more money.

You ought to be cleaning toilets with a toothbrush and the taxpayers should be taking up arms at the rank theft you demand from them to produce defective output on an everyday, every year basis -- and have been for decades.

This is not a new problem. When I ran MCSNet after a series of bad experiences with so-called "graduates" with nice, polished resumes who couldn't make change for a $20 without a computer telling them exactly how much it was it became obvious that (1) they didn't write their own resume and (2) they were functionally illiterate and innumerate.

Yet they had in their hand a credential that said they (1) could read and write and (2) could perform mathematics both at a 12th grade level.

Those credentials were lies.

I instituted two tests before you could get an interview; when you came in and presented a resume you were shown the conference room and given a pencil, piece of paper and the two tests; nothing else was allowed inside. The first was a request to write a basic business letter informing a customer that his account was disabled because he hadn't paid his bill, and to please remit the balance to continue service. The second was a four-function (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) mathematics screening with 20 questions on it. You needed a 90% on the math to pass and the letter had to be grammatically correct and formatted as a reasonable business letter.

90% of the applicants failed one or both and more than half failed screamingly, either being completely unable to compose a business letter that could be read and understood as reasonably correct English or failing to get even half of the math correct. More than a few applicants literally walked out leaving behind two blank pieces of paper for "answers", unable to do any of it. A couple actually wrote things like "**** you" on the test before walking out, clearly unable to do any of it.

Most-alarmingly was the fact that more than a third of those who claimed to be currently enrolled in college, including at UofC, applying for a part-time job while in school, were unable to pass these screens.

I kept every single test and associated resume in a large horizontal file for what I expected would eventually be an inevitable allegation that I was "discriminating" in some form or fashion. This was downtown (2 Prudential Plaza) Chicago. Let me point out that of those who were unable to write said business letter not one of them could have possibly also written their own resume and as such they had already lied in the application process (and thus were not going to get hired) before coming in the front door.

The enabling liars who issued these people their diplomas are the same people pounding the streets right now. They were the ones who gave out the "As", "Bs", "Cs" and even "Ds" to these students -- but passed them instead of handing out well-deserved "F"s for years from one class to the next without actual achievement having taken place.

These very same teachers are openly and publicly being paid to commit fraud upon the taxpayer and the US marketplace on a literal daily basis. Three quarters of those who they deem "competent" through a 12 year cycle of fraud are in fact not competent and this number includes high-achieving areas.

In most major cities I assure you that the actual percentage of incompetent "graduates" is at or above 90% because it was in the 1990s and this report's statistics make clear that it still is.

Think about this folks because everyone's excuse is that oh, there are a few bad teachers, but most are good.

What are the odds of someone getting through 12 years of schooling, the first six or so taking place with one or two teachers for the entire year, then in the subsequent six year or so with a half-dozen teachers each, 75% of said students are incompetent when they graduate, and it is not true that basically every single one of them is guilty of fraud?

Let's put some math to it -- if three out of four students are incompetent at graduation then with a single teacher for a single year a minimum of 75% of all teachers must be committing fraud by certifying acceptable performance when it is not true.

That is, only 25% are performing honest work with a single year of experience -- that is, a single trial.

But it's not one year. It's 12 years, and for roughly six of them the student has a half-dozen teachers each year, not one. So we have 6 instances in the first six years and then 36 more over the following six, for a total of 42 instances, any one of which could fail said student and prevent them from going forward.

What are the statistical odds of running that gauntlet where only 25% of the teachers do honest work against 42 trials?

The answer is in scientific notation and has 25 zeros to right of the decimal. To put not-to-fine a point on it you're more likely to be hit by an asteroid while getting your mail this afternoon, then struck by lightning on the walk back to your house by a factor of several orders of magnitude than to encounter a string of honest teachers given these rates.

Bluntly: Essentially all are guilty of fraud upon the taxpayer and the public.

This is one of the largest and longest-running frauds perpetrated against the American population and taxpaying citizen ever and anyone in this profession deserves to be consumed by a rabid coyote.

Not only should every one of these "teachers" be fired they should all be criminally prosecuted and tossed in prison; the United States would be better off if the kids of this nation spent an hour a day in the library doing whatever they wanted instead of attending school.


TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: arth; nea; scc; summersoff; teachersunion; teacherwalkout; threemonthstokill
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To: Sequoyah101
Come on. You are parsing the facts for justification and you know it. At least be honest.

That's weird ... I was pointing out how this author was parsing "facts".

61 posted on 05/03/2018 7:01:35 AM PDT by al_c (LIBERAL - Laughable Iconsiderate Blaming Entitled Ranting Anti-christian Loudmouth)
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To: al_c

There is a lot of ranting on both sides (Market Ticker is driven by the blog host, who vents his spleen).

But I have seen, even on this thread, comments on how much overtime a teacher works.

My wife is a teacher. She works less hours and less out of “normal” hours than I do. She also has to deal with people saying math is to white, and not good to POC, complaints from parents that their little angel needs an excused absence for the fifth day that month for another vacation, and sports teams who will pull students out of the last two periods of the day for practice (funny, grades don’t matter).

I can fire people at times. She can not.

But he (the blog author) did have some rather stark facts. The stats on the reading and math level of graduating high school students is true. Or rather, at best true. The pressure on the school districts to “fake” the numbers is so high that I don’t believe anything from my area anymore. Public education is a spectacular failure by any measure. Kids are getting a diploma that they can’t read and entering into a workplace that will either just use illegal immigrants (because there are many remedial ESL classes paid for by the state to teach them basic skills) or train them on the company dime.

Most companies would rather hire the illegal.

Teachers hate those stats, and will (like my wife) say that standardized test don’t measure everything. But if the tests say that Johnny and Jane can’t read or do basic math, I would bet a bagel they can’t! I have to deal with that now in the workforce.

Right now, most of public education is daycare with sports. Learning actual basic skills is not on the radar for most schools. Oh, they will try to help those students who WANT to learn, as long as they don’t pull to far ahead in the class. But that isn’t the goal anymore. Many teachers just want to get through the year with a functional liver, not be physically assaulted, and no lawsuits.

The system is broken. We need a radical change.


62 posted on 05/03/2018 7:42:09 AM PDT by redgolum
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To: redgolum
The system is broken. We need a radical change.

And it won't be easy, talk about institutional corruption.

63 posted on 05/03/2018 7:44:36 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: redgolum

Can’t argue with that.


64 posted on 05/03/2018 7:59:18 AM PDT by al_c (LIBERAL - Laughable Iconsiderate Blaming Entitled Ranting Anti-christian Loudmouth)
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To: al_c

Teacher work days.....yes, some have learned how to skip these expensive (to taxpayer) educational sleepers.

I was getting a pedicure one day and two teachers were also....one remarked that they didn’t need to be back to report for two hours....they signed in and then left for a pedicure all the while bragging on this while I sat there red faced!!! At $7K/year school taxes this is what they were doing with MY money....learning to beat the system!!!


65 posted on 05/03/2018 8:09:00 AM PDT by YouGoTexasGirl
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To: SoftballMominVA; al_c; krug; redgolum
Please see my post above.. There is plenty of blame to go around, but it is the parents who are bringing these children into the world. Education is THEIR job.

Yes, parents are taxed heavily and maybe public school is the "only option." Yea, I know...we can't go back to the 1950s and have only one parent working, times have changed, blah blah blah. And yes, I've seen my fair share of bad teachers and the NEA is a weaponized arm of the DNC.

But as the late, great, Evil Irv Homer, talk show host extraordinaire out of Philadelphia said, it is hard to raise a thoroughbred when the parents are asses. Indeed, a plurality of voters went for Hillary.

66 posted on 05/03/2018 8:22:43 AM PDT by DoodleBob
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To: ImaGraftedBranch

Read some arricles from NEA mags a few yrs ago. Told my kids if the chose to be public school teachers I wouldn’t pay for their college and would disown them.....luckily they have honest jobs now


67 posted on 05/03/2018 10:08:13 AM PDT by rrrod (just an old guy with a gun in his pocket)
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To: ImaGraftedBranch

I use to be hard on teachers, but now that my wife is one I sympathize a little bit more. Of course this is Canada, so things might be different.

What educational qualifications do teachers have to meet in the US? Four year degree?


68 posted on 05/03/2018 10:18:47 AM PDT by Sam Gamgee
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To: Jim Noble
The reason the scores are so low is not the teachers. It’s the students. And that’s not a problem that teachers can, or should be expected, to fix.

Let's get right down to the raw truth, shall we? The reason scores are low is not teachers or students, it's the parents.

But don't mind me. I'm just an old guy who's so thankful for parents who forced me to do what I should and didn't hesitate to whomp my rear end if I screwed up. God rest their souls.

69 posted on 05/03/2018 10:20:51 AM PDT by upchuck (The free press is not a popularity contest. Do your job and stop whining. ~ Suzanner)
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To: gop4lyf

So is it very different state by state? Can you tell me the minimum requirements as for education in the US. As I said my wife is a teacher now in CAnada, working as a sub. Things are not as golden as I use to think. In our province starting wage for UNION GOVERNMENT positions is $48,000. But getting a government teacher position is a long shot as she lacks the seniority. She is looking at the catholic schools who start at a meager $38,000. To put that in perspective if she got full time work at the grocery store she works nights at she would make $52,000 a year. (albeit, she has seniority and it is a union outfit). The private protestant school she also wants to apply at even starts at LESS than $38,000!!!. Convert all that into US dollars and it really is not that great.


70 posted on 05/03/2018 10:25:13 AM PDT by Sam Gamgee
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To: al_c

Exactly. So doing sub work at the catholic school my wife gets $205. Sounds good until you realize the $205 compensates for not getting paid at summer and spring holidays. So it is not 205 at 240 working days. It is 205 time 189 working days.


71 posted on 05/03/2018 10:27:05 AM PDT by Sam Gamgee
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To: al_c

And to be clear I am not arguing now that we should cry rivers of tears for teachers either. I think the Hollywood portrayal of teachers is also incorrect. But I agree with you, that maybe they are fairly paid. My wife just started, so it might get better as time goes on, but she gets to work at 830, school is over 300, but she stays until 500 to get ready for the next day. She also had to sheepishly decline chaperoning the school dance - which is something expected of teachers to do - no extra pay.


72 posted on 05/03/2018 10:29:28 AM PDT by Sam Gamgee
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To: Smittie

Where I am there is 10 months of work, 2 off for summer. You get to choose. If you want (and are nuts) you can get paid only for 10 months, or as you said, choose to spread it.


73 posted on 05/03/2018 10:35:04 AM PDT by Sam Gamgee
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To: pepsionice

The public school system was made into what it has become by the parents.


74 posted on 05/03/2018 11:12:43 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: ImaGraftedBranch
I instituted two tests before you could get an interview; when you came in and presented a resume you were shown the conference room and given a pencil, piece of paper and the two tests; nothing else was allowed inside. The first was a request to write a basic business letter informing a customer that his account was disabled because he hadn't paid his bill, and to please remit the balance to continue service. The second was a four-function (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) mathematics screening with 20 questions on it. You needed a 90% on the math to pass and the letter had to be grammatically correct and formatted as a reasonable business letter.

90% of the applicants failed one or both and more than half failed screamingly, either being completely unable to compose a business letter that could be read and understood as reasonably correct English or failing to get even half of the math correct. More than a few applicants literally walked out leaving behind two blank pieces of paper for "answers", unable to do any of it. A couple actually wrote things like "**** you" on the test before walking out, clearly unable to do any of it.

I would dearly love to see this instituted nationwide.

75 posted on 05/03/2018 11:42:17 AM PDT by zeugma (Power without accountability is fertilizer for tyranny.)
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To: GingisK

B.S. The schools are in the state they’re in by too much government meddling.


76 posted on 05/03/2018 11:43:07 AM PDT by al_c (LIBERAL - Laughable Iconsiderate Blaming Entitled Ranting Anti-christian Loudmouth)
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To: al_c

“This doesn’t take into account the teacher work days (required) during many of the days through the year when students don’t go to school, evenings and weekends spent grading papers, summer workshops, after school tutoring (required), etc. “

True of most professionals. The difference is most professionals are also required to perform.

Teachers fail, often. Not their fault, IMHO. The system doesn’t allow for any discipline. That was why, after doing my student teaching many years ago, I switched career fields. Didn’t want to be a babysitter.

Considered trying it again after I retired from the military, but quickly concluded things were worse now, not better. Teaching in public schools is all about babysitting. If you are extraordinary, you can also get some teaching done. But that is optional.


77 posted on 05/03/2018 12:01:33 PM PDT by Mr Rogers (Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools)
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To: YouGoTexasGirl
one remarked that they didn’t need to be back to report for two hours.

As someone pointed out very early in the thread, teachers are salaried employees and are FSLA exempt from overtime. As long as they comply with their school districts reporting requirements that is just the way it is. Hourly employees wouldn't be able to do that..

78 posted on 05/03/2018 12:25:58 PM PDT by EVO X
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To: Sam Gamgee
Our summer break is about two and a half months depending on if you have any conferences or workshops to attend (without pay usually). This hatred of teachers is the biggest pet peeve I have against this site. I guess all the haters were born with their knowledge.

They should direct their energies against the legislators who dictate what the teachers have to teach and how. Lawyers who have no idea what a classroom is like, yet pass laws that basically turn the school experience into a series of tests that kill any love of learning the students may have.

79 posted on 05/03/2018 12:40:35 PM PDT by Smittie (Just like an alien I'm a stranger in a strange land)
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To: Smittie

The kids can’t read or do math.

Basic addition. Basic literacy. Social promotion of kids that can’t do either leads to adults who are barely employable.

Those “tests” at lest force SOME learning. Yeah, they suck, but by the time my wife sees the kids (sophomore and above) they are so far behind they are not going to get caught up.

Some sort of standards need to be in place. Right now, the nations education system is a dumpster fire.


80 posted on 05/03/2018 12:51:18 PM PDT by redgolum
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