Top 10 Public Education Quotes of 2005

Human Events ^ | Jan 4, 2006 | Mike Antonucci

[WatchYourself]

The Education Intelligence Agency is proud to present the 2005 Public Education Quotes of the Year, in countdown order. Enjoy!

10. "After all these years, I'm sorry to say my recommendation is this: Forget about self-esteem and concentrate more on self-control and self-discipline."

-- Roy F. Baumeister, professor in the department of psychology at Florida State University. (January 25 Los Angeles Times)

9. "When the students don't learn, the school must change."

-- Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, addressing the National Governors Association. (February 27 Los Angeles Times)

8. "If the United States is to preserve our system of free public schools, teacher unions are going to have to stop accepting the status quo and making excuses for the poor performance of our students."

-- Morty Rosenfeld, member of the NEA New York board of directors. (October 17 Teacher Talk)

7. "Kids do not do better learning math themselves. There's a reason we go to school, which is that there's someone smarter than us with something to teach us."

-- High school student Jim Munch, relating his battle against his school's constructivist math program. (November 9 New York Times)

6. "It was negotiated by the MEA [Maine Education Association] and governor's office over the last four months. We're all just learning about it."

-- Maine State Senator Libby Mitchell (D-Kennebec), chairwoman of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee, reacting to Gov. John Baldacci's plan to reduce graduation standards and pay $17 million to teachers working on the state's assessment program. (April 7 Lincoln County News)

5. "We might rank in the top half in some areas, but we're not in the top of the top half."

-- Nancy Henderson, president of the Jefferson County Education Association (Colorado), expressing distress over teacher salaries in her district. (March 31 Canyon Courier)

4. "Please sign your letters as an individual or representative of a community group, not as a member of GAE."

-- Jonathan Goldman, director of communications and marketing for the Georgia Association of Educators, advising GAE members on how to respond to a column by Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Jim Wooten on a bill to provide state-funded liability insurance to teachers. GAE was opposed to the bill.

3. "There are better ways for me to spend my hours than to deal with an employee who files constant grievances and objects to basic rules."

-- American Federation of Teachers Local 212 Executive Vice President Charlie Dee, on a lawsuit filed against his union by employee Mary Tews. Local 212 fired Tews in 2003, was ordered by an arbitrator to rehire her with back pay, then, Tews alleges, cut her pay and hours and tried to force her out. (May 25 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

2. "While building efficiencies of scale might fit a sound business model, it is the antithesis of sound educational practice."

-- Hawaii State Teachers Association Vice President Joan Lewis. (November 1 Honolulu Advertiser)

1. "All we want to do is learn. We can't learn if we don't got teachers."

-- Raquel Brito, one of an estimated 900 students who walked out of class in the East Side Union High School District in San Jose, California, to protest layoff notices sent to district teachers. (March 23 San Jose Mercury News)

And a special honorable mention to...

"I'm allergic to onions and I wouldn't walk under an onion bridge."

-- An NEA delegate debating New Business Item 91 at the union's Representative Assembly on July 6.

Posted 01/04/06 3:00 AM

[WatchYourself]

I love #1... but I don't got much sense : P

[My2Cents]

"All we want to do is learn.

Learn, baby, learn!

[Rakkasan1]

'honorable mention' was my fave.
and these ass-clowns probably made fun of Dan Quayle .

[edcoil]

American history is too white.

President of the Oakland School Board and our California Congressional representative, I remember hearing it but cannot give a specific date. Will google later.

[CheyennePress]

"American history is too white."

Agreed. It's about time you contributed something. ;)


Whadaya' wanna bet that he wouldn't react to kindly to that? :0

If you're going to put'em out, you better be ready to take them back, senor.

[My2Cents]

Kind of like mission control during the Apollo program. The ones who put us on the moon were geeky white guys.

Sad but true: American history is too white, but that's only because most "people of color" have stood on the sidelines of history, complaining.

[anonsquared]

My favorite Public School quote appears to be missing, so here it is...

TEACHERS ARE UNDERPAID, MY ARSE!

Do the math:
40 hour work week divided by 35 week school year = 1400 hours worked yearly

1400 hours worked yearly divided by $58,000. average yearly salary = $41.43 an hour

And the $58,000. average is conservative. I know teachers in the L.A. area making six figure incomes because they get "combat pay" for working in the worst school districts.

[warsaw44]

Here, I'll toss one in from my kid brother at a private school no less'

" Why would our class have a Kwanzaa celebration when not one person here celebrates Kwanzaa? "
- Young Republican in training brother to liberal wack job 9th grade teacher who promptly had a fit and canceled everything.

[visualops]

"The dark meat on a chicken is dark because it's closer to the bone."


My daughter's 4th grade teacher "explaining" dark meat.

(Note: my daughter is now in college and is going to be a teacher, and she's a freeper too heehee)

[bennowens]

"I'm from the Government...I'm here to help"

[combat_boots]

40 work week............

add 1 hour per day for arrival and departure duties and cleanup.

add 2 hours per day for prep

add 1.5 hours per day for grading

add 3 hours per week for activities

Now you have an idea. There is no such thing as a 40 work week.

[solitas]

And, please, how many teachers pull a full day with no off-periods to do the grading & prep? They do one class right-after-another for a solid day? Riight.

[wbill]

Got news for you.....there's not any such thing as a 40-hour-work week in the professional world, either.

I would not want to be a teacher. However, they are pretty well compensated for what they need to put up with, and the shortened year that they're allowed to put up with it.

[TheForceOfOne]

Any chance you got my Gubmint cheese with you?

[SALChamps03]

Regardless of your view on public education there is one cold hard fact that cannot be ignored. There will always be a top half and a bottom half. Only half of the students can be in the top half, regardless of how well everyone performs. It is mathematically impossible for everyone to be above average.

That being said, the statistics used to critique public education can be misleading. The first example that comes to mind is the ranking of the states based on SAT scores. Georgia has ranked near last for a while now. However, in Georgia, about 65% of high schoolers take the SAT. During this time, Georgia was being ranked against some states where as few as 17% of high schoolers took the SAT. What does that mean? It means that in many cases, Nearly three fourths of Georgia's students were being compared with the top 17% of another state's students. That is like comparing a Little League team to the Atlanta Braves. It isn't a valid comparison. If you looked at Georgia's top 17%, they fared just about as well as the top 17% of most other states.

Additionally, standardized tests are not necessarily the best measuring device. There was a teacher in Georgia who was threatened with the revocation of his certificate because he made public portions of a standardized test. He did this because the test did not measure the curriculum being taught in Georgia. A student can transfer into a school the day before the test, and the school system where that student is tested is held responsible for his or her test scores. Also, regardless of whether the student was beaten by his parents, addicted to drugs, molested, hungry, slept in a car, etc. (all factors that can negatively affect test scores) the scores are counted on the school's record.

I am not saying that schools should not be held accountable. I am merely saying that educators work very hard. Not all of them agree with the policies of the NEA. Just imagine trying everything you know to do to get a child to engage: to study, and work, and that child still will not do it. Imagine the students for whom there is no parent at home making him or her do homework or even attend school. I am basically saying that there are two sides to every story. Yes, there are bad teachers. There are also good teachers who cannot reach some students despite their best effort.

[SALChamps03]

40 hour work week divided by 35 week school year = 1400 hours worked yearly

That's funny. For starters, it's a 180 day school year. That's 36 weeks. There are an additional ten days on all contracts. So, that's 38 weeks. Also, teachers rarely work just 40 hours. Try a minimum of 50 hours a week. That's coming early for either morning duty or just to prepare, and staying late for either afternoon duty or to get work done, and prepare for the next day. Now add an additional ten hours per week for work done at home on their own time without pay, and you've got about 60 hours per week. So at 60 hours per week x 38 weeks you're looking at 2280 hours annually.

As of the latest survey in 2004, the national average was 46,752; not 58,000. So, 46,752 divided by 2280 is $20.51 per hour. This is for a job that requires a four year degree for entry level salary, and other specialized degrees requiring up to an additional four years of school and many years of service to get the higher pay with which this average is calculated, and many hours of professional training to maintain certification. We haven't even begun to discuss the money teachers spend out of their own pockets for shortages in supplies that are necessary and must be bought regardless of whether or not the system reimburses the teacher. So your quote about $58,000 being a conservative estimate is not really true.

Yes, we should be good stewards of our tax dollars. Yes, police, firefighters, and the military also deserve to be compensated fairly for their contributions to society. However, I detect an anti-teacher tone in your post which has resulted in a distorted view of what is really going on.

[SALChamps03]

Grading and prep is off time?

[DeltaZulu]

I appreciate that some teachers do in fact work hard. But the rest of the world works 60+ hour weeks fairly regularly and we don't get the benefit of a 14 week vacation each year (and most of us don't get all of school holidays or teacher in-service days either). Generally, we're also held to measurable standards of accountability (except of course for those years I worked for the state education agency). The market rightly understands these factors and that is why teacher salaries are what they are. I don't mean to denigrate teachers or to say that their job is easy. I'm just saying that teaching is a lot easier than many, many other jobs. Teachers don't realize how silly they look when they get huffy and indignant about how hard they work, as if to say that the rest of us "dump" our kids at school and go skipping off to play. During one three year period I worked 90+ hours a week culminating in one 121 hour week (that doesn't include the commute time). For the rest of my career, a 50-60 hour week (before the commute) is commonplace, and (not to put too fine a point on it) I don't get a 14 week vacation afterwards).

[SALChamps03]

My point about the hours worked was not to compare it to the rest of the world. It was to correct the incorrect data posted by combat boots concerning the average salary and hourly rate. The information was extremely skewed. In no way did I attempt to state that teachers work harder than anyone. I was merely correcting a misconception.

[SALChamps03]

Additionally, teacher's jobs are no easier than anyone else's job. We are held to plenty of standards of accountability. You say you worked for the state education agency, but do not say you were a teacher. If you weren't you may not have a frame of reference for the difficulty of the job. It is certainly as difficult as any other job; more so than some.