Posted on 10/09/2009 12:35:28 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) reached across the aisle to praise President Obama on education reform this morning.
President Obama has angered teachers' unions by supporting merit pay, a policy that would pay teachers based on their students' test scores.
Obama has also called for a longer school year, while teachers' unions have proposed shorter school weeks to prevent layoffs.
"I am very, very encouraged, and excited that the president has taken on a core constituency of his party, which is the teachers union," Bush said on MSNBC's Morning Joe.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
I will believe Barry’s commitment to merit-pay when I see it. If he does follow through...I think it’s a good thing.
This is a bad idea, though not for the reasons the teacher's unions think. My wife teaches science in a rather poor, mixed race high school. There are other high schools which are overwhelmingly white, and much better off economically. They also consistently outperform the school my wife teaches at, and I can promise you that the teachers there are not any better or worse. The problem is systemic, and these idiotic legislators and governors refuse to fix that, and instead want to merely blame the bottom people on the totem pole.
Curricula stink. The administration is corrupt and inept. And the teachers are completely hogtied on the job. When a classroom is disrupted by angry, loud youths over and over what can the teacher do? Can they remove them? No, because the administrators send them right back, and then reprimand the teacher for not correcting the student in the classroom. But, what can the teacher do in the classroom? Can they discipline the student? No. Here, where my wife works, students have a right to a cell phone, and no teacher can cause any embarrassment to any student in the class. This means that you cannot call them out for their behaviour in any real way. You certainly cannot punish them.
What this adds up to is that in poorer schools, where the kids are prone to acting out, classrooms are simply unmanageable. In richer schools the kids are less prone to this and so the classroom is more productive. For this reason nothing productive can be done by a teacher to really effect a real improvement in the education of the kids. Teachers who happen to end up working in poor schools are simply going to be refused the pay those in better off schools get, just as the schools continually get less money for the classrooms as well.
Merit pay is only a valid choice after you fix everything else. You have to fix the curricula, get the bureaucrats out of the classroom, and allow teachers to do their jobs. What good is it to demand responsibility from somebody on the job if you are denying them the authority to actually meet that responsibility? This is a typically bad idea from people who know nothing of education in any way, just as they know nothing about any of the other things they constantly regulate and control.
Let me make this clear.
The GOP is *part* of the problem.
The party controlled the Federal government at least six years and did next to nothing except enlarge the Federal government.
Now, perhaps, if you had actually read what I wrote at post 10 and if you had actually perused my entire posting history, you will notice that I post nice threads about genuinely conservative Republicans like Michele Bachmann, Jim DeMint, and Marco Rubio.
If you have problems with my bashing of RINOs like John McCain, Charlie Crist, Lindsey Graham, and others, then maybe you're not a conservative. Or maybe you are one who's just too blindly loyal to the GOP that you can't read the writing on the wall.
You mean someone would pay Rabs and me to Freep you RNC staffers on how your worthless masters helped destroy the country and are planning more??? Do they post job offers someplace? We are getting ripped off. Good thing we enjoy it.
Merit pay(reward?bribe?) for those teachers promoting his Marxist agenda?
Obama has also called for a longer school year,
More time to properly indoctrinate the children?
I think Jeb Bush should quit praising and start recognizing the "evil within".
Jeb must have decided he did not want to be President and furthermore did not want anyone to ask him to be President. Thanks Jeb, you’re done.
I voted for him as governor just to keep the democrats out. I was never a big fan of the Bushes, period.
i agree with jeb.
Jeb was a pretty damn good governor.
Jeb can forget running for President after this .... Amazing how many self-proclaimed Conservatives actually show themselves during times such as this ...
Furthermore, what the heck has Obambo done for Education??? I’ll tell you - “NOTHING”.
Jeb must be hanging with his druggie daughter and her friends.
Did not think it through like that...thanks for the education :)
I guess I forgot to type sarc and the end of my comment. Don’t get your feathers all ruffled.
He posts a lot of anti-RINO threads though a quick look confirms they aren't the ONLY threads he posts.
Anyway, should those threads not be posted?
This particular one, Jeb praising Obama for an alleged rare correct position by Obama (merit pay NOT year round school) is not a huge deal imo, but doesn't it give Obama cover? Should this not be discussed? Should McCain's constant fawning over the man who beat him not be discussed? Should the NRCC backing of a trojan horse democrat over a conservative Republican in New York not be discussed?
I think Rabs does not identify as a Republican but I do, and the fifth column of liberals in the GOP is as big a problem as the socialist labor democrats.
Some rino shill says: “Sure there are problems in the GOP but you people want to throw out all the good solid ones, the Joe Wilson-Demint-Coburn-Pence-Bourn Conservatives over the side with the Rinos. Are you just this clueless that you don’t realize all you are doing with these pr blasts is helping Dems?”
rabscuttle385 says: Let me make this clear.etc.
And may I add, BULL CRAP. We’ll support ANY good conservative! Which Jeb Bush AIN’T! STOP making excuses for these sellouts! STOP WITH THE PARTY FIRST CRAP!
It’s destroying this country.
If Jeb (and McCain and others) balanced their nauseating praise with accurate criticisms I might be able to stomach it. As it is, I need a hurl bag.......quickly.
Just shut up, Jeb! Go fishing or something!
Careful now. rabs doesn’t like his agenda being pointed out. Before you know it, he? will label you a newbie, RINO, and/or retread.
rabs says he voted for that anti-American loser Chuckie Baldwin. How many votes did Chuckles finally end up with, a whopping 200,000? Regardless if he is telling the truth or not, his non support of McCain and Sarah was the same thing as actively supporting Obama.
Those last two were meant for you, also.
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