The educational system in America today is a bureaucratic nightmare that seems impossible to reform or correct. While you might be surprised to hear this, the US is not the most educated country in the world anymore, in fact it does not even crack the top ten. The US is 32nd internationally in math scores, 10th in science and 12th in reading. S0 why is the quality of education in the US dropping so much? The answer to that is teachers unions. Most Teachers Unions were established more than half a century ago to protect the rights of teachers because they were not getting fair and equal treatment, but today they are a wall impeding educational reform.
What the unions do is set up a policy where the teachers are paid a wage based on how much the union and the government agree on in collective bargaining. However, what collective bargaining does is give all teachers the same pay and rights without considering how good of a performance he or she is doing. It protects the lowest standard of teaching and if people wanted to motivate teachers to work harder we would have a merit based program that decides pay. Washington D.C. almost did. A couple of years ago Michelle Rhee, the superintendent of D.C. schools, tried to institute a new wage program that paid teachers based on how well the students learned. If teachers did a really good job they might even be able to earn twice their salaries at the time. It seemed like a program that would motivate teachers to work harder and provide results. The teachers union did not think so and killed the idea before it could even be put to a vote. If unions continue to protect the lowest standard of teaching then we can expect to have a lot stupider of a nation.
Unions are not just hurting the standard of teaching, but impending learning as a whole. According to Time Magazine the teachers union in Detroit forced the city to turn down a $200 million charitable gift to build 15 charter schools across the city because they were afraid how the influx of the new schools would affect them. Recently New York turned down a $700 million towards the school system for similar reasons. One of the reasons that unions turn down these offers that would build charter schools is because they would have a more aggressive evaluation of teachers, longer days and school years and more of an individualized theme compared to a group dynamic.
Tenure is another huge problem affecting the quality of teaching today. Tenure is when teachers a granted a permanent position at their jobs and it makes it extremely tough for schools to fire these teachers. One of the biggest reasons that it hurts teaching is because once some teachers are able to get it, they become lazy and lose motivation to be as good of a teacher. Personally, I come from a great school where every single teacher is the cream of the crop so this doesn't really affect me, but I know that it has had a profound effect on lots of schools from around the country. The collective bargaining done with teacher's unions has made it much easier for teachers to get tenure and even harder for schools to fire teachers. In New York they have this area known as the rubber room. What the rubber room is, is a place that teachers accused of misconduct go for usually around three years while their case is waiting to be heard. While in the room the teachers play games, read books, and spend their day doing menial tasks while collecting full pay. This is RIDICULOUS. The rubber room is costing over $35 million a year and the money is going to teachers who spend their day doing nothing. We could spend this money on the schools or invest it into the economy, but instead it's being wasted because teacher's unions have become so strong. Mayors and governors of New York won't go after this because they are afraid of the teacher's union. If something is not done soon then our whole school system will soon be not fixable and do we really want the next generation being brought up with a second class education? We have to take power away from the unions and start using a stricter standard to evaluate teachers. I'm lucky that I go to a school where my teachers all very good at what they do, but what about inner city kids who do not have the advantage that I've had in my life.
What the unions do is set up a policy where the teachers are paid a wage based on how much the union and the government agree on in collective bargaining. However, what collective bargaining does is give all teachers the same pay and rights without considering how good of a performance he or she is doing. It protects the lowest standard of teaching and if people wanted to motivate teachers to work harder we would have a merit based program that decides pay. Washington D.C. almost did. A couple of years ago Michelle Rhee, the superintendent of D.C. schools, tried to institute a new wage program that paid teachers based on how well the students learned. If teachers did a really good job they might even be able to earn twice their salaries at the time. It seemed like a program that would motivate teachers to work harder and provide results. The teachers union did not think so and killed the idea before it could even be put to a vote. If unions continue to protect the lowest standard of teaching then we can expect to have a lot stupider of a nation.
Unions are not just hurting the standard of teaching, but impending learning as a whole. According to Time Magazine the teachers union in Detroit forced the city to turn down a $200 million charitable gift to build 15 charter schools across the city because they were afraid how the influx of the new schools would affect them. Recently New York turned down a $700 million towards the school system for similar reasons. One of the reasons that unions turn down these offers that would build charter schools is because they would have a more aggressive evaluation of teachers, longer days and school years and more of an individualized theme compared to a group dynamic.
Tenure is another huge problem affecting the quality of teaching today. Tenure is when teachers a granted a permanent position at their jobs and it makes it extremely tough for schools to fire these teachers. One of the biggest reasons that it hurts teaching is because once some teachers are able to get it, they become lazy and lose motivation to be as good of a teacher. Personally, I come from a great school where every single teacher is the cream of the crop so this doesn't really affect me, but I know that it has had a profound effect on lots of schools from around the country. The collective bargaining done with teacher's unions has made it much easier for teachers to get tenure and even harder for schools to fire teachers. In New York they have this area known as the rubber room. What the rubber room is, is a place that teachers accused of misconduct go for usually around three years while their case is waiting to be heard. While in the room the teachers play games, read books, and spend their day doing menial tasks while collecting full pay. This is RIDICULOUS. The rubber room is costing over $35 million a year and the money is going to teachers who spend their day doing nothing. We could spend this money on the schools or invest it into the economy, but instead it's being wasted because teacher's unions have become so strong. Mayors and governors of New York won't go after this because they are afraid of the teacher's union. If something is not done soon then our whole school system will soon be not fixable and do we really want the next generation being brought up with a second class education? We have to take power away from the unions and start using a stricter standard to evaluate teachers. I'm lucky that I go to a school where my teachers all very good at what they do, but what about inner city kids who do not have the advantage that I've had in my life.
