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Hazel1928 t1_jbvg92z wrote

Reply to comment by SeptasLate in How can we attract more people into the teaching profession? by jekomo

I didn’t say removing pensions is the solution. I said that people in this thread who are complaining that nurses and social workers earn more than teachers need to calculate the value of the retirement benefits that teachers get, where nurses and social workers don’t have anything comparable.

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SeptasLate t1_jbviyek wrote

I mean I think nurses and social workers are also under compensated and suffer from the same problems that are undermining public education.

I just thought that charter schools are well known for rarely being a top destination for teachers and that more of them are nit going to cause more people to become teachers. I also thought saying teachers don't like charter schools just because they're a better alternative was disingenuous and disrespectful.

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Hazel1928 t1_jbvkplm wrote

Well, it’s not so much teachers I have a quarrel with, its the NEA and the ATF. Both are resistant to change, and, in my opinion, concerned about looking out for teachers when I think all Americans should be able to agree that schools exist to serve students, not to serve teachers. I will repeat: American education needs to be reformed from the ground up. Education exists to serve students. But in order to serve students, they must find the ways to attract and retain effective teachers.

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SeptasLate t1_jbvp188 wrote

Yes teachers unions and associations exist to protect teachers. Unions are also just collections of teachers, an issue with teachers unions is an issue with unionized teachers. Often what's good for students are usually good for teachers. Teachers unions have been known to fight for smaller classrooms, less of a focus on standardized testing, and greater support from specialists for students.

Teachers ability to organize is one of the few benefits and source of almost all of the benefits that attract people to the profession. Just compare education in states that have teachers unions and ones that don't. They better serve students.

Beyond that, what teachers or union says that schools are for anything but the education of students? What initiatives that would benefit students have unions prevented?

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