Nation’s Schools Should Follow Rhode Island Superintendent Gallo’s Example
by Kyle OlsonThe Education Action Group Foundation will support Central Falls, Rhode Island school Superintendent Frances Gallo with a billboard dedicated to this public school patriot, smack dab in the middle of downtown Central Falls.
Gallo’s recent decision to push past teachers union obstruction and do what’s best for the district’s struggling high school students is a prime example of the bold actions needed to turn around the nation’s failing schools.
Gallo recommended firing all 74 Central Falls High School teachers after the local teachers union refused to sign off on long overdue reforms needed to save the chronically failing school, which has been on the state’s list of underperforming schools for seven years. Less than half of Central Falls High School’s students graduate and only seven percent are proficient in math, state data shows.
Gallo offered to pay teachers $30 an hour for some of the additional duties, and expected them to kick in a bit of their own time to improve instruction.
Central Falls Teachers’ Union balked, then demanded $90 per hour for the extra work.
We believe the situation in Central Falls is a perfect example of the “me first” teachers union mentality plaguing school districts across the country. Affiliates of the nation’s two largest teachers unions, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, have long opposed virtually any reforms that bring accountability to the classroom, or affect the union’s bottom line.
We are applauding Gallo’s efforts with the billboard above. It should be on display in downtown Central Falls by the end of the week.
We trust her courageous actions will be supported by the state’s education leaders, who charged her with turning the school around. Hopefully, Gallo’s work in Central Falls will serve as a catalyst for other schools to stand up for their students.
It is about time somebody did.
Superintendent Gallo’s actions are tough but necessary. The entitlement mentality and the notion that teachers unions have the right to obstruct critical reforms that will benefit children has got to come to end. Hopefully Gallo’s brave stand will serve as a flash point for other underperforming schools across America.
Virtually every other sector of the economy is being asked to step up, pitch in and help our country through these difficult times. To have a teachers union with its hand out – and penalizing children on top of it – is particularly insulting.
Hopefully Gallo’s actions serve as a shot across the bow of every teachers union that is putting its interests ahead of the children they purport to serve.
EAGF plans to promote bold reform efforts in other parts of the country with similar billboard messages. We are calling on others with a commitment to transforming the country’s troubled public schools to help toward that end by contributing to our campaign with an online donation at EAGFdn.org.
We are taking a stand. To stand with us, make a tax-deductible contribution and we will post similar billboards in the community.
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Got a Tip?
160 Comments
Unfortunately is goes beyond bad teachers and their uncoperative unions.The dumbification of america is more important.Generations of slightly educated people that sort of know how to read and have very little grasp of math, is exactly what kind of voters our politicians want….
$90 an hour huh? Sounds like these teachers are smoking some bad sh** . Break the union….fire all of them. There are about 20 million people who could use a job.
They asked for $90.00 an hour?
That is all you need to know about the NEA and the AFT.
I don't know what you have to do to become someone who can work on getting 74 teachers fired but it sure sounds appealing.
Good work Ms. Gallo!
And of all places, Rhode Island? Couldn't possibly be a native Rhode Islander…….must have come from some other part of the country.
What is a teachers primary responsibility, even beyond teaching?
To be a positive influence and role model for the students they are responsible for.
What kind of message is sent to the students by their actions?
Working an extra 25 minutes a day, helping those who are struggling through tutoring, and showing that they care by eating lunch with their charges once per week – has a very high price tag. So high, in fact, that it just isn't worth doing for a "measly" $30 an hour.
It seems to me that all of those things ought to be done for free – as a little something called charity. Assistance for struggling students, and all that. Or whatever you want to call it.
They all deserve to be fired. And not because they refused – but as a result of their performance over the last seven years.
If it can be done in RI there is hope for the rest of the country – except, of course California – which is owned by the teachers and prison guards unions, whose dues are paid for out of tax dollars that go to politicians that "negotiate" to sell the state to the unions and on it goes. Its like paying a personal trainer to help commit seppukku.
My mother and father were school teachers but they took great pride in what they did. No "fisting" and other tolerance
BS and their kids all graduated HS from public schools.
If that's old school, then we need more of it.
It appears Gallo did the right thing. As the only non-teacher among my parents, grandparents, 4 aunts, 2 uncles and several cousins, I grew up with the teachers union. When my father went on strike in California in the 1970s, the AFT helped my family get a wage that allowed my parents to buy a modest home. But towards the end of my father's career (mid-90s), he was frustrated with not only the Union's, but the State's, interference with students. He quit early when it became apparent that he was not allowed to fail "F" students (you lose money), when the State started telling him what to teach, and when crime and drive by shootings became too common. My mother used many of her own materials (she'd spent 3-5% of her own salary for school supplies each year), and fought the use of new, State-required lesson plans (that were all theoretical and were never tested with real kids). Thus, I truly feel for the teachers (who deserve good pay), but agree that the Union's have shortchanged the most important thing–the childrens' education.
Well done superintendent Gallo, it's a start on putting the unions in their place!!!
Teachers really don't need a union, it's a fallacy. As Beck was saying the other day, unions really do the most good in industries that abuse the workers. Teachers in this country are not being abused, they have it really good!! too good!!! We need to do away with inept unions, they are destroying our country and our childrens futures!!!
unfortunately, dissent is not tolerated in education. if the past is any clue, superintendent gallo will soon join the ranks of the formerly employed.
to quote albert shanker, former president of the a.f.t., "when school children start paying union dues, that 's when I'll start representing the interests of school children."
the time is long past to break up BIG ED.
And so it begins…
Most all teachers I've known volunteer at least 25 minutes a day. My mother worked longer days as a second grade teacher than I did as a young attorney. I coached high school basketball for a $900/year stipend (about 30 cents per hour). However, as noted in my other comment, the Union, over the last two decades, has ruined public education, along with the expansion of the Federal Government's role. And, let's not forget that it the kids' parents that are the ultimate responsible parties for being that positive influence and role model. Thus, I think it is very fair to be harsh on the teacher's unions, but I don't think you can pin it on the average teacher (who, like most of America, has been disinterested in politics until very recently).
Off topic a little. I just heard on the news about a shooting at a school in Littleton Co. No one was hurt, but I got worried, That is where my grandson lives, I called my daughter-in-law, but no answer. I'll try again later!!!
Frances Gallo deserves the Congressional Medal of Freedom.
UNION-BUSTERS,………………….ala Ronald Reagen…………..More power to ya Ms Gallow
GRIDLOCK is the answer
the NEA is, and has been, a communist front organization for decades…
Or Progressive if you must; there is little difference. Net result: Same. The teachers represent the leading edge of the inculcation of our youth- which is paramount if you intend to foment revolution. Ask any dictator worth their salt- they'll tell you the Hitler Youth or Young Mao Brigades had to happen to turn on their parents- and fuel the fight.
The teachers can be incompetent as all get out- but if they tote the party line they are rewarded with permanence.
For 'mentoring' is far more important than educating…
No publicly funded enterprise should be allowed to unionize without the consent of those paying the bills- the taxpayers. It should be illegal and there is no logical reason for it.
No, that's what kind of voters the dems want, so that they can take care of them, and stay in office.
They should be fired if they will not do what is necessary to ensure the school is successful.
"Give us the child for 8 years and it will be a Bolshevik forever."
-Vladimir Lenin
I have no problem with the individual teachers – I'm sure that most of them are hard-working, honest individuals. And I have a 5 year old in kindergarten – I know what my responsibilities are – but I also expect my son's teacher to be a positive influence and role model. He's only 5 now, and can't understand the issues at this point in time, but if he was old enough, I'd make sure he understood the issue.
My point was that the teachers union, and the teachers by association, are sending a very bad message to the students in general. They can try and blame it all on the school district, and no doubt there is a lawsuit pending or already filed, but the message is horrible. Simply put – the union that represents the teachers, and is supposedly looking out for their best interests, is unwilling to give the students the extra help they need for only $30 an hour.
And in a school where less than 50% of the high school graduates, and only 7% are proficient in math, there is a serious performance issue amongst the teachers. You really can't spin those numbers in a good way.
Regardless, I stand behind my remarks. It is a bad message to send to the students, and it doesn't matter whether it was a union or the teachers they represent that said "no". And, the teachers' performance has been less than exemplary to say the least. Yes, I still believe they all deserve to be fired for that and that alone.
Trouble is that it is the administration level of most school systems where the money gets sucked up. These unions need to be busted.
Oh I get that. In fact, when I saw this on TV last night, I was glad to see that it happened. I think my father, who taught high school at the same school for 38 years would agree. The Union's place ended in 1980 for teachers. Now we need to rid them of the union and federal controls and inputs. For that matter, the "intellectual" professors who dream up all of the new ways to learn (to keep their jobs) need to stop ridding the classrooms of means of teaching that have been effective through the years.
Take your children away from these people and find teachers who work for you. Not them.
Frances Gallo is just the beginning. God bless this man's courage.
and look how that worked out for them? Ultimately no one wants to be used; and when the truth surfaces and you find out that others have played you for a sucker you get mad. Turn on them. Like the 'Cultural Revolution' proved in China.
Wearing a 'Che' t-shirt- and being a true revolutionary- are two different things. Hopefully this young generation will wise up as well…
Unions have no use in the world any longer, they don't "save lives" or prevent "workplace danger" or prevent "child labor" or prevent "unfair labor practices" any longer…
They simply destroy companies and countries and their time has passed…
The party is over Andy Stern, John Sweeney and Richard Trumka and doom has come to your doorstep…
ABOLISH ALL UNIONS!
All our area school districts just "negotiated" around 4% raises. HELLLOOOO???? in this economy!!! And anytime you try to wake people up to that they say we're just jealous and oh don't pick on the poor teachers. When will these people get it??
I have a small business and I don't make $90 an hr. These leftwing parasites need to be flogged into reality.
Unions and government workers will not have there enlightening moment before the ax falls.
I say congratulations. Someone has to start doing this.
I apploud you Ms Gallo. It is about time that someone stood up to the teachers union that has virtually distroyed our education system in this country. When I hear of parents who have chosen to send their children to charter schools for less money per child than public schools and the standards are higher than the public schools it speaks volumes about how bad the public school system has become. $90 per hour. They have got to be joking me. I work in a very high tech environment and I get paid a 3rd of that. The unions are destroying our country.
The truly PROFESSIONAL teachers will not need to hide behind a union to keep their job! Just ask the thousands who teach in private schools…no union protecting them and the kids are learning more too!
You're right that it goes beyond bad teachers and their unions, but we have to start somewhere and taking on the unions that have been a large part in the destruction of our schools and a huge pita for parents and decent educators alike, is as good a place as any to start.
For people who are still under the impression, thanks to unions, that teachers are generally underpaid, this $90 request may just be a wake up call.
Maybe BO was right, there is hope and change. Just not what he and his Chicago thug gang had in mind.
Public employees, i.e. government employees, should NEVER EVER be allowed to unionize and/or collective bargain. If they don’t like what the government is willing to offer, then they can go get a job in the private sector.
The Federal government should get entirely out of the education business. As to the states, they need dump the idea of “public” schools and perhaps participate in another model of education, i.e. like tax credits for students who attend a PRIVATE school of their choice.
This woman is my hero!!! It's about time someone put the children first.
AHHH!!! Just got a call from my grandson, he's fine!!! The shooting wasn't at his school.
Sometimes I really wonder what is wrong with people, how can they do something like shoot at young children at their schools!! It makes no sense. I long for the old days, when the biggest thing we worried about at school was if we got caught smoking cigs!!
Whose the dumb SOB that allowed government entities to unionize by executive order? That would be JFK…thanks a pant load!
I don't know if that is a correct. Most are salaried and not paid by the hour. I know that when I got out of college in 1994, I delivered chips for Frito lay and made about $10,000 a year more than my mother (in her 18th year of elementary school teaching) and about $1,000 more than my father (about 28 years as a CA high school teacher). As noted by someone earlier, the adminstration makes a lot of money and wastes the rest. With that, the Unions still need to go.
I was a teacher for 25 years (Southern California). My typical schedule was 6:00 a.m to 5:30 p.m. Preparation from 6:00 am to 6:30 am, tutoring from 6:30 am to 7:30 a.m., Classes from 7:30am to 11:55 am., lunch/tutoring from 11:55 am to 12:25 pm, classes from 12:25 pm to 1:25 pm. Prep period/tutoring from 1:25 pm to 2:25pm, Coaching from 2:25 pm to 4:30 pm, Tutoring (athletes) from 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm. I wasn't paid nor did I expect to be paid for the time I spent tutoring students. My guess is there are a number of teachers at that high school that do the same as I did. They don't deserve to lose their jobs just because a Union is stupid. I wasn't a member of the Union in my district but had to pay mandatory fees to it. I fought it at every junction when it came up with crap like this.So be careful in not painting everyone with such a wide brush.
Kudos to Ms Gallo.. Its a good start, but there is a lot more work to do! Especially out here in California!
Hip, hip, hip, hooray for Ms. Gallo. What a courageous woman!
Here's the thing…if you live in a union state…that IS the consent of the tax payers. Become a Right To Work State and you break the Unions real source of power. Get working with your State legislators to change the State Laws and take back your children and your economy!
Fire them all including the union and upper mgt. You let illegals in that's what you get, problems with english? Hire new teachers at 60% pay and make them pick up more of their pension and health cares costs. Being educated and non-greedy are not usually prerequisites for being teacher.
I have great respect for those who choose to educate our youth. I have NO respect for unions of ANY kind and especially Teachers unions after reading your story about Frances Gallo.Unions have brought our Republic to the brink of collapse given all that has taken place in the last 5 years.Unions have lived beyond their usefulness and contribute nothing to modern society.
I wish that those who are responsible would hang their heads in shame and dedicate the rest of their lives to correcting the almost unforgivable mistakes they have made. If that isn't possible, perhaps we could encourage them to immigrate to any country…
Pwrecker, when your Mom & Dad were teachers, there was a word we used
for them.."dedication"….Since the unions became so powerful in education,
the word dedication came out of the mix….Sad to say, but I think it's true…And,
I believe the Unions of today ruin everything they touch…..
My wife is a teacher and is sick of being blamed for things she has no control over. Discipline for one comes to mind. My wife took a BB gun away from a student. What do you think should have happened to the student? Expulsion? Detention? WRONG, the student was back in class the next day when the vice principle came into the class to "dress down" my wife for removing the gun in front of the other students and embarrassing the little SOB in front of the class! Where can a teacher go from there?
Thank you!!! I'm as conservative as they come, but we have MASSIVE amounts of students who just don't care enough to do homework, study, and those who do, cheat. I fully understand the dumbing down of curriculum and uneducated teachers. Believe me, I'm as outraged at teachers who can't read, speak, or write coherently as the next person. However, I literally had my life threatened the other day when a student put a young lady in a dangerous headlock when she did not cough up some money. I dared to tell him stop and he threatened to shoot me. He got one day of suspension even though 2 other teachers were with me at the time of the occurance.
I am a teacher and have complained to our version of a teacher's union in Alabama until my face is blue about this Kevin Jennings nonsense. I believe in change through membership, and this is the only reason I hesitate to give up this membership.
When I saw Schwartzenager on Greta, I almost threw up. He was pontificating about the economic problems and the solution had nothing to do with cutting spending. He also diminished the impact that the illegals have in the state.
We are not talking 'denial' here, this attitude goes all the way to 'ludicrous'. If Ahnold is considered a republican, I am turning in my card. He has been dippin his wick in BLUE ink for so many years, he hasn't a clue.
I say cut California off!!! Not another dime until they figure out how to NOT SPEND. They lay off Cops, Firefighters and Teachers and do noting about the illegals. They let 30,000 farmers and the most productive farm land in the world go to waste over a the 'possible' risk to a two inch, non-native fish.
California is beyond hope, if it was a race horse, there would be but one remedy!!!
Thought I was the only one getting mad watching that.
Ahnold doesn't have a fwiggen clue.
Youre hoss anaolgy? They beat a good hoss dead in Kaliforni-yeah!
The sad truth about all of this is how it effects the kids. Teachers should have to compete for there job just like everybody else does. We should want the best teachers for our kids. The only way to get that is to have a performance based evaluation system and hire and fire accordingly. This of course could easily be handed at the county level. The people that live there know whats going on in there backyard.
Time for unions to disappear. It's all about blackmail now.
They'll have to post the billboard in Spanish, and Liberian, as approx 86% of the population of Central Falls are illegal aliens. CF (what the locals refer to it as) used to be a mill town, factory workers, American citizens, used to live there, but there are very few citizens who reside there now. Most property is owned by slum lords, who don't live there, and because of the ridiculous waste of more than 70 million per year, of state tax dollars (back in the '90s, the state was forced to pick up the entire tab for the running of CF schools, the citizens of the state of RI are subsidizing lower property tax rates for said slumlords.
The ESL costs of CF schools is higher than the rest of the state, as students get life long education in their native languages, plus we have to pay for their day care (lots of CF high school students are unwed mothers who are collecting welfare at the same time as they are in school. CF hosts large numbers of the Columbian drug cartel (one of the city council members, Mrs. Delahoz is married to one, she recently was arraigned for DUI while driving with a child in her car), the Columbian terrorist group, FARC also is represented in the city. Former Liberian president, the criminal Charles Taylor once lived in CF, in the large Liberian illegal population in the city.
Situations like that demand expulsion – and the creation of military-style boarding schools to teach discipline to hard cases when they are clearly not getting what they need in the home.
But to create those educational options will require a switch to a free-market educational system in which students and their parents are clients of schools rather than burdens. A client relationship is an arm's-length relationship which can be terminated by either side. This is what's lacking in public education – and in health care as well for that matter.
I am an ELL Teacher in Idaho who makes half of what those teachers do, even after a masters degree (Yes. I paid for it) and five years' experience. Even so, hearing you go off that teachers — any teachers — should give more out of "charity" makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The reason that some teachers resist being required to volunteer is that they ALREADY DO volunteer their hours and, in some cases, quite a bit of their pay just to fulfill their regular responsibilities. I work hours on the weekends, come in early everyday, and stay late many days just to get a sketchy idea of what we are going to do in the five different classes that I teach. I have bought numerous books for my classroom with my own money since I work for a program that is direly underfunded and for which no set curriculum exists. I also come in two to three weeks early every summer to get student files ready for the coming year.
And yes, our schools come up with ways that we can "volunteer" the already short preparation time we have so that we can help students succeed. But this superintendent's expectations were especially hefty, and I don't blame the union for wanting to work out the details over the negotiating table. Seems like a responsible superintendent would have listened to the people whose labor she was naturally expecting to have absolute control over. We are people with jobs and lives. We are not government property.
You have no idea how much extra time these teachers were already giving. Nor did the media say anything about the situations from whence the students come, or what the teachers were already doing for their students. Firing an entire staff might get rid of a few teachers who are ineffective, but it also provides a scapegoat for a system that is broken. If it's only the teachers' fault oe if it's only the union's fault, then, obviously the parents, the administrators, and a society that allows its students to fall through the cracks are not to blame.
For this reason, I definitely disagree with what you say and with what a lot of the posters here are saying.
My suggestion? Try teaching at Central Falls High for a semester. Then you will see reality and how complex the situation really is, and you'll realize that blaming one factor in a mixed up equation is not going to solve anything.
1. Eliminate the Department of Education at the Federal level.
2. Abolish teachers unions at the State level. (Reagan style – like the air traffic controllers)
3. Teach in English only.
Start from there, the whole system needs to torn apart and re-invented.
Arnold is a schwachkopf, a lousy actor and the worse politician.
Rhode Island has the higest paid teachers union members in the country. Union has a stranglehold on this state. ALL union. People leaving in droves and so is business. there wil lbe no one left to pay the union members but other union members. About time someone did something. Bloiodsuckers, the lot of them
i'll do it for 20 hr
whats the job description?
Here is a hanky for you to cry into. We all put in extra time at our jobs, use our own money to buy work related items. and all the other items you listed. But after you say that then you tell us it might be the students home life that is the problem. Sorry that is a sorry excuse when the school has a 50 percent failure rate and if the teachers or the teachers union was doing anything extra to help the students the media would be playing it for all it was worth about the hard working teachers trying to help the students.__And a 60 dollar differance in a per hour rate is not a detail to work out, Its highway robbery and makes the teachers look like they only care about the money. So take your poor pitiful teachers story and sell it somewhere else. You put the time in college to be a teacher, and i commend you ffor that but i do not believe for a second that all teachers do it for love of the students not love of 90.00 an hour to help students they are already failing to teach properly
This sounds like a case of the baby being thrown out with the bathwater. The problems at this school have built for a long time.
What has the principal/vice principals done to make improvements in the school? Isn’t their job to identify problems (including teachers that may not have been performing) and come up with a plan for improvement with improvement being as condition for continued employment?
What about the school board? Why were they not holding the principal responsible for failure to perform at this school?
Bottom line is that people were hired/elected with the responsibility for managing this school. They failed and should be the ones held accountable.
Yes, ineffective teachers who are unwilling or incapable of improving should be removed from the classroom. This is what the school’s management failed to do. Having to replace all the teachers is a reflection of their failure. So I say, fire the people managing the school and then begin to hold the teachers accountable as individuals as should have been done in the past.
but think of the poor teachers who have to stay later than normal, between holidays every other week. I mean if we expect results from our schools we should be willing to pay them 100.00 an hour, provide them with student teachers to actually teach the class so the real teachers can observe via camera from the teachers lounge at the local bar. /sarc
for every good teacher you hear about there are 5 who are a waste of classroom space
I also was watching, and kept waiting for him to talk about cutting spending. Very disappointing. The thought progressive, Progressive, PROGRESSIVE kept getting reinforced. I was also disappointed Greta didn't grill him about cutting spending.
My cousin's son trained to be a History teacher…He not only disagreed
with the unions, but he saw how teachers were kept on when they could
hardly read or spell themselves….He taught for two years, and went to
work as a computer geek elsewhere and is much happier for it…I say,
if you are as unhappy as Elisabeth appears to be, maybe she should go
elsewhere too….
"Take care of them" as in take advantage of them. Just keeping them down on the plantation.
where you saying i should do not like my job?? I like my job and am happy with. Just saying we all put in extra time ans spend money on work related items, its not just teachers
par, I was agreeing with you, and meant Elisabeth appears to have a
problem, and she should go elsewhere too. (like my cousin's kid did)
..Didn't mean it to sound like I was directing it towards you….More or less,
was having a dialogue with you…..I agree, anyone that works has to put up
with a certain amount of things you may not like, even the best of them….
Sorry you took it the wrong way…….and I wasn't very clear……
Just guessing that you don't work for the CF Chamber of Commerce. Never knew any of this but now it makes all the more sense. The makings of yet another liberal utopia like Detroit and New Orleans.
I find it disturbing that the school board can categorically fire a significant number of teachers simply because they happen to teach at the same school. It is quite likely that there are many dedicated professionals and wonderful teachers among those who are to be let go. Dismissing someone from his or her job should be based on individual merit and performance considerations. I agree that Teachers' Unions generally make it difficult to remove incompetent teachers, but that is an issue that must be tackled without penalizing those who are competent. When schools suffer from significant drop out rates and poor test scores, teachers are of course the most obvious factor to blame. The reality is much more complex. What resources does the school have to offer? How big the are classes? How much time can the teachers spend on individualized learning? What consequences and rewards are parents giving their kids for their educational attainments, or lack thereof? Of course, it is just easier to blame the all of the teachers and fire the lot of them
I did not take it the wrong way, just wanted to make sure of who you were talking too. And i am often not clear in my remarks so i am okay with it.
The company i work for has a couple of ex-teachers who came to work for us as trainers. They left teaching because they could not stand the unions telling them what to do and how to teach. Now they get to teach how they want to
Glad we got that settled!….I think the education field has lost a lot
of good teachers because of the unions…That's a shame cause the
future generation deserves better…..Nice chatting with you…Got to
let hubby have the computer for some business……
Read this book: Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto, available to read for free here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/6266232/Underground-His...
Mr. Gatto's site is here: http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/index.htm
The Business of Schooling
If modern schooling has a “Fourth Purpose,” there must be an earlier three.
Traditional forms of instruction in America, even before the Revolution, had three specific purposes:
To make good people
To make good citizens
And to make each student find some particular talents to develop to the maximum.
The new mass schooling which came about slowly but continuously after 1890, had a different purpose, a "fourth" purpose.
THE
FOURTH
PURPOSE
The fourth purpose steadily squeezed the traditional three to the margins of schooling; in the fourth purpose, school in America became like school in Germany, a servant of corporate and political management.
Read this book: Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto, available to read for free here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/6266232/Underground-His...
Mr. Gatto's site is here: http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/index.htm
The Business of Schooling
If modern schooling has a “Fourth Purpose,” there must be an earlier three.
Traditional forms of instruction in America, even before the Revolution, had three specific purposes:
To make good people
To make good citizens
And to make each student find some particular talents to develop to the maximum.
The new mass schooling which came about slowly but continuously after 1890, had a different purpose, a "fourth" purpose.
THE
FOURTH
PURPOSE
The fourth purpose steadily squeezed the traditional three to the margins of schooling; in the fourth purpose, school in America became like school in Germany, a servant of corporate and political management.
Did you read the article? Because if you did, you are doing nothing more than attempting to obfuscate with vacuous platitudes.
Resources available? Up to and extra $30/hour for the new requirements; however, the Union demanded $90/hour. Clearly, the Union is implying that ANY and ALL resources available to educate the kids are to be consumed by salaries.
How big are the classes? This is the biggest educational non-started ever foisted on the American public. Class sizes DO NOT correspond to education success or failure. Ever wonder how the US has the best Universities on the planet while maintaining absolutely huge class sizes (200+ students in some lectures)?
Time for individualized learning? The superintendent was trying to make such time available for, and this is the important part, THE STUDENTS TO BE ABLE TO ACCESS. The teachers or, more precisely, the union wanted nothing to due with it.
Parental roles in education? Sadly, this is a very important indicator of educational success. However, it is one completely outside of the purview of the educational system (short of neglect and legal consequences). As such, it has, and quite appropriately should have, NO bearing on union negotiations.
Ultimately, all the teachers allowing the union to continue to represent their interests are responsible for the actions of the union. Make no mistake, the union is the agent of the teachers (who are the legally determined principals) in this relationship. As such, they are responsible for the conduct of their agent; be it collectively or individually. Why should the teachers be able to succor on the benefits provided by the strong-arming tactics of the unions when there is a plentiful bounty while simultaneously being be able to disavow the same individually when the loosed beast becomes rabid. No…better that they should be held collectively responsible for maintaining the status quo or the rot at the core if you will.
Hey, I like teachers. There are some teachers that made a large impact on me, I don't begrudge them a decent compensation package for a second. That said, they'd better reign in these union hacks or people or going to do the lifting for them and there isn't going to BE a teachers union. Good for Gallo.
I wouldn't do any uncompensated work for anyone. I work to earn money, so that I may live. I'll pick my own charity, in my off hours thank you. And while I have no love for the teacher's unions; or the affirmaitve action programs that fill our schools with horribly unqualified teachers or the dumbed down social promotion mindset of the administrations, most of the blame lies with the culture of the parents and students. The no values, no discipline, entitlement culture of underachieving students from the "community" are the main impediment to education.
Amazingly, the origins and purpose of all this chaos are predicted and accounted for in the best selling, prophetic, political Conspiracy Thriller book, BLACK ROAD 2012, which I bought on amazon, and was a real goose-bumpy, totally absorbing ride: http://tinyurl.com/amazon-BLACK-ROAD-2012
So, if there is a gross deficiency of values and discipline, teachers have no moral obligation to make any "extra" effort unless they are compensated for it? A "mere" $90.00 an hour? Sure sounds like your values could use a dedicated teacher's assistance.
Ever done any military service? Thought not.
I honestly believe there are a lot more Frances Gallos out there, here is hoping some of them follow this courageous example…
My mother was a school teacher and worked on a "team" that developed the curriculum for NY State. She was the only one on the "team" that had ever been in the classroom (20+ years). They looked down on her for that and didn't take her objections seriously.
My kids are all in private schools.
My state has enacted Right To Work. However, I also had federal unionized jobs in mind. I think we agree there is no place for unions in government jobs, period.
It's not ALL the teachers fault.
I'm 63 and remember grammar school very well. When I went to school, no one told a teacher to go f**k themselves. No one would even think of punching a teacher, or calling a teacher out, It just didn't happen. The biggest problem in the classroom back then was "kids chewing gum in class." We have been spoon fed the liberal pap that we can't infringe on the kids self esteem. Self esteem?, how much self esteem can a kid have who comes out of high school and can't read or write? How much self esteem will a young person have who goes for a job and needs someone to read and explain the application? If I were a teacher today, I doubt that I'd be willing to "give it my all" in an environment of kids who've been raised to believe that the world revolves around them. Before you go apoplectic, I do agree that the teachers unions bear a lot of the blame, but, until we the people start to teach out kids that they have a responsibility to learn, and to behave in the classroom, the battle will be lost, and out kids and grandkids will be the losers.
just sayin
Unions served a purpose years ago when employers abused their workers and they had to work in unsafe conditions.
Now, however there is no reason for any union. The unions have ruined entire companys and become too powerful.
Now they use political power to shape policy in government and use thuggery to get what they want.
Teachers should not be unionized period.
If I had my way ( Yeah I watched part of that Ahnold/ Greta crap last night ) I would pull the star from the flag and give the Americans 1 week to exit the state before handing it over to Mexico debt and all.. I believe he said they received 140 Bil from the stimulus and other monies from the Fed Gov in the last 2 years, so that azz can sit there and act like they our on the right track with 49 states paying their way !!! I ended up degusted and went back to reading a book ( Manhunt—- the 12-day chase for Lincoln's Killer,—- a great read !!! )…
That just makes my blood boil!! To think of the people in charge of the schools now days is like watching what those idiots are doing to our country in Washington!! ENOUGH!!! Teachers NEED some kind of respect and, if the teacher is the one being 'dressed down' in front of the class…if it were me…I would have walked…which is why we need people who have the stones to STAND UP to the unions!!
not the teachers so much as the administration. Schools are top heavy. Too many hands catching the money before it gets to the classroom. NO UNIONS FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES!!
I'm really glad your grandson is ok..it's a terrible thing when we have to worry about our children getting killed at school now…
EVERYONE in California is living in la-la land!! They are so caught up in their fantasy world, that they have no idea what the REAL world is all about…..I think the time has come to shut California off from the rest of the country and let them solve their own problems…more millionaires in California than any other state and they are broke??? Are you kidding me???
I agree 100%!!! Reagan is the only one who had the guts to say "back to work or you're all fired"…they balked, he fired that all!! Of course Obama won't dare do this to his buddy Andy Stern, but maybe if other people in charge started doing what this woman did …the problem would solve itself!
It's the fault of the democratic party! THEY are the ones in control of the education in this country!! The teachers have NO authority in the class room..this is called the dumbing down of America…I have seen for myself, how the teacher sits there and lets the kids throw desks or whatever they want, across the room! That's what happens when the administration, and those who have never taught in school, tell teachers what they can, and cannot do!!
One of the few instances where you don't always get what you pay for. Rewarding year after year teachers that are too lazy to offer to stay a few minutes longer or offer to help with tutor rotation would be wrong. This superintendent is a hero.
School of choice and voucers are a big step in the right direction. Schools that don't have unions and that make the teachers accountable for the out come of the students. Also, many of these charter schools have much higher restrictions on the students that they must follow in order to stay enrolled in the school. Some of the schools are even going back to the old standby of school uniforms and are finding that it works. We have a great school near us that has a three strike rule, and they really mean it. If your child is not behaving properly the parents are notified, if the student does not improve they are sent to offsite counseling, if it happens a third time, they student is handed their walking papers. The parents are included in the whole process and are expected to help in the correction of the problem. The students in this school do well and the graduation rate is nearly 100%. (the kids are even PREPARED for college when they graduate). What a concept.
I find it to be a huge problem that the teachers can ask such a high price for additional work, and most of the time get it. I live in a state where the unemployment rate is effectively at 20%. The schools in Detroit are failing and have been for years. The teachers don't care about the students at all. They have no problem coming in to protest a charter school that wanted to move into the area to help the 58% drop out rate and give the students an alternative, but they also woulld not come in to actually help the students. They are protecting their benefits and their high salary and their summer vacation, but they are not protecting the students. That being said, there are many very good school districts and they should be held up as a shining example, but so should the charter schools who are doing amazing work without unionized teachers.
Exactly!
Now, it is time to make sure the STUDENTS understand that they also can be handed a pink slip. This isn't daycare or social hour. They attend school to LEARN and to leave as educated young adults. If they cannot at least give the teachers respect and true effort, they should not be allowed to return to school. Give the parents a wake up call. Do you want your children to do better than you (average family income there of $22,000).
Shades of Reagan … loved the move.
My daughter once told me that at the college she attended, most of the students going for their teaching degree never said they had a love for teaching, most said they loved the SWEET work hours and the job security once they reached tenure. Huh….that's weird. I have no problem with people going into a profession to make great money or to have awesome benefits, but once they are no longer held accountable for the results they produce, the incentive is gone. We need to go back to RESULTS based pay.
My, my. I wasn't referring to you. My comment was directed at the teachers at Central Falls that are sending a rather clear message to their own students that $30 an hour isn't worth their time. If you show that kind of dedication to your job and students – kudos to you. I applaud you.
$90 an hour is close to 8 times what I make an hour. $30 an hour is more than double what I make. You think that might be pissing me off slightly?
I didn't say that the teachers ought to volunteer to work for free. I said that it seems these things ought to be done for free. To clarify – by anyone with the ability and desire to help. Parents, students, teachers, and anyone else in the community.
However, the teachers union, and by association the teachers, are saying that tutoring your fellow students just isn't worth my time. As teachers are role models, do think this is a positive or negative lesson for their students to be learning? Honestly? Shouldn't we all be willing to help out those who are struggling? And it's not like the district was trying to force them to do it for free – they were going to get paid $30 an hour!
Don't put words into my mouth. But I'll dissect one of your statements. Something you actually said.
"Firing an entire staff might get rid of a few teachers who are ineffective, but it also provides a scapegoat for a system that is broken. If it's only the teachers' fault oe if it's only the union's fault, then, obviously the parents, the administrators, and a society that allows its students to fall through the cracks are not to blame."
First, firing the entire staff is probably the ONLY way to get rid of ineffective teachers, since the unions have made it almost impossible to fire an individual teacher, even for blatant misconduct.
Second, nobody is scapegoating the teachers here. Their own performance record has done that already.
Third, as a parent I recognize my responsibilities. See my reply to PWrecker above if you doubt me.
Fourth, if the administration were not to blame, they wouldn't be trying to fix it.
Finally, blaming society (which, by implication, you did) is a last-ditch liberal defense when they can't argue their position. Clearly, these students are struggling because society sucks. Really? My life used to suck. I've overcome adversity to get where I am today. So don't expect me to ever shed a tear for anyone that claims that something is society's fault, because they are ultimately going to have to do something themselves to fix their own situation.
As usual, the Union shows up and instead of arguing the issues, they just start up with the usual name-calling.
http://www.projo.com/news/content/central_falls_t...
It is so typical. Their response to any argument is to beat people up. It is all they know: take people's money, and if they complain, beat them up. Their time here as "savior" of the American worker is over. It is time to outlaw unions.
You must be logged in to post a comment.