Talk about obscenity!

[dentheman]

Alanmcorcoran - I agree with you. If he makes enough money for other people that they think he deserves that high pay, then more power to him. I also think NPR sometimes shows a bias in its broadcasts when it is supposed to be unbiased, publicly supported.

[5th_bike]

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

The glorification of teachers is also a bit of a crock. I had some good ones, but most were average to poor.

And here in the US they're all members of the union. My daughter once had the most idiotic math problem to solve in 5th grade or so, from a sheet of paper made by some educational company - something about a truck going an unrealistic 80 mpg and unclarity whether the trip was one way or a return trip. :??:

I went to her teacher to complain about the quality of her materials. :techy:

Lo and behold she was aggressive and didn't come off her high horse - not being able to solve the problem was obviously my daughter's fault. I just went there to correct a wrong, and couldn't believe that monster's attitude. Subsequently, my daughter got all bad grades in math. :jawdrop:

I learned that the teachers all are members of a mighty union and if you complain, forget about good grades for your kid. In the USA. 21st century. No wonder it's going downhill.

OK, there are many good teachers, but the bad ones just get away with it and hide behind the union. In Europe, when you're a bad teacher, you get fired. In the USA, they just happily continue their moron existence on taxpayer's money, and enjoy their long vacations. :retard:

Sorry for ranting.

And sorry for not staying on the subject. I don't give a rat's :curse: for howard stern.

[alanmcorcoran]

Glad this is off topic chit chat! I used to listen to Howard occasionally, back when i had to drive around LA, and he was on terrestrial radio and there was still a radio in my car. Although I liked his embracing of basic male immaturity (I think my social development ended at about seventh grade) a lot of the hangers-on were not as entertaining (Artie, for example) and the show is really designed to appeal to 14-20 year old interests (regardless of their level of maturity.) There were also large blocks of ads. Even so, given the pisspoor state of radio in LA (basically Top 40, "Classic Rock" [Stairway to heaven for the 80 millionth time], Limbaugh and Clones, and Spanish) he didn't have to be that good to compete. When I have a car with a radio now, I typically listen to classical music, but I think most people would probably find Howard more entertaining. I've never heard the pay version of his show, but I'm guessing it's pretty filthy. Not my cup of tea, but I'm proud to live in a country where it's legal! By the way, I believe Limbaugh makes Stern like money and possibly Hannity too. I personally don't care for their content but I think they are entitled to their pay.

[ArizonaKev]

Remember the old saying, "you get what you pay for"?

Well, I am betting that if you started paying teachers something more than $30K a year, like they make here, you would probably have A LOT better teachers.

And I am not "glorifying" teachers - I am trying to draw attention to the VITAL role they play in our society, and how underappreciated they are, especially at the economic level. I could have lived the last 40 years without EVER seeing or even knowing who Kobe Bryant or Howard Stern were, and it would not have made a $hit bit of difference to me.

But if I had never been to school, never learned to read, write, spell - well, then where would I be? Did some of my teachers suck? Sure they did. Do some of my coworkers now suck? Sure they do. Do some basketball players suck? Sure they do. But when a bball player who sucks, and sits on the bench game after game makes 20 times what the man/woman who is teaching my kid 5 days a week, 40 weeks a year - well, to me, that is scary. It is wrong, it is scary, and I don't CARE how much Howard Stern makes - I am just saying there should be SOME sort of incentive for better teachers.

Would you not agree? And if you don't agree, I would ask you this - do you have kids of your own?

AZ Kev

[SuziQ07]

Originally Posted by 5th_bike

And here in the US they're all members of the union. My daughter once had the most idiotic math problem to solve in 5th grade or so, from a sheet of paper made by some educational company - something about a truck going an unrealistic 80 mpg and unclarity whether the trip was one way or a return trip. :??:

I went to her teacher to complain about the quality of her materials. :techy:

Lo and behold she was aggressive and didn't come off her high horse - not being able to solve the problem was obviously my daughter's fault. I just went there to correct a wrong, and couldn't believe that monster's attitude. Subsequently, my daughter got all bad grades in math. :jawdrop:

I learned that the teachers all are members of a mighty union and if you complain, forget about good grades for your kid. In the USA. 21st century. No wonder it's going downhill.

OK, there are many good teachers, but the bad ones just get away with it and hide behind the union. In Europe, when you're a bad teacher, you get fired. In the USA, they just happily continue their moron existence on taxpayer's money, and enjoy their long vacations. :retard:

Sorry for ranting.

And sorry for not staying on the subject. I don't give a rat's :curse: for howard stern.

Wow! This is pretty harsh! As a teacher myself...I'm greatly offended. I work extremely hard at my job. I volunteer my free time to supervise school dances and extended field trips etc. I work with almost 250 different students on a rotating day 1 and day 2 basis that come to my classroom with a whole host of problems...autism, poverty, divorced parents, serious psychiatric illnesses etc. On top of all this I have to deal with some crazy helicopter parents who call the school to complain if you look at their kid wrong! Walk a mile in my shoes and you might begin to understand what teachers deal with on a daily basis.

[cayuse]

:plus1: SuziQ

[Water Warrior 2]

I think teaching is one of the hardest jobs around. Wasn't always like that because the teachers actually had some control over their charges and could dicipline them within reason. Now it is more of a baby sitting job with education thrown in as a benefit for those willing to learn. Parents want their kids educated but tell the educators how to do it. Not a good plan for the future generations. A lot of fine folks have left the teaching profession after finding their hands tied by whinning kids and whinning parents. Parents have forgotten that education begins at home. Teach the wee ones new things that are interesting. Make them curious and that attitude with go to school with them.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by SuziQ07

Walk a mile in my shoes and you might begin to understand what teachers deal with on a daily basis.

Tunnel vision; seems that everybody has it these days.
Empathy and objectivity seem to be in short supply.

Too much "mouth" relating "my" experiences and the effect they had on "me" and not enough "ears" learning what the rest of the world is up against.

[alanmcorcoran]

Originally Posted by ArizonaKev

Would you not agree? And if you don't agree, I would ask you this - do you have kids of your own?
AZ Kev

I'm not a raving libertarian or anything, but if you want incentives for better teachers, you have to remove all the intervening forces between the teacher and the consumer. Currently, teachers are insulated from the market for their services by the public school concept, tenure and unions. Also, lots of people want to be teachers and so the market is lowered by this. If people had to hire and fire teachers directly, the best teachers would probably get paid more and most would probably get paid less.

As far as having children, yes, I have two. Neither one of their education(s) has had much to do with teachers. One is very academically oriented and one is not. Both learned to read largely on their own before they ever attended school. Neither one has ever used much of what they were taught in school to do anything in life. One learned japanese by watching anime (and subsequently got a college degree in Japanese and linguistics.) The other learned how to be an electrician by working in a theater. (Both are college grads.)

I sympathize with Suzy because I am familiar with the bureacratic crap that schools put teachers through. But there is crap with almost every job and no one puts a gun to anyone's head and forces them to be a teacher. I could go on and on about the crap I deal with everyday with my job, my employees, the government, taxes, clients, regulations, etc. but I chose this particular type of $hit-eating and nobody else cares anyway.

[SuziQ07]

Originally Posted by Water Warrior

I think teaching is one of the hardest jobs around. Wasn't always like that because the teachers actually had some control over their charges and could dicipline them within reason. Now it is more of a baby sitting job with education thrown in as a benefit for those willing to learn. Parents want their kids educated but tell the educators how to do it. Not a good plan for the future generations. A lot of fine folks have left the teaching profession after finding their hands tied by whinning kids and whinning parents. Parents have forgotten that education begins at home. Teach the wee ones new things that are interesting. Make them curious and that attitude with go to school with them.

Thanks for your support! I couldn't agree with you more!
The beginning of this post still makes me chuckle. Somehow Howard Stern's 300 million dollar salary turned into a discussion about teachers...and that's because?!?!? Oh right...we make about that too! And on top of that we have summers off! So far this summer my GZ250 has transported me to my school so I can work in my classroom to prepare for fall (yes, that's right, I work in the summer). One of my first initial concerns when I got the GZ was getting a tailbag to put all my papers in from school. Most nights I have to go home and grade papers and answer parent emails. Being a teacher is not a walk in the park. It's a very physical and emotional job. Every day you're on stage in front of young minds...trying every trick you can think of to keep them engaged.
Thank goodness for my GZ....it's my one solo activity and escape from the difficulties of my job and everyday life in general! :tongue: