Comments on: Break out the hot cocoa. City says tomorrow is a snow day

By: John Hancock

John Hancock — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:06:19 +0000

Must have been the teachers fault that QP doesn’t know her stuff. Still waiting for an answer from yesterday about paid vacation days.

By: Michael M.

Michael M. — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:29:33 +0000

So, by implication, FDR would have fired the Air Traffic Controllers too?
FDR was Reagan’s mentor?
Who knew.

The things I’d learn if I lived in Queens.

By: Bronxteacher

Bronxteacher — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:44:10 +0000

Wait QP, you really think we lobby for policies that line our pockets at the expense of kids? Do you know who we go into and work with everyday? We lobby for policies that allow us to maximize our potential as educators of children, and what many who are not in the field fail to recognize is the amount of work and stress our job truly is. Anyone who has not spent a year in the classroom has no ability to comprehend how many hours a week the average teacher truly puts in- both in and out of the classroom. A decent part of my salary is put back into my students in classroom materials the budget cuts have taken away year after year. As to your other point, about us lobbying the government for the protection of salaries and benefits, the government IS our employer, much like you would go to your boss, we are required to deal with the often inept politicians in the government to guarantee our job safety and salary. We provide a public service through the government, one that it seems your avail yourself of for your own children? I suppose I do not understand your bitterness towards those that are in the classroom with your children on a daily basis. I have not read all your posts, but you seem to harbor a grudge against teachers. Is there a reason for this?

By: QueensParent

QueensParent — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:07:54 +0000

Insiderknowledge but the difference between me is I don’t lobby the government for rules to protect my salary and benefits because I don’t work for the government. FDR fought for private unionization but against public employee unions because he saw the huge conflict of interest in the offing with government employees expanding government at the taxpayer expense, which has now unflided right before our eyes. The unionists taxpayers are lobbying for policies that line their pockets at the expense of kids. Shameful.

By: insiderknowledge

insiderknowledge — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:20:46 +0000

Can we drop this phony argument of tax payer money vs private money please? Did anyone take economics? Money or capital moves from private to public hands and back again in a circular flow.. QP you’re a taxpayer so you pay my salery.. well true but last i checked teachers were tax payers too and I also believe that teachers use this money to then purchase goods and services from private companies so whatever company you work for some of your money came from teachers.. It also probably came from government grants if you do research ect.. My point is there really no such thing as public and private money it flows around and around and we’re all paying eachother.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:25:09 +0000

Several comments regarding QP.
1. The contract between the United Federation of Teachers and the New York City Department of Education was also approved with the consent of the public. If the public was not in favor of the generous “perks” of the contract, than one could have voted the Mayor out of office. 2. The truth is we do work 10 months out of the year, notwithstanding the extra time spent outside the classroom. Our salaries reflect this, however we chose to spread out the payments over 12 months, unlike some of our suburban colleagues.

By: .sharese

.sharese — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:15:53 +0000

According to QP “I did attend the Jamaica and Beach Channel hearings”. As I stated in my previous comment she works for the other side (the mayor). And she is a anti-teacher WITCH!. Yes, I am attacking you QP because you CONSTANTLY attack my brothers and sisters (dedicated teachers). Get a LIFE. Because if you are not a teacher and constantly on this site, it shows that you do not have a LIFE, WITCH!!!

By: Invictus

Invictus — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:04:43 +0000

Peter, I did read about the acceleration of the dismantling of the socialist fabric of China after 1987-88 student uprisings. The Chinese educational and economic system while incredible/mind boggling to outsiders, it is what it is, a certain group benefitting at the expense of a larger population whose standards of living barely moved or got worse, while some connected people got obscenely rich.

By: peter

peter — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:53:18 +0000

Norm, if you were in China, and writing the same blog you would soon find yourself in a government institution involuntarily “donating” a kidney … the emmigration from China to the US is reminiscent of our forebarers, fleeing from oppressive regimes, for all our flawss, and there are many, US is nirvana.

By: Invictus

Invictus — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:25:04 +0000

Your logic and the outcome of these educational revolutions, Norm, are the same way I view the immediacy and the reason behind them. This is not about real educational reform, it is class and clearly in NYC, racial war, on a group of people who were not necessarily well off, but were making their strides.

What better way of really slowing these disenfranchised groups from attaining the echelons of power? Give them dumbed down diplomas which will be used to apply to College and whose rigors will drive them to drop out.

I do not want to think about it all pessimistically but this is the only thing that comes to my mind.

By: Norm

Norm — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:11:29 +0000

I beg to differ Peter. Coming soon to an American city near you:

[Pick a city with mayoral control] does not have public education, is
extremely class oriented, for the many poor, the future is a life in a back breaking job in a McDonalds or Walmart needless to say, without a union.

By: Norm

Norm — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:07:26 +0000

And one should note that Miss Eyre is not a grizzled UFT hack but a teacher relatively new to the system who came through the new models of teacher recruitment and has quickly learned the ropes. If one reads her blog we can see the dedication and commitment. That this generation of teachers who were being counted on as anti-union shock troops by the ed deformers sees the big picture has to be a nightmare for the likes of QP and the rest of the Ed Deform crowd and just one reason you will ultimately find yourselves on the wrong side of history. Coming soon: those overworked charter school teachers. Just wait till the economy improves and the TFA cachet disappears.

By: Invictus

Invictus — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:06:26 +0000

Norm, I do not know much about China but in other Asian countries like Korea and Japan, the drop out rate is quite low. In fact for secondary schools is insignificant. In Korea secondary education is not mandatory but every single parent in their right mind, from a lowly farm worker in the provinces to a highly educated Hedge Fund manager in Seoul would not even blink to send their children for further education.

The difference between this and those societies is the homogeneity of the population and societal believes in contrast to the heterogeneity of attitudes towards every single topic/matter in the US.

There would not be a necessity of educating the public at large about the importance of education and teaching in general because for their societies the importance of knowledge and competition had been inculcated since their early contacts with China during the Han Dynasty.

But, fear not, our fearless leader in DC as well as our Middle Class, College Age population in their infinite wisdom via the Hollywood brainwashing machine has taught the leaders and the population of these countries that, education in their countries is inadequate and “innovation” of the American educational system will need to be introduced to their traditional and “failing” educational systems.

BTW, to these people who know nothing about what makes an educational system truly successful, Korean parents spend about 51% of their income educating their children. Chinese parents get together and if their child is floundering, they blame not the system but scrounge money to get a tutor or enroll their child in a after school academy. They do not perceive failure as an attribute of someone else or an institution, but as a personal failure.

Of course, that would not really work in the United States because in the Land of the Free there is no such a thing as someone who is truly guilty of not doing their jobs and the guilt always lies elsewhere.

By: peter

peter — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:02:58 +0000

bad example – China does not have free universal public education, it is extremely class oriented, for the many poor, who cannot afford school, the future is a life in a back breaking job in a factory, needless to say, without a union.

By: NYC teacher

NYC teacher — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:00:58 +0000

I agree with Miss Eyre, most people don’t realize all the work teachers do outside of the classroom. Teaching is not a job you can leave at work. You bring it home with you everyday. Weekends and vacations are spent planning and grading and then re-planning.

By: Miss Eyre

Miss Eyre — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:53:27 +0000

What I meant by my comment is that teachers do not get vacation days to use as we like. Yes, we have paid vacation when schools are closed. No, we do not have “vacation days” like most people do to use when they choose. I’m not complaining about that–it’s the way it works–but it is the reality.

As well, when you calculate the work I and I’m sure most other teachers do before hours, after hours, on weekends, and, yes, during the summer, we work just as much, if not more, than employees in other industries. I’ve done the math. I work 50-60 hours a week, and as long as I work 50 hours, the taxpayers are getting their money’s worth out of me–and that includes all the so-called “vacation” time, over which most teachers are working at least part of the time anyway. Like how I spent four hours of my “vacation” day today grading papers.

I don’t mind or resent this. It’s the job. It’s what I signed up for. But I sure as HELL resent people like QP claiming that I get off easy.

By: Norm

Norm — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:53:16 +0000

I wonder how many kids drop out in China. Bet they are not closing schools there.

By: Invictus

Invictus — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:30:23 +0000

2025, the Board of Regents and the PEP were shouted down by College Students, Parents and College Professors union in a packed house at City College Auditorium as the rubber stamping body of the Governor and the Mayor declared, “We cannot fail these students, it is not about the adults and would you send your college age daughter or son to one of these failing colleges?”

By: Invictus

Invictus — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:26:46 +0000

Germanesque, bunch of teachers, UFT hacks, educational opportunities crushed by failing schools.

I question, incredible graduation rates, small schools, charter that cannibalize on perfectly fine P.S. at the expense of regular students, Rubber Rooms filled with child molesters and/Kafkesque characters who do not know what they are charged off, and Middle Class Citizens with College degrees who do not see how these highly performing newly minted schools by Bloom and Company will lead to better outcomes for all these students which will go to College, to take an average 3.5 years to make up what these “wonderful” small schools should have taught them in high school.

This society is quite interesting, it is not okay to “fail” in HS, while it is okay to fail in College. Geez, that is some hack economics logic, wouldn’t you say?

Oh, I forgot, there is a plan by the Department of Education to scrutinize Colleges about their “failing” policies and questionable graduation rates within 2-4 years.

There should be NCSLB in the future. No College Student Left Behind policy in the future, that would surely fix these “failing” colleges.

By: Norm

Norm — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:14:09 +0000

I was at both events also QP and you must have not been wearing your 3D glasses. The teachers who spoke – they are not saving their jobs. They will become ATRs and have a job. They were trying to save their school. You must have been in the bathroom when all those kids spoke at both meetings. Current and alumni. And the parents. But it’s all about students and parents, obviously more dupes of the UFT.

As for the 50 buses. Were they more or less than the number of buses that took the charter school parents up to Albany? Did might make right there?

If there were a 100 to one my question is where were the 3000 charter school supporters at the PEP? The UFT must have gotten to the buses first.