Mount Virtus

"Happy to come back to Michigan, but I miss the mountains!"

Ben on Social Media

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • About Ben
  • Mount Virtus?
  • Writer / Editor For Hire
  • What I’m Thankful For
  • Colorado Ballot Reviews
    • Colorado Ballot 2008
    • Colorado Ballot 2010
    • Colorado Ballot 2012
  • Archives
  • Passion and Purpose:
    The Rise & Fall of Al Gansee
  • Mary and Jacob: From the Forgotten Dust
Home Education $10,000 Apiece Awaits America’s 10 Worst Teachers … What a Deal!

3/12/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

$10,000 Apiece Awaits America’s 10 Worst Teachers … What a Deal!

The Center for Union Facts (which brought us such memorable 30-second video gems as this and this) hasn’t made a name for itself by being bland, demure, or run-of-the-mill. Therefore, it was hardly surprising to see them unveil the new Teachers Union Exposed website, complete with a sponsored contest that promises “to pay the ten worst union-protected teachers in America $10,000 apiece to get out of the classroom.”

Of course, $10,000 is a bargain compared to the princely sums sometimes paid to dismiss the worst-offending or poorest-performing tenured teachers.

I have many, many friends who currently are teachers – traditional public school, charter school, private school – and I know plenty more who have spent time in the teaching profession. These and most of their colleagues aren’t the ones being targeted by Union Facts:

“Most teachers are doing a wonderful job under difficult circumstances,” the group said on its Web site. “The overall effect of teachers’ unions on public education, however — when lawmakers and voters leave their power unchecked — is far from positive.”

But Denise at Colorado Charter Schools has a nominee:

This teacher is currently working at my daughter’s neighborhood public high school. My daughter, who wants to be a teacher, and I have almost daily talks about what an excellent example this teacher is of “what NOT to do.” It’s not a good sign when the first day of class the teacher says, “The only thing I hate worse than teaching ___ [the name of the class she’s teaching] is teaching ninth graders.”

We’ll have to see how stiff the competition is to determine whether this particular teacher has the stuff to make it into the $10,000 prize category.

Meanwhile, another one of my respected blogging acquaintances, Alan Gottlieb (a reform-minded Democrat), observes:

Well, this may be going a bit far, but it makes for entertaining reading. Sure it’s a politicized publicity stunt. But it points to a problem more respectable groups, like Common Good, have been talking about for a while now. And it stirs stuff up, which is often productive in the end.

As I noted in the comment section of Alan’s post:

If their goal is to bring public attention to the extent of the problem, it seems like a pretty effective way to do it. Sure, it lacks some of the refinement and nuance we policy wonk types would bring to the table. But then again, there are audiences out there not paying attention to us who might pay attention to something like this campaign.

Personally, I think the burden should be on the union to explain why this issue doesn’t deserve greater public debate and scrutiny.

Nothing like quoting yourself when you can’t think of a better way to say it.

Filed Under: Education, General, Labor Tagged With: $10, 000 contest, Center for Union Facts, teacher tenure, Teachers Union Exposed

Comments

  1. Mike and Linda Baxter says

    4/9/2008 at 11:35 am

    We are sick and tired of waisting our hard earned tax money on teachers that just occupy their jobs, waiting for that magical retirement age. Our son was recently injured on a wet gym floor. Not only is a wet gym floor inexcusable but the gym teacher wasn’t in the class. Our son will have life-long physical affects from his injury while the gym teacher enjoys his retirement. When we approached the school board about this teacher their reply was, “We’ve been having trouble with this teacher for years. It would cost the school district hundreds and thousands of dollars to fight the union.”

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Inside

  • About Ben
  • Archives
  • Colorado Ballot Reviews
    • Colorado Ballot 2008
    • Colorado Ballot 2010
    • Colorado Ballot 2012
    • Colorado Ballot 2014
  • Mary and Jacob: From the Forgotten Dust
  • Mount Virtus?
  • Passion and Purpose:
    The Rise & Fall of Al Gansee
  • What I’m Thankful For
  • Writer / Editor For Hire

About Me

Ben DeGrow
Grateful and growing Christian, devoted husband and father of 3, public policy analyst, returned to Michigan by way of Colorado, conservative writer, lifelong learner, Detroit Tigers fan.

Recent Posts

  • Common Learning Disabilities in Children
  • Tips to Teach Kids to Set and Achieve Goals
  • The Christmas Music Countdown You’ve Been Looking For: 2022 Edition
  • Sleep Deprivation and Parental Controls: How to Ensure Your Kids are Safe from Media Exposure
  • 8 Original Ways To Leverage Influencer Marketing

Colorado News

  • Colorado Senate News
  • Complete Colorado
  • Independence Institute
  • Loveland Politics
  • The Colorado Observer

National News and Politics

  • Drudge Report
  • Hot Air
  • National Review
  • Politico
  • Real Clear Politics
  • Reason
  • The Washington Times
  • TownHall
  • Wall Street Journal
  • Weekly Standard
  • World Magazine

Blogs Extraordinaire

  • American Thinker
  • David Harsanyi’s Blog
  • E!! The True Conservative Story
  • EIA Intercepts
  • Evangelical Outpost
  • Hugh Hewitt
  • Instapundit
  • LaShawn Barber
  • Lileks
  • Little Green Footballs
  • Michelle Malkin
  • NRO's The Corner
  • Power Line
  • Red State

Completing the Blogroll

  • Alarming News
  • Black Five
  • Blogs of War
  • Eduwonk
  • Flypaper
  • Fraters Libertas
  • Historical Conversations
  • IMAO
  • Jay P. Greene
  • Mike Anderson
  • Mullings
  • Professor Bainbridge
  • Right Thinking
  • Right Wing News
  • Right Wing Nuthouse
  • Shot in the Dark
  • Talking Points Memo
  • Virginia Postrel
  • Volokh Conspiracy

Christian Commentary et al.

  • Kevin Pierpont
  • Sharper Iron

Conservative and GOP Sites

  • Backbone America
  • Cal Thomas
  • Colorado Republican Party
  • Colorado Republican Study Committee
  • Dennis Prager
  • Denver Metro Young Republicans
  • Free Republic
  • Heritage Foundation
  • Jefferson County Republican Party
  • Mackinac Center for Public Policy
  • Mark Steyn
  • Michael Medved
  • Rush Limbaugh

Colorado Blogs

  • American Kestrel
  • Bob Agard
  • Colorado Charter Schools
  • Colorado Peak Politics
  • Colorado Pols
  • Colorado Right
  • Conservative Libertarian Outpost
  • Coyote Gulch
  • Ed Is Watching
  • Free Colorado
  • Jeff Crank Show
  • Mark Hillman
  • Patient Power
  • PirateBallerina
  • Protein Wisdom
  • Reagan Girl
  • Rocky Mountain Alliance 1.0 (Archive)
  • Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0 (Archive)
  • Rossputin
  • Stop the ACLU Blog
  • The Spot (Denver Post)
  • We Stand Firm

Other Sites

  • Technorati
  • Word Press

Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0

  • Reclaim the Blue
  • The Business Word
  • The Daily Blogster
  • View from a Height

To Contact Me:
bendegrow-at-gmail.com

Copyright © 2023 RSS Feed · WordPress · Log in