Judge rules California has right to fire incompetent teachers

Don't you ever get tired of being wrong so consistently?

Your first point is incorrect. You made that up and presented it as fact, which is your primary rhetorical tactic. A teacher does not have to be in a union to be good. There are damn good ones both at public and private schools, in unions and out of them.

Your guess is also incorrect. I never said only good teachers are fired in public or private schools. Once again, that is a fiction you made up in the hopes it would stick. I'm sure good and bad teachers are fired from private schools. Unfortunately, most of them offer far less protection for the good ones.

And that last bit? It completely ignores other factors in education, primarily demographics. Private schools can pick and choose who they let in. They also draw primarily those who can pay to attend. Family financial security is huge factor in student performance, one that you choose to ignore. Those private schools you love so much? The students benefit from more secure home lives and more supportive parents. That is where the superior performance comes from.

There is district that borders the one I live in. Over 50 percent of the children go to private schools. If there are any parents who can afford private school who actually allow their children to stay in the public schools, I'd be shocked. The private school parents managed to take control of the school board and they have pretty much destroyed the public schools. They were among the best in the county less than 20 years ago. Now? They are as bad as any in the state. Districts like those skew the numbers you are relying on.

 

You are correct that private-school students have much more stable home lives on the whole. That being said, that means public school students -- and in big cities that means they're much more likely to be from low-income families -- need better teachers on a much greater scale because if they're coming from a rough home life they have to get the best possible guidance somewhere else.

Teachers' unions and crazy laws such as the one that was just tossed out have done nothing for the students that need them the most. America spends more now on public schools than ever before. And the great majority of that extra money is going toward salaries, pensions and administration. Almost none of it is getting to the classroom.

There are very concrete ways to tell when teachers are doing the job and when they are not. Seems you're fine with the horror stories continuing because someone you claim is a "good" teacher might actually have to prove it.

 

I guess you answered my question. You really don't get tired of being wrong all the time.

Your first paragraph is fine. Would have been better if you were honest enough to admit that I'm right about those more stable home lives being the reason for the stronger performance by students in private schools.

Your second paragraph argues that money spent on salaries for teachers and administrators does not get to the classroom. That is among the most ignorant arguments you have ever made on this site, and that is saying something. You really think you are going to get good people to go into teaching without paying them a good wage? If you want to see public education in this country get worse, make it less attractive for people to go into education. That is exactly what you are pushing for.

The only concrete way to measure teacher performance is test scores. Concrete, but lazy and inaccurate. They do not take into account the types of students teachers have. Again, teachers make an impact, but they are not the only factor in student performance. My issue isn't with teacher evaluation, it is with the flawed methods being pushed currently, which put far too much weight on standardized test scores.

In most states, the standards are already higher for teachers in public schools than they are for private schools. In New York, teachers must be certified to get a public school job. The exception being programs that allow you to teach as you earn your certification, but you are assigned a school rather than having a choice. Private schools do not hold to those standards.

I'm not fine with horror stories. I simply know enough to realize that the approach you favor will only make things worse. Tenure doesn't just protect good teachers from being fired without good cause, though that is a big part of why it exists. That protection allows for better performance by teachers knowing there will have to be a damn good reason if they get fired.