Not only will they believe it, but they will embrace it, passionately.
They will, foolishly, repeat, word for word or improvise with their own words of wisdom, every bit of nonsense they have heard from "them." They will own it.
And there begins the story of how "tenure" became a bad word. Tenure became something evil that "those lazy, 3 months off, every holiday, 4 hours of prep(I actually read this in a comment),horrible, horrible, teachers", are using to keep their jobs!
That's the mantra, right?
Tenure is due process, period. It gives teachers the right not to have their jobs arbitrarily taken from them, period. Anyone see anything wrong with that? Apparently the Vergara Verdict leads me to believe many did.
Obviously, many people agree. The duped public, the "ed-reformers" aka "get rid of unions so that we can take over the schools and make tons of money", the faux celebrity "educators"
( e.g Michelle Rhee), duped journalists, (e.g. Roland Martin), did I mention the duped public?
"Is this the end of the powerful teachers' union?" Direct quote from the reporter on CNN.
Why were unions originally established? To gather together the employees of a workplace in order to provide power in numbers. What happens when you take away the union? StudentsFirst, StudentsMatter, Pearson, etc..., realized that there are billions of dollars in education. And who is standing in their way?
I was listening to my favorite radio station the day of the verdict. They had Dr.Stephen Perry, apparently America's most trusted educator, discussing why the verdict was a good thing. He reiterated the same words spoken by all others. "Tenure is bad. Horrible teachers keep their jobs. Children of color suffer with these bad teachers we can't get rid of." I wonder what Mr.Perry's thoughts are on neighborhood schools being torn down because of test scores? What does he think of amazing veteran teachers being removed from their jobs and being replaced with Teach for America teachers? (But I digress.)
Yes, there are "bad" teachers, but tenure is not to protect the "bad" ones, it's to protect the good ones.
One statement made by Tom Joyner, the DJ, that really stood out for me is this, "If you are an effective, (define effective), teacher, you don't need tenure." Grrrrr.....
Can anyone one say ageism,( TFA teachers are taking over schools all over the country), nepotism, "can't be molded"ism, or just plain old "I don't like you"ism? Does he really believe that if I am a great teacher, I can't get fired if I don't have protection?
I texted and tweeted him asking for a response to the trial from an actual educator. You know, the ones that actually work in the classroom, under intense pressure, with no accountability expected from anyone but the teacher, but I received no response.
"United they stand, divided they fall!" Teachers complain about their union, but imagine if you did not have one? Ask those teachers who work in non-unionized charter schools. Make your union work for you. Join an organization that fights for a teachers' right to be respected. Write, email, and/or call the politicians that represent you, especially President Obama, who has ignored us since he was reelected.
The union is appealing the verdict, but it has happened in California, and now they will come for your tenure as well!
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