. . . and lives to tell about it! Of course, that lump of coal came wrapped in the pretty paper of promised "across the board" pay raises.
Merit pay is a good idea. The problem is that Obama still wants the federal government to be involved in determining who is meritorious. He got applause for not wanting "testing" to determine merit. I would applaud that too. The testing is ridiculous. Republicans tend to favor it because it seems, on its face, to be a fair way to determine if our tax dollars are wisely spent. But here’s a real radical idea for Obama or any Republican who wants to get the NEA mad but really implement good: why not get the federal government entirely out of the business? Why not let communities, school boards, parents and principles decide which teachers deserve merit pay and which teachers deserve to be fired? Obama panders to the special interests while many Republicans seem to patronize.
One thing that teachers really need to teach more is simple subject-verb agreement. For instance, if your subject is a singular entity, say, a person named "Obama," then an s should be added to the verb, for example, "supports."
You are correct and I shouldn't type at 1:16 in the morning. I fixed it in the original.
You're right. Oprahbama is just more of the same.
Why not let communities, school boards, parents and principles decide which teachers deserve merit pay and which teachers deserve to be fired? Obama panders to the special interests while many Republicans seem to patronize.
Well, duh: because a policy dictated at the federal level is a policy the NEA can control. It's so hard to keep all those little districts in line when you can't assume, as you can in DC, that at least part of the government is run by Democrats (and much of the rest by obstructionist "moderate" Republicans). And what if one of those fanatic right-wing school boards comes across an idea that teachers don't like, and it works, and you can't stop it in the courts or wherever? It's just too dangerous.
A nationalized school system will serve the people as well as our nationalized border control has.