Reason TV: LA Rally - Don't Believe What Teachers Tell You

Teachers unions say California must not roll back annual increases in public school spending. And they're not too careful about facts when they make that case.

Teachers frequently claim, for example, that California is in either 49th or 50th place among the 50 states in per-pupil spending. In fact, the Golden State is 31st in per-pupil spending.

Teachers also say the Golden State could solve its chronic budget shortfalls by raising tax rates on the rich. But California is already unusually dependent on taxes collected from high earners. This is why revenue collections can drop sharply during recession, while spending -- which has increased 37 percent since 2001 -- continues to grow at rates exceeding inflation and population growth.

Last Friday, May 13, teachers all over Los Angeles left school early to attend a Downtown rally. Reason TV tagged along to find out what other whoppers teachers are telling (outside the classroom, that is)

Approximately 4:16 minutes.

Filmed by Zach Weissmueller and Paul Detrick; Edited by Detrick.

Go to Reason.tv for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live.

Comments

[Mainer]

When I look back on the crap I learned in high school....

[dunphy]

it's a wonder i can think at all... (and the jury is still out on that one)

[Micha Elyi]

One thing I did learn is that the fundamental demands of labor unions are (1) more pay and (2) less work. And isn't that what the teacher union-oids are really bawling about when they bray about class sizes?

[jacob]

I remember my teachers, 1 in 5 was worth a damn. I say that because back then I was too generous.

[TANSTAAFL]

...they give us those nice bright colors...

[PIRS]

What? A labor union that is not too careful about facts !!! What????

I am shocked!

[dunphy]

i'm not aware of any advocacy group that is careful with facts, no matter what side of any debate they are on. the first rule of advocacy groups is - the truth takes a back seat to the metanarrative

[OO]

let the hate flow babiee

[Jim]

Our hatred has made us powerful.

[sloopyinca]

Good, so now can we rise up and strike down the emperor?

[NoVAHockey]

no, dad will do it for us.

[darth sloopyinca]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Southerner]

Let me hear you scream!

[Ted S.]

Let your hate flow like a mountain stream
And let your hate grow like the smallest of dreams

[wylie]

I was actually hoping for a parody. Booo.

[Offender]

Original Song Title:
"I Hate Myself For Loving You"
Original Performer:
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

Parody Song Title:
"I Hate My State-Run Faggot School"
Parody Written by:
Offender

Eyes wide, what a sight: teacher's tool!
Told me discreetly it's his "family jewel!"
He's got no children; I'm not that big a fool!

"Get back! That's my crack you're messin' around!"
Can't turn my back, or he'll pull my pants down!
He gets overzealous; says I'm too tightly wound!

I hate my life every night and day:
I hope he'll reach the eternal fire someday!

I hate my state-run faggot school!
Can't get free from my shop teacher's tool!
I'm gettin' stalked. I can't leave; that's the rule.
That's why I hate my state-run faggot school!

That's right: it's a blight goin' to school;
Teacher's a pervert; whole school board is a fool!
I wanna see'em hangin'! Hang'em slow! Make it cruel!

Hey man, bet you can't walk half-right!
I saw you drinkin' with the teacher last night!
Bet he had you sittin' down on his stalagmite!

We're getting screwed eight ways from Sunday!
In the concrete sense, or abstract, either way...!

I hate my state-run faggot school!
Can't get free from the showering rule!
We're gettin' stalked; our gym teacher's a tool!
That's why I hate my state-run faggot school!

I think we're screwed, what else can I say?
They'll touch our parts, and they'll take our pride away...

I hate my state-run faggot school!
Can't get free from the principal's tool!
We're gettin' stalked. We can't leave; that's the rule.
That's why I hate my state-run faggot school!

I hate my state-run faggot school!
Can't get free from the gaywads who rule;
Our government is just NAMBLA's tool!
That's why I hate my state-run faggot school!

I hate my state-
Run faggot school!
I hate my state-
Run faggot school!
I hate my state-
Run faggot school!
I hate my state-
Run faggot school!

I hate my state-run faggot school!!!

[Doctor Whom]

Even 31st in per-pupil spending is bad, since everyone knows how strongly correlated per-pupil spending is with the quality of education. Oh, wait a minute ....

[Southerner]

31st? They're overpaid. For what they've given in return for their paychecks, those teachers ought to be fired and fined.

[zoltan]

New Jersey is first in per-pupil spending and they are a bastion of educational quality! How dare you suggest otherwise!

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

Teachers also say the Golden State could solve its chronic budget shortfalls by raising tax rates on the rich.

Sorry. According to the "progressives", all wealth belongs to the federal government. And the feds gotta use it to prop up Obamacare.

[Gilbert Martin]

"Sorry. According to the "progressives", all wealth belongs to the federal government. And the feds gotta use it to prop up Obamacare."

Yes but the "progressive" math peddled by the Obamacare supporters means you can count the same dollars twice - to simutlaneously shore up Medicare and finance Obamacare.

So therefore the "rich" can pay for everyone's unicorn wish list at every level of government. All you have to do is count the tax dollars twice, three, time or how ever may times it takes to cover it!

Problem solved.

[B.P.]

I've heard the "49th in per-pupil spending" in my state as well. Maybe all states are ranked 49th.

[Doctor Whom]

It's the reverse Lake Wobegon effect.

[Tim Cavanaugh]

You have no idea what a reverse Lake Wobegone is until you've talked to people at these rallies. It's a math miracle: Every single teacher only teaches kids who are at risk or underprivileged or special needs or special ed. Using teacher math I calculate that every kid in L.A., my own included, would instantly become a drooling homicidal gangbanger if not for the teachers unions.

[PapayaSF]

Maybe all those kids are at risk or underprivileged or special needs because their parents went to those same public schools....

[Southerner]

They used to say that in North Carolina when I was a prisoner in its public school system. In response to the obvious question "Who's 50th, then?" they always told me it was South Carolina.

[OO]

standard answer is mississippi regardless

[Decentralize Everything!!!]

I've lived in Mississippi all my life, and while most of the public schools here are awful, there are a ton of families that homeschool, and most of them are very intelligent and classy.

[MrGuy]

Sarcasm detector is unsure...

[Decentralize everything!!!]

No sarcasm. The homeschooling communities here are wonderful.

[Micha Elyi]

In Mississippi families are measured in tons?

[Audrey the Liberal]

unless you is a fag

[Francisco d Anconia]

Needs to be a sarcasm font. Maybe an emoticon.

[blubi]

Last time I checked the most $ per pupil was DC, with horrendous results (51st?). Money and education do not correlate, what matters most in today?s dysfunctional public school is to live in the right school district, and being able to afford the property taxes. Then you can smugly claim you are egalitarian because you took your children to a public school, while condemning the poor to no education.

[dunphy]

especially because it's not REALLY money per pupil, it's money allocated per pupil, but then a ridiculous percentage goes to bloated administration and typical govt. wastefulness

[JoshINHB]

Math is too hard for teachers.

[wylie]

CoolStoryBro time.

I had the privilege of re-taking algebra during my brief stint with higher education (kids, NEVER forget the quadratic equation. NEVER.) I ended up teaching that class, because the instructor was fresh off the boat from South America and no-one could understand him.

Maybe he could do math. We'll never know, unless he's improved his english since then.

[Southerner]

See, every time someone starts going on about how this or that or the other spending cut is going to hurt those poor, hard-working, dedicated government employees, I think of all the worthless parasites just like the ones in this video who should have been fired long ago. Then I think of all the things public school teachers did to hurt and distress me back when I was still in the fascist hellhole they've made of their institution. Then all their cries of distress and pain become music to my ears, albeit of the vaguely pleasant but not-too-memorable pop rock variety.

If their cries of distress and pain were only a little more genuine--if these parasites really were getting fired by the million and losing all their money and being evicted from their ill-gotten houses and thrown out on the streets to starve--their chorus of agony would be a veritable symphony to my ears. Let them suffer what they've inflicted on the rest of us, I say.

[dennis]

What he said!

[Sacre Bleu!]

Where would we be without public education? You need to ensure universal access, standards & oversight. That's where the government has a role to play.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

I know. People in affluent suburbs would be able to send their kids to the best schools while the poor in the inner cities and rural areas would be full of failing schools... Wait, that sounds like exactly what we have now.

[OO]

same as now...well, except for the totally diff part. my 2 kids are in an urban public HS ranked in the top 400 nationally. there's a waiting list to transfer-in - mostly fm the burbs where the huge course offerings arent available including a performance arts program ranked top in the state.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Made up story is made up.

[OO]

plus its union...but i musta made that up too

[Decentralize Everything!!!]

Hey OO, do you think that the government would be able to maintain a public education system and all the other social programs you support without a mounting national debt? If so, explain how.

[Brandon]

Simple, you just set the top tax rate at 100% of every dollar over whatever 00 makes.

[Doctor Whom]

That's wonderful, except that your kids' high school is not all urban public high schools and is not even representative of them. If you have to cherry-pick the data so egregiously to make your point, you may wish to find a different point to make.

[OO]

it aint the only urban public in the top 400

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Yes, and all those urban schools are either ones that are able to choose students or ones that serve wealthy areas of a city. Again, not the typical experience for most poor, urban kids.

[The Derider]

So there's no problem with public education, only problems with the students or the income of their parents?

[Doctor Whom]

I didn't say it was. Thanks for the straw man.

[All 10,000 are in the top 400]

[sloopyinca]

same as now...well, except for the totally diff part. my 2 kids are in an urban public HS ranked in the top 400 nationally. there's a waiting list to transfer-in - mostly fm the burbs where the huge course offerings arent available including a performance arts program ranked top in the state.

I'm gonna address this one step at a time.
1: HS rankings are arbitrary. "Top 400 nationally" means fuck-all. Your kids are probably in the "Who's Who of American High School Students" because you got the brochure and were a sucker. Thust me, these type of things are meaningless.

2: How or why would there be a waiting list to transfer in? If the district lines are drawn and set, as they are in most urban school districts, one cannot simply transfer schools...especially "from the suburbs," which would tend to mean from outside the district altogether. Why would a school allow kids from outside the district to attend when their parents pay taxes in a different municipality?

3: Where are there state performance art program rankings, and could you please provide a link?

Sorry, but this sounds like a bullshit story. If you could offer up some citations showing the ranking, the state performance rankings and their unusual admissions policy that allows kids outside the district to get on waiting lists, we'll be happy to believe you.

[OO]

1) us news annual rankings.
2) open enrollment.
3) im not ur clerk. do ur own research
4) go tribe!

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Oh, so the gets to pick and choose who they want to take. Well, then, that explains things. Too bad most poor kids in Cleveland won't have the opportunity to go to a school like that.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

That should say, "the school gets to pick"

[Sudden]

I read it as "they gets to picks and choose who they wants to lets in" in a Gollum voice.

[Doctor Whom]

The burden of proof does not work that way. You made the assertion; you have the burden of backing it up. Otherwise, we're entirely justified in calling shenanigans.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Because I have nothing better to do, I decided to do some research. I'm guessing this is the school. If so, that kind of proves my point. This is supposed to be one of the best urban high schools in the country and they get to pick who goes to school there, but still only 18.1% of its students pass their AP exams.

[Apogee]

OO is a joke. He won't back it up because it's bullshit propaganda.

[sloopyinca]

1: The US News website has no Top 400 High Schools list. That exists only for colleges, according to their search function. High School rankings were limited to the Top 100, afaict.

2: Open enrollment...in Ohio? Isn't that the same state where a homeless woman was arrested for sending her kid to a school outside of their defined-boundary district?

3: Why should I research something to prove your story isn't true? Is the onus not on the person who makes the claim?

4: This explains a lot. Loser is fan of loser franchise in loser mistake-on-the-lake of a city. (Apologies to Drew Carey)

[Rob]

I grew up in Cleveland and attended arguably one of the finest high schools in the country. I'm out in the lilly white suburbs. Let me tell you, the Cleveland Pubic Schools are a complete failure, just like the rest of the town. It's a typical big city mentality there; high taxes, unions, unions, unions, and give us more $. Statists have been running that city forever, and they believe eventually one of their revitilization schemes will work.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Yeah, sorry. Most urban public schools are worthless shitholes. None of them are top 400 nationally, including the institution for your cloven-hoofed spawn.

[Tonio]

Regarding point 2. My public high school had several tuition-paying students from a nearby county with abysmal schools.

[JoshINHB]

the state performance rankings and their unusual admissions policy that allows kids outside the district to get on waiting lists

School "choice" is a vile racist plot to make minority student believe that effort leads to success and that they don't need government favors.

[Boxbot]

This is possible. I went to a school in a small urban area that was highly ranked, had some of the best test scores in the state, and had a waiting list of kids from the suburbs. It also had a majority students from poor neighborhoods, many of them at risk.

Nonetheless, it was a shithole. There was an honors track that had more or less the same class composition as a suburban private school, overwhelmingly white and upper middle class. These classes were acceptable, or even on occasion good. The remaining 95% of the classes were babysitting with grades by incompetent bullies and nannies.

The stratification was obvious. The honors track classes, packed full of mostly white students with involved and influential parents, were everything they were supposed to be. The required classes, which had a mix of honors students and regular students, were useless. The non-required, non-honors or remedial classes--as far as the majority of the school was concerned, the real school--were almost exclusively black and were worse than holding pens.

I don't know how the school ended up stratified the way it was. But I doubt that the poor black kids who had to deal with the nanny prison of the unprivileged classrooms were all that pumped about the school's high ratings.

[WTF]

Bullshit - I refuse to believe that OO is capable of reproducing and has perpetuated his vile genes.

[Chupacabra]

You have kids? Human kids?

Oh, dear god.

[PapayaSF]

Ooh, a top performance arts program! Thank heavens, because there certainly has been a long-standing shortage of actors and musicians that can only be fixed with government money.

[Bill Dalasio]

And if you don't mind my asking, what exactly is the quality of the rest of the high schools in your urban district? Frankly, the idea that the hoi poloi are being taxed to pay for your rugrats' bragging rights while theirs are stuck in an armpit isn't exactly something I'd be bragging about.

[Hideo Nomosexual]

Oh, you mean a magnet school with more stringent admissions than most prep schools?

[Southerner]

Where would we be without public education?

Freer, richer, happier, and far better educated. Meanwhile, most of the current administration and some of the staff for these government brainwashing centers would be either in prison awaiting the electric chair for their crimes against humanity, or in the prison morgue after having had their appointment with ol' Sparky. That's how we used to deal with kidnappers and child abusers such as these.

[OO]

that's it. just let the hate out!

[WTF]

That's it, OO, just let the stupid out!

[wylie]

That's it, WTF, just let the wtf out.

And don't ever stop.

[#]

Where would we be without public education grocery stores? You need to ensure universal access, standards & oversight. That's where the government has a role to play.

[Southerner]

Hey, don't start giving them ideas!

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Is the solution maybe, instead of letting people deduct their kids from their taxes, we should tax people extra who reproduce and use that money to pay for more teachers or to pay the teachers more?"

A Catholic tax, Cavanaugh, you sneaky bastard?

I like the Egyptian Che woman. Bring back that Sixties-style civil disobedience to fight for, you know, more bricks in the wall, or whatever.

[Apogee]

Please bring on the civil disobedience. If they think they're hated now, just wait til they tie up traffic in LA...

[Chupacabra]

How would you notice?

[Apogee]

Instead of actually arriving at your destination 6 miles away in 2 hours - you'd be back where you started 4 hours later.

[zoltan]

Did you notice she had no idea what the t-shirt actually meant? I'm sure someone just told her to wear it and she had no idea how Egyptians or Ch? figured into it.

[Boxbot]

That's charitable. I imagine she "forgot" once she had a microphone in her face.

[Kool]

The rich are rich, see? And they have money, ok? And the rest of us, we don't have what they have, do you follow? And so, we hate them for their success and their obvious stinginess. So...

GIMME
GIMME
GIMMEEEE

My kids will be going to private school. If I can't afford it, I'll homeschool. In fact, if my kid goes to public school, it will be for social reasons. I'm sure I'll still have to homeschool after school anyway.

[Concerned Citizen]

I hear you. Our daughter is finishing preschool in a Catholic school, but we can't afford to keep her there. We're giving up our home and moving to the best public school district in central Ohio.

[zoltan]

You shouldn't waste your money on pre-school.

[Concerned Citizen]

I was skeptical at first, but with the school district we're moving to, I think it was worth it. She has learned some good things.

[rhofulster]

Actually, the primary reason we homeschooled our kids were "social" reasons. If a child emerges from a conventional school as a person of substance and grace who pulls their own weight - it's pure luck.

[rhofulster]

Actually, it's not usually pure luck - their parents just have to work twice as hard.

[Sy]

The only reason your kid should ever go to a public school should be for a field trip.. to remind them of what real failure is, just like the field trips our school made us take to a county jail.

[sloopyinca]

California public schools are so fucked up, it's laughable. I've got a 7th grader and a 5th grader, and for the most part, their teachers seem to care about what their kids learn for about the first half of the year. After that, it's all about preparation for the STAR tests and the school's standing in the state.

It's so bad that my daughter (in 7th)had a couple of classes that didn't have STAR tests, and the teacher stopped teaching the subject for two weeks so kids could use their minds for test prep. Let's just say I let them know how pissed I was and leave it at that.

Oh, and my daughter doesn't even get letter grades yet in the seventh grade. How the fuck are kids supposed to know what failing means when they are never told they are, in fact, failing. Oh, but we don't want to hurt little Johnny's feelings so we give him a 2 and let him slide on to the next grade and become the next teacher's problem.

My son's 5th grade teacher is the polar opposite. A hardcore by-the-book teacher that has taught 8 years past his pension date, gives kids the respect they deserve, talks shit about the other teachers and administrators that deserve it, and occasionally smokes and drinks. The only reason he teaches is because he 'wants to see at least 30 kids a year get a decent education in the fucked up school system, and he'd kill himself out of boredom."

I just wish my ex- would come to her senses and let me send them to private school. Too bad her fat, Puerto Rican turd of a husband won't let her because it wouldn't be fair to his kids. Fucking scumbags.

[yonemoto]

well, if you're rich, you could send his kids too just to have the pleasure of having him shut the fuck up.

[sloopyinca]

Yeah, well I ain't rich. And I pay the bitch around $1500/month in support while he earns around a cool $125k a year as a government contractor at NAS Lemoore.

That's OK. 2 more years and they will come and live with me and the two of them can pay me for the pleasure.

[yonemoto]

you think that having the majority of US west coast complement of F/A 18s is a bad idea? Jesus. Bring the troops home and you can spend a little bit extra on the overhead of keeping a slightly more decentralized and secure home defense.

[Sudden]

Doesn't it make you wanna gut the fucking defense budget even more?

[wylie]

my daughter doesn't even get letter grades yet in the seventh grade.

To be fair, they don't even start teaching kids the alphabet till highschool.

[Sudden]

^Full of awesome and win

[Drax the Destroyer]

The truly baffling evidence of how fucked the whole system is represented by misguided college students in public(or highly subsidized private) universities struggling with basic math. I'm sorry. but if you can't add, subtract, or remember what a goddamned triangle is, how are you supposed to write 20 page reports divining Mark Twain's penchant for buggering fat chicks through his folsky tales of old timey rascism?

For the mathophobes out there, turn this around and think about recent college graduates you know who can actually construct a sentence. (I recognize the irony if any/all of this rambling is poorly constructed.)

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I've got a 7th grader and a 5th grader, and for the most part, their teachers seem to care about what their kids learn for about the first half of the year. After that, it's all about preparation for the STAR tests and the school's standing in the state.

I really wish these teachers and administrators (because let's face it, a lot of the test-prep focus is coming from the top-down) would wise up and realize that if they rigorously focused on the basics the whole year, the test performance would take care of itself.

[Tman]

TC:"How did you do on the 'Value Added Ranking'?"

Teacher:"I sucked!"

So actually there are TWO parts of the video where you can believe what the teacher is telling you.

[zoltan]

Nice catch.

[Tim Cavanaugh]

I was figuring I'd get at least one or two who said, "I did great but I'm still standing with my brothers and sisters." There are talented non-slackers who support unions, after all. But every person we got either said they did poorly (because of course their students are all at-risk, special needs, special ed inner city youths from the inner city) or wouldn't say. There were also a few high school teachers, who haven't gotten a value-added score yet.

It was instructive. I knew the union was opposed to the LAT ranking, but the ranking has really become shorthand like "republicans," "cuts," "rich" and "no child left behind." Much as I hate to give kudos to the L.A. Times, kudos to the L.A. Times.

[Tman]

Teacher:"I got a bad VA Ranking because my students are idiots!"

Me: "But.....you....teach them....Sooo....would another teacher who did a better job of teaching the same students get a better VA ranking?"

Teacher:"But Teachers are the most important job in public life! We are caring for young minds! You want to take away their jobs and salary and give it to the rich!!! You hate unions! You are a REPULICANAZITEABAGGERCHRISTOFAGNOOOOOBLOOOODDDFOR OOIIILLLLL!!!!!"

[Nino Brown]

I had no idea the Crypt Keeper was a California Public School Teacher until I saw that screencap. I'm glad he was able to find work after HBO cancelled his series.

[sloopyinca]

spoofed by my own spoof handle twice in one day.

Derp.

[wylie]

I'm starting a selfhelp group for people abused by their joke handles.

[Ska]

I thought it looked like an even bitchier Larry David.

But at least LD is funny.

[rhofulster]

At first I thought that was Larry David

[Ska]

Wow, talk about crappy scrolling on my part..... 😛

[sevo]

OO|5.20.11 @ 3:33PM|#
"3) im not ur clerk. do ur own research"

You're a stupid shit; you made the claim, back it or STFU.

[OO]

no u need to proof me wrong or sftu adn no your the stuppid sht

[zoltan]

Public school graduate...

[Cunctator]

---"my 2 kids are in an urban public HS ranked in the top 400 nationally"---

---"1) us news annual rankings."---

U.S. News rates the Top 100 only, not Top 400, and none of the Top 100 are in Ohio.

[Sy]

"no u need to proof me wrong or sftu adn no your the stuppid sht"

self.fucking.explanatory.

[sevo]

OO|5.20.11 @ 4:03PM|#
"no u need to proof me wrong..."

Didn't quite pass that logic class, did you?

[Phil Smith]

Proooof me wrong, baby
Derive some pleasure - from my pain
Yeah, proooof me wrong girl
Modus ponens nevah be the same

[wylie]

Don't Believe What Teachers Tell You

Duh? If there's anything I learned from public school...

[OO]

they tought u to reed adn right didnt tehy

[Sy]

Dude, you need to go back to T9. That motorola Sidekick or whatever isn't working for you.

[Stretchy]

"Last Friday, May 13, teachers all over Los Angeles left school early to attend a Downtown rally" They walked off their jobs to demonstrate how dedicated and valuable they are.

[Gilbert Martin]

"They walked off their jobs to demonstrate how dedicated and valuable they are."

And they succeeded in doing just that!

[wylie]

How long till they realize exactly how that demonstration works out for them?

[Gilbert Martin]

Well these are unionized government employees we're talking about here, so I'd say you will need a geologic time scale to measure it.

[Rob]

They should do the students a favor and walk off the job every day!

[JoshINHB]

Just watched the video

Oh my fucking god!

Those freaks are teaching teh kids.

This country is fucked.

[Tom]

I watched that video and thought,"Sense of entitelment much?"

[Phil]

Bloody feckin parasites!

[XM]

BTW, the teachers in Sacramento were PAID while they attended this rally.

[unreal]

I would hate for my children to be taught by these so-called teacher/educators; glad I don't live in California & feel sorry for the taxpayers that do.

[Brubaker]

School budgets, per student spending and quality teachers are all important factors, but student performance is primarily a function of individual motivation. That motivation can come solely from within, but most often it comes from parental involvement.

Washington DC ranks among the highest per student spending in the country, but also has among the worst student performance. Meanwhile, neighboring Fairfax, VA, with somewhat lower per student spending, consistently ranks among the best school systems in the country.

The reason? Residents of Fairfax are highly educated and highly interested in education. Parents hover over every aspect of school operation and consistently pass school bond issues by overwhelming majorities.

A population with a high percentage of college graduates and advanced degree holders places high value on education; a population of dropouts has no personal regard for education and is ill-equipped to motivate the next generation.

Unfortunately, the teachers' union is more interested in adding members, pay and benefits rather than addressing the deep seated problems that confront their students. Since virtually all upper-income families refuse to send their own children to DC public schools, there is little likelihood of change.

[dunphy]

teacher's unions advocate for what is (perceived to be) best for teachers, NOT students.

cops unions advocate for cops, not the public they serve.

firefighters unions advocate for firefighters not the general public

autoworkers unions advocate for autoworkers not better quality cars

etc.

unions are advocates for labor, NOT for the common good and in the case of private companies can advocate a company right into bankruptcy and with a public agency can just keep advocating and sucking more govt. teat ad infinitum

whether or not one thinks unions should exist at all, one should recognize they are an advocacy group with only one beneficiary, that often work contrary to the wider good

[Lee Reynolds]

I was living in Herndon Va back in the 80's and attended both middle and high school there. You are right about the schools being good. They had elective classes at Herndon high that would give most community colleges a run for their money. It wasn't until I left there that I truly realized how special that was.

The schools in northern Virginia are great because the CULTURE there is good. Character is destiny, and the character of a nation or community is its culture. Culture is so crucial because it literally charts the course in life of the ordinary people who live within it. The exceptional transcend their culture, whether in a positive or negative way. But the average person generally does not. Put an average person in a pathological culture and they are headed to prison or worse. Have that same person grow up in a valid culture and the outcome will be the exact opposite. Culture is destiny. The thug culture of DC is diseased while the culture of Northern Virginia is not. Everything else flows from there.

[Randolph Duke]

I bet my brother a dollar on this and it turns out you are right. I thought it was genetics and was willing to ruin a man's life to prove it. Hell, I even wrecked our niece Penelope's relationship over it, but she ended up with a guy named Todd, so I guess she's ok.

Anyway, we got a homeless negro named Billy Ray Valentine and swapped him for the guy who was running our futures business by having Clarence Beeks plant some stolen money and drugs on him. To make a long story short, Louis Winthorpe III, the guy we sent to a life of crime, got together with Mr. Valentine and they pulled a fast one on us with the Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice commodities market and bankrupted our company while getting rich with the help of a butler and prostitute.

As an aside, we began to make our comeback when five years later an African prince, who remarkably looked like Billy Ray Valentine, inadvertently gave us a huge bankroll of cash while looking for a wife in Queens, NY.

[Astro]

My grandfather was a coal miner during the early years of the Great Depression, earning subsistence wages while working 12 hour shifts doing back-breaking labor. (He taught himself electricity and eventually got a job working as an electrician in the steel mills.) There is something horrifying and disgusting about using the songs of union and liberation that meant something to my grandfather -- who, you know, actually worked -- for well-paid, well fed, semi-professionals who work 6-hour days in air-conditioned buildings, get comfortable pensions and benefits, vacation time, and 8 weeks off in the Summer.

[kendoll]

When I see somebody with a Che t-shirt, this disqualifies them from being around my kids. Saw one on a Chucky Cheese worker at a birthday party. That's the last time I'll ever darken the door of any Chucky Cheese. If I were in California, after seeing the Egyptian Che "teacher" who had no idea what she was even wearing, Friday would have been the last day of public school for my kids. I'd be down at the parish talking Catholic school enrollment today.

[Jeffersonianideal]

It seems clear that the so-called teacher from Hollywood High with the Egyptian protest shirt on isn't aware of who Che Guevara was or his historical significance. As for her government school pupils, the only time they would ever bother to pronounce the word "Che" is when the word "Chez" proceeds the name of a trendy restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard.

[Lee Reynolds]

Watching these people fills me with disgust. The noble cause of educating the young has been turned into a jobs program for incompetents. Worst of all, for me at least, is their sense of entitlement. The only way out of this socialist dystopia is to make schools and teachers compete for their funding. Instead of waxing schizophrenic about Obama's birth certificate, the conservatives should be stumping for vouchers and school choice. But they won't because politics in this county has been reduced to a competition between the evil and the stupid.

[Ack]

It makes me sad, actually. I honestly believe that most teachers are good people with good hearts. I'll bet most of them are so passionate because they have been indoctrinated into the system and they have often seen good works done DESPITE the union rule. After all, there is always some good to focus on. The teachers unions take care of their own and it's gotta be hard for teachers to think critically about the system that has accepted them. Ever see that TV show "Sons of Anarchy"? It's about an outlaw biker gang where otherwise smart and caring people do some really nasty things for the greater good of the club. I think many smart teachers have allegiance to their union simply because it's theirs, it's what they know, and the unknown is always scary.

[KW]

This is one Atlas that is Shrugging in California. I earn $160k a year in salary and benefits in Southern Cal, and I am leaving for a contract job in North Carolina in 2 weeks, partly because I am being taxed to death by the state for no real benefit. My daughter got a crappy high school education, even in an affluent school district. There are few new and interesting projects to work on here in my (aerospace) industry. And proably most of all, my girlfriend and I earn over $250k together, and we can't afford a house within 30 miles of where either of us currently work. She is going to quit her $130k job and take an $80k job in Montana, and we will save money for a house there.

California was a nice place to work and learn how to become a high performer, but the statists have now mortally wounded the golden goose. California is becoming one big ghetto, and I'm getting out because I can't build a retirement here.

[Res Publica Americana]

New Hampshire.

[MKD]

^+1

[Drax the Destroyer]

...I can't build a retirement here.

For some of the fuckers out in Cali, that's a feature, not a bug.

[RockLibertyWarrior]

How fucking pathetic, ex hippies clinging to their "glory days" when their very ideas are exploding right before their eyes. When liberal's plans don't work they either blame on the rich or ask for more money. Yeah thats right, throw more money at a problem and it will go away. One of the reasons why I moved out of California is these nutcases are in charge in Sacramento. Sad because I really love my home state, its ignorant assholes like this who fuck up the political environment so we have to move ourselves and our money elsewhere. Of course their so arrogant they don't see themselves as the problem and these people teach our kids? No wonder so many kids and people are dumb asses.

[Sahil]

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