Rick Snyder to announce sweeping DPS reforms Monday

[detmsp]

Just playing devils advocate here... but does EMU really need faculty permission to do this? I guess I'm used to a world where the employer tells the employee what they will work on and that's the way it goes.

Also, I think we might be jumping the gun here... it seems to me that the details of how this is going to work haven't been fleshed out, so the EMU faculty should have plenty of time to give their input on how they'd like to see this work. Hopefully in the end everyone will be on board.

[Wesley Mouch]

...

I hope you aren't finished with this thread and others like it. We're going to hell in a handbasket because too many people are not willing to go against "prevailing wisdom" at the same time that they are accusing others of being resistant to change. Any change that cannot be questioned and challenged is suspect in my opinion.

Great series of posts, Locke.

And yes, all changes should be questioned and challenged. But those challenges and questions should be sincere, and not a hailstorm of criticism that prevents new ideas from being raised.

The challenges and questions must be about what's best for the kids. Not what's best for the teachers, administrators, politicians, or anyone. This should be 100% about what's best for kids.

[Wesley Mouch]

Just playing devils advocate here... but does EMU really need faculty permission to do this? I guess I'm used to a world where the employer tells the employee what they will work on and that's the way it goes.

Also, I think we might be jumping the gun here... it seems to me that the details of how this is going to work haven't been fleshed out, so the EMU faculty should have plenty of time to give their input on how they'd like to see this work. Hopefully in the end everyone will be on board.

As I have posted before, this debate has not been about education, but about power. [[That's why a centralized federal or state school system really isn't the right long-term solution, but that's another story.)

The people in power are all jostling to see how they can retain contracts, jobs, union dues, adminstrative power, board power, political power...

Notice how little this debate has focused on anything related to education matters. Mostly I believe that everyone needs to get out of the way. And let parents figure out how to best educate their children. We should develop strong public schools, as well as a climate where private companies can do their best as well. And let success succeed. Power to the people! [[Not the bureaucracy, administration, teachers, or unions)

[Wesley Mouch]

So the kids present all kinds of intangibles that make test scores alone a poor way to judge your performance, but your leadership has a good idea of you perform anyway. That completely lines up with my comment of having leadership, not test scores, determine teacher performance and hand out raises. I feel like you're arguing with me by reiterating exactly what I said!

Oddly, a good friend of mine and a teacher, argued that this was the main reason they needed unions. That principals and school administrators should not be allowed to 'play favorites'.

Teachers have chosen to be treated as a commodity rather than a profession by joining a union. As a mainly female calling, they were underpaid and underappreciated. They sought unionization to get better pay. They got it. But they also are being treated just like any other union member. Not an individual, but a brother or sister who management can only judge impartially by test scores. Just try and get a provision passed by the union to allow principals to hire/fire/promote/pay on the basis of their feelings about individual teachers.