Sick out War! Detroit Public Schools vs Detroit Federation of Teachers.

[belleislerunner]

GP Charles - you're attempt to get sympathy will not work.

This is like someone complaining because they work at Quicken and have to work until 10pm. Or first year law clerks having to work 90 hours.

No one is forcing these teachers to work in conditions they find deplorable. They are free to quit at any time and pursue greener pastures. Rather than doing what they are paid to do, they think they can win public opinion polls by leaving their day jobs, enabling their students to get left behind, so they can claim they deserve more money in their pockets. It wins no supporters. It portrays them as lazy whiners and out of touch with mainstream society.

[southen]

GP Charles - you're attempt to get sympathy will not work.

This is like someone complaining because they work at Quicken and have to work until 10pm. Or first year law clerks having to work 90 hours.

No one is forcing these teachers to work in conditions they find deplorable. They are free to quit at any time and pursue greener pastures. Rather than doing what they are paid to do, they think they can win public opinion polls by leaving their day jobs, enabling their students to get left behind, so they can claim they deserve more money in their pockets. It wins no supporters. It portrays them as lazy whiners and out of touch with mainstream society.

Sorry, I am dating a teacher and you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. I don't understand how my girlfriend hasn't quit from the stress alone. They get no support from the administration and have to provide all of their own supplies out of pocket. Lessons are printed on my computer at home for kids because the school hasn't bothered to fix the printers there.

To make your analogy even remotely true you might want to add that the customers are unruly and just plain rude and that Dan Gilbert provides you with no supplies and a deteriorating work place. Then maybe, just maybe, you could compare a teacher to a Quicken employee. They get no support professionally and then have to deal with people like you who place all of the blame on their shoulders.

There are three things that my girlfriend vents about in regards to her job at the end of each day.
1) The fact that most students simply don't care and don't put in the effort.
2) The fact that there is little to know parent involvement in helping with the education of these childern.
3) The fact that something else has broken or happened at the school regarding the administration.

You are out of touch to act like they are all lazy whiners. For a profession that is vital it is completely thankless and they are always asked to do more and more with less. Oh and for just getting another job it is extremely difficult. Teachers in good and stable districts hold onto those positions for years and they hardly open up. That is why you continue to see teachers come in and out of Detroit until they get burned out by lack of funds and shoddy leadership.

[Danny]

Channel 4 news had reported that there in one particular Detroit public School Building that has humongous poisonous fungus growth in the bottom of the interior school walls. If kids see it, pick and eat it. They will be dead in hours!

[Shai_Hulud]

To make your analogy even remotely true you might want to add that the customers are unruly and just plain rude and that Dan Gilbert provides you with no supplies and a deteriorating work place. Then maybe, just maybe, you could compare a teacher to a Quicken employee. They get no support professionally and then have to deal with people like you who place all of the blame on their shoulders.

I agree with this. Some of the teachers at DPS are just riding it out until retirement. However, most are trying to do whatever they can with absolute scraps.

I have seen it with my own eyes. School building falling apart, students at best disinterested and at worst outwardly hostile, a battle for the most rudimentary supplies, administration might as well be absent.

It is an utterly broken system and to blame the teachers because "the students are missing out on education" is laughable because we're talking about students who are probably three grade levels behind on average. Another six hours of the toxic environment that got them into that situation is surely not going to get them out of it. Changing the environment might, but it's clear the powers that be won't do that until they are forced to.

The sooner DPS as we know it burns to the ground the sooner there is half a chance of some of the students actually getting an education. Fortunately, I think that will happen sooner rather than later.

[hewettbr]

Sorry, I am dating a teacher and you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. I don't understand how my girlfriend hasn't quit from the stress alone. They get no support from the administration and have to provide all of their own supplies out of pocket. Lessons are printed on my computer at home for kids because the school hasn't bothered to fix the printers there.

To make your analogy even remotely true you might want to add that the customers are unruly and just plain rude and that Dan Gilbert provides you with no supplies and a deteriorating work place. Then maybe, just maybe, you could compare a teacher to a Quicken employee. They get no support professionally and then have to deal with people like you who place all of the blame on their shoulders.

There are three things that my girlfriend vents about in regards to her job at the end of each day.
1) The fact that most students simply don't care and don't put in the effort.
2) The fact that there is little to know parent involvement in helping with the education of these childern.
3) The fact that something else has broken or happened at the school regarding the administration.

You are out of touch to act like they are all lazy whiners. For a profession that is vital it is completely thankless and they are always asked to do more and more with less. Oh and for just getting another job it is extremely difficult. Teachers in good and stable districts hold onto those positions for years and they hardly open up. That is why you continue to see teachers come in and out of Detroit until they get burned out by lack of funds and shoddy leadership.

I agree with both of you on some of the concepts you've brought to the table but i will also ask this. Did she not know what she was getting into when she signed up for the job. It has been known for a very long time that Detroit schools are a joke. These teachers are complaining about something that has been going on for a very long time. It would have been in their best interest to look for other jobs in the region. Teachers are underpaid and under appreciated but they should be educated enough to see the writing on the wall.

[belleislerunner]

Let's go through your points one by one.

1) "They get no support from the administration and have to provide all of their own supplies out of pocket. Lessons are printed on my computer at home for kids because the school hasn't bothered to fix the printers there."

Your GF knows this fact going into the job. Heck everyone knows that. It makes it neither good nor bad. It's merely a fact of life for teachers. Your GF accepted that cost as a part of accepting the job offer.

2) Customers are unruly and just plain rude.

That's a direct correlation to how well the teacher effectively managers her class. If she can't control her own classroom, she shouldn't be a teacher. You can't send every kid to the principal's office every day - you have to earn their respect, and demand their focus/attention.

3) Students don't care and put in the effort.

Once again this is up to the teacher. If a student doesn't care - it's likely because the teacher hasn't sold the student on the importance of the education. The student thinks its free daycare. Spend more time focusing on the value proposition of why education is important.

4) Little to no parent involvement in helping the education.

Once again this is up to the teacher. Should it be up to the parent - absolutely. But Detroit has an unusually high percentage of students who come from single family households [[the largest indicator of poverty) which isn't at the same level in a Rochester or Northville. The teacher should know this fact when accepting the job.

5) Administration issues. In the corporate or legal world we call these bosses. We have the ability to work under them or we can leave. Once again the admin or bosses set the rules/requirements. We choose whether we want to live/work under those conditions.

In each of these scenarios - I don't see how anyone is to blame but the teacher.

[southen]

In each of these scenarios - I don't see how anyone is to blame but the teacher.

Im at a loss as to how to respond to your drivel. I just want to thank you for knowing in absolute terms how good of a teacher my GF is and the circumstances of her employment. I too cannot believe she didn't accept one of the readily available high paying teaching jobs in fantastic districts... I mean they are out there, all you have to do is quit what you are currently doing, abandon the kids you care about, and take it. Your heartlessness and cluelessness is astounding.