Well this sucks.

[proud2BlibKansan]

Just got this email from my union:

In what appears to be a precursor to legislation on tenure, merit pay, seniority, teacher evaluations, open enrollment and pension reform, the entire Missouri State Legislature will be shown the documentary, Waiting for Superman, on January 24. This showing will be followed with a panel discussion, led by Rep. Scott Diekhaus and . . . , Sen. Jane Cunningham.

[Davis_X_Machina]

1. That's what you've got coming..

....you unaccountable, pension-hunting, overcompensated civil service drone, you. Think of the children!

Given the low esteem in which public school teachers have been held for the last 25 years or so, I used to just tell people who asked me -- I'm a public school teacher -- "I work for the state." (Technically that's true, in the poli-sci sense of the word 'state'.) And they used to leave me alone, figured I was a civil engineer or an accountant or something.

Now even that dodge doesn't work

Now all public employees are under the gun. We'll be the Al Qaeda of the next election cycle, mark my words. In a country whose favorite white meat is scapegoat, not chicken, there's a ready audience for appeals to the Crab Bucket Syndrome ("If my job sucks, yours has to, too. If I lose my job, you have to, too." You can find that sentiment here, on DU. Imagine what it'll be like in the general population after The Mighty Wurlitzer gets to work on the theme for a year and a half.

In twenty years, there'll be one 'teacher', for each subject, at high school level at least, in a studio somewhere, 'teaching' every algebra student in the country over a network, while thousands of 'aides', provided by an arm of Kaplan, or ARAMARK, or Halliburton, maintain discipline, collect and grade assignements, contact parents, etc. etc, for $13.50 an hour and no benefits.

They'll be grateful for the work. The average tax payer won't care -- his mill rate went down and nobody actually died, so it's all good to him.

[freshwest]

4. The end result of the libertarian movement, or Randian mindset, is classical fascism.

Remove the open society of social democracy, and that's what's going to be left. There is no such thing as anarchism in the long run because some mechanism of control always arises. In this case it will be privately managed by an unaccountable hierarchy.

[patrice]

6. Precisely. Country is drunk on Libertarian bullshit. And even if their ideas did work,

the processes of adaptation that would refine the so-called free market will KILL one hell of a lot of people and permanently handicap even more on our way to Libertarian Utopia.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Drunk on libertarian bullshit

What a great way to put it, Patrice. So so true.

[freshwest]

2. It's an anti-union, anti-public school propaganda piece, or so it would appear:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/NOT-Waiting-for-Superman/149979798356036

You need to get with people to fight this.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. We need to educate teachers

I'm preaching to the choir here. Teachers on DU care and have figured out there is a problem - that's why we're here. But each of us has dozens of colleagues who pay ZERO attention. Just like most people in this country just don't pay attention to what is going on. They turn on the news to get the weather and the sports scores and that's it.

I have a ton of teacher friends on Facebook. And every day I put up at least one article trying to educate them. Yet it is only rare that any of my teacher friends comments. Then tonight I was involved in 5 or 6 FB conversations with teachers and each accumulated 50+ replies - because we were talking about whether or not tomorrow would be a snow day.

:banghead:

It's very frustrating. I feel like I am standing here watching a catastrophe and I am the only one who sees the problem. It's like being in a car and a truck is coming right at us and while I am screaming that a truck is coming the other people in the car are listening to the radio and singing along.

[Smarmie Doofus]

15. Needless to say , you are not alone. Even if....

... it may seem that way.

NYC has a community of teacher-activists above and beyond our union (which is very often oblivious to the developing catastrophe... though it seems to be stirring a bit lately) with whom I occasionally combine forces. But truth is... we're pretty ineffectual considering the sheer number of teachers in our union, and the potential that suggests.

My guess is the support from your colleagues in KC/ Kansas would be even harder to come by. Sounds like it. Thank god for the net! ( while it lasts.)

I represent my chapter ( about 70 teachers and about 100 paras, etc.) at the union and do a newsletter besides. I make it a rule to take as many gratuitous swipes at Obamacation... and all it entails... as I can gracefully squeeze into a two-pager. I'm not sure what effect it has on my constituents but for me it feels

*really*

good.

Point: Keep up the fight and make yourself happy.

[wtmusic]

3. Wondering what was edited out with your "..."

Mind filling in the blanks?

[wtmusic]

5. I'm going to guess it's the names of Democrats Tishaura Jones and Chris Carter

Education reform: it's not just for Republicans anymore.



"I’m appalled and shocked that in Missouri, education reform is portrayed as a Republican issue. Imagine my chagrin when I discovered during my first term in the Missouri Legislature, very few of my Democratic colleagues were willing to vote for bold measures such as open enrollment, expanding the geographic boundaries of charter schools, or to challenge the teacher’s union.

Don’t get me wrong, as former human resources professional, I understand that some industries need unions because employees need protection from wayward corporate interests that violate labor laws. However, somewhere along the way, the interests of some (not all) union members began to trump those of the students, and now employment security is worth more than a child’s well being and success. That is simply unacceptable!"

http://www.stlamerican.com/news/columnists/article_9a39904f-f441-5d34-b275-ab6f1f6a86cf.html

[Reader Rabbit]

9. Is there enough time to organize a protest?

Could you get enough people—teachers and parents—to picket outside the session and get the attention of the media?

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. It's 100 miles away and on a Monday

So probably not.

[FBaggins]

10. More of this to come.

Republican takeovers at the state level (some for the first time in decades) combined with huge budget deficits and public cries to slash spending... and little shortage of Democrats willing to go along... it all adds up to an acceleration down this slippery slope.

[Starry Messenger]

12. Does it say who initiated the presentation of the movie?

Is there a deform group sponsoring this showing at the Legislature?

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Probably the state senator who hates teachers

She's been after us for years.

[maryf]

14. Argh

We need to make a counter film...k&r