Thank God a politician has the guts to stand up and tell the truth!  Although he’s no stellar speaker, he certainly gets his point across.  He’ll be met with a lot of ugly opposition from the unions, but change which will bring social justice with it is coming.
Too bad Ontario’s premier is such a feckless individual.  While he wouldn’t remove some of the tax burden from our beleagured manufacturers, (which was the highest in NA) the sunshine club, thanks to him, in the public sector was balooning.
Duncan, our M of F thought Ontario would have a deficit of $500 M; instead it’s almost $25 B.  Feckless isn’t a strong enough word…
I haven’t digressed too too much—it’s all linked

Exhilarating!

I have a dream…and I think he has just nailed it on the head!!! OPTIONS,,,, even in the “best interest of the child” will be MY new fight..with a no optional attendance policy firmly in place in my board I am gearing for the fight!!! In an over enrolled school and still likely to be a fight!!! Give me OPTIONS or let’s all stop talking about what is in the BEST interest of a child.

Chris Christie IS a Stellar Speaker

Look at this video as well as the one linked above.  (I think I’m going to start a collection of Chris Christie video’s !)

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/chris-christie-to-angry-teacher-you-dont-have-to-do-it/

The commentary accompanying the video says the following:

“Give the man credit for one thing; he’s certainly consistent and honest. This video will assuredly continue to make him a polarizing figure. His detractors will see the response as callous and cruel while his champions will see it as proof that he is the union-busting superhero he claims to be. Meanwhile, somewhere in the Garden State, the teacher who once taught a schoolboy Christie his public speaking skills is now silently kicking himself.”

It’s the message that’s so important and thrilling.  The delivery is so firm, so clear and shows determination … WOW.  Wish we had more politicians in the world with such messages and such style!!!!!

Christie talks about a “Selfish, Greedy, and Disgraceful” New Jersey teacher union.  I’m sure the NJEA qualifies for one of the top ten worst teacher unions on Earth.

I think the BCTF (BC Teachers’ Federation) qualifies to be in the top ten as well.

Two of our teacher union head office staff (one an ex BCTF president from years back) actually are also professors providing training at our Simon Fraser University Faculty of Education in a Masters Program in Teacher Unionism!!!!!!!!

Talk about a teacher union breakthrough – no doubt accomplished during the term of the ex Dean of Education, a “progressive” of the John Dewey school of thought.

Forever curious, and my wondering mind, asked how close are the education faculties and the teachers’ unions. Lots of papers written on this very topic. I am afraid, the teachers’ union even extends into the education faculties.

Here is a link, titled Neo-liberalism in British Columbia Education and Teachers’ Union Resistance.

“In part, the conflict is a war of words. Government rhetoric focuses on economic growth, markets, choice, customer satisfaction, flexibility, accountability, efficiency, careers, and achievement. BCTF rhetoric, on the other hand, emphasizes equity, social justice, accessibility, public versus private education, adequate public funding, teaching and learning conditions, and professional autonomy.”

http://www.ucalgary.ca/iejll/vol11/poole

Nancy, you might also find it interesting that the BC College of Teachers is moe or less dominated by the BC Teachers’ Federation.

http://communities.canada.com/VANCOUVERSUN/blogs/reportcard/archive/2010/05/31/union-prez-rob-millard-elected-to-b-c-college-of-teachers.aspx

“Rob Millard, president of the West Vancouver Teachers’ Association, has been elected to the 20-member governing council of the B.C. College of Teachers (BCCT).

Millard, who was endorsed and supported by the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF), captured 632 votes to defeat incumbent Norm Nichols with 532 votes. Coming third was John O’Flynn, an independent-school candidate.

Just 28 per cent of members in Zone 11 participated in the election.

Nichols is one of 11 BCCT councillors concerned about the college’s close relationship with the BCTF and anxious for governance changes to ensure the college is free of influence and able to act in the public interest. The other nine councillors, all of whom are union activists, blocked the proposed changes and dispute allegations that the college’s independence is in question…”

The same thing happened in Ontario with the Ontario College of Teachers.  It was meant to be a means of offering an organization to maintain standards for teacher qualifications, a venue for members of the public to pursue any concerns over a teacher’s professional behaviour, etc; sort of an independent overseer of the profession.

Teachers claimed there was no need because their unions already filled that role; sorta like cops claiming their union could make sure they didn’t do anything wrong .  Right!

It was meant to protect the public, not the profession and that didn’t go over very well.  Witness how cranky one of our commentators gets on the issue.  As in BC if they can’t prevent it from existing they’ll darn well try and run it.

Lets see, who pays for the OCT. Ah yes, only the teachers and they can all vote for its leadership and when they do the result is an OCT run by the teachers. Surprise.

Teachers, actually some of them, pay for the OCT because they’re required to belong to it.  They don’t pay for it because they’re doing anyone else a favour.  The point is that it was never intended to be another teacher-dominated organization.  Giving control to teachers was another bone thrown to them by their sidekick in the premier’s office.

You may not understand that the Directors consist of both elected, by teachers, and government-appointed members.  As originally established government-appointees held the majority until Daltie made the majority of the positions elected by the membership.

Of course they are required to pay for it John, everybody knows that. They pay the entire shot. Why should they have less than half the members unless the gov’t wants to pay for it. Yes, the government appoints people. They should be less than 10% of the members. They are their mainly as observers not to control the thing. It is the Ontario College of Teachers, not the College of Tories. Teachers VOTE for who they want to represent them. Guess what, in a secret ballot, they vote for people with strong federation backgrounds. What you intend it to be should not be confused with what teachers intend it to be. “Daltie” corrected a problem left over from Harris. He did not go far enough but he seldom does.

This isn’t a difficult concept.

An organization tasked with the job of accrediting and disciplining people shouldn’t be overseen by the same people.

It was meant to be a public watchdog, not a lapdog.
It wasn’t set up to make teachers happy; that’s the job of their unions

In any event if that’s too difficult for you to understand there’s not much point in pursuing the matter.

Let me see, the doctors accredit and discipline the doctors. The lawyers discipline the lawyers. The Ontario TEACHERS’ College should be run by who, the nurses? It was set up as a professional organization so that teachers could accredit and discipline teachers. There are still too many non-teachers and management types on it but there has been an improvement. If that is too difficult for you to understand, there is not much point in persuing the matter.

Doctors and lawyers also get sued for malpractice,  set up their own practices, have to solicit clients, succeed or fail based on client satisfaction with their quality,  etc.

If teachers are willing to operate in the same arena as doctors or lawyers they’ll be seen as the same sort of professionals.  As it is they’re employees.

Anyway..this is starting to bore me so I’ll move on to more interestingl issues.

I think you have heard that “He (she) who pays the piper calls the tune.

Doug,I am curious-why would you not insist at the Union level that the teachers be trained methodologically rather than ideologically?
Why not want to improve their professionalism-that`s a great part of my work…

I don`t get it-aren`t you putting the cart before the horse-work with Universities across Canada -after all the student goes to U. for the skill development necessary for a professional life and qualification-

Don`t you want them held in higher regard?
A very hostle speech pathologist said teachers are pedagogical idiots-well they don`t want to be-help them out-

Here is something that shows the powerful influence that teachers’ unions. It also shows the contempt that they have for children, and in part their parents.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/editorials/Music+teacher+decision+strikes+wrong+chord/3118825/story.html

I know as a parent, I would be pissed off if my child was attending that school. These days, a school that has the extras are a rarity, and not the norm.

Jo-Anne,

I am very interested in raising the bar on teacher entry into the profession in a more or less Finland style way. This way we get the best possible teachers but also probably higher pay and benefits at the same time without McCartyite witch hunts of bad teachers. You do have a tendency however, to conflate your views to the “one true path” in the style of a Zealot. I’m not even saying you are totally wrong but there are many experts who would , at least, use a different emphasis.

You may be very interested in an exchange I had with Charles Ungerleitter that I will publish in my next issue. He was DM of Education in the BC NDP government and he believes I dismiss your position far too quickly and far too ideologically.

He asks me not to place phonemic awareness and DI in the right wing basket with charters, vouchers, uncertified teachers, and privatization which he does oppose. He says phonemic awareness and DI have simply shown up in too many studies as helpful to some students, particularly working class and poor students, to be dismissed easily on ideological grounds.

Well Doug, a turning point for you. Keep in mind, when writing the article, the mild to moderate LD kids as well as the low-income kids. If my kid had been taught first with phonemic awareness, as well as DI, she probably would never have been identified as having learning problems.

Doug,Charles Ungerleitter and I had a very good frank talk about a year ago-he`s a very wise caring educator-and I applaud you for your resilience-this must have been a tough e mail to write.

I am going to the DSBN tomorrow -to observe a breakthrough pilot occurring-we are teaching preventatively in SK-1 AND 2-explicit systematic synthetic phonics beginning with phonemic awareness-
in a school where results were poor and improvements near impossible to come by.

The need for teaching unions goes on.

http://www.osstf.on.ca/Default.aspx?DN=b834cc3c-d39c-4c9f-a428-0bf3c17d5248

No, Mr. Little.  The only people who need teachers’ unions are the members of the OSSTF.  Our children especially do not need to be around militant unionists:  they set a bad example.  They, along with the bloated burearcracy are also a drain on our education tax dollars.
There are enough laws in place in Canada to protect workers nowadays.  Both my husband and myself didn’t work within a union.

http://teachersunionexposed.org/video_release.cfm

It is obvious that you did not work within a union. Of course I think it is a fantastic example to students to have a strong union round especially when they go on strike once in a while. It shows young people that they have rights and they can stand up to any employer or government.

I hope it encourges young people to be union militants or union organizers where there are none. Society would be so much better off as a result.

Same old rightwing claptrap Doretta. Right wing organizations hate teacher unions because they are powerful enough to stop privatization of education in the form of vouchers and charters. In Ontario they are strong enough to defeat tory governments that go too far. Over 100 teachers worked for Kathleen Wynne to defeat Tory in his own riding. They have enough money in all four unions to spend the limit to defeat conservatives and any privatization ideas. That is not very hard since they are not popular ideas.