20 Replies to “Sometimes It’s Not About the Children”

  1. It is widely recognised that Teacher’s Unions are detrimental to student learning and education in general. Why the myth of their importance to education and to student wellbeing is perpetuated is perplexing. How can an institution like the union, that is soley focused on the self interest of it members be anything but partisan, myopic and self absorbed? there is no way it can place the interests of someone else ( ie. the student) above its own.

  2. My brother in law and his wife are (cough, cough, HACKAFF!) – public school educators. Both are liberal progressives, she is a hairy chested feminist and he is a beardo that looks more like an urban outdoorsman than a school principal.
    Both are shameless union slobs, both think they are smarter and better than everyone else. One day I had had enough of those two and told them they weren’t professionals because professionals don’t bargain collectively or take two months off every year. They were pooch screwing socialists that were little more than children themselves. Before they could get a word out their heads exploded and sprayed dung in every direction, HAR HAR HAR!
    Trust me – the kids are the least of concerns for the vast majority of our public school teachers.

  3. This video applies 100% to the Canadian Education System.
    This video applies 100% to ANY Public Service Union as well.
    I would love to see in my lifetime: Right To work Legislation in Canada.

  5. I was just thinking exactly the same thing. Union activism in the recent Ontario election is a case in point, including the OPPA (Ontario Political Pussycat Association) you know, the guys who used to be police officers.

  6. Teacher unions are no different than other unions. In most cases strong unions are more a reflection of weak management than not, particularly in Canada. Management has been to willing to bend on union demands for decades. Not having clear managerial plans and targets are part of the problem. Not knowing how to measure productivity.
    Blaming unions for the failure of Canadian industry’s ability to mature companies into market leaders is a cope out. I am not suggesting there is no problem just that there is lots of blame to go around.
    If my concern about management capability exists in the private sector then heaven help us in the public sector. The outright featherbedding that goes on in health care and education the two largest budget expense costs for taxpayers is outrageous. If I still had school age kids they would be in private schools.

  7. KHAN ACADEMY via the Internet for any aged person wanting to learn stuff, makes sense in my view.

  8. I would to see RTW legislation but the teachers union has enough power to block it, “it is for the children’s good you know!”

  9. If weak managements yield to unreasonable union demands in the private sector the company eventually goes out of business because it deserves to do so.
    In the public sector,the taxpayer is on the hook forever no matter how poor the service.
    A critical difference.

  10. Don’t blame you CT for cutting and running your children to a private school. After all “it’s all about the children” and if you can afford to do this you should. By the way are there members of your family earning their living from education? Maybe a position in a Union?
    The difficulty in making a change is with Public Employee Unions. The New Dealer, FDR, was strongly opposed to all Government, excuse me tax payer directly funded, Unions. FDR knew the Bureaucracies, particularly at the Municipal/Education levels would and could control the fearful politicians.
    Why does this matter? If Teachers et al receive better benefits; higher pay; more holidays;then they, the bureaucrats would also be able to jump on the backs of the Lumpen Tax Payer. Do I think the craven school boards and municipal politicians will be able to change the situation?
    Ask the brave and honest former Leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. The greedy self-serving teacher’s unions spread lie after lie and supported the brokerage, corrupt Liberal Party of Canada/Ontario to a majority government.
    My only request of you CT is to stay on the topic and do not continue to muddy the waters through by bringing other self-serving taxpayer situations into the discussion. Cheers;

  11. One of my sons-in-law is a teacher and would agree with the content of the video clip.
    What Steakman said.

  12. Like any union job the union is there to protect those who may not be cut out for the job. The good and the bad are lumped together and isn’t it always the poorer teachers who want to fill your children’s heads with leftist horse manure.

  13. CT. You’re off base.
    Here’s something from the Conference Board of Canada that perhaps you should know about.
    What percentage of the Canadian workforce is unionized?
    Canadian union density rates—a key measure of union strength and relative bargaining power in the economy—have declined over the years. Today, just fewer than 30 per cent of the Canadian workforce are members of a union. In recent years that share has stabilized, but this is because of solid growth in the public sector, where just over 70 per cent of workers are union members. In comparison, only about 16 per cent of the private sector is unionized.

  14. If you want to have fun, tell a teacher that she he/she is not a professional. Tell them teaching is a vocation not a profession.

  15. “In most cases strong unions are more a reflection of weak management” CT
    I agree that effective Management doesn’t exist when School Boards are made up of want-a-be Politicians. It is the first job starting point of popular consensus building “Vote for Me”. Those that bargain for the taxpayers have a conflict of interest
    Unfortunately the tried & proven Management tools don’t work with public service Unions. The Management is not held responsible for the failure of the institution. Who were the people that negotiated for the City or State (Province). Does anyone remember who “was” on the school board?
    The taxpayer needs to demand professional third party negotiators & institutional evaluators (efficiency experts AKA the cutters )
    I think the someone like Jack Welsh (Retired GE CEO) could change the Civil Service with his management expertise & style. He had very effective management tools. He fired 10% of his management every year and he always seemed to get the worst slackers. Job Evaluations were from the top down & from the bottom up.

  17. Why is it legal for public employees to unionize? If one is providing an essential public service, then obviously a strike is an attack on the public itself – that is, if the service is truly essential. On the other hand, if the service isn’t essential to the public, then why should the public pay for it at all?

  18. No such thing as weak management in the public school system or any other publicly funded institution. The whole relationship is incestuous and beneficial to all parties. For example, in the education system, school board management pay rates are based on the pay rates of the teachers they manage. If teachers get their pay increased, management uses these rates to justify their own pay and benefit increases. Multiply this example by a thousand for they myriad of taxpayer funded entities and you get the provincial debts you see today.

  19. Public Unions should be reclassified as a threat to the Nation.
    Just doing that would de-fund the NDP.
    Maybe we could even have a literacy rate they had in the 1900’s.

  20. Being able to read is sufficient to learn anything. I have studied many topics and have become an expert in a few. My most recent studies added “Mathematician” to my CV.
    Books are my primary source study material.

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