by MacCruiskeen » Sat Nov 27, 2010 3:33 pm
JackRiddler wrote:The War On TeachersIt's becoming the spear-point for class war. Teachers are the best-organized workers, with the largest unions, well educated and generally liberal in the best sense. Also, at this point, much better paid than those in the "service sector," with resentment actively encouraged among the latter about all the supposed perks teachers undeservedly enjoy. Children are kept on a treadmill of testing and in a cage of constant surveillance and zero-tolerance discipline, conditioning them to obedience and acceptance of their lot in the new order of labor, devaluing all learning and personal development that doesn't translate directly into what the US private sector defines as economic utility. History, humanities, arts, physical disciplines might help make for autonomous, strong individuals, so these are out and early technical training is in, even if it's often low-grade and without prospects for the majority. Authoritarians of all stripes love that. And there's the business profit side of privatizing schools, selling computers instead of paying salaries, "learning software" packages, hiring consultants instead of teachers, etc. I don't think this can be underestimated. Next, it's a new field for the think tanks and foundations and punditry to produce studies and plans and make themselves important and solicit their own funding, long as they serve the desired anti-teacher, privatizing agenda. And finally, a further abandonment of the poor and middle class, helping to shrink the biggest non-war item in the public sector as a whole. It's a powerful combination of toxic interests.
"Ich kann gar nicht so viel fressen, wie ich kotzen möchte." - Max Liebermann,, Berlin, 1933
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts." - Richard Feynman, NYC, 1966
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