How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
The teachers--or rather, the California Teachers Association--is responsible.
From "The Worst Union in America," our own Troy Senik's most recent article in City Journal, about which Troy is too modest to post:
In 1962, as tensions ran high between school districts and unions across the country, members of the National Education Association gathered in Denver for the organization’s 100th annual convention. Among the speakers was Arthur F. Corey, executive director of the California Teachers Association (CTA). “The strike as a weapon for teachers is inappropriate, unprofessional, illegal, outmoded, and ineffective,” Corey told the crowd. “You can’t go out on an illegal strike one day and expect to go back to your classroom and teach good citizenship the next.”
Five decades later?
[In] May 2011, when the CTA—now the single most powerful special interest in California—organized a “State of Emergency” week to agitate for higher taxes in one of the most overtaxed states in the nation. A CTA document suggested dozens of ways for teachers to protest, including following state legislators incessantly, attempting to close major transportation arteries, and boycotting companies, such as Microsoft, that backed education reform. The week’s centerpiece was an occupation of the state capitol by hundreds of teachers and student sympathizers from the Cal State University system, who clogged the building’s hallways and refused to leave. Police arrested nearly 100 demonstrators for trespassing, including then–CTA president David Sanchez. The protesting teachers had left their jobs behind, even though their students were undergoing important statewide tests that week.
How much worse must it get before we Californians can find our own Scott Walker?
By the way, I'd be particularly interested to hear from teachers among the Ricochetti.* Has the profession itself become--well, I'm not sure how to put it. Coarser? Or does the trouble lie entirely with the teachers' unions?
*I used to prefer "Ricochetoise," but that was before the French elected a socialist president.
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Comments:
May '10
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
Don't forget what I like to call The Peril of Pedagogy. Instead of learning the subjects they intend to teach, teachers go to school to learn "how to teach." That's a long way of saying university education departments shoulder plenty of blame, too.
Aug '10
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
But Peter, don't you understand? It's for the CHILDREN! They are the ones who will suffer if taxes aren't raised!
Dec '10
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
Peter Robinson:
Ricochetti.*
*I used to prefer "Ricochetoise," but that was before the French elected a socialist president. · · 8 minutes ago
So we're going with an Italian moniker? Seems like kind of a lateral transfer to me...
Apr '11
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
An interesting note my sister made not too long ago:
After my first niece was born, she and my brother-in-law moved back to California from Texas, as they were concerned about the quality of education their daughter would receive. Once the kids got to be of school age, my sister and her husband have struggled to keep all three in Charter schools, as they've been less than impressed with the quality of education in California.
May '11
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
Once again, I must interject my preference for Ricoteers. It obviously is a play on the original three musketeers and the beloved Mouseketeers of my youth. Annette Funicello and the way she filled out those soft sweaters... I could go on but prudence suggests that I should not.
Jan '11
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
Can I be a White-Ricochetti? I'm pretty sure I'm at least 1/32 of some subset of humanetti.
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
Ricoteers? I like that. I like that a lot.
Thanks, S.P.
May '10
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
Peter Robinson
Ricoteers? I like that. I like that a lot.
Thanks, S.P. · 4 minutes ago
Ya'll, I've been using Rico-teeers since the beginning. Welcome!
Sep '10
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
RICO-Teacher
Jun '11
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
My wife and I find it hard to lay the blame on the unions. Our son's teachers -- even the good ones -- have been bureaucrats first, teachers second. We knew we were dealing with clockpunchers (vs. professionals) when the PTA had to pay for substitutes to get parent/teacher conference time.
Feb '12
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
"How much worse must it get before we Californians can find our own Scott Walker?"
How much worse must it get before the rest of the U.S. forces California to secede?
This is a rare instance where I disagree with Abraham Lincoln on the importance of the Union.
Or perhaps we still agree. Today Lincoln might ask: "Are all the states, but one, to bear their own expenses, and the government itself go to pieces, lest that one be compelled to live within its means?"
Jun '11
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
RicoSuaves
Mar '11
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
RICO-based monikers are no good. RICO is a criminal statute, and a nasty one, used to pummel the innocent.
Dec '10
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
Peter,
I think that to be a good teacher is a kind of calling like a religious calling but in a secular mode. I remember that my best high school teachers were like that. There was always something more to them then just the course work.
Once you try to reduce it to the mechanics of union work you destroy whatever deep humanity was there. What's left is robotic and will soon be inflated in price. The results are inevitable. Get rid of the union and the bloated administrative layer and those who really want to teach will be back in charge.
The kids and society will profit.
Regards,
Jim
Jun '10
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
You need the link to the article - the cartoons are great!
http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_2_california-teachers-association.html
Jan '11
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
The teachers union isn't the only problem, although they're a nasty part of it.
First, there seems to be an assumption that "an education" is a single thing, as if education is a concept defined as precisely as the infield fly rule. There are all kinds of education. Each has different purposes, shares many (but not all) of the same skills, but education comes in different forms.
I speak from my own experience. Jesuit education, as it was created by Ignatius of Loyola, is very much a value-heavy, intellectual, and spiritual training. It was intended to produce graduates who were going to go out and engage the world with those values and that spirituality.
Sadly, in the hands of lesser teachers, that powerful mission gets reduced to cheap political activism. The true grace of education is just a pearl cast before swine.
There are all kinds of education. There should be, anyway.
But right now, we're churning out millions of cookie-cutter, semi-skilled clones who basically just extended high school. I'd say they were thoroughly indoctrinated by liberals, but the students were dozing off or on Facebook, so the republic may yet be saved.
Feb '12
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
A bit disparaging of teachers, but still.. 'People who are able to do something well can do that thing for a living, while people who are not able to do anything that well make a living by teaching.' Not that there aren't excellent teachers but they usually teach elsewhere.
Ricocheteers.. Who's the leader of the club. That's made for you and me?
R-I-C-O-C-H-E-T-E-E-R-S
Jan '11
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
You can take a teacher in any school in America, and basically plug him into any other school, and the result will be the same (more often than not).
Think about that. That's not necessarily a good thing. It says that most schools have no unique character, and no unique mission. It says that education is flattening out, usually on the lowest common denominator.
We hear about Hillsdale as a unique place, and God bless 'em. That uniqueness should be everywhere.
Oct '10
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
Peter Robinson
Ricoteers? I like that. I like that a lot.
Thanks, S.P. · 28 minutes ago
Anything that rymes with Confetti should be avoided for obvious reasons.
May '11
Re: How Public Schools in California Went from Darned Good to Just Terrible
KC, I would say, if I can expand your rhetoric, that public education has become government funded daycare and they do that about as well as they do everything else. California is ahead of the curve, here, as in so many things.