I have two really good friends who are teachers. I've known both of them my entire life. They both have told me the same thing. Basically, they got into teaching because they really did want to help children learn. One of them was really inspired by a teacher growing up who took an interest in him and taught him that learning could be fun. This guy would have never gone to college (frankly, we're all suprised he actually did) if it weren't for one good teacher. So, his idea was that he could help children who also struggled with conventional ways of teaching. He thought once he got hired full time and proved himself, that he would be allowed to teach in his own way.

He has now been teaching since 1995 and hates every single day of it. He isn't allowed to teach in a way that could help struggling kids. He is forced to teach a federally mandated curriculum geared soley towards passing proficiency tests so the school can get more money. He is allowed to give a grade of "F" to kids, but the school is not allowed to hold a kid back without parents permission. Again, failing kids leads to less federal or state money so they all pass no matter the grade. Only a parent is allowed to hold a kid back now and he said he's never seen one do it yet (he teaches 5th grade). So, kids who can't pass 5th grade on their own merits get pushed on the 6th where they will be even further behind and so on and so on and so on....

When my daughter expressed an interest in teaching as she was graduating HS, she talked to both of my friends and they both talked her out of it. She had the same bright eyed ideas of helping children and they assured her that teaching was not the way to do it. It is really sad, but teaching has just become a means to a guaranteed pension. You don't have to save a dime for the entire 30yrs you teach and taxpayers are on the hook for your retirement. Kids be damned. But that's what happens when the federal government gets involved. They think money solves everything and everyone is just a number. To them, all kids should learn the same way. Forget the fact that some are visual learners while others are hands on and still others learn best by simply reading a text book.

I will not believe that politicians are just this dumb. It is by design, as written by Cloward and Piven. Get the kids to be sheep and in as little as one or two generations, you own an entire country.

This has been going on for a long time, so it isn't just Obama. But at least someone has finally noticed it though.

Obama's Education Takeover - YouTube

For everyone who doesn't believe in population control, read this article. It is from the Journal of Medical Ethics. I warn you, it is sickening. But it shows what is going on. Apparently it is already being practiced in the Netherlands. Read the entire article, too. See how they justify their thoughts about adoption.

After-birth abortion: why should the baby live? -- Giubilini and Minerva -- Journal of Medical Ethics

Just a quick note....quinn, in your post on 2/18 you say that tax payers are on the hook for a teacher's retirement. I don't know where you live, but in Ohio the teachers have their own pension fund that is paid for by teachers and completely self-sufficient. Instead of paying FICA they pay to STRS (state teachers retirement system). My mom works for STRS and my step-mom is a retired teacher. I know more about the system than I really care to know, but it's a quality pension system that works because the only people drawing from it, are those who've paid into it.

What teachers really want to tell parents - CNN.com

This article is pretty much dead on the money from what I've heard from many teachers over the last few years.

Sorry if this is a bit of a hijack.

Originally Posted by therick

Just a quick note....quinn, in your post on 2/18 you say that tax payers are on the hook for a teacher's retirement. I don't know where you live, but in Ohio the teachers have their own pension fund that is paid for by teachers and completely self-sufficient. Instead of paying FICA they pay to STRS (state teachers retirement system). My mom works for STRS and my step-mom is a retired teacher. I know more about the system than I really care to know, but it's a quality pension system that works because the only people drawing from it, are those who've paid into it.

What teachers really want to tell parents - CNN.com

This article is pretty much dead on the money from what I've heard from many teachers over the last few years.

Sorry if this is a bit of a hijack.

I think you are getting information confused. It is not completely self-sufficient and tax payer do contribute to it. It is broke right now and will require more tax payer money if those teachers want their pensions. Here is a link from the buckeye institute which clearly states how much tax payers put into their pensions and the fact that they are asking for more.

Buckeye Institute - Microsite - Pensions 101

Go to the bottom of the page where the pdf files are. The one on the top row the furthest to the right will explain it if you want to read it.

Thanks for the info. I hadn't been keeping up with how their funding was, in the last 8+ years.

It makes sense, now that I think about it. They're running into an issue similar to what Social Security is running up against. People are living longer, which means you have an ever growing number of people drawing on the system for many more years that was initially expected. An unforseen consequence of modern medicine keeping people alive longer. Combine that with two recessions in the last decade and the funds aren't there.

As a public employee myself, I'd be more than willing to work 5 more years, before being able to qualify for my pension. But then, I'm sure I'm in the minority among state workers on that one. I'd also call on them to reform the qualification parameters to eliminate double dipping. I don't see that changing anytime in the near future either, given the number of state legislators who are double dipping.

Originally Posted by therick

Thanks for the info. I hadn't been keeping up with how their funding was, in the last 8+ years.

It makes sense, now that I think about it. They're running into an issue similar to what Social Security is running up against. People are living longer, which means you have an ever growing number of people drawing on the system for many more years that was initially expected. An unforseen consequence of modern medicine keeping people alive longer. Combine that with two recessions in the last decade and the funds aren't there.

As a public employee myself, I'd be more than willing to work 5 more years, before being able to qualify for my pension. But then, I'm sure I'm in the minority among state workers on that one. I'd also call on them to reform the qualification parameters to eliminate double dipping. I don't see that changing anytime in the near future either, given the number of state legislators who are double dipping.

The teachers I referred to in the previous post both have rental properties and IRAs because they don't trust that pension being there. I would like to think I would be that smart if I were a state employee, but I don't know if I would be.

Check out this double dipping thing. You can actually find out how much he's making on that buckeye institute site. Anyway, my old HS football coach got fired from the coaching position last year. The school district had put a levy on the ballot box asking for money to build new schools. They said half of the money would be granted to them by the state and this would be the last levy they would ask for. A no-brainer yes vote, they said. Well, the residents passed it. ONE YEAR LATER, they put another levy on the ballot asking for more money. They asked the FB coach to promote the levy. He refused. They asked the BB coach. He refused. They fired them both from their coaching position (not teaching). The FB coach never stepped foot in the school again. He went to Columbus the next Monday and retired. He had 32yrs in. He is now in his 50s and drawing a 70k+ pension. Just a few weeks ago, another school from our area hired him as their FB coach. Now he's making his pension plus his new teaching and coaching salary.