From: Multiplier rule did what it was suppose to do!

[OnlineLC]

My apologies for being out of the loop a little on this for the last couple of days, but I did have a ton of things to get done to start school tomorrow.

 

I admit that me calling the NEA a terrorist organization was a little over the top, but I do find their attitude totally different to the approach of the organization for Professional Engineers of which I am still a member. First of all it is not a union, it is an organization that upholds the integrity of the profession and is constantly ensuring their members are suitably qualified to do what they are practising. If they are not, they are thrown out and stripped of their license. This is what I hoped the NEA would be. If teaching is ever going to be considered a proper profession (which I believe it is), their has to be a structure in place that actively weeds out people who have no right being in the classroom. Salary has nothing to do with it, I gladly took a huge paycut, as I felt it was something that I needed to be doing.

 

I do teach at a small Private School, but I need to stress, it was just the way it turned out and I do hope to get opportunity to teach public before I hang up the dry erase markers. I have many friends who are Public School Teachers, and they were very influential in me making a career change. From my discussions with them, I do here of teachers who obviously use tenure to keep a position but have no desire, drive or even competence in teaching. They really are in the minority, nevertheless they are messing up the lives of kids and need to have the protection they currently have removed.

 

One of my biggest beefs is the resistance I hear from some so called veterans who cry murder when they are asked to sit the PRAXIS tests to prove competence. I support NCLB because this is now brought to the surface to be eligible to be called a highly qualified teacher. If I was a principal and had a teacher who could not pass a PRAXIS test in his or her subject area, I would like the opportunity to be able to get them out of the classroom immediately and hire someone who is competent. It comes down to the self regulation issue again, which the NEA is totally reluctant to do to make it a truly respected profession.