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Teachers are being treated as if they are thugs [UPDATED]
Published 9:31am Friday, October 12, 2012 Updated 11:32am Friday, October 12, 2012Teachers are thugs! That’s the conclusion one would reach by the decisions of the party in power at the legislature.
Mr. Bill Ingebrigtsen is a member of that party. His party initiated 22 bills aimed at education in an effort to punish as opposed to seeking solutions or making an attempt to find “common ground” on issues of concern. Yet, we find teachers coming to work early and staying late; we find teachers at the front of the in line at educational conferences to find better ways to help kids — their reason for existence; we find three out of five new teachers entering the field leaving within five years; we find that the average elementary teacher spends nearly $500 out of their own money for school supplies; we find that in 1990, teacher salaries, nationally, were ranked number eight for Minnesota and now are 23rd.
Teachers understand the hard economic times and yet Ingebrigtsen’s party still criticizes teachers for their salaries.
Ingebrigtsen’s party is all about getting rid of the so-called bad teacher. Yet there party hasn’t defined a bad teacher.
A so-called bad teacher is usually defined as a teacher that has given a bad grade to a student, disciplined a student and the parent didn’t approve or if the teacher is a coach, a student didn’t receive enough playing time.
We see elementary classroom numbers as high as 30 students and high school classes reaching class sizes of 40 students leaving little precious time for personal interaction.
His party calls more charter schools and yet charter schools haven’t proven to be the answer or even that they outperform the public schools.
We need to use research-based, best practices to improve education and not this emphasis on dehumanization education.
Very simply, teachers should be removed only for just cause and deserve due process. This process is in place and works.
Mr. Ingebrigtsen and his party are not seeking solutions to difficult issues; they’re treating teachers as if they’re thugs.
Jerry Horgen
Henning
Mr. Horgen, there is one major component to your article that you have left out. What party is Mr. Ingebrigtsen affiliated with?
Teachers are treated as thugs for at least three reasons.
Reason number one….most teachers belong to a union. Conservatives hate unions.
Reason number two….conservatives want to turn public education into private education. Just as they want to privatize Social Security, Medicare, Prisons, The Veterans Health Care System and any other system or agency so they can get their chubby little greedy fingers on public money and turn it over to their corporate friends in order to turn a fat profit and administrative fee.
If that day ever comes the last thing conservatives want is a union standing in their way protecting the teachers.
Reason number three….(this is big one folks) Some teachers teach “SCIENCE”, teaching science encourages critical thinking skills, it means having an open mind, willing to entertain unwanted possibilities. Tea baggers are smart enough to understand that people who actually think for themselves and engage in subversive activities like reading mean an end to their existence.
So if you’re a right wing fundamentalist conservative one of the first things on your to do list is to dumb down Americans, so you can scam them out of their tax dollars and put those same dollars into your private pockets. Naturally you must treat teachers as if they are thugs, because your greatest enemy is a “science teacher who belong to a free American union.
You’ve probably all seen the poll of Republican voters in Ohio which showed 15% of them believe Romney killed bin Laden and 47% said they weren’t sure which, Obama or Romney was responsible. The point being, some people want their guy to win so badly they can’t see or won’t accept facts. (By the way—at the time bin Laden was killed, the order coming from Obama, Romney had no place in government and no knowledge of where bin Laden was.)
A high school art teacher asked her west suburban class to bring in their favorite children’s book. When I mentioned there were students in her class from the inner city who might not have a book she told them to search the internet for art work from their favorite children’s book thus saving them the cost of buying a new book. Guess what—four of these kids, kids who have real trouble in school, didn’t know what a children’s book was. The teacher said it would be one of the books someone read to them when they were little. Their response, “No one read to me.”
To come from a different direction for those who have no experience with sub-cultures within America consider this. All of us have seen grown men have their worlds collapse when their families come apart. The wife will leave, often take the children with her and the man for a time loses his ability to function. Maybe you’ve seen this happen to a man when his wife died. Without a stabilizing force of the woman which he had come to depend upon and lacking the emotional support of friends and extended family which men tend not to develop, a man enters a very tough time.
My point—some assume because they grew up with Mother Goose, Three Billy Goats Gruff and Richard Scary or Goodnight Moon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar everyone did. They think because they knew who dad was or where mom was or had someone else to provide stability in their lives everyone does. But they are wrong. Those with open eyes know not everyone has responsible role models or adults who provide a child the security it needs.
Both political parties seem to live in a world of fantasy and fallacy with one side being only slightly more delusional than the other. (Pay a teacher more from one side and starve the beast on the other.) What we really need to do is have a conversation with each other, one on one, face to face as to what it means to be a parent. We need to return to the day when parents believed it was a parent’s job to educate their kids and teachers were there to help. What we have now are the blind and ignorant so loyal to a political theory we dump kids into schools and set them up to fail. We have politicians suggesting we support chartered schools and let those kids who come from families which shirk their responsibilities to grow in numbers and fail in misery and that somehow this will be good for the future of our country.
It is not schools who are failing. It is not teachers who are failing. It is us. We have our eyes closed and are not having the conversations we need to have for we seem not to have the courage to talk to people who are different than we are.
Mr. Horgen, Larry, Curly, and Moe. Please cite any quote from Senator Ingegbritsen where he calls eachers goons or thugs.
Someone spells “Teachers” as “eachers”, but the rest of us are stooges.
Alas, poor Camilla. Since she is not a perfect Marxist utopian like Larry, Curly, and Moe, she missed a letter at the front of teachers, and Curly was quick to swoop down with rigid finger wagging in her face , while taunting “Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, you’re not perfect like WE are”. Is that the only thing you cand use to blunt Camilla’s challenge to find a quote from Senator Ingegbritsen to back up Horgen’s ridiculous accuasations?
Well William, perhaps if you weren’t so quick to defend someone who consistently holds herself out as being the perfect individual, much less superior Christian while calling others names, like you just did. Your clever mind would have noticed that the only person who even remotely infers that Senator Ingegbritsen called teachers “goons or thugs” is none other than Camilla Ryan herself.
The title of this article is “Teachers are being treated as if they are thugs”. Not “Senator Ingegbritsen called teachers goons or thugs”. No where in his letter did Mr. Horgen say that Senator Ingegbritsen called teachers “goons or thugs”. There is a difference, unless your only purpose for reply to the article is to mislead or put words in someone else’s mouth when you have no arguments to defeat the authors points.
Apparently you and Ms. Ryan both love to jump to unwarranted conclusions or have difficulty reading the written word. In either case you both look silly and pretentious.
Next time look, (read) before you jump.
I doubt I will ever critize a typo–I make lots and lots of them.
During last night’s Presidential debate Mr. Romney showed very little respect for the rightfully elected President of the most powerful nation in the world as well as very little respect for the woman who had the job of running the debate.
If one who seeks presidential power shows so little respect, argues without listening to answers, tries to shout others down when it is their rightful turn to speak, what chance dows a teacher have in the classroom?
Larry, I only mention typographical errors when the author calls other people stupid. If someone want’s to call others “stooges”, then you had better not be a stooge yourself.
Hi Richard, 2007-08 taught me something I have not yet forgotten, I’m human and makes lots of mistakes. I have no problem having my wrongs pointed out. hahaha And yes, I know what you mean about how one sets themselves up to be taken down when they place too much value on their own perfection. That’s one of the reasons I find comfort in facts, math and an accurate understanding of history. You can criticize me as a person or my evaluation of facts, math and history but you can’t fault the facts, math or history for they are facts, math and history.
(Speaking of facts–Gallup today said unemployment has fallen to 7.3%, others say housing starts are at their highest in 4 years, home values in most areas are going up, consumer confidence is going up, the stock market is way up, banks are making profits again, inflation is 1.7%–things look like they are getting better)
Like Al Gore said Larry….”everything that should be down is down and everything that should be up is up”
Now let’s wait for some conservative killjoy to come along and say “it’s not up enough or down enough” and that would be right is it weren’t for facts like you mention Larry. And the FACT is when it comes to conservatives whining about Democrats “up is never high enough and down is never low enough.”
Richard, I can’t find anywhere here that Camilla has used the word stooges. Perhaps she was using the same tactic as your fellow lefty Horgen, mentioning that someone was calling teachers thugs, and including Senator Ingebritsen in the same letter as a member of the offending party, ergo, if a party is calling names, and a person is a member of that party, some would infer that the person in question is calling teachers thugs. Sorta like the way that you infer from some nicknames Camilla uses for the trio of Richard, Larry, and Phaedrus that she is calling you stooges. So, you are putting yourself and Camilla and Horgern together as both users of tricky phrasing and victims of inference . Now, all three of you are victims ?
Larry, I hardly consider it an offense against the “dignity” of a president to point out his shortcomings and lies, as Mitt Romney so effectively and relentlessly did in both debates with the Supreme Leader for Life, Caliph 0bama. I perceive that should you choose to criticize a Republican president and we apply your same standards, you would also be attackng the dignity of the office? Double standards at play. You should get a job in the liberal press, as you already have mastered the duplicity they favor against conservatives.
Curly, up or down, this 0bama guy can’t tell his behind from a hole in the ground.
Bill, you are a guy who likes rules. The candidates agreed to a set of rules. Just because things were going badly for Mr. Romney doesn’t give him the right to break the rules. You are a big Coinstitution guy. As long as we have a duly elected president a certain amount of respect should go to the person holding that office, if not by all of our society, at least by someone laying claim to the office.
The facts say hands off big banks and baseless optimism again wrecked the economy. That was where we were four years ago. Things were going down. Now that trend has reversed. Do we want to go backwards?
Did you see the look on Romney’s face when his Libya Conspiracy was fact checked? If he wants to be President he should get his “facts” from someplace other than FoxNews, as should all reasonable voters who are concerned for the country.
So how is this connected to teachers–Teachers try and teach math, science, history. They try and teach grammer and spelling though I rely too much on editing programs. They try to teach the importance of appropriate language and respect others. (Heck, I even try to teach “work groups/think tanks” though some of the kids say that’s cheating; they know so little of the real world.)
Bill, I posted facts. Your response is name calling and character attacks. That brings us to the point of the orginal letter writer. There is a political party, which through its actions, seems more intent on denegrating education and educators than dreaming of what might be, thinking seriously how we might get there because they refuse to look closely and in a realistic way as to where we are. Mr. Ingebrigtsen is a member of that party and they vote enmass and walk as though in jack boots; misguided and misplaced principles over people. (check the voting record)
Bill, before you didn’t know about the existence of 8 O’clock coffee, now you pretend that you don’t know that Moe, Larry and Curly are the three stooges. I guess you haven’t been to a movie or watched television since the 1930’s.
If that’s your defense of Camilla, it’s the weakest, silliest and most transparent defense anyone could put forth.
Bill, I agree with Richard. This is one of the weakest defense of Camilla I have read to date. To suggest that Camilla was not implying that Richard and Larry are like the Three Stooges is just plain silly.
Bill, I agree with Richard. This is one of the weakest defenses of Camilla I have read to date. To suggest that Camilla was not implying that Richard and Larry are like the Three Stooges is just plain silly.
Ah.. Curly Larry and Moe are now joined by Pete/Repete.
When does Benjamin bygone pipe up?
First, for Larry, your citing the look on Romney’s face when she backed up the Caliph’s lie about Benghazi can be attributed to his dismay that Candy Crowley was backing Caliph 0bama in his lies. Did you watch CNN about 20 minutes after the debate, when Candy was being interviewed by a couple of women reporters overflowing with praise for her control of the debate? Where Crowley revealed that her networks fact checkers had told her she was wrong to back 0bama’s version of events, that she was wrong to verify 0bama’s “facts”. That Romney was, actually, right? If you are going to rely on your “facts” and an “accurate” interpretation of events, then reveal ALL the facts of the matter.
Your criticism of people who publicly disagree with and criticize Caliph 0bama are right down in the same gooey mire as those who call ANY criticism of 0bama as being racist. It’s all hogwash designed to sway people who don’t pay much attention to the outrageous record of this president.
In some respects the responses offered by William Schulz are predictable and excusable. Bill gets his news from Fox and therefore has no way to verify the truth of anything said by anyone.
For those who read and watch any network other than the republican news channel (we lie, you eat it up) there is a troubling thing called a videotape. Which proves at least three things, President Obama was right, the moderator was right and Mitt Romney was wrong.
Personally I would say it (the tape) proves another thing, but I’m trying to refrain from insulting those slower than myself.
Richard Olson says; I’m trying to refrain from insulting those slower than myself.
Question: Are there any such persons out there that would qualify?
In the speech in the Rose Garden, which was done because of the attack in Lybia, and where the whole of the speech was about the attack in Lybia and where no other subject was mentioned, Crowley correctly pointed out the president said, ” no acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values we stand for.”
Bill you are also sort of right–in the days that followed, as more information came out there were questions as to who, what and how this happened and to this day the investigation is not complete. But let me tell you my understanding of what terror is–acts or threat of acts of an unknown though life threatening nature carried out or threatened to be carried out by person or persons who have no authorization to do so designed to cause a person or persons to change the way they live out of fear of the threat. To protest a movie you find repulsive is one thing–to bring grenade launchers with the intent to kill is terroism. Obama was correct the day after the attack to speak of it as terror. Romney was ill advised. Facts matter.
Camilla & William,
Calling these liberals the three stooges is an insult to the three stooges. The three stooges were just not very bright, but liberalism is evil. The spirit of liberalism is the spirit of the anti-christ.
Merle, you write that “The spirit of liberalism is the spirit of the anti-christ.” and then you ask
“Are there any such persons out there that would qualify?” I think you’ve just answered your own question.
Did you know that the following things brought to us by Liberals, are ”evil”? Just ask Merle Hexum.
The GI Bill
Endangered Species Act
Environmental Laws
The Space Program
The Peace Corps
Americorps
The Civil Rights Movement
Earned Income Tax Credit
Family & Medical Leave Act
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Americans With Disabilities Act
Freedom of Information Act
Women’s right to control their reproductive future
Allowing citizens to view their own credit records
The Internet
Balancing the federal budget
The Brady Bill (5-day wait on handgun purchases for background checks)
Lobbying Disclosure Act
“Motor-Voter” Act
The Voting Rights Act
Unemployment Insurance
Medicare/Medicaid
Food Stamps/WIC
Social Security
Peace between Israel and Egypt
Peace between Israel and Jordan
The Department of Education
The Department of Energy
The Department of Transportation
The Department of Housing and Urban Development
Labor Laws
The Marshall Plan
Winning World War II
Food Safety Laws
Workplace Safety Laws
The Tennessee Valley Project
The Civilian Conservation Corps
The Securites and Exchange Commission
Women’s Right to Vote
Universal Public Education
National Weather Service
Product Labeling Laws
Truth in Advertising Laws
Morrill Land Grant Act
Rural Electrification
Public Universities
Bank Deposit Insurance (FDIC)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Public Broadcasting
Supporting the establishment of Israel
The United Nations
Merle, do you simply not have anything constructive to say, or do you just like drawing attention to yourself?
Regardless, how can anybody take you seriously? No, really. How can ANYBODY take you seriously? I THINK you are Christian, but your love to belittle others suggests otherwise.
Either:
1) You think you are getting your message across, when in reality you are doing just the opposite.
or
2) The internet gives you some sort of egotistical power-trip where you seem to think it is okay to be slanderous towards others ideals and compare them to one of the worst things in Merle-land: the anti-Christ.
Bills ignorance to the obvious is one thing I can handle. Pure stupidity I cannot.
There is a difference between disagreeing with and disrespecting a persons’ opinion. I suggest you learn it.
ANYWAY, no where in this article did Mr. Horgen say that teachers are thugs. He stated that they are being treated AS IF they are thugs. It’s all implied, similar to Camilla’s Three Stooges comparison.
Sometimes destruction is required before construction can begin.
What you call belittling, I would call confronting or rebuking sharply.
The message I was attempting to get across is this; Liberalism is evil. Killing innocent babies in the womb (or condonong the act) is EVIL. Redefining the institution of marriage (which God created) is EVIL. Coveting the wealth of others (even under the guise of helping the poor) is EVIL. Am I getting my message across? Is it clear?
What you call slanderous, I would call speaking truth to darkness. The ideals that these guys are promoting are from one of the worst things in the world: the anti-Christ.
Ignorance and stupidity can be overcome, but it requires that one repent. Change ones mind! Stop believing the lies of the Devil and receive the truth.
I have not only disagree, but I also disrespect persons’ opinions who agree with Satan. I’ve learned it.
ANYWAY, if teachers associate with thugs (unions), then guess what that makes them?
Titus 1:9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. 10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: 11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake. 12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. 13 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;