Teacher propaganda
Propaganda is a great tool. Our "underpaid" teachers and their families have used it well. Fifty-five years ago a beginning teacher was normally paid less than $3000 per year. If that teacher chose (not all subscribed) the group health insurance plan, he paid the premiums (our district later offered to pay 25% of them). Male teachers wore jacket(dry cleaning) and tie while ladies wore nice dresses (unlike the "Coxie's Army" look of the striking teachers at our intermediate school). Upon retirement in 1982, a teacher earned a salary of about $22,000. He could continue with the group healthcare plan and pay the premiums as well as receive his pension. As a result of careful planning, investing and spending (no cable TV, etc.), he could enjoy a leisurely retirement.
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Parents customarily received pupil report cards after each six-weeks,not nine-weeks, period plus semester exam scores. Quizzes (perhaps a method of handling a little stress--which we all encounter sometime) were usually weekly so that pupil progress could be checked. Homework was assigned and trouble spots were checked. Spelling was important and the "old-fashioned" basic math (add, subract, multiply, divide) was stressed. Tests and homework seemingly have become a burden to present-day teachers. With the enactment of Act 195 (which I testified against about 35 years ago), teacher unions hold clout with over 4.5 million members and annual dues of over $1,000,000,000. Incidentally, the national unions have endorsed President Carter (he rewarded them with the Department of Education -- Reagan tried to reverse this) and every Democrat candidate since. Note: The former Washington D.C. teacher union head is serving a 5-year sentence for embezzling $5,000,000 of union dues. Recently, I heard a young teacher remark that a couple of her colleagues were lazy (the union will protect their own).
As a teacher, I chose to be friendly, not a close friend of students. Some teachers diminish esteem and status by adopting the dress, language or behavior of their charges. Should there be a sense of true equality?
The majority of teachers graduate below the 50th percentile in their class so many depend on organizational protection. Good teachers need not graduate at the top but they need to know the material that they teach. A lady told me that her daughter was paid $66,000 after 16 years in the school system ("low-paying"). Add at least 30 percent for fringe benefits and her total pay is over $75 per hour (this equates to about the same as the highest-paid autoworker). Upon retirement, her pay will surely exceed $100 per hour--hardly a pauper's life, I say. And if teachers were paid based on overall production (pupil education), I have a big question about the ever-available tax dollars. I cringe when I see daily misspellings (TV, newspapers, public announcements), the bruising of the English language (TV, movies, newscasts, etc.) and the total ignorance of so many Americans concerning history and geography.
Charles R. Lewis
Gettysburg
