Babies: 9 - 12 Months

NBR: Your opinion about teachers

Let me start by saying that DH and I are both teachers, but don?t let that affect your answer to these questions. 

We are having issues in our area (Western PA) with striking school districts, and I?m curious about public opinion in general outside of our area.  Where we are from, it seems like people generally acknowledge that teachers are important, but whenever there is a strike the public is the opposite of supportive.  (Believe it or not, at a strike near us last month, striking teachers were standing outside and parents were driving by with their kids in the car and giving teachers the finger and yelling things at them.)

As a teacher and a parent of a future public school student, I actually can see both sides of the argument (although I am totally against the way that the parents I mentioned previously behaved), but I do think that there are a lot of misconceptions about the public education system that lead to a lot of negativity towards teachers when they do go on strike. 

Anyway, I am just curious about what people think.  I?m a little nervous to find out though!

1)Where do you live? 
2)Do you have a negative, positive, or neutral opinion about teachers in general?
3)Do you believe that teachers should be able to go on strike?  Why or why not?

Re: NBR: Your opinion about teachers

  • 1. NC

    2. Positive- my DH is a public school teacher and I think he has an incredibly important job

    3. No, I don't think teachers should be able to strike.  I don't think it's fair to let children's education suffer while the adults try to work out pay/benefits or whatever the issue is.  It also impacts all the parents who would then have to stay home.  That's a huge impact on productivity.  However, I live in a state where teachers are not unionized and there are no strikes. 

  • I am totally biased because DH is a teacher and I am a teacher-turned-SAHM.  I live in MI where over 100 school districts are currently working without a contract, DH's included.  I obviously have a very positive opinion of most teachers and I do believe teachers should be able to strike if they are being treated unfairly.
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  • 1)Where do you live?    NC


    2)Do you have a negative, positive, or neutral opinion about teachers in general? Neutral, I guess (there are some great ones and there are some crappy ones.)  I come from a long line of teachers and my DH is a teacher.


    3)Do you believe that teachers should be able to go on strike?  Why or why not? Of course - any union member reserves the right to strike...for good cause.

  • 1-MN

    2-I have a degree in El Ed, but never taught because I knew it wasnt for me.  I think the vast majority are amazing, wonderful people

    3-Yes!  As a nurse I was union when I worked at a hospital, and now I am not because I am at a clinic.  The pay, beneifts, and so many other things are so much better as a union nurse.  I wish I was still in the union and able to strike (or threaten it) in order to get fair pay/benefits

  • 1) I also live in NC

    2) I was a teacher and my mom is one so I have a positive view on teachers.

    3) Teachers are not unionized in NC (I have always been told we are not allowed to, DH insists that is impossible but who knows).  Obviously since we have no union there are never any strikes.  I think with teaching there is a delicate balance because the people who suffer are those that have nothing to do with the process of pay or benefits (the students). Having been an underpaid teacher, I can see the other side as well. 

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  • 1. FL, where teacher issues are plentiful

    2. I have a generally positive opinion about teachers.  I have a lot of friends who are teachers and my job for 7 1/2 years involved working within several different elementary schools.  I worked with some teachers who weren't that great, but the majority were wonderful, caring people who were doing a job they loved without a lot of the resources they needed provided for them.

    3. If they are members of a union, then why not?

  • 1)Where do you live?  Minnesota

    2)Do you have a negative, positive, or neutral opinion about teachers in general?  Very positive lots of teachers in the family

    3)Do you believe that teachers should be able to go on strike? Why or why not

    Teachers can do whatever they want, but in this economic time of hardship I do NOT think they should be greedy and go after extra money. Teachers actually get paid pretty well seeing that they get 2-3 months off in the summer.   

  • MA

    Completely biased as I am a teacher, but I have a positive view of most teachers.  I have worked with a few lazy ones and these are the ones who seem to give all teachers a bad name.

     

    I think teachers should have the right to strike, but only as a last result.

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  • 1)Where do you live?   Upstate NY


    2)Do you have a negative, positive, or neutral opinion about teachers in general?Positive, I am one!

    3)Do you believe that teachers should be able to go on strike?  Why or why not? I believe that teachers should be able to go on strike but ONLY AS A LAST RESORT. When you work for a whole year without a contract, it is time. I can see why the parents don't like it because it can mean they have to take time off of work.When it is over piddly things like getting a .5% COL raise, that is just dumb.

     

    And to the PP who thinks teachers are being "greedy" by striking because they get 2-3 months off in the summer, you are seriously misinformed. We also don't get paid in the summer (unless we sign up for year round pay which only means they withhold part of the paycheck from us), and in many states they are NOT paid well. I know when I started teaching in FL, my salary was $28,000 a year. I could make that working full time at Walmart without having to get an expensive (and I went to a cheaper state school) education. I teach in NY now where the salary is much better but I also have to get a masters degree which is costing a fortune. There go my "summers off" since that is the only time I can do my masters program. 

  • 1. I live in Missouri now but am from Arizona and taught there so I will base most of my answers on what I know from AZ

    2. I have a positive opinion of most teachers, being a teacher myself, but I realize there are some awful, lazy and crappy teachers out there too. I would say that the great majority of teachers are good and are trying to do the best they can with what they have.

    3. No I don't think teachers should be allowed to go on strike. I think it does a disservice to the students and as a teacher, teaching is my primary responsibility and the well being of my students is more important to me than hashing out pay/benefits. I take a job based on the pay/benefits, if I didn't like those I wouldn't take the job. If I didn't like the way I was treated as a teacher I wouldn't teach. I wouldn't go on strike either. However, AZ is a non union state as well so this probably influences my opinion somewhat. Some districts do have unions and have gone on strike and honestly, it didn't do the teachers or students any good and it made the public opinion of those schools/districts worse. 

  • imageeowynmn:

    Teachers actually get paid pretty well seeing that they get 2-3 months off in the summer.   

    I was a teacher for 3 years before having DD this year. I HATE when people are so misinformed that they resort to this argument! I got paid year round, and got about 30k a year. I got paid same as anyone else who gets that much salary. SOme teachers do NOT get paid in the summer, but end up with the same pay, just paid out differently. Also summer is never 3 months off. Teachers work throughout the summer doing continuing education which is required by most states and districts, paid for out of their own pockets. Many teachers also teach summer school and take the time to plan for next year to improve their teaching. I never had a summer "off" I was always going to classes, working on next year's plans or in conferences. At most I had two weeks off in the summer. And I worked in a "year round" district so school got out in May and started mid-July. Learn more about teachers before making broad sweeping generalizations.

  • 1. Outside of Boston

    2. Positive - I think they make a great contribution to society and do a job I could never do.

    3. I have never been part of a union so I can't speak from that angle, but if you aren't being paid what you think you are worth than quit. I think refusing to work is ridiculous. I can't imagine being a boss, having my employees not work and they having them come back after week or so and act like they never left. Either work under the current terms or don't. If the terms are bad than enough people won't work so the district will have no choice but to make them better.

  • 1)Where do you live?  New Orleans
    2)Do you have a negative, positive, or neutral opinion about teachers in general? Positive.  I think teachers have an incredibly hard job.  Some of my teachers were the best influences I had in my life.
    3)Do you believe that teachers should be able to go on strike?  Why or why not?  Just like in any profession if they feel like they aren't treated fairly they should voice their opinions, so yes.

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  • 1.  Virginia

    2.  I was a teacher, so I have a positive opinion about teachers in general.  I had a positive opinion about them before I became a teacher too.  Yes, I have had crappy teachers, but every profession has lazy, misinformed people.

    3.  I live in a non-unionized state, so we can't go on strike.  I think that strikes are necessary if there are sound reasons for them.  In some unionized states, the reasons for strikes are fairly fluffy, and in my opinion, are not worth it.  My father was in a union (he is an electrician) when I was growing up, and there were times that I really didn't agree with their reasons for going on strike in the first place.

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