Passion = Truth? How Jeffrey James Francis Ircink Sees The World? I love when people are passionate about something. That surging of emotion is the one honest measure of what truth is. It's a truthful display of how a person really feels about something or someone at that particular moment. That passion IS truth.



About me...

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Greendale, Wisconsin, United States
Ex-producer of THE REALLY FUNNY HORNY GOAT INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, playwright, actor, singer, outdoorsman, blogger, amateur photog, observer & bitcher, Beach Boys groupie, Brett Favre fanatic, lover of everything Celtic and forever a member in the Tribe of HAIR. Spent most of my life in the Village of Waterford, a small town just outside of the Milwaukee suburbs. After 12 years in North Hollywood, Bel Air and Culver City, Cali, I moved back to Wisconsin in September 2009. No regrets - of moving to LA OR moving back to WI. Have traveled to Belfast, Ireland, Dayton (OH), Manhattan, Seattle, Cedar Rapids, New York, Miami and Sydney, Australia with my plays. Moved back into the Village of Greendale where I was born. Life is good.

Celtic!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Ex-ass. Sec. of Edu. says teachers' union not the problem & merit pay is bad.

There was a time when Former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch thought No Child Left Behind, school vouchers and charter schools were good for the American education system.

Not any more. Ravitch states during an interview on NPR's Fresh Air:

I came to the conclusion ... that No Child Left Behind has turned into a timetable for the destruction of American public education...I had never imagined that the test would someday be turned into a blunt instrument to close schools — or to say whether teachers are good teachers or not — because I always knew children's test scores are far more complicated than the way they're being received today.
I don't know enough about No Child Left Behind to comment on whether it's good or bad. But two points Ravitch made I clearly find puzzling.

1) Teachers' unions are "not the problem". Tell that to the New York State teachers' union. Millions wasted on "rubber room" teachers getting full pay and benefits for sitting in a room doing nothing. I'm not saying teachers' unions don't have their place - just that they're not perfect. Oh - and tell that to one of Wisconsin's "best new teachers"...who was laid off because of union collective bargaining rules.

2) "Merit pay is bad". Why? Because it's gives teachers' added incentives to "teach"? I'm not advocating that a teacher's entire salary be based on merit; however, even President Obama was an advocate for merit-based pay back in 2007 and in 2009, when he gave a speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce:
Good teachers will be rewarded with more money for improved student achievement, and asked to accept more responsibili-ties for lifting up their schools.
I'm unaware if Obama's stance has changed. Regardless, you can find just as many articles and studies that laud merit-based pay as those that decry it, so don't quote me facts either way. Use common sense. How many times have you heard sports' fans bitch about overpaid athletes and how athletes should get paid based on their performance? Why can't teachers have a similar pay incentive?

It might just help weed out those who are consciously trying to make a difference in a child's education from those who are just biding their time until they retire. And which teacher do you want instructing your child?

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