As some of you know, I'm a teacher here in South Florida. The FloriDUH Senate, in its infinite wisdom, passed this bill that would completely place responsibility for a student's learning gains on the FCAT (our standardized tests) on the teachers. This test is one day out of 186 school days; the most stressful test for the kids. It removes parental responsibility of whether they feed their kids, send them to school, check their homework, keep them healthy, etc. You get the idea. Many school systems are at the point where nothing is taught BUT THE TEST. It would make 50% of our salaries based on that one day. Years of dedicated service, advanced teaching degrees, etc would not count towards anything, and end of year tests (produced by companies owned by Jeb Bush and the Senator who introduced the bill) would be added in every subject
I could go on but I won't. If you google Florida SB6 (Senate Bill 6) or SB6/HB7189, you will find out what is going on here. Here is the letter in tady's paper(the 2nd largest in Florida).

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Current Gear: Ron Kirn Barnbuster Tele,
Marshall: 1971 SuperLead 100>1997 1960-TV, bunch of pedals
and a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera coupe named Veronica

My brother,
I so feel for you! I will refrain from my comments because I don't want to besmirch this fine forum. The one comment I will say is that when people finally get tired of being dictated to and start to be accountable for their actions and their kids actions, then this will all end. My heart is with you because aside form cops and firefighters you have the toughest job in the world!
ABS

Thanks ABS...all teachers appreciate parents who take the time to care about their child's education. We have some conferences where all the parents want to do is complain about us because their son or daughter is an "angel"

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Current Gear: Ron Kirn Barnbuster Tele,
Marshall: 1971 SuperLead 100>1997 1960-TV, bunch of pedals
and a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera coupe named Veronica

Serge,
You are most welcome! I really admire anyone who takes up such a noble profession as teaching. I get ticked when I see these kids and how disrespectful they are and how the parents don't do their job to ensure that their kids are doing their school work. It is this selfish me generation that thinks that everyone owes them something. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers about this my friend. I think that maybe if they paid teachers the millions I see paid to athletes and then paid the athletes what teachers make maybe, just maybe people would take education seriously!
Eric

It seems that it's a universal problem,teachers are left to bring up other peoples kids and end up as usual getting the feces contaminated end of the stick.As ABS said people fail to take responsibility for their own and their children's actions.It seems that legislators take leave of their senses and rely on cockamamie ideas dreamed up by "experts"who feel that they must come up with "revolutionary" schemes to justify their paychecks. My heart goes out to you also as the work of teachers becomes more difficult yet less appreciated every school year.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

The education system has been going down the crapper since the 70's To much government intervention, political correctness, teach history the way it sounds best not the way it was. 9,600 per student average and what do we have. The least educated kids we have ever passed thru the grades. Half the schools in some districts are like juvenile prisons and day care centers. Some one has to do something. Heck here in Maryland they are trying to pass a law that kids can' t quit school until they are 18 sounds good right. Well many in the city don't want to be there at 16 and cause problems and teachers fear them, making them stay until 18 so that the Mom don't get in trouble is ridiculous imagine how disruptive that will be to class.
Until they start teaching the way it was in 40 and 50
years ago but with modern equipment we will never have another Greatest generation.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Myself, wife, and daughter reside in Palm Beach County. We don't believe it is our daughter's teachers job to raise her. We work with her teachers to better her education. Our job as parents is to do the things she should learn at home. Learning right from wrong, manners, etc. Teachers, law enforcement, and firemen do the difficult jobs for all.

In that first sentence of the letter that should be a comma, not a period. The proofreader of the newspaper should only get 50% pay for that day ^^

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I traded my car in for a microphone.

you wrote a really good letter. the idea of basing a teachers pay and seniority on standardized test scores is crazy. a teacher is with their students five hours a week. what is the student doing for the other 163 hours? a good teacher can have a huge impact within their classroom and can inspire and motivate students. however, again what are the students doing the other 163 hours a week?

merit pay for teachers is the equivalent to basing a doctors fee on patient results...when the doctor has properly diagnosed the problem, told the patient, and suggested appropriate treatment. then the patient does not listen to the doctor and the patient dies. should the doctors fee be reduced?

teachers should be judged by what they do in their classrooms. the only question considered should be: is the teacher providing appropriate instruction based on the state standards and proper teaching methods?

the school system has been ruined by a lowering of discipline standards and social promotion. increase discipline and abolish social promotion and achievement scores will go up.

the strange thing about this thread is that i actually agree with the gist of cvilleira post.

I'm with you all, too. They want you to teach the test all year, and forget learning and true education. BTW, infantryman is a pretty tough job, too.

mclmk8d, great 'letter to the editor', kudos' to you for being an educator as it is one of the toughest jobs, Florida's government is making a huge mistake but I don't think that they ever will admit to it. Thank you for being a teacher Bro.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Capo, thanks for the correction; that's why I teach History and not Language Arts!

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Current Gear: Ron Kirn Barnbuster Tele,
Marshall: 1971 SuperLead 100>1997 1960-TV, bunch of pedals
and a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera coupe named Veronica

I agree wholeheartedly, my wife and I work hard to instill manners and good behavior in our kids. They aren't perfect and neither are we but we certainly appreciate teachers that communicate with us, just as we hope they appreciate our support.

You have a job that I wouldn't even consider.

Okay, devil's advocate checking in here ...

1) I disagree that teacher raises should be based on their "tenure". Nowhere but the gov't do you see raises based solely on how long you have been in the job.
Everywhere out in industry, people are compensated based on job performance. And what better way to monitor teacher performance than the students' output?

2) It seems that it would motivate teachers who are only just "floating along", and also reward the teachers that are repeatedly producing high performers.

I mean, c'mon ... this isn't China.

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

Ah mate I'm with you on this. So much of a kids education has so little to do with school. No'1 daughter is quite the little scholar, her teachers are frustrated with her because she's acing classes, seemingly without trying.

What they don't know is that her mother and myself spend plenty of time explaining what the school have been trying to teach her. I also impose a strict set of targets for her to attain. So when she gets back to class she's doing all their work with the greatest of ease.


I believe that teachers should be given raises based on performance. No one should be rewarded by rote, it's not a reward then is it? I don't agree with pay being based on a group of kids performance on one day in a year. I think it would be better to assess how the kids have progressed individually through a year. Then base any reward for teacher on that.

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No no and no