US Politics Mega-thread - Page 441

On September 16 2013 10:40 DoubleReed wrote:
That's a bad graph. I would attribute most of that to simply rising population.

On September 16 2013 10:45 Sermokala wrote:

I'm color blind so I don't know what that graph means but I am going to assume that it proves my point.

On September 16 2013 10:48 Dapper_Cad wrote:

I'm allergic to peanuts so I don't know what you just said but I am going to assume you conceded the point.

On September 16 2013 10:44 Dapper_Cad wrote:


Really? REALLY? I MEAN. REALLY? really... really? Really? Seriously? Really?

Did you start dosing the water with rohypnol and Viagra in 1980?

On September 16 2013 10:49 DoubleReed wrote:


Hahahaha

Population Growth is exponential. Though I think you're right that it isn't that dramatic (certainly not specifically at 1980), as America has a relatively low growth rate. I'm just saying I would prefer percentage of population rather than absolute numbers...

But no. Not really

On September 16 2013 10:04 Roe wrote:


Prove it?

On September 16 2013 10:51 Sermokala wrote:

+ Show Spoiler +

I actualy love peanuts in their various forms. I'm sorry for your loss but I'm going to assume your loss in the point as well.

On September 16 2013 09:42 Leporello wrote:


Oh I agree. We need the military industry too. These are necessities, but not all the time. Using the phone-prison example, there is no need for these families to be paying over $1 a minute to make a phone-call. There is no choice for them, as "consumers", in how to talk to their imprisoned family member, they have to pay this private company whatever they charge. It's a government-run private-monopoly. Our military is full of these as well. No-bid contracts, or contracts that when fulfilled, incentivize waste and price-gouging.

It's just that with schools, on the other hand, they get a lot of attention and a lot of oversight. Despite all the hand-wringing conservatives make over waste in public education, it doesn't really exist in comparison. Most schools operate on reasonable budgets. And any incentive we can create from private industry towards education is a good thing, everyone would agree.

Meanwhile, we're creating incentive for prisons and war-machines, but not giving that same level of oversight, sometimes much less.

On September 16 2013 10:44 Sermokala wrote:

The strike that chicago teachers went on turning down a 10% raise because having some way to hold them accountable for whats going inside of a classroom is unacceptable.

Every public school principal is painfully familiar with being forced to send children to a classroom where she knows the teacher there is not the best fit, but the teacher's placement has been forced on the school by higher-ups at the central district. In an effort to improve classroom instruction, bad teachers are often shuffled from one school to another, an administrative tactic known among principals as "The Dance of the Lemons."

Every public school principal is painfully familiar with being forced to send children to a classroom where she knows the teacher there is not the best fit, but the teacher's placement has been forced on the school by higher-ups at the central district. In an effort to improve classroom instruction, bad teachers are often shuffled from one school to another, an administrative tactic known among principals as "The Dance of the Lemons."

On September 16 2013 11:23 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
Teacher's unions have generally been opposed to merit pay and the sacking of poorly performing teachers.

Administrators want to impose merit pay as an incentive to keep good teachers around.

Currently bad teachers are shuffled around from one school to the next because it's too hard to fire them. It's called "the dance of the lemons."


link

On September 16 2013 11:23 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
Teacher's unions have generally been opposed to merit pay and the sacking of poorly performing teachers.

Administrators want to impose merit pay as an incentive to keep good teachers around.

Currently bad teachers are shuffled around from one school to the next because it's too hard to fire them. It's called "the dance of the lemons."


link

On September 16 2013 11:01 Jormundr wrote:

Sounds like one of your fairy tales. Details? Proof?

Every public school principal is painfully familiar with being forced to send children to a classroom where she knows the teacher there is not the best fit, but the teacher's placement has been forced on the school by higher-ups at the central district. In an effort to improve classroom instruction, bad teachers are often shuffled from one school to another, an administrative tactic known among principals as "The Dance of the Lemons."

On September 16 2013 11:28 DoubleReed wrote:


Merit pay isn't really a good policy. Teachers didn't go into teaching for the moneys. The went into it for the teaching. Sorry, but it's one of these easy-but-dumb solutions.

From what I've seen about Merit Pay, the main effect it has is causing good teachers to move to other districts where they don't have to put up with that crap.