Mark Sketchley: Dems want power, unions money, neither represent us 299

And all of those other jobs that you listed require higher aptitude and advanced degrees before you reach the type of salaries and benefits you are talking about. None of them gets 2 &1/2 months off in the summer, and they all work beyond 40 hours a week as At-Will employees. Additionally, where are those positions available in the MWV area? Frankly, your argument is specious at best.

When it comes to a full retirement pension after 30 years, are you bragging or complaining? Because most professionals aren't given a guaranteed retirement or healthcare. Most have to participate in a private, pre-tax 401 plan, without a healthcare plan.

As for "expectations and demands", the numbers speak for themselves. Whether it's academic performance or staff-to-student ratios, you can't ignore the obvious or push it off on the parents. The academic community has historically ignored or avoided attempts at a formal performance review process, as if they were the plague. Nothing is harder than getting rid of a poor-performing teacher.

Thank you for commenting. I do not however agree. First point: private sector compensation is based on the market. They can do whatever they want, its their money. It does not involve tax payer dollars. If the market didn't demand or couldn't sustain such high levels of compensation, companies wouldn't offer it. Second point. You apparently have not read the contract. There is a 20 year early retirement option. It may not be as much as the 30 year option but it does exist nonetheless. Also, no private company offers a defined benefit pension plan anymore. The market cannot sustain them. They are too expensive. Only government employees get them. Third point. There is a union contract that controls working hours. You may say they work more than 40 hours but they don't have too, unlike exempt employees in the private sector. A union contract changes the whole dynamic. Try disciplining a teacher for not taking work home. You failed to read the contract again. A high school teacher gets 6 hours per week to prepare lessons, plus another 3 hours for who knows what? You fail to allow for the repetitive nature of teaching. After a lesson is prepared it is virtually on auto pilot. Do you think an algebra lesson will be so different the next time it is taught to require 6 hours to update? Then there is the giant bureaucracy supposedly there to make every teacher successful. What do they do? I worked as an instructor in the nuclear industry. You can't snow me. If a teacher needs to take something home after he has been given 8 hours out of the week already then that is his problem. He is clearly not using his time well. Another example of your failure to read the contract. Finally I agree that home life is important but the education establishment refuses to take any responsibility, as evidenced by your response. The absolute failure of public education, as revealed by the 2024 National Assesment of Educational Progress cannot be restricted to home life only. Will they ever be accountable for any part of this failure?