Education
This latest response by the Warwick teachers’ union reminded me of when our children were quite young and did what kids that age do when they don’t get their way – throw a tantrum: The Warwick Teachers Union, responding to what it called a School Committee “ultimatum” over the issue of retroactive pay, says it…
One offshoot of returning to school is that it has brought me into contact with several teachers from Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Nearly all of them agree that it is in middle school that a child’s educational future, and by extension post-educational future, is largely determined. If parents and teachers don’t reach them then, very…
Milton Friedman has written a new editorial entitled “Free to Choose: After 50 years, education vouchers are beginning to catch on” Little did I know when I published an article in 1955 on “The Role of Government in Education” that it would lead to my becoming an activist for a major reform in the organization…
Tom Coyne of RI Policy Analysis offers this ProJo editorial on whether teachers are fairly compensated: A growing number of Rhode Island communities are experiencing acrimonious contract negotiations with their teachers’ unions. At the heart of these discussions lies the question of whether teachers are adequately compensated for their work and the results they produce.…
I just received several telephone calls from some East Greenwich residents who were at one of the local schools, Hanaford Elementary School, today and saw that a number of teachers had placards on their cars that read: “Bargaining Rights are Civil Rights” Stop for a minute and ask yourself: What does that comment mean? The…
Here are two provocative pieces on public education issues, including teachers’ compensation and public school performance: First, Tom Coyne of RI Policy Analysis on RI Teachers Unions. Second, a multi-part debate in the Narragannsett Times between Robert Walsh, Executive Director of the NEA-RI, and Tom Wigand, an attorney.
To keep pounding the Education drum, a reader (“CL”) commmented on one of my posts from November of last year on how East Greenwich students rallied at a school committee meeting to agitate for a contract and were cheered on by teachers and parents. Within the context of the piece, I mentioned the now-familiar “work-to-rule”…
Nothing is sweeter in a debate than when your opponent makes outlandish statements and hands you an overwhelming rhetorical victory. This just happened in the East Greenwich teachers’ union contract dispute when NEA union officials made public comments that showed how they live in a delusional world, completely disconnected from any form of reality. Recent…
One of our local newspapers, The North East Independent, weighed in this week with these editorial comments on the East Greenwich teachers’ union contract dispute: East Greenwich teachers union officials apparently won’t budge on a request for a tiered system for health care co-pays, reasoning that teachers on low steps will not be able to…
We live in a global economy. Our children are going to be competing with the best students not from Central Falls or even Barrington when they grow up. Rather, they will be competing with students from countries like China, Taiwan, Singapore, India, etc. Not to mention students from the best prep schools in America as…