Well yes and no, teachers unions are a problem but the main issue that these are schools run by the government and have be private.

@@ikematthews6866 I think the two go hand in hand. The unions wouldn't be able to survive without collusion with the government, and the government wouldn't be able to control what goes on in the schools as easily without the unions. Both need to go to solve the problem. Private schools with union teachers are still going to bad (although slightly better than public ones) and non-unionized government schools are still going to be bad (although slightly better than unionized ones). Private schools without unions are where the real progress will be made.

The problem with unions in general.

@@Dartht33bagger American Labor Unions are Karl Marx's last laugh.

@@Zundfolge Trump will disband the DOE and break the teachers unions at the same time in his next term....it must be done to save our nation!

i have found when a teacher or administrator says "it's for the children" really mean "it's for me." like not assigning/checking homework, starting later, etc.

And thats a complete falsehood.

@@thomaswrzalinski7454 how many years have you been a public school teacher? just to learn your credential when you make an empty statement like that.

@@RangerCaptain11A Ah, another weak argument.

@@thomaswrzalinski7454 I didn't argue, dummy. but you avoided revealing you aren't qualified to discuss this, or any adult topic. go away.

Being smart isnt cool. It still isnt today. Today to be cool... you have to be diverse, bi-gender or non gender conformant. Oh and oppressed - you must be oppressed !!

I graduated high school in 1990 also. I think the problem is the culture. Modern American culture favors sports over academics. It has not always been this way. But, if the culture won't change, then the public schools won't change. My solution has been to seek out a private school with high standards.

I was a nerd in early/mid 80s. Bullying of smart people was so acceptable they made movies about it that were popular. Administrators and teachers were hands off, as if it was the survival of the fittest.

@@jabberwolf7348 yuuuup

@@JoeTheDIY so this has been the norm for far too long

Is it wrong to ask for both? Of teachers are doing a shit job, their pay goes to zero, meanwhile teachers that are doing a good job should get bonuses.

@@Tank50us this. The biggest problem is the same with any large organization. People in charge making policy decisions based off arbitrary metrics with little to no science behind them. For instance, my school district growing up had an extremely strict dress code policy, because they based that decision on a study that found schools with uniforms and dress codes generally did better than their peers. This caused them to falsely conclude that dress code = high test scores, when in reality those other schools had plenty of other factors that contributed to their success. They actually relaxed the dress code a ton after I graduated because they weren't seeing the performance increase they wanted. Now, imagine that same decision making process for literally everything. Like stated in the video, one guy could handle a large class because of his stellar ability to teach, which led the administrators to falsely conclude that all teachers can handle large classes, when they should've just recognized and rewarded his performance.

@@Tank50us Why shouldn't we cull, say, the bottom 10% of teachers every year or two? Same with cops and firefighters, while we're at it. Then we get, if not the best, a higher average result.

@@UncleKennysPlace I like the idea, but at the same time there is other problems that are created by it: Those 10% of teachers that you are culling are drowning in debt from student loans. They need to work, or they go under, and end up on welfare. This is different from people who waste their money on a questionable degree. Teaching is an important and required profession and considered a reasonable choice. What do you do for those people who get culled? Cancel their student loans? Retrain them? Reorganize the entire teacher training/student loan apparatus? There is also the issue that many smaller and rural schools have trouble finding teachers at all. Are they expected to cull a portion of their staff every year? They might only have a handful of teachers teaching multiple grades and subjects to begin with. And what about new teachers? their lack of experience would certainly mean they make up the majority of the culling group. The culling idea is a start, but needs further consideration.

@@Devastish - then those 10% will have to improve themselves or find another career. In industry, those who are not competent after being given opportunity are let go. And those who get let go face that same issue. Why should the education system be treated differently from industry?

A big argument for ending the teacher's unions.

I distinctly remember getting in trouble for asking for more homework in 3rd grade

Both my daughter and my son were encouraged to drop down from AP Honors math to relieve their stress. Go figure.

I might have been like that, but I was so shocked and overwhelmed. I went from a brilliant private 'hippie' school to public school. Their suggestion to my problems of overwhelm and distractability? 'Take lots and lots of pills' and 'sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up' and 'how DARE you do something I haven't taught you???????????????????' The last was screamed at the top of her lungs in front of the class. I thought she was going to scratch my face off. Things went downhill from there. Later, I was diagnosed as autistic but I was still too numb, shocked, overwhelmed and trying to duck life bslapping me to pay much attention for years.

No you need to have options. Public and private both with education vouchers. Going 100% private is just krony capitalism and will incentivizes oligopolies (like today's media giant censorships) and is just as bad as a government monopoly such as public schooling. The only problem right now is that only public is free while private costs 5-20k

Take the majority of schools out of the hands of government and the free market will vastly improve our education system.

@@jason200912 Any government involvement will lead to forced agendas and In turn educating our children suffers. If it is private parents have the right to choose how and where their child is educated. This is the only way parents can have a voice. Right now if you can not afford a private education you are forced by the government to place you kids in a particular school. This leads to zero innovation in teaching.

@@cypresscustoms How does the government force parents to send their kids to a specific school?

@@theanimehub2180 Zones, counties, boroughs, the name varies but they limit you to enrol only where you are assigned.

Thats the union mentality. “Dont work too hard because you make those of us who do the bare minimum look bad”

Absolutely, and you won’t have a bunch of people drawn to teaching just for the money and job security. There’s no incentive to unionize, especially when grades are the measure of success. Upward mobility, with better teachers making more but also merit-based bonuses for all, is significant. Teachers should be a high income profession, reflecting a higher priority on education. There’s a number of jobs that I think should probably pay more.

So rich people get better parents

Ohp you said the bad words: "let them". The govt doesn't like that.

The free market is amazing.

The union environment disallows this. There is no incentive to do anything other than the bare minimum

Same experience I had, we had gotten a new exercise book in math class that was really fun, so I went home and did the entire thing. I proudly showed it to my teacher the next morning, and she just replied "you shouldn't have done that". In hindsight I think she was annoyed that she would now have to find something else for me to do in class, but man it had a profound effect on my participation in class after that, I just did enough to get by.

You had a social life in middle school?

Reminds me of a college history course where I realized that I got a better grade regurgitating the lecture than actually reading the assigned books and giving my own original thoughts on them. I skipped all the remaining books and got a B.

@Charles Larkin I'm sorry to say it was pretty typical. The professors think they know everything, so agreeing with them is the most correct answer. I decided early on to get the best grades possible however I could and get out of there.

Yeah the school administrators were mad at him for doing such a good job. Inspirational teacher

Doubt it’s gonna happen. Lots at the top benefit from our current system

As in, scrap the lot and start over. Return school taxes to those forced to pay them, and let parents choose and pay for such schooling as they prefer. That would stimulate competition and teachers like Mr Escalante would flourish.

I don't have kids yet but I will definitely be homeschooling. I'm hyper conscientious and often pull 80 hour weeks already. I can drop to 40 hours and work with my hypothetical kids on their educations. Plus, I'll be moving to a farm soon where I will be able to put them to work beside me and teach them real world applications and train a high work ethic while producing money for my family at the same time. I know everyone can't do this but once I settle in my new community I'll probably stay in contact with other parents and maybe develop some homeschooling groups too.

I'd argue the Public Education System (better labeled as Indoctrination Camps) needs to be completely ABOLISHED in its entirety.

Unions are so entrenched in politics we will never see a major overhaul. Democrats should be at the front of changes like this but they are the ones holding us all back. And, these morons who benefit from great teachers like Escalante stupidly go on to vote democrat.

Well not ALL of the stereotypes since you do seem to be able to write. :)

@@robjohnson8522 amen brother

lol some loser who bought an account with the verified checkmark copied your comment and has the same amount of likes as you now EDIT: now he has more than you 😔

You also had access to some of the best public high schools in the world. Sounds like you didn't attend Bronx Science or Stuyvesant.

@@choose_your_unique_handle do yourself a favor, lay off twitter, it's a fantasy world- nothing good comes from it

Teachers unions, push for affirmative action hiring and Obama's common core certainly did more harm than help the newer generation of students in the US.

There is however a limit to that: I'm certain you would rather have someone looking over your shoulder when you're trying to do even a simple oil change for your car the first time.

There are bad people in every profession. Remember public education is just that, it public! Everyone is given the chance at an education. That is not true in most of the world or in private/charter schools.

Clearly you haven't been to any school since you don't even use capital letters, or know how to spell *important. Instead of lecturing others on teaching themselves perhaps you need to take your own advice and do some learning yourself.

@@theanimehub2180 wanna have this discussion with me in german or in russian? if i try hard enough i might even fit a little french into it.

Bureaucracy is corrupt---at all levels. That's why I advocate for less government for more personal freedom. The Neo marxist in office want More and More government and we are starting to see less free choice.

I went to public school . Last math book was lying with statistics.

Evil hates being exposed

Souls,, soulless

Souless

Brilliant! Lol ... we'll have to can the current system to get there

How do you propose that a teacher's performance be measured? Are teachers suddenly performing better when they have classes with a higher percentage of children that work hard to do their best and parents and/or others who are part of their lives supporting them to help them succeed? Are they performing worse when they have a lower percentage of these children?

@@scottv8410 or we could do it on the basis of improvement of scores among the students. Possibly a comprehensive measure that factors improvement and passing rates along with gpa's. It doesn't have to be the false dichotomy you suggest.

@@joelellis7035 in grammar school the classroom teachers have a different group of students each year. I dont see how you could measure a teacher's performance based on the students' performance since there are different students every year. Maybe you could try to try to evaluate whether students are meeting their potential but that would be difficult and probably very imprecise.

Excellent point. A merit based pay scale. The ones that complain, rather than finding ways to be a better teacher for better pay, just complain. Imagine a company that pays all the workers the same. The company would die off because because that would remove any incentives for ideas and innovations.

True statement that applies not just to education. Tesla, Honda, and Toyota build the highest quality vehicles, all built in the U.S., all nonunion. I would also point out that monopolies also stifle innovation; no incentive to improve if nearly everyone is already your customer. If AT&T had not been broken up, we probably would still be decades away from having smart phones.

And their lazy ass colleagues who don't teach shit get him fired

Are You a nepali by any chance??

@@saradadhakal4748 I get asked that a lot 😁 no I'm not, but there is a story behind the khukris

@@khukri_wielderxxx1962 oh okay, i am nepali and was surprised that there was a libertarian in Nepal, would you mind telling me the story of you and the khukri?

CRT isn't being taught in primary school. Stop listening to propaganda.

@@saradadhakal4748 I was once a libertarian in Nepal. It did not end well for me.

if the teachers all started teaching really good and raising testing scores, there would be nothing the admin could do about it. they cant fire all the teachers. the teachers union in the USA is evil.

Privatization

@@davidanalyst671 it's the criteria they make them teach and the amount of students. My dad taught for 28years and made all the computers for his classroom because the school wouldn't help provide them, he raised the money for school trips because the school administration didn't see it as important, and they gave my dad new students that were kicked out of the other school because they stole from the past teachers, this was 90 days before the end of that school year. They worked towards removing my dad's retirement because they didn't like him, the union was useless an my dad had to hire a lawyer to make sure he didn't lose his retirement. Want to fix the school system, get rid of the unions and fire 70% of the school administration.

@@davidanalyst671 an to go further on the teachers union, they told my dad who to vote for, they made him believe he wouldn't lose his job as long as they were around and then they were toothless at the end because he wanted to retire an wouldn't be paying them anymore. He didn't realize he needed a lawyer until I sat in and listened when I was 18 an they said this "well I have news, it's not bad news, but you will need to go through another ethics review for another year and submit to the administration a report on what you taught each day. You did it last year already, but the results couldn't be concluded as you doing your job properly". Told my dad they sounded like liars. When my dad hired a lawyer and went through the documents, the principal behind the entire harassment announced retirement a month later after my dad got his retirement confirmed with no more harassment. The teachers unions are 90% political and 10% useless.

true. it's the system, not the individual teachers. there are some bad teachers, then others become bad as they rack up the years when they realize they are just a cog in a machine that doesn't care. the other part often overlooked is bad parents sending broken kids to school. my wife says, if about 15 kids were to get kicked out 99% of the problems with all students would end, because it's the shitty kids that bring down the whole classroom. i think most teachers want to do so much more than they are allowed to because of administration. it all starts at the top

What were the main differences and which was best?

Maybe against those in the public sector, not private.

@@MrAlepedroza what makes you think that private sector unions are any better? It's the same cancer on both sides.

Homeschool. You are not the father

Informed choice

How would private schools prevent indoctrination?

i mean those athletes earn that money... they can draw millions of people to watch them in some cases. but the public school system is definitely fucked up

@@runswithraptors i can agree that taxpayer funds shouldn't be used for stadiums and what not

Yeah, put a camera in schools in Kentucky, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and South Carolina while the teacher is trying to teach Calculus I, you think those sheep screwers are going to understand what the hell going on?

My local districts budget is 3 million. 2 million goes to administration and the rest is the actual school budget and the quality of education is terrible. We pulled our kids but they still get our money to squander for now.

I can't think of a single use for unions. Unions have done nothing.

@@jimlovesgina Perhaps I am quite a bit older, but I know unions have done a lot. I have been active with my union, but we always were also advocates for the population served. When unions are only about the union members, they have lost their way. IMO

They teach to the lowest common denominator. Equity indeed...

That is the system, not the Teacher.

@@walterwhittington576 Not all comply, of course, but those that do are just as complicit as the system. Typically they call themselves 'educators' rather than teachers. They are the front line of the subversion.

Is this the same "New Math" that Tom Lehrer has his song about to explain subtraction via the concept of borrowing? What the heck was the previous method? The reason they want you to go through all those steps, is so that you understand that just because they are unnecessary to you, they may not be something your audience automatically understands. For instance, if you become a teacher later in life, and you skip steps while trying to explain how to solve a problem to your students, your students are going to ask you questions like "how did the square root sign disappear?", or "how did you get from e^(ln(a)*x) to a^x?". If the only answers you can give are "because I said so", due to the fact that you don't know the answer yourself, and it is just a method you've always used without understanding it, your students won't be satisfied with the answer. But if you do know what steps you took, you can fill in the gaps you'd otherwise leave in your students' minds. Another reason the steps are necessary, even if the solution ordinarily seems obvious to you, is that you could make a critical error if you take a step that isn't always valid to take. For instance, look for "proof that 1=2". It may seem legit, until you realized that they divide by (a-b) when a=b, which means they divided by zero without realizing it.

I am so completely horrible at math that even your response is confusing to me..ha. All I know is that I worked out the problems the long way and got the correct answers but the answers were actually wrong because I wasn't doing it the 'correct' way. Very confusing. It was a good thing that I was knowledgeable in history class.

@@MidwesternCornbilly Is there a part of my response that I could rephrase to help you with the confusion? Maybe I could come up with other examples you could relate to, if I were familiar with what you currently understand.

Ludification is an interesting approach that may work really well. Hopefully, we'll eventually get it implemented by young innovators that phase the dinosaurs dragging the system down and leeching it. Hopefully, the anti-game crowd that demonizes "dopamine rushes" (bad science, by the way) will be small enough not to get in the way.

But the work place is nothing like video games, are we not then setting children up for failure if all they do is play video games for education but then have to engage in real work? How exactly are they going to be prepared? Not to mention video game addiction is a thing.

I knew all the Power Ranger details and all the Elfquest chieftains but my GODS my head hurt when people started teaching me math. All it was was one floundering loss after another. It was NEVER interesting and even asking it to be would get you a look of disgust because you were an ungrateful unmentionable.