Regardless of the outcome, I have to think that the view teachers want people to have of them - as some kind of noble caste of society (maybe some of them actually believe this of themselves too) - has really taken a beating. They've shown themselves as just lining up at the public trough like everybody else, yelling "me wanty" and "I want my stuff" (which, in fact, means "I want your stuff to be taken away from you and given to me because I'm teaching your rotten kids nine months out of the year and I think I deserve it and I have a union telling me I deserve it"). Noble it ain't.

Yes Michael,
Teachers are parasites. Shame on them for agreeing to wage and benefit cuts and the ability to collectively bargain for a fair representation during contractual talks. Such unimportant jobs should go to to the lowest bidder. The GOP has been consistent in their feeling for parasites such as these.
In fact, take a look, pure consistency.
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Teachers work for a living. They get paid $10,000/year less than private sector college graduates - hardly feeding at the trough. I suspect fewer and fewer college students will train to become teachers. Who in their right mind would want to work for less and be called a parasite by their bosses? They can find better options. NO doubt "parasite" attitudes have cost us the next generation of teachers?

Citizens send their precious children to public schools and treat their teacher like garbage. What does that tell you about how much they care about their own children? Education on the cheap by someone they despise is good enough for them?

Tax payers are the worst bosses, completely irrational and miserly. They're the ones who always want something for nothing, not public sector employees. You get what you pay for. Unfortunately our children will also get what you pay for.

Teachers make less than private sector employees, but they receive benefits that more than offset what they lose in base salary. Add that to the fact that they do not work the hours or months that the private sector works and it looks to me that they have a sweet deal.

Teachers also receive compensation in that they are insulated from the market. They do not have to turn out a product or show much competence to retain their jobs. Regardless, teachers know what they are getting into when they take the job.

Taxpayers send their kids to public schools because their choices are so limited. They pay high property taxes to keep the parasites going. Maybe if they could keep that money they could afford to send their kids to private schools.

In the end, why should a teacher have the right to come to me and say "I have an an unmitigated right to a portion of your paycheck. I will not provide a service to you, be held accountable to you, or promise that any student I turn out will be fit to live in a free society. No kindly pass the money over." That is not how you create a functioning economy.

"They get paid $10,000/year less than private sector college graduates"

And they work 9 months out of the year instead of 12
And they get a generous, guaranteed pension towards which they pay nothing.
And they get cadillac health plans for which they pay next to nothing.
And they get to retire at 55 years old and move out of the state because for some reason, taxes there are just too darn high.

Your description of "picketing" by teachers reminds me of John Steinbeck's story of the 1930's where men were collecting axe handles and pieces of 2 x 4 because they were going "picketing". As for how peaceful today's protesters are, just how did they cause $7.5 million in damages? How long have visitors to the capital been allowed to bring large signs. noise makers and bullhorns into the building? How long have they been allowed to interrupt proceedings, remain in the building overnight and physically threaten lawmakers entering and leaving the building?

When the Left wins an election they can do as they please because "they won". When the Left loses an election they can still do as they please because the normal rules of civility, the law and democratic forms don't apply to them. It would be difficult to display more contempt for the voters and orderly democratic rule than that now being shown by the party that calls itself "Democratic".

@Margaret: "They get paid $10,000/year less than private sector college graduates"

They get paid less than *which* private sector employees that are college graduates? Do they get paid less than engineers and physicists and chemists? Probably. Do they get paid less than English majors and History majors and Comprative Gender Studies majors? Doubtful.

The reason is that the market (with what little effect it has in collective bargaining states) doesn't value the qualifications of a teacher as highly as it does someone who might invent the next computer chip or led bulb or a blood pressure medicine. This doesn't mean it doesn't value the position of teaching, it just doesn't seem to think much of the qualifications required for it.

If the market were fully in operation for the labor and service of teachers, there would probably be more pay in it - but there would also be a lot more teachers who would, instead, be re-arranging end-cap displays at the local supermarket. Those teaching would probably be less oriented on teaching credentials, and more oriented on subject credentials. Also, the benefits would be more in line with other markets, rather than the gold-plated set the Wisconsin teachers evidently have.

Having said all that, the problems in our schools can not be laid solely at the feet of the teachers or their unions. A great deal is because our society has taught parents to abandon their small charges at the door to the local educational institution and let the school raise them - all while not allowing the teachers to do those things required to raise them (like discipline). Another large chunk can be laid at the feet of the administrative burden - lots of bureaucracy that translates into little or no benefit to the students.

Margaret L: You perfectly demonstrate, by your post, the dismissive and arrogant attitude that these "teachers" have exhibited since these demonstrations began. I have no respect for public school teacher unions. I have sat in meetings with their representatives and heard their derogatory comments about the parents of the children whom they are, theoretically, serving. Maybe, it's your attitude - and other public school teachers - toward the children and parents they serve that is the issue.

Public schools = leftist indoctrination centers.

Oops. Meant to provide at least some support for my comment.

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