Comments on: Obama Merit Pay Plan a Good Start

By: 2009 Natie Awards Announced for Opinion Blogging « That’s Right Nate

2009 Natie Awards Announced for Opinion Blogging « That’s Right Nate — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 03:36:58 +0000

[...] Obama Merit Pay Plan a Good Start (www.thatsrightnate.com/Nate Peele – Author) [...]

By: jessica

jessica — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:02:57 +0000

dumb.

By: thatsrightnate

thatsrightnate — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:11:21 +0000

Too many words. Can you summarize this for us?

By: b.c. skillen

b.c. skillen — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:01:58 +0000

why do you applaud obama for not looking to canada? i gather that you are happy that obama did not look to canada because it “remains a hotbed of liberalism and socialized medicine.” i am suprised that you would say that, but not being too worldly, you probably don’t know that finland also is a very left-leaning nation with a very strong history of socialized medicine. i am not sure of what conclusion you are drawing here – that following canada’s enduational system would lead to a hotbed of liberalism and socialized medicine or that following canada’s educational system would be wrong to begin with because its already established status as a hotbed of liberalism and socialized medicine? i have dual citizenship in both canada and the united states but i thank god almost on a daily basis for having an almost complete education in canada. i went to school in america when my family moved back to the states when i was 15 and hated the year of school i had to endure in the states. there was no encouragement of independent thought or critical thinking skills, there was no emphasis on engaging the students or to make the objectives and value of the content we learned contextualized and therefore relevant to us and there certainly wasn’t any push by any of my teachers to explore topics we learned further. everything i learned in the one year of school in the states was everything i had learned in canada two years or even, in som cases, three years prior. with my canadian education i am a more tolerant individual who sees himself with a broader global perspective who is still interested in learning and who is able to read through the bullshit that i hear and see and question instead of merely accept what i find out about as the truth. i can talk on a wide variety of subjects with confidence and expertise and have managed to escape the pervasive anti-intellectual sentiment that shrouds the united states. if that is what want to claim a country that is a hotbed of liberalism is capable of, then sign me up each and every lifetime for a canadian education. and as someone who has worked in the educational system in the united states and with american educators, i would suggest that these teachers aren’t “lazy” so much as “burned-out” or have given up hope. for many american educators who work in public k-12 schools, the system already in place goes a long way to kill creativity and to place an emphasis on teaching to the tests. it’s hard not to develop a sense of ennui and hopelessness when there’s an overpowering and oppressive set of guidelines, regulations, rules, statutes, and policies in place to destroy any enjoyment or pride teachers might have for their profession. it seems you should fact-check and do some *gasp* face-to-face interviews with educators before stating that they drink expensive coffee. have you checked out the salaries of the average teacher in the american public school system? it’s not the typical teacher who can afford expensive coffee day after day. i’d expect to see you cite that statement, but then again, fact-checking, interviewing at the source, and learning how to cite wasn’t probably something you learned in your american schooling. too bad for you.

By: thatsrightnate

thatsrightnate — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:19:04 +0000

I did a little checking and the average teacher in Brazil makes 119% of GDP per person. I’d expect that beginning teachers make about the same percentage as they do in the United States.

By: Lola

Lola — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:42:27 +0000

That’s an interesting statistic – knowing how much of the GDP each country pays its teachers. I imagine that poor countries like mine (Brazil) are way behind on this.

By: thatsrightnate

thatsrightnate — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:30:27 +0000

Gina–can’t we compromise and have them drink beer while they’re ont he road crew?

Wrecks–I’ve said it before. Education is one place where Obama has it right. I’m also looking forward to opening up a charter police station when he expands charters.

By: wrecksracer

wrecksracer — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 05:48:59 +0000

Nate praising Obama!?!?!? Nate, you didn’t drink the kool-aid did you?

By: gina

gina — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 05:19:55 +0000

i would be ok with paying teachers more if they worked as garbageman or road crew flag wavers during the summer, instead of having 3 months off drinking beer and playing lawn darts in their backyards.

By: steve

steve — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:39:17 +0000

Let this teacher point out to you, Mr. Gentleman’s C, that “theri” is not a word. Also, as I told you twice today, you referred to George Bush in the 2nd to last paragraph of your previous post when you meant to refer to Obama. IF I didn’t know better, I’d think you were charter schooled.