"I believe that what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way. This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy."

- Steve Jobs (comments delivered at a school-reform conference in Texas)

Predictably, the American Federation of Teachers and various teacher unions are upset over these comments. They issued a reply about the importance of their work and their commitment to students and education, and then they got to the good stuff: Apple's unwillingness to allow workers, many of whom where Latino, to unionize, blah blah, oh yes, this was after appropriating Cesar Chavez's image on their enormous "Think Different" campaign. Blah blah.. interesting contradictions to think about.

BUT, of course he's correct about the "off-the-charts" craziness of this so-called lifetime employment. Teachers are often accused of holding low-expectations, consciously or not, for their students. Similarily, the union holds low expectations for their own teachers. Exploring things like merit pay and merit-based rehiring and promotion aren't horrible if you believe that your teacher-members have the potential and capacity to perform. merit-pay ought to take a whole lotta things into account and it cannot be a one-sized fits all analysis. But, if accomodations in the assessment of student growth rates ARE made, then why is it so bad?

Teachers often complain that society doesn't value their work. They (I) point to their salaries or to the lack of respect given to them by [some] students or [some] parents. I often wonder if the union's own "representation" of teachers (protection of crappy-ass teaches who have long burned out) is equally damaging or demeaning.

Of course the union is absolutely necessary for us teachers, but crap, can't we all admit that a person ought to be competent at a job in order to continue to hold that job? Or at least that the person ought to display sincere, actual, and meaningful attempts at becoming competent or revitalized (e.g. professional development, observations, etc)?