Teachers in Chicago have gone on strike for the third consecutive day against what they have termed as Unethical Evaluation programme of the Teachers by The Boards and against pay parity of Public School Teachers,
The evaluation of any academic work it is difficult .
Judgements are subjective.
The nature of Teaching, however best one tries to defend, is an Art and not a Science notwithstanding the Scientific jargons used in connection with teaching.
Quantitative evaluation of Teaching is insane as the students are not inanimate objects and the teachers are not Robots.
In many methodologies of Teaching in Class rooms despite the professed statements that recommendations are issue based, in fact they are decided upon by the numbers, schools’ portability.
For a Teacher to teach effectively it is suggested that they take that the students normally fall in three categories.
Bright
Normal.
Dull.
Obviuosly a teacher can not adopt the same technic adopted to teach the Bright for the Dull and the Normal.
Each of these need a different skill set.
If you segregate the children on this basis(this again is subjective), you run the risk of harming the students by branding them and it might lead to personality problems as well social problems.
How does one evaluate teacher?
By the number of Passes?
By the number of Toppers?
By their characters?
How does one teach?
By allowing creativity?
By rote Learning?
These questions that are difficult to answer.
This is compounded by the fact that quality teachers are in short supply,in fact I may even say you may have to hunt for them.
Teaching had ceased to be a vocation of dedication,Love,Selflessness and commitment with the ability to communicate.
We have additional factors thrown in.
Private Corporates have entered the arena for whom the image and profitability are the key words.
Add parents to the issue.
They are driven by market success and they require a child to be the best product for the Job Market.
Under these conditions what do you want the Teachers do?
The solution lies in recognising Education as a mode of Life and not a simple a Tool for making money.
The normal demands of the Society in terms of job requirements may be met and they need not be the only thing that is taught.
And Teachers must realise that theirs is vocation that is not a mere Job.
They have to set example by behaviour.
The society must ensure the Teachers are compensated more than adequately for they build the nation for the Future and it may not reflect in mere GDP.
Story:
Talks were set to start again Wednesday morning with Chicago’s school board and striking public school teachers seemingly miles apart from reaching a deal to get 350,000 children back in school….
I don’t want to get in the weeds, but I’d say we moved more than they did today,” he said.
The board proposal would leave some 28% of teachers in danger of dismissal within two years, he said, calling that “an insult to our profession.”
“They basically dug in their heels and said if we didn’t give them a comprehensive proposal, we didn’t have anything to talk about,” Sharkey said.
The negotiations ended after thousands of striking teachers had spent much of the day massed outside the Chicago public school system’s headquarters.
Carrying signs, they chanted and marched through the streets in an expression of solidarity in their fight against the school board.
“We have a considerable way to go,” union spokeswoman Stephanie Gadlin said in a news release. “This is a fact they cannot deny.”
Of 49 points in the contract offer, the union has agreed to just six, she said.
“We are fighting for our students; we are fighting for education justice,” she said.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel cast the strike in different terms.
“This was a strike of choice. And it’s the wrong choice for the children,” he told reporters.
After five months of negotiations, “we’re down to two issues,” he said. The sticking points are teacher evaluations and provisions dealing with jobs for laid-off teachers, said Emanuel.
The talks could have continued without a strike, which was “totally avoidable, totally unnecessary,” Emanuel said.
Late in the afternoon Tuesday, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan issued a statement expressing confidence “that both sides have the best interests of the students at heart, and that they can collaborate at the bargaining table, as teachers and school districts have done all over the country, to reach a solution that puts kids first.”
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/12/us/illinois-chicago-teachers-strike/index.html