The long reported stories of the intensive discrimination against pregnant women with women with young children resurfaced in a story in the NY Times today that 54 women have joined a suit against Bloomberg, LP. (Once Bloomberg buys the Times, you won't be seeing such stories again.)
When the story first surfaced, some of the original women filing the suit repeated Bloomberg quotes that would made whatever hair I had left stand up.
All this is not surprising. We have been making the point for some time that the missionary style of teachers who spend 12 hour days and weekends working as teachers until they are burnt to a cinder or decide to have families is also discriminatory against women with families.
With all we can complain of in the BloomKlein stewardship of the education system in NYC, we can at least say there is consistency.
Graphic from womensspace.wordpress.com/
6 comments:
What's discriminatory against women is assuming that they don't want to work hard just because they have children. Would you then say that every single industry aside from education is discriminatory?
We're reaching the point where I'm beginning to agree with NYC Educator that you are almost not worth responding to.
As usual, a total misunderstanding of what I am talking about, but which every teacher with children knows. You give yourself away with your asssuming that working hard is related to putting in extraordinary hours.
There's no easy place in the BloomKlein world for working women with young children who cannot put in the long hours - especially the ones that can't afford the rents and have to live far away - not like the TFA's who can share apartments in the city.
Your linking working hard to the 12 hour missionary teachers is an insult to all the amazing working mothers I worked with who did a wonderful job and then had to race home to get their children out of childcare. The extension of the day caused many much grief - but we expect yoru usual "School policy is for children and not the adults who work there"- another stupid point you so-called ed reformers make. The very attitude that dooms your policies to ultimate failure - for the children.
You see, it is the adults who will carry out policy and misguided business model concepts may work for MCP's like Bloomberg's corp where pregnant women are told by Mike to "get rid of it."
Well, I hope you don't decide not to respond. I think that dissent is the essence of democracy, and so far it appears that you do, too. If there's anything we have in common, it seems to be that opinion. NYC Educator decided long ago that I was making points that were making his look silly, and rather than try to come up with a counterargument, he took the easy way out and banned me. I understand: some prefer the unexamined life.
I know plenty of great teachers who have kids and don't have to be "missionaries" or martyrs. They work hard, for sure, but the majority of teachers still aren't really even hitting 40 hours per week.
Lastly, schools are for kids, so if it were true that what was best for kids was 12-hour days by teachers, then I would hope that all teachers would care enough to work those hours, and parents who can't handle the rigors of the job would leave the profession.
I don't think that teaching under the Klein administration is any more difficult than under previous administrations. Teaching is hard, for sure, and if people have to leave because they can't handle it, that's fine with me. That happens in every other industry, so why should teaching be the sole dumping ground for the lazy and incompetent?
"I don't think that teaching under the Klein administration is any more difficult than under previous administrations".
How exactly did you arrive at this conclusion? You're certainly NOT one of us, so I'd just like to know how you "know" this. You are dead wrong, by the way. We work much harder and the unfortunate part is that BloomKlein believe that education is one limitless paper chase; our non teaching duties have increased significantly and we have, in addition, C6 duties that may or may not be education-related. Please comment if you actually know something about the actual everyday lives of teachers, not the disinformation you obviously base your conclusions upon.
In every other industry, experience is a valued commodity and is paid accordingly and such a person is considered an asset to a company. I have witnessed several persons whose experience is valued and competitively sought after.
The DoE, with their initiatives, has created an atmosphere where testing is the primary determinant of how students and teachers should be evaluated and compensated. Do you really need an experienced teacher to teach to the test when you can have a novice do the job for half the cost?
This is where “deskilling” comes in.
According to BloomKlein, experience is not a valued commodity. Anyone can learn how to deep fry chicken nuggets.
You see Socrates (Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure) the BloomKlein administration changed the rules during the middle of the game. That is how it IS different from other administrations.
And your comment about teachers aren’t really hitting 40 hours per week is just plain silly.
How has it gotten harder? I've taught in NYC for over a decade, and I can say without question that the job is no harder now than when I started.
Experience is much more "valued" in the DOE than it is in other industries. In hedge funds, you have 30 and 40-year olds running the whole show. Advancement depends on merit. In education, the union constantly seeks to obscure the results of their teachers so that merit-based decisions can't be made. That's why education in America is so dysfunctional, and that's why the actions of teachers unions are the most destructive force in education today.
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