What does it mean when laid off teachers are told to "look beyond education for new jobs"?

[madfloridian]

That has a strange ring to it, telling a group of teachers not to bother looking for jobs in the education field.

SO...what does that mean? One person in the article says it is foolish to look back at education. Why would that be? The article really gives no real explanation, but it's easy to imagine some of the reasons might be vouchers, charters, and TFA.

The words of one teacher:

“It’s foolish to look back at education,” said Tiffany Shocklee, 36, who’d taught high school social studies in the district. She planned to study nursing. “That’s what it’s come down to,” she said.

Here is more from the Dallas Morning News:

Laid-off Plano teachers told to look beyond education for new jobs


Joel Prince/Staff Photographer
Doris Williamson (right) of Workforce Solutions helps Kathleen O’Bannon, a former Plano ISD math teacher, register in a job database.

The district’s professional development center, filled that afternoon with about 50 former employees, reveals Texas education’s new reality. Potentially historic ruptures in state funding have led to deep slashes in school budgets. Districts from Dallas to Rockwall have announced layoffs. And an occupation once promising security has turned into one of uncertainty.

“You need to be working both sides of the street,” recruiter Tom Parker told a downtrodden crowd. Parker helps with transition services for Region 10, the local branch of the state’s education agency. The short list of teacher openings he passed out held a quarter of the number offered in years past. The Texas Progressive Alliance calculated the demise of more than 12,000 state public education jobs this school year alone.

“There’s just not been a job market like this for years, and people need to look outside,” Parker said.

These teachers then went "to an RV brought by Workforce Solutions for North Central Texas." It is a federally funded job services center that agreed to partner with Region 10 and assist teachers for the first time. It brought a camper’s worth of computers for job services.

Unfortunately that group has taken teaching off their list.

“Our concern is that because all the are affected by teaching, more teaching positions are going to be affected,” said Mark Murtagh, a senior workforce planner for the center. Teaching has been removed from the website’s list of target jobs. It now promotes health care, clerical business and information technology.

One reason may be that teaching jobs are going to recruits from companies like Teach for America, which charges thousands to send out teachers with only 5 weeks' training. These teachers only plan to stay for 2 years.

TX has spent 8 million hiring TFA teachers.

The state devoted $8 million to Teach for America over the last two years. The funding, $4 million annually, went to training, especially to help teachers with science and math instruction and with limited-English students, according to the Texas Education Agency. Local school districts cover the teachers' salaries."

Teachers are told to "look beyond" the field of education to find a job...that has some bad connotations.

[SoCalDem]

1. The almighty SERVICE ECONOMY for them..

sweeping up at beauty salons...waiting tables... babysitting..tutoring..working at Walmart...

THAT'S what they mean..

[madfloridian]

9. I think you are right.

That's about all there will be for anyone.

[KansDem]

55. Don't forget libraries...espeically public libraries

Requires an MLS to be a "librarian" but it is nothing more than a glorified WalMart greeter.

Public libraries have become the invisible homeless shelters of our new economy...

[xchrom]

2. Who ever said that should pay back or pay off their school loans. Nt

[Romulox]

3. It's similar to the President promising to "retrain" workers displaced by Free Trade with S. Korea.

:shrug:

[SidDithers]

4. It means that teachers are like many, many other people who get laid off...nt

Sid

[sulphurdunn]

13. Not exactly Sid.

Usually, when Americans are laid off it's becasue there is no demand for their services or they've been replaced by cheaper foreign labor that can do the same job. In the case of American teachers, they are being laid off and replaced by cheaper labor that is far less experienced while the demand for their services has not diminished.

[SidDithers]

21. Instead of being replaced by cheaper foreign labour...

they're being replaced by cheaper American labour? Aren't the cheaper, less experienced teachers who replace the laid-off teachers also teachers?

Sid

[sulphurdunn]

27. They key phrase

was "do the same job". A teacher who completes a 5 week training session that is taught by inexperienced teachers or non-teachers and who has no teaching experience cannot do the same job as a teacher who has spent years preparing to teach and has been a continuing pupil of pedagogy while making a career of actually teaching. There is no equivalency but in title.

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. Actually no they aren't

Districts are hiring employees who have 5 weeks training and paying them low salaries to teach our kids. Experienced teachers with degrees in education are being fired.

[RaleighNCDUer]

49. No, they are NOT teachers.

Teaching requires a teaching degree, and years of study in the fields of education and child development, as well as the particulars of their own specialties.

NOT a fucking 5 week training course.

Nobody who comes out of that abominable program can be called a Teacher.

ON EDIT:

Calling them teachers is like taking a kid straight out of boot camp and calling him a SEAL. No mater what you CALL him, he can't do the job.

[Ken Burch]

41. And we're just as outraged about all the other layoff victims, Sid.

And you damn well know it. SO stop pretending this is special pleading when it isn't.

[elocs]

5. I think I've heard that 50% of new teachers burn out after 5 years and leave teaching.

Obviously they are taking their good educations and getting jobs in the private sector which may pay more and they don't have to put up with the hassles that go along with teaching. What we are mostly left with for the long term are teachers who have a passion and a calling for teaching.

The Republicans' anti-intellectualism and hatred of teachers and public employees and public service does not bode well for the future of this country if it goes unchecked.

[WinkyDink]

7. Republicans are just fine with private education.

[w4rma]

43. Only if the employees (including the teachers) can be paid less than what it takes to live. (nt)

[WinkyDink]

47. I refer to exclusive academies, such as the Dwight School, not, e.g., Catholic schools.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_School

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birch_Wathen_Lenox_School

http://www.dalton.org/information/about/

[w4rma]

71. Is it different at those places? (nt)

[oldbanjo]

61. Some are going back to school and changing to nurse.

[WinkyDink]

6. Fewer teaching jobs = Fewer Ed. majors = Fewer teachers with Ed. degrees = TFA = Charters.

It isn't the economy, stupid; it's the long-range goal to dismantle public education and its concomitant UNIONS.

[Zoeisright]

15. = dumb Americans.

[Xithras]

8. Or at least outside the schools.

My wife was recently approached by a friend, a recently laid off teacher, who wanted her help. Apparently a bunch of local teachers laid off by several local districts are grouping together to put together a small business offering in-home teaching services to homeschooled kids. Their marketing push will be that you can homeschool your kids, while still educating them under the direct guidance of a credentialed teacher.

If it works out for them, they want to try and form a charter of their own, to compete with the corporate charter schools and offer services directly to current homeschoolers.

My wife turned them down, but only because accepting their offer would have meant passing up the new teaching job she just took with a local district.

[Curmudgeoness]

12. Not that it is any of my business, but

why did they hire your wife at a local district when they have laid off teachers? Is this one of those "get rid of the experienced and costly teachers and hire cheaper ones"? Or was that district not one that laid anyone off?

And....I think that is a great idea for those teachers. I do hope they succeed.

[Xithras]

17. No.

Sorry, I've discussed this a little in other threads, and skipped over a lot of details. My wife had previously been employed by the same district and had been laid off. They recently came up with the funds to re-fill a number of positions, and because of my wifes seniority, she was able to use her re-hire rights to secure one of those jobs.

It's her "old" employer, but a "new" job for her because it's at a new school and at a grade level she's never taught before.

As for the others, I hope they can be successful as well. There are no teaching jobs around here, so the choices for laid off teachers are limited to changing careers, or striking out on your own. Most people choose the first. My wife had just accepted a job as a sales clerk at Sears when her former union rep called to ask if she'd be interested in the position. She couldn't say yes fast enough!

It will be interesting to see how their goal of targeting homeschoolers fares. It will also be interesting to see how a teacher-run charter performs, as compared to most of the charters around here which are run by for-profits and corporations.

[Curmudgeoness]

24. I also would love to see how teacher-run charters would perform.

I think it is an excellent idea. Kind of "beat them at their own game".

And I am so glad your wife got rehired. Ugh, Sears sales clerk! That is really a sin, to have a college degree and end up at a sales clerk job. I also have a teaching degree, and was always told that if I did not teach, just having the degree and experience would open doors in other areas. Well, I guess it depends on what other areas.

[RaleighNCDUer]

50. Of course they could out-compete the TFAers, but the end result would still

be the destruction of PUBLIC EDUCATION.

Education is NOT a business. It is a calling, it is a profession, it is a RIGHT.

[Curmudgeoness]

58. There are a lot of things that are not a business.

I cannot understand why so many people cannot understand this. Education, highways and toll roads, prisons, health care----all of these should be public or we will end up paying more and more for them. And with education, this will only make the gap between the wealthy and the poor wider (as if it is not wide enough already). I am truly afraid of the direction public education is heading and I hope that as this new trend shows how much it is failing that the PTB have the sense to reverse course.

[Maat]

48. It's a good idea.

We homeschool through a charter, but the school is actually a project funded and ran through a public school district in a contiguous county. We meet monthly with a credentialed teacher. It works best when the teacher tutors ME, and plans how to approach things with me. Then, I take the ball and run with it, working with my kid, doing repetitive exercises with her. My kid has to present to her teacher what she has learned once per month, in each subject. That works well.

[Xithras]

57. Soundss like the same approach they're taking.

As I recall, she said that each teacher would have 20 students, and spend one day a month with each of them. Two hours with the kid, and four with the parent "tutoring" them on the next months subjects. They'd also be on call two hours a day to respond to problems from any of their students (they were trying to work out a webcam thing). If a parent or student ran into a subject they were having problems with, the teacher could provide mid-month assistance.

It's an interesting way to do things, and a great way to make sure that homeschooled kids are keeping up with their traditionally schooled peers.

[Curmudgeoness]

10. It means they are getting sound advice

in this current climate. Budget cuts from federal to local levels mean that teachers will be losing more and more jobs, and the class sizes will grow and grow. There will be none of the perks that made education a decent career, like good defined-benefit pensions and a good holiday package.

[get the red out]

14. Yes, I'm glad they are getting sound advice

Too many times people in careers that are being basically eliminated in the way they knew them get a lot of smoke and mirrors regarding their future. I'm glad someone is being honest with these people. I only hope someone gets honest with college kids to save them the pain of graduating with college loans for an education degree and never having a teaching job.

The only way society will really wake up to the cost of demonizing teachers is to feel the pain of not having truly qualified teachers, that's what it appears like to me anyway.

[Curmudgeoness]

23. That will happen in spades one day soon.

With the assault on teachers today, I would not be surprised that many students are rethinking their career choices and will change majors. It will not take long before very few people will go into teaching. The pendulum swings.

[HopeHoops]

11. "Do you want fries with that order?"

[Ezlivin]

16. Read: Join the military

...and fight for our glorious Empire!

You'll travel to places you'd never voluntarily go, meet unsavory people and get a chance to kill them.

If you return home you'll have second-rate care at any one of the dozens of overburdened VA Medical Centers located around the country (but probably not close to you).

Act now!

[w8liftinglady]

18. In Texas, it means a 60 year-old handing out a menu

[madfloridian]

28. Just about right. And not just in TX

I fear it is going to be everywhere.

[hunter]

19. They can supervise child labor and factory gangs...

... okay children, this week we'll be picking cotton. Next week we'll be cleaning up around the damaged nuclear plant, and after that coal mining!!!

[madfloridian]

20. It may also mean teachers recruited from other countries.

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2011/04/04/labor-dept-fines-md-school-system-millions/

"WASHINGTON (AP) — The public school system in Maryland’s Prince George’s County has been ordered to repay $4 million to more than 1,000 foreign teachers it has hired, the result of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The teachers, the vast majority from the Philippines, were hired under a visa program for foreign workers. But the Department of Labor found the teachers were illegally required to pay fees that should have been handled by their employer.

The department on Monday ordered that the teachers be reimbursed for $4.2 million in fees and fined the school system $1.7 million for its conduct. The school system may also be barred from hiring any more foreign teachers for at least two years.

The school system, Maryland’s second largest, said in a statement late Monday that it disputed the department’s findings and would appeal."

Actually it is closer to 6 million.

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2011/06/14/baltimore-schools-to-reimburse-foreign-teachers/

"BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore school officials say the district will reimburse international teachers who paid fees associated with getting temporary work visas out of their own pockets.

The decision comes after the U.S. Department of Labor ordered the Prince George’s County school system to pay $5.9 million in back wages and penalties to teachers recruited from foreign countries. The Baltimore school district, however, could not say how much money it might have to pay back."

[TBF]

29. Wouldn't surprise me at all -

at some resorts in this country nearly the entire staff (except some managers) are brought over from foreign universities.

It is all globalization. Soon there will be the top 1% of super wealthy in every country, and "austerity" for everyone else.

The only positive I can see is that it will be easier to fight for socialism because there won't be a middle class left to defend the rich. It will be clearly us against them in every country - and that is when the tide can turn.

[madfloridian]

22. Column about why TX teaching jobs are in such jeopardy.

And I thought FL was bad enough.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/06/07/3135088/texas-teacher-jobs-lose-stability.html

"Teachers at public schools should not be subjected to layoffs, furloughs or pay cuts. Neither should anyone else -- in that perfect world everybody wishes to live in from time to time.

But everyone knows this isn't a perfect world or a perfect time.

The Texas Legislature is considering bills that would allow public school districts to take advantage of all those undesirable steps in their efforts to deal with funding cutbacks."

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/06/07/3135088/texas-teacher-jobs-lose-stability.html#ixzz1PNK8K9Ve

[w8liftinglady]

25. My partner and his co-workers in DISD have resigned themselves to the furlough thing

and the increased classroom size.
Texas is a right-to-work state.
Despite the fact that most DISD faculty belong to AFT, they are impotent in Texas.
Texas legislature is SOOO pro-child..y'know.

[madfloridian]

26. Same in FL...right to work state. Impotent unions.

Many belong, but their power is just about done.

[xphile]

70. Right to work for less state.

We should at least label it honestly.

[midnight]

30. K&R for the middle class to get the car keys from the rich, and get out of the ditch...

[Jakes Progress]

31. It means Obama and arne are giving grover norquist an erection.

neocons (and their brother NeoDems) love the smell of ignorance in the morning.

[Capitalocracy]

32. Because the U.S. is no longer in the business of teaching its children.

Maybe instead of looking beyond education, they should look to teaching in other countries where people actually care about education. Until the corporate fascists take over them too.

[RaleighNCDUer]

51. Exactly. When the Greek world collapsed, Greek scholars were in

high demand in Rome and Egypt.

There are plenty of opportunities for US educators in China.

[madrchsod]

34. obama whines about jobs and education of the future while...

the states lay off thousands of teachers....welcome to the dying empire of the united states of america

[JosefK]

35. Race to the bottom!

...where all the feral children will be running around ...think opening scene in Road Warrior.

[maddiemom]

36. Teacher's /outside jobs

Madfloridian: Your insider take on the the teaching profession is always appreciated by this retired teacher. I started teaching in the late sixties, and had my choice of jobs. After my first year, in which I dealt with the most difficult classes (not so bad due to circumstances which have no bearing here), I quit due to a marital move, without another job. This was no problem then; I still had several offers to chose from. I was working on permanent certification in PA, and had excellent observations (admittedly a matter of supervisor opinion). It was not unusual at that time for women teachers to quit when starting a family. In fact, obviously pregnant teachers were not welcome in the classroom, whereas a couple of decades later, pregnant students were. I took some years off to support my then husband's career and motherhood. I actually had some contacts which would have gotten me back into the classroom, before I was ready, being a full time mom. In the meantime, I went back for a second certification as a Reading Specialist. I was originally an English teacher. Reading Specialist required working in a university reading clinic. We eventually worked with four elementary aged students. My experience here was bizarre. My "vague" plans and methods were questioned; but my students all came out with the best improvement in their reading scores (not spectacular, of course, just improved). Their parents really wanted to discuss their kids, caring enough to get them this evaluation, and I got busted as to the time I spent with them. I'd be given an Incomplete if I came back and did another session in the reading clinic. Otherwise I'd get a B,the kiss of death in Education. I took the B. Nonetheless, I am two courses and a dissertation short of a PhD. I ended up continuing to substitute teach on a near daily basis, and was actually called at a school I where I was subbing by another school to make they
transcripts. Personal to you and infuriated about the current/teachers f
ge

[madfloridian]

37. Ah, I remember those times when a pregnant teacher had to leave...

before she "showed."

In fact that happened to me when I had good teaching position lined up. I taught a few weeks, then the principal found out I was pregnant....said he was sorry but he was looking for someone else. Didn't believe in women working outside of the home with children. Last I heard he was a big wheel in the Highlands County school system.

Thanks for your post.

[Tom1960]

52. Whoa!

I'll have more to post later, but suffice to say for now, I graduated from the Highlands County School System in 1978, Sebring High School.

I know there are a few folks still around from my days who have reached the "higher echelons" in Highlands County.

[maddiemom]

59. teachers

ing on a daily basis, sometimes being tracked down from one school district to another. There were a couple of us (subs), very much in demand, but never hired when appropriate full time positions were open,

[maddiemom]

60. teachers

Sorry, don't know how my above message trailed off to blather...

[saras]

38. It means two things

One - they don't want experienced teachers and their humanist values, and would prefer to not rehire them under any conditions.
Two - for the kind of education they envision, extremely large classes - up to a couple hundred - are acceptable, so there is less demand.

In short, they don't see a need for an educated populace. Ignorance worked just fine in the Middle Ages.

[blue_onyx]

39. It means go work at Target

It's not just teaching but people with other types of college degree are being told a minimum wage job is the future. It's so depressing. Many of the people who bitch about needing to cut government then complain there are no jobs. Until the country snaps out of the Reaganomics belief system that has controlled our economic policies, nothing will get better. The idea that we can have something (ex: good schools) for nothing is insane. Cutting taxes isn't going to make money appear out of thin air. If we want good communities, roads, and schools, we're going to have to pay for it. If we want jobs, it's going to require investing in our country/citizens. Given the fact that most states are cutting funding, I don't see things getting better for teachers or most other professions any time soon.

[The Midway Rebel]

40. Lots of education jobs in my area.

That is, if you consider $8.50 per hour at a day care center an education job.

[Name removed]

42. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[neoralme]

44. It pretty much means that education is over in America. It will

switch to training only, and in some cases humans may not be needed it all. There was a time we could have fought this and slowed the progress of dehumanization down. But that time is past. The Republicans work feverishly on plans, tactics, etc. on achieving their goals. The Democrats don't do this. This will not be a world for the living going forward, more for robots and droids. But, then, you'll still be able to watch Dancing With the Stars or Housesluts of Orange County.

[madfloridian]

45. Good point. Training instead of educating.

I thought we would have fought this, but we only did when Bush wanted to do it.

[neoralme]

46. Yes, MF, because we easily recognized Bush as an enemy. Then

a worse enemy came disguised as a friend and we hesitated. This was the Corporatists plan from the very beginning, and why Obama was allowed to win the election. Slowly but surely people here are starting to understand that. You knew it right away. The question is what can we do now? The very survival of mankind is at stake. At what point will we kill so many other people selling our only product (weapons) that a once friendly power will slip an Iran a mini-nuke warhead to take us out. At what point will Rick Scott turn so many young Florida school children into nothing more than educated paperweights that they have so little humanity that it makes little difference whether the aforementioned Iran takes them out or not? Sorry, MF, I am bitter with loss of country and the great deception pulled on us by our leaders... Republican, Democrat, and those in between.

[Tom1960]

53. Great points...

I think you are right. Most folks don't even understand the difference between training and education.

I am so afraid of the coming dark ages. I'm 51 now and I don't see any improvement on the horizon. The one liberal institution that has the potential to keep us progressing as a culture is under attack by the bottom-dwellers.

Neo-feudalism here we come.

[neoralme]

54. Yes. That is happening right now. And the problem is we don't

have anyplace we can talk and plan. Can you imagine us planning something here, on DU? The Republicans would know about it in four or five minutes. Short of sending out invitations and going to mid-Kansas for a planning session, we have nowhere to talk. Our legislators are crooked as bank robbers. So we are doomed. The only way we will be able to stop Fascists is to fight them hand to hand. And that is what's it's coming to. There has to be some way to communicate.

[Tom1960]

62. Agreed...

I think part of it has to be the creation of an alternate economy based on principals of economic justice. Did you see "Capitalism a Love Story"? In the movie Michael Moore visited at bread baking company in California that was an employee owned co-op. I think co-ops provide a way for employee-owners to develop a level of prosperity for themselves and their families that doesn't depend on a few people at the top making all the money. Naomi Klein did a film a few years back called "The Big Take". It was about employees of South American companies who squat on the factories their rich owners abandoned for tax-breaks and the like. The movies is on You Tube. I think the idea is to turn our backs on the current economy, get out debt as soon as possible and develop new business that meet the needs of the people.

Just my two cents.

[kenfrequed]

56. It means...

Go out and find some work propping up the corporate system and get service jobs for the companies that are: forclosing on your home, bankrupting yoru local governments, putting up big box stores to destroy local business, and generally making life increasingly hellish.

It also means that someone has been watching "waiting for superman" too many friggin times.

[roody]

63. The Powers that Be want teaching to once again be something

a servant does, not a middle class occupation. They also want to bust the unions.

[amborin]

64. Wall St. Hedge Fund Managers Don't Want Unionized (read: too highly remunerated (NOT)) Teachers

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/nyregion/10charter.html?hp

[madfloridian]

66. DFER as in Democrats for Education reform, as in Cuomo who declared..

war on public unions. Guess the reformers paid his campaign quite well, cause they have got the money and the public workers don't.

[TrogL]

65. I gave up teaching and went into computers

Best decision of my life.

[mrmpa]

67. It means that things are fucked up eom

[madrchsod]

68. become tutors?

it would seem that there will be a demand for tutors.

[southernyankeebelle]

69. Republicans want to dismantle public schools. They want 3rd world employees right

here in the good ole usa. Grassroots will be the only way we can unite.

[StarsInHerHair]

72. the Right is ending Public Education in America, just like Old Rome & look

at the Dark Age that followed, no bathing, plagues, illiteracy, thinking the world is flat, massive scientific losses via book-burning, the arts were stuck painting only religious themes for the next 1000 years...THIS is the rerun the Right wants

[ecstatic]

73. I think it means that teaching is no longer the back up/stable job that many people were

counting on. Even I thought I could always turn to teaching if things didn't pan out for me in other fields (not just for the money and security--I genuinely wanted to help students and still hope to one day).

A lot has changed for the worst due to the economic collapse that came about due to Bush policies. Yet so many people here want to give the GOP another shot.