>*Every* NJ teacher that I know (in Ridgewood & elsewhere) feels the way 12:31 feels. When Gov Christie talks about public education, he often belittles teachers as professionals.
You say that “*Every* NJ teacher that I know (in Ridgewood & elsewhere) feels a war on them personally”
I say that you need to broaden your social circle.
Many NJ teachers that I know (in Ridgewood & elsewhere) do not feel personally attacked by Governor Christie. They agree with what he is trying to do. They do not like that their union dues are used to support candidates and causes that they do not personally support. They do not like that unqualified teachers are allowed to continue teaching. They do not like that some teachers are allowed to push their political or cause driven agendas upon young children. They also really like their benefit package and realize that it is extraordinarily good and do not want to lose it. They also realize that it is well above the normal benefit package that their spouses and friends get (even those who work for companies that have very good benefits packages) They also believe that in a competitive environment, they would be able to work for a school system that has an attractive benefits package (good, but not as good as what they now have). They all like having the security of tenure and do not want to lose it, but all are confident that in a performance based teacher environment, they would do very well.They are all very qualified academically focused professionals.
I also know other teachers (in Ridgewood & elsewhere) who feel as you do. Some of these teachers are very qualified academically focused professionals; some are qualified but are agenda driven professionals, some are qualified but not driven to do more than the minimum required of them and some are just plain unqualified.
I have direct experience with many teachers and this is my observation. FWIW, almost all of the teachers I speak of are grammar school (K-8) teachers with varying backgrounds and years of experience. A very few are HS teachers.
I do not find it surprising that the unqualified, lazy or agenda driven teachers see this as a personal war. I expect them to be selfish, defensive and have a feeling of entitlement. I do find it disappointing that some of the very qualified academically focused professionals prefer group-think entitlements rather than competing on their own merits – where they would probably do as well if not better than they are currently doing and not be treated the same as an unqualified peer.
