After two years of trying to negotiate, California’s State University teachers voted yesterday to walk off their jobs if their contract demands are not met. In truth, the 23,000 teachers (and librarians, coaches and school counselors) of the nations largest public college system have every right to be fed up.
*They haven’t had a raise since 2003
*CSU administrators have voted themselves several hefty raises in that same time
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*State college tuitions have nearly doubled in the past few years, with another hike voted in last week, yet none of that money seems to trickle down to the teachers.
They are also paid 12 to 27 percent less than those who teach at equivalent schools elsewhere in the U.S. And this past November, over half of the junior faculty (with less than six year experience) of the schools said they were considering quitting to find better pay elsewhere—particularly those bright, young PhDs with student loans still to pay off.
A two-week cooling off period starts next Monday. After that there may be “rolling walkouts” in the largest college strike in U.S. history.
UN-ION! UN-ION! UN-ION!
I found it interesting – and instructive – that, when Barry Munitz was Chancellor, he famoulsy fathered his nest there with nary a peep. But when he shifted his attentions to the Getty the State AG suddenly found his expenditures too lavish for a charitable organization. Guess it was all right to live high on the CSU hog.
The argument that you need to pay big to attract “talent” in management somehow njever gets applied to the folks doing the teaching. Guess they are a dime a dozen. After all, anyone can get a PhD, right?
Screw ’em. When they start producing more, then we can think about paying them more. But, paying truck loads of money won’t pull new and qualified talent as long as they have to put up with the Mickey Mouse rules and administrations.
One other thing about PhD’s, schools get them because of accreditation purposes. Most (I think) PhD’s being hired come from universities in India and other places. Their language skills are horrible, and students can’t understand half of what they say. Also, people trained outside of the U.S. often have no understanding of our tax laws, business practices, etc. to adequately prepare students. Yet, they have the diploma for the college’s accreditation, which only shows a level of training from who knows where–not that they learned anything or can teach.
Could buinessmen with practical experience do a good job and maybe a better job? Absolutely. But, the schools won’t hire them and the businessmen wouldn’t put up with the nonsense. It’s little wonder that schools like The University of Phoenix are growing so fast in light of the costs and poor value of government schools.
Oh, an executive that can double a company’s profits or significantly increase the company’s stock value is worth what he is paid–because he produced. A teacher gets tenured and rests on his laurels, never adding more value to the school or to the students. If most college professors were paid on production, they would need to work at McDonald’s to make up for lost salary.
Let the disgruntled professors walk, and let’s get new professors along with administrators who will leave them alone and let them teach.
Unions encourage mediocrity and laziness and create overpaid losers.
If my thoughts are not clear, let me know.
That’s so right Woody. It is a truth universally acknowleged that employers will hire a Univerisy of Phoenix Grad over someone from UC or Harvard where the “lazy” faculty averages one class per term.
rlc, of course you miss the point and go off on a ridiculous comparison. The average person cannot get accepted to or pay to go to Harvard, so you are comparing the well-connected and well-to-do with average Americans. However, if you would like to compare Phoenix graduates to those of government schools that cost the same, then that would be appropriate.
Someone who cannot afford expensive schools can get a better value with a for-profit school that specializes in training people for jobs rather than a government school that specializes in protecting teachers and in political correctness.
I know of major corporations that are sending its managers to get MBAs at such private schools. My personal experience has been that the students I hired with a Master’s in Taxation from a major university couldn’t even fill out a tax return correctly. However, students from vocational schools hit the ground running.
The formula used in universities today is so flawed that they don’t need to adjust it–they need to start over.
Masters in Business or in taxation qualify as “Trade School” stuff in my opinion. But call me back when a fortune 500 company picks senior Mgt from Phoenix rather than a Wharton, Harvard or Stanford MBA.
Fortune 500 companies sure won’t pick senior management from people who majored in psychology, sociology, political science, art, feminist studies, black culture, and gayism–and, oh yes, journalism. If college isn’t teaching you a trade, then it’s sending a lot of people into the world who are qualified for nothing and with no job hopes. Tell the students that during the commencement address and after they invested four years and $80,000+.
Of course, I suppose that your continued position to say tha someone who attends an Ivy League style school is better than someone who can’t afford it or doesn’t have the connections, and, thus, confirms your implied position that President Bush is top management material.
Wanna bet?
Guess what the Pres majored in at Yale?
(HINT: it wasn’t accounting)
Bush graduated from Yale with a major in history and received his MBA (that’s a trade school major to you) from Harvard. History is a good major for a president and let’s one evaluate current options using past results. Newt Gingrinch used to be a history professor, and I think that JFK majored in history. Here’s one for you.
Grades: Bush vs. Kerry
What was rlc’s major?
Government and Legal Studies as an undergrad and Communications (MA and ABD – that’s all but dissertation at the PhD level). Didn’t finish because the prospect of academic jobs in the mid seventies was practicallly nil (as WC Fields might say) so I ended up in advertising. Now I’m retired, thank you.
And, yes, Harvard’s GSBA is a “Trade School” as any number of grads have told me. Lord knows you don’t go there for intellectual stimulation – well maybe you would Woody.
And Bush’s business record is hardly a steller ad for the place!