Fribur : My high school physics teacher did exactly that. PhD in astrophysics from MIT, and he turned down job offers from NASA regularly because he enjoyed teaching more than he enjoyed being an astrophysicist.

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World of Warcraft: Kallaystra, Gweila, Steakumn, Tarathia [ Feathermoon/Horde ]

I was responding to Krby. It's not always about you!



The point is still valid, hyperbole aside.

My experience is also anecdotal, but from a different perspective.

Teachers' unions, as I understand it, aren't dead set against merit pay.

The problem is, as we've already encountered here -- how do you decide what makes a good teacher different than a bad teacher?

In Florida, the answer, to this question and many others, seems to have been test scores. That's a very simple-minded take on the matter. There's much more that makes up a good teacher and it's unfair to weigh all teachers on the same scale when they all have different students with different abilities and different needs.

As did I-- I was once a stock representative for Edward Jones. But that doesn't mean it happens enough to ensure quality teachers in the classroom.

Leo above says much of what I've said in a much less adversarial tone, but he speaks directly to my understanding of the situation today.

All my experiences have been with the Arkansas Teacher's Union. Yes not universal. The Arkansas Teacher's Union has soured me beyond belief. When Clinton was Governor he wanted to have teacher testing to ensure we had the best for our kids. The Teacher's Union had so much power that they voted him out of office (the only time he lost a statewide race). After he got re-elected two years later he wanted again to put a teacher testing plan in place because it was gaining support of the populace; he conferenced with the Union and got a plan passed that had zero teeth -- no teacher could have a job action taken on them due to the test results. One of the local papers got a copy of the test and I could have easily passed it with at least an 80%, and I was in 8th grade. The sad thing is that there were teachers that did not pass (60%) and they could not be removed.

Another thing that pissed me off about the Arkansas Teacher's Union is they took their retirement fund and built this outrageous building for the Teacher's Union officials instead of investing it like the Alabama Teacher's Retirement fund. If you don't know what they did, look up the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail they invested it in an outstanding partnership that not only continues to return greater revenue to the retirement system but also brings a great deal of funds into the state.

http://cis471.blogspot.com/2009/04/why- ... -much.html

Where? Monthly
cost Uplink
(Mbps) Downlink
(Mbps)
Stockholm $11 100 100
Seoul $24 100 100
Hong Kong $35 100 100
Tokyo $61 100 100
Amsterdam $127 100 100
Lafayette, LA, Municipal $58 50 50
Lafayette, LA, Cox Cable $140 5 50
US, where available, Verizon $145 20 50

Ridiculous.

Compare realistic infrastructure, caladaar -- many cities are operating on ancient infrastructure that's impossible to upgrade. Several of the cities where internet is both fast and inexpensive have recently been damaged and rebuilt, or the population density is so high that it makes it cost effective =P

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World of Warcraft: Kallaystra, Gweila, Steakumn, Tarathia [ Feathermoon/Horde ]

It can (and should) be done here.
But no for-profit company will do it, aside from Verizon, but thats a whole other story ><
The problem is the municipal monopolies.
I think the cities should simply take over the first-mile, completely.
Hell, they've been given enough tax subsidies over the past two decades that the public should already own the lines.

Do you have first and last mile confused? >.<

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World of Warcraft: Kallaystra, Gweila, Steakumn, Tarathia [ Feathermoon/Horde ]

Blah, yes!
The cities should own the actual physical lines from the "CO" to the home.

It should be a utility, just like electricity/gas/water.

Isn't that what Ma'Bell was? People hated paying so much for calls just outside of an area code.

Time Warner is also tring to bust up any city that does with small private companies.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/TWC-Em ... ,7610.html