Andrew Bubba Johnson

11-16-2014
SED 464

Hot Topic Paper- Teachers Unions

For our Hot Topic presentation my group decided to investigate the issues
and benefits surrounding teachers unions in the United States. This has been a
major topic of debate in many of my courses throughout my college career. When
choosing the topic, I though it may spark some great classroom debating; I was not
wrong. When presenting our goal was to spark a great discussion and to inform
while looking at positives, negatives, and answering questions vocalized in the
discussion posts.
Teachers unions are a unified body of teachers who act as a strong and
unified voice for teachers (Tucker). We found many pros to the topic. In their truest
form, Teachers unions work to ensure fair treatment for all teachers. The work to
protect teachers from things such as unfair and unjust firings, fair pay, quality
working conditions, and provide teachers with great benefits like cheap legal
council. Another great way teacher unions help is by ensuring that student
performance doesnt affect your pay. During our presentation, when this topic was
brought up, the class was generally split and had a great debate. One side believed
that the U.S. puts such a great emphasis on standardized testing that they dont take
into consideration those students who arent good at taking tests. This group
believed that it would be unfair for a teacher to have his or her salary cut because
some students arent good test takers. The other group argued the opposite. They

felt it is the teachers responsibility to prepare the students for these tests and it
should mirror the effectiveness of the teacher. They also felt to many bad teachers
hide under the guise of students being poor test takers rather than taking
responsibility for being a poor teacher.
Most of the negatives found in our research basically come down to the idea
that teacher unions protect bad teachers:
Teachers' unions have become more and more powerful. In most states,
after two or three years, teachers are given lifetime tenure. It is almost impossible
to fire them. In New York City in 2008, three out of 30,000 tenured teachers were
dismissed for cause. The statistics are just as eye-popping in other cities. The
percentage of teachers dismissed for poor performance in Chicago between
2005 and 2008 (the most recent figures available) was 0.1 percent. In Akron,
Ohio, zero percent. In Toledo, 0.01 percent. In Denver, zero percent. In no other
socially significant profession are the workers so insulated from accountability.
The responsibility does not just fall on the unions. Many principals don't even try
to weed out the poor performers (or they transfer them to other schools in what's
been dubbed the "dance of the lemons"). Year after year, about 99 percent of
all teachers in the United States are rated "satisfactory" by their school systems;
firing a teacher invites a costly court battle with the local union (Cite).

As I stated before, this really sparked some good conversation in our group. When it
came down to teachers not being dismissed for poor performance there seemed to
be more consensus that teachers should be held more accountable than the
numbers suggest.
All in all, the discussion proved that teacher unions are truly a hot topic in
education today. For the most part, the class was split on whether they believe
teacher unions help or hinder general education in this country. The jury is still out,
but there is a reason our education system seems to be failing.

Works Cited
Thomas, E., Wingert, P., Conant, E., & Register, S. (2010). Why we can't get rid of
failing teachers. Newsweek, 155(11), 24-27

Tucker, M. (2012). A Different Role for Teachers Unions?. Education Digest, 77(9), 410.