University of California teacher union to block online courses

University of California teacher union to block online courses | ITworld

 

"When schoolchildren start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of schoolchildren."

 

I can't say that I'm surprised.

 

To be fair, I would go to some great lengths to save my job as well. I don't blame them.

 

This is precisely what is wrong with education - the interest of teachers and ADMINISTRATORS instead of what is better for the students. Shame, Shame.

 

Let me see if I can tell this story in the correct, neutral, get-me-in-no-trouble way.

When I was the president of an online DETC school, I meet with groups of folks in these circles in this state about 2 years ago. I was offering $75 a credit hour for state union workers in ANY program we had (which was something like 27 different programs).

At $75 a credit hour all I would do was break even, I was doing this because I have friends in the system and I thought I could help given the resources I had access to. The state workers at the time were being asked to reduce hours, drop their salary to minimum wage, forgo benefits; you name it they were being squeezed from all directions.

The school I was running was FA eligible, so this could have meant that for very little money, thousands of people could have gotten access to education and education benefits to improve their competitive chances in a tough market. The state school system (notice I am not typing the name from the article above) at the time could not service the volume of people in the unions that needed to finish or advance their education. I had further agreed to give the state school system the right of first refusal for any student that applied so I would not eat into there enrollments.

My theory was that if the labor side of the state could improve the education of their workforce, they could justify higher wages, perform better at the negotiating tables, and improve the efficiency of the states operations.

The state schools teachers union stepped in at cut me off after 6 months of negotiations, generally saying that they would rather protect their jobs than allow more union works to be afforded a low cost education opportunity, even if it did not directly complete with their enrollments.

To this day I am stunned and saddened at this decision model, to withhold opportunity from the many to protect the position of the few. So many people could have benefited. The posted article suggests to me that this style of thinking is not only pervasive, but core to this group.

 

I'm in the NEA (National Education Association) which is VERY different from the AFT (American Federation of Teachers). It's no surprise that the AFT would pull something like that. Check out "Waiting for Superman" and you'll see a lot of the AFT president. The NEA, on the other hand, while it does work to protect the members, also works to protect the best interest of the students.

-Matt

 

These unions will don't get it. There is no stopping globalization. They cannot stop knowledge from flowing from a website, or a teacher in a 3rd world country to a student. Their monopoly on education will end naturally at some point.

 

I am sorry, Matt, I haven't seen that.

 

And you were surprised?

 

Personally I understand the unions position but they must accept that DL is changing the way education is done. There will always be a need and purpose for both DL and the traditional B&M systems. However, DL is taking a big piece of the pie and that will never change. The defining moment came when the research revealed that DL learning outcomes were comparable and of course student satisfaction shows DL is in. B&M (tradition) proponents lost the ability to claim DL was significantly inferior. This situation makes me think of say 20 years ago "typewriter" organizing against and resisting keyboard use! Funny yes-- but not for those who find themselves losing their job to technological advancement. Lucky for these educators their will always be a demand for the teacher-just not as many B&M as in the past.

 

Sure I was. I wasn't talking to the state teachers union but other unions in the state, and they showed up at the last minute. I had always thought the core belief system was to make things better for the members.