Ohio Governor John Kasich said at an education summit in New Hampshire that many teachers believe that "we’re out to take their job" when schools evaluate teacher performance and that teachers' lounges provide an environment where this worry spreads.
"No we’re not out to take their job. If you need help, we’ll help you. If you’re a terrible teacher, then you should be doing something else because you’re going to find more satisfaction doing something else that you’re good at," he said. "We have to constantly communicate that."
He then suggested that teachers' unions contribute to educators' worries.
"I’ll tell you what the unions do, unfortunately too much of the time. There’s a constant negative comment, ‘They’re going to take your benefits, they’re going to take your pay,'" Kasich said. "So if I were, not president, but if I were king in America, I would abolish all teachers' lounges, where they sit together and worry about, 'Woe is us.'"
In my school we have no teachers lounge.
There used to be a teachers cafeteria, but that got taken and made into classroom space.
Individual departments sometimes have their own spaces, but those have been cut down or completely eliminated in recent years as well because space is at a premium.
Teachers share classrooms as well.
There isn't much private space for commiserating where I work, that's for sure.
Frankly, I don't want the private space to complain about things - I'd like it so I could get some work done (i.e., grade papers, plan those wonderful Common Core-aligned lesson plans, etc.)
Alas, it is sometimes difficult to get that where I am.
So I dunno what the hell Kasich is talking about, but I can assure him that we're not all sitting around in teachers lounges complaining about teacher evaluations tied to test scores and the like.
I can say that teachers certainly talk about topics and issues that affect them, just as any group of people talk about things that affect them.
Where I work, it ain't happening at the teachers lounge, however.
The bathroom, maybe, or the hallway, but definitely not the teachers lounge or teachers cafeteria.
Maybe Kasich wants to ban teacher bathrooms as well?
I mean, if he's so concerned about teachers commiserating over things and all.
Maybe he can make all teachers bathrooms one stall?
That ought to cut down on the commiserating, eh?
