Until you have a family member working as a teacher, you really do not know what the hell is going on.
Example. A relative I know, with a Masters +60 (or more at this point) in SCIENCE, teaches science at a top ranked public school in an affluent area.
Her salary, after working in the field for 30+ years, went up by $500 one year.
Was this decided by merit? Nope.
What happens is that they SAY teachers are getting a 5% increase, what they fail to mention is that ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF, including Principals and Supers, are also included in those budget statements.
So, when you subtract the ladder raises paying a newbie teacher with a Masters degree going from $30K to $32K (sounds GREAT %-wise, but it still sucks rocks), and the Superintendent getting a measly $10K raise on his $150K, you divvy up the rest to the ones who have been there and paid their dues... and end up with diddly/squat. (<-fraction!!!)
Add to that the quibbles about tenure.
On THAT, I partially agree, but in a politically motivated job like Teaching, if you did not have tenure, you would end up with a gang of cronies educating your kid.
Finally, on teaching, people keep saying "Oh, but they get so much time OFF!"
BS.
You get the time that THEY say, not what YOU say. Parents feel a little of that when they can no longer take that vacation to the Bahamas in May because Jr is still in school, but you do not feel it until, again, you see a family member grading papers until 10-11 at night or taking MORE college grad courses every summer.
You also do not see the PR in this day and age when every parent is more willing to point the finger at the teacher to blame them for their kids poor performance rather than asking "what can I do to help". Somehow making your kid do their homework is now the teachers responsibility.
Oh, and short of a student actually striking a teacher, there is very little that any can do with one that refuses to cooperate. Several friends of mine have actually been told to stop sending troubling teens to the principals office because of complaints from the parents.
Wha?!!?!
But, back to "Liberals". Enough already. Go look up the actual definition of Liberal and stop using it as a curse-word. Somehow someone willing to accept different ideas than their own, including "conservative" ones, if they show merit should not be ostracized.
We are not talking tree-hugging, sawdust eating, poop recycling 60's throwbacks. We are talking people that actually care and who ARE problem solvers, not just pointers and whiners. By the same token, obstinate white collar (or wannabes) and recalcitrant nay-sayers do us no good either. "Well YEAH it is bad, but don't change anything or it could get worse!!!" should not be the banner-men for the "Right wing" parties.
The sooner we start hearing from the Moderates, you know, the ones that make up 90% of our society, the sooner we can get some solutions rather than a bunch of people throwing neckties and granola bars at each other.
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