Do you not understand the difference between dragging politics into the classroom and participating in a commercial? Doesn't matter if they're pro Walker or anti Walker or any other particular political flavor. Don't drag that crap into the classroom.

walker already dragged his crap into the classroom. And it is all over everyone's shoes. Wear the pin.

grs, how did Walker drag his crap into the classroom?

well said

There have been teachers on both sides in commercials. In fact, if you harken back to the Alberta Darling recall campaign, there were many in those as well, primarily in the anti- column, who identified themselves by full name, occupation (teacher) and location. Did those bother you in the same fashion? By your definition they also dragged it into the classroom. I don't recall seeing you react negatively to that at the time.

Frankly, any teacher who has the guts to express a political stance that goes against the official stance of their union and risk the wraith of a group of individuals who are known not to take kindly to opposition and who will at times react to such opposition in an irrational fashion should probably be applauded for doing so - as long as that teacher doesn't do so in the classroom.

How do you know the teacher who wore the offensive pin was female?

Well said, Laura. My school teacher taught the class about the presidential election in 1972 and never revealed his political leanings, saying that he liked to exercise his freedom to keep his vote secret. That made a big impression on me, and I probably learned a more important lesson from him than I would have if he had made clear what his political opinions were.

While I agree that teachers should not be expressing their political opinions in the classroom, I think that 'immediate firing' is a bit excessive. Yes, it shows a lack of good judgement on the part of the teacher, and it causes me to doubt that the teacher can project an image of political impartiality to his/her students, but I don't think this is an offense that requires such a severe and immediate penalty.

Christina Burk - There is no doubt that middle schoolers could be influenced by the political opinion of a teacher. They are at an age when they are learning about the world beyond them and are more likely to be influenced by their friends or a cool teacher than their parents. If the students really like this teacher, it could have an impact and the teacher demonstrated poor judgment by wearing that pin.

However, to fire the teacher is extreme since the teacher immediately removed the pin. The teachers need to respect that their classroom is full of students from families with varying political opinions, but this was a relatively minor offense.

Michael, read the original article above. It answers your question

This is not a matter of freedom of speech. The teacher wearing the pin is an authority figure spreading partisan political propaganda to a captive audience.

"One day you are telling a teacher that they can't wear a pin, the next day you are telling them they can't teach evolution or tell children where babies come from."

************************

Yeah that's the natural progression. Hopefully you have very little to do with our public education system although, if not, I'll not be surprised. You do typify an attitude demonstrated, unfortunately, by some charged with educating the children of WI in our public schools.

Wearing slogans on lapel pins or t-shirts can be disruptive when students do it, so we have a dress code that prevents provocative sloganeering. Why shouldn't teachers be held to the same standard? If the topic is appropriate for classroom discussion, such as a civics class, then it should be discussed, but I'm sure you wouldn't be happy if a French teacher or music teacher wore a lapel pin supporting Walker, either.

Does that mean that you'd fight for a public school teacher's 'constitutional right' to lead their class in prayer every morning?

Long before Walker came along, there have been limits placed on freedom of expression by authority figures in the classroom. The teacher in this instance was clearly out of line, and the appropriate actions have been taken by all parties.

Despite your attempt to throw yet another monkey wrench into the thread, this has nothing to do with freedom of expression beyond your right to weigh in on the topic as you have. You and the rest of the gang would be howling a blue streak if the button had said, instead, "I Stand with Walker".

Nicely put, Brian...and you didn't have to resort to petty insults and name calling to make your argument, like some of those on the other side. Intelligent and thoughtful debate is refreshing and appreciated.

No group spends more time complaining about the horrible conditions they have to endure in order to perform their jobs than do teachers.

Other people have tough jobs. Other people work under less than ideal conditions. Other people are being asked to take pay and benefits cuts at the same time they're being asked to do more. The reason you're probably not aware of it, Brian, is because they don't bitch about it every opportunity they have.

You need to be told the same thing other folks are told when they make the kinds of complaints you're making. If you don't like the job, find another.

You really have no idea how the other half lives. Well now you're getting a taste of it. And this won't be the last of it, Scott Walker or no Scott Walker.

Welcome to reality, 2012,

Brian, you hit the nail on the head. Walker NEVER talked about dismantling the unions in his run up to the election. He NEVER went to the unions to ask for concessions. He took office, declared his intent and attempted to shove the vote through without any debate or discussion. That is why the Dems left the state. it was the only way to stall the vote and allow time for information to be disseminate and the public be given time to digest what was happening.The unions had made it very clear that they were open to concessions to help the budget crises. He never gave that avenue a chance to play out. Even Barrett, who ran against him, said publicly that in all the debates and campaigning, Walker never gave any indication of his intentions. For me, this is not so much about what happened, it is about how it happened. Walker lied and deceived the people who put him in office. He excluded those who did not vote for him but still had a responsibility to represent. He totally ignored them and never explored any other agendas that may have worked. People have a right to disagree with their political leaders. it is the American way. Politicians do not have the right to intentionally deceive and lie to their electorate. For that, he should be recalled.

Based on your criteria, Laura, the current holder of the Office of the President of the United States should be removed immediately.

Laura:

Walker "renewed his call" for public union members to contribute 5% to their pensions and 12% toward their health insurance cost in early December. The response from Marty Beil (executive director of AFSCME) was a direct refusal to make any concessions.

After that point, Walker had no choice but to force the issue rather than attempt to negotiate with a union that stated that they would not make concessions.

http://www.channel3000.com/politics/26049415/detail.html

I want to recall him too, mostly because he is corrupt and a bully!

That said, i wonder, has it occurred to you that the kids who don't hand in homework, who are disruptive, or who act in defiance, are not doing it deliberately, and it's not about you? Defiance comes from a FEAR, fight-or-flight response? Is it possible that they need more training in self-regulation, organizational skills, and reading social cues and what they're getting is harsh judgment, unfair punishment, and no logical consequences of actual training in how to manage moving from classroom to classroom and handling overly complex, sophisticated homework assignments starting when they are 9 years old? Is it possible that they're going into fight-or-flight, and defiance, because they have untreated sensory issues and anxiety?
I am not saying it's your job to parent them. I am saying we really need to get serious about parents, teachers, and kids teaming together to ensure that our highly motivated kids are supported in learning the real-life skills they need early on, long before they become social pariahs or give up on themselves.

Not only have I seen it, I've continually, repeatedly, unendingly heard (their martyr-like version) about it over and over and over and over again.

They bring on the derogatory comments with the endless bitching (and, yes, that's exactly what Brian is doing there...sorry...that's what it's called) and complete lack of perspective they have as it relates to what those they bitch about it to go through day in and day out.

The world does not revolve around teachers and education. It's an important part of life just as many other parts of life are important. But it's not immune from the effects of a faltering economy. Nor should it be.

Frankly, I didn't have much of an opinion one way or the other about teachers until this ridiculous overreaction to the changes initiated by Walker. Since that time, since witnessing the absolutely immature and out of touch behavior of way too many of them, I'm not inclined to be sympathetic. In truth, their jobs are not horrible. They're not unappreciated - if anything they have more praise heaped on them than any other profession I'm aware of. And they're not horribly compensated, even after the cuts that have been made. The endless complaints and bitching don't match the reality. Rather, they tend to fall on deaf ears. Certainly in my case they do. I've had enough of it.

Do the job, live with the conditions and compensation or get out of the way and let someone who'd be more than happy to have the job do so.

wfbmom, I have several close relatives who are teachers. I can, without any reservations, concur with Bob's comments. Teachers have largely lived life in a cocoon. They have been largely immune to the financial pressures the rest of us in the private sector have to face(recession? No problems, no worries about your job). They work 9 months out of the year and when they are working it's a shorter day than your typical private sector job. Pay kind of sucks for the first few years but after that it's pretty good. And then on the back end they are lavished with a huge pension.

The good news? The situation is likely to get better in the years to come, not necessarily because of the work Walker is doing but you have a large teacher base out there that can't find jobs. They are working a whole host of private sector jobs from retail to daycare. Once they do find teaching jobs I have a feeling they will be much more appreciative of those jobs and won't play the martyr card like so many teachers today want to do.

Yes, I respect teachers. Yes, their job is very important. No, their pay and benefits should not be an open checkbook. Especially here in WFB and the People's Republik of Shorewood, there are 100s of candidates for every job opening and thus we can afford to be choosy about who we hire and how we compensate them.

Look in the mirror.

That's because you support the recall (as long as you can do it somewhere where someone else is footing the bill to ensure your safety). Had they worn an "I Stand with Walker" button, you'd be braying like the mascot of the party you support.

I frankly don't believe you, but for the sake of argument if you did, you'd be wrong again. The classroom is no place for an educator to be promoting a political agenda of any kind.

You folks on the left seem obsessed with Charlie Sykes. I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but there are other media outlets and infotainment sources out there, including one that's taxpayer supported and has much greater geographical coverage than his does. The folks on that part of the dial have their own way of doing precisely what he does, although they couch it in "thoughtful discussion" that generally favors the POV you'd be more agreeable to and heavily screen calls accordingly, just as he does. I have no doubt that if an educator wore a button in support of Walker, there would be plenty of media attention to the incident. That is, if the teacher even made it into the classroom before being reported by a colleague and called in to make sure it was removed in a similar fashion.