I think the whole "If only we could fire bad teachers!" argument is an absurd talking point. The educational institution as a whole is a failure, not just a bunch of incompetent teachers somehow ruining an otherwise top-notch educational system. The same entity which routinely hires appallingly bad teachers is now trusted to competently fire them?
People are fired because some boss decides to fire them. We're given no reason to assume that this is the same thing as firing based on incompetence. But it is clear that the bosses want their subordinates to have less job security and decisionmaking power. That's why bosses understandably go on offensives against unions.
Teachers' bosses for some reason go unnoticed. Teachers have managers ("administrators"), and the top bosses are the government (meaning we look at the distribution of power in society, to see whose interests are likely served by the educational system).
I'm certainly not a fan of most schoolteachers I've met. Being admitted into an unhealthy institution, and thriving within it, is not a hopeful sign. But they're better than their bosses, and the real flaws of the system lie elsewhere...
People are fired because some boss decides to fire them. We're given no reason to assume that this is the same thing as firing based on incompetence. But it is clear that the bosses want their subordinates to have less job security and decisionmaking power. That's why bosses understandably go on offensives against unions.
Teachers' bosses for some reason go unnoticed. Teachers have managers ("administrators"), and the top bosses are the government (meaning we look at the distribution of power in society, to see whose interests are likely served by the educational system).
I'm certainly not a fan of most schoolteachers I've met. Being admitted into an unhealthy institution, and thriving within it, is not a hopeful sign. But they're better than their bosses, and the real flaws of the system lie elsewhere...