Sarah Wiles, a science teacher in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools with six years experience and a master’s degree, sent an email to every member of the North Carolina General Assembly with the subject line: “I am embarrassed to confess: I am a teacher.”
This was her email:
“From: Sarah Wiles
“Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2014 6:47 PM
“Every year there is a debate on teacher compensation. This is only exacerbates during election years. However, nothing happens. As a sixth year teacher, I have only seen a pay increase once (and then again after plunging myself into debt by earning my Masters in Education). I have attended rallies, joined NCAE, petitioned, and worn red (or blue and white, or whatever color of the rainbow I was required to wear to “show my support’). Nothing ever changes, except my wardrobe. So, that brings me to this one request: leave me alone.
“I am so tired of being lied to about how important I am and how valuable I am. I am also sick and tired of politicians making my profession the center of attention and paying it lip-service by visiting a school, kneeling next to a child, shaking my hand and thanking me, telling the nightly news that I deserve a raise, and then proceeding to speak through the budget that I am not worth it. If you aren’t going to do anything, and you know nothing will change, just leave me alone. I would rather be ignored than disrespected.
“And on the topic of disrespect, our salary is disrespectful. I tutor my own students for free four days a week after school until I have to go to my next job. I tutor outside of school for pay about fifteen hours a week, and that includes weekends. I also babysit. And I manage pools and teach pool operator classes. And, I currently have an application for summer school being reviewed. I get home at eight pm, spend a half an hour with my husband, answer parent emails, fall asleep, and am back at work at seven am the next morning. I have come very accustomed to being disrespected. My students know that no one cares about education because they frequently ask me why I ever made the decision to become a teacher. Honestly, I am running out of answers. Do not misunderstand or misconstrue what I am saying as apathy for my students (I love them more than most adults), but I can no longer defend that North Carolina cares about education because they are not willing to pay for it. It’s a lie and everyone knows it.
“I know that you all will continue talking about how important teachers are and weaving those wonderful words that tax payers love to hear from the people who are “leading” them that make them believe that it isn’t all about the bottom line and that you care about their kids and the public education system. But, I am calling your bluff. If you continue to do nothing even though you can do something, you should be ashamed. I am embarrassed for you. I am embarrassed by you. And, save for my students, I am embarrassed by being a teacher in North Carolina, the doormat of society.”
Sarah Wiles, M.A.Ed.”
She received a response from Senator David Curtis of Denver, North Carolina, which was copied to every other legislator. Note that he addressed her by her first name, which struck me as condescending.
He wrote:
From: Sen. David Curtis
“Date: May 12, 2014 at 9:46:57
“Dear Sarah,
“I have given your e-mail titled “I am embarrassed to confess: I am a teacher” some thought, and these are my ideas. A teacher has an incredible influence on students–for good or for bad. My teachers, coaches, and Boy Scout leaders had a great influence on my decision to go to college which was not a family tradition. My concern is that your students are picking up on your attitude toward the teaching profession. Since you naturally do not want to remain in a profession of which you are ashamed, here are my suggestions for what you should tell your potential new private sector employer:
“1. You expect to make a lot more than you made as a teacher because everyone knows how poorly compensated teachers are.
“2. You expect at least eight weeks paid vacation per year because that is what the taxpayers of North Carolina gave you back when you were a poorly compensated teacher
“3. You expect a defined contribution retirement plan that will guarantee you about $35,000 per year for life after working 30 years even if you live to be 104 years old. Your employer will need to put about $16,000 per year into your retirement plan each year combined with your $2,000 contribution for the next 30 years to achieve this benefit. If he objects, explain to him that a judge has ruled that the taxpayers of North Carolina must provide this benefit to every public school teacher. Surely your new employer wants to give better benefits than the benefits you received as a poorly compensated teacher.
“4. Your potential employer may tell you that he has heard that most North Carolina workers make less than the national average because we are a low cost-of-living- state, private sector workers making 87% of the national average and teachers making 85% of the national average. Tell him that may be true, but to keep that confidential because the teachers union has convinced parents that teachers are grossly undercompensated based on a flawed teachers union survey of teacher pay.
“I support the teacher pay raise but am very concerned that the teachers union has successfully presented to the public a deceptive view of total teacher compensation that is simply not consistent with the facts.
“Sincerely,
“Senator David Curtis”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Another one from NC:
>
“Teachers are the new Jews.”
Or so a fellow teacher of mine in L.A. put it.
(She’s Jewish, by the way… for whatever
that’s worth.)
Her point was that they are an group of
innocent people being scapegoated,
slandered, lied about, etc. … by an evil
group whose motives are selfish, greedy,
ignoble, etc. …
Yes, I know that analogy is offensive to
some, so I rarely use it…
However, this email written by this
legislator shows it to be accurate… the
whole “teachers are so important” patronizing
pat-on-the-head is all a facade, and not
how “corporate reformers” REALLY feel…
when the mask drops away—as it did in this
North Carolina legislator’s email—you see
how “corporate reform” people really feel.
This is the same guy who wouldn’t last
a day in a public school… particularly
one in a challenging, urban, and / or
low-income community.
Jack: “a fellow teacher of mine in L.A. put it.
(She’s Jewish, by the way… for whatever
that’s worth.)”
this is a good analogy …
so many people in the U.S. have bought into a fiction of power and money and pushing students through “rigor” to study more “STEM” to concentrate on “grit” or some perceived competitive advantage .
Teachers who have lived by a different value (building community , furthering knowledge ) are seen as much lower in status and worth . I fall back on a professor who studies the Old Testament and he talks about scribes who share “cadences of familiar themes, we hear poet and prophet, testimony and resistance, truth and power, exile and captivity…. the scribe’s work is to stand up week after week, text after text” it is repetitive and rhythmic … ” Speaking truth to power to those people who have bought into a fiction of power and money. (citing work of Professor Walter Brueggemann “Inscribing the Text)
Try not to get discouraged.
“This is the same guy who wouldn’t last a day in a public school…particularly one in a challenging, urban, and / or low-income community.”
He’s a practicing optometrist who spent 5 years in the Air Force. I’m thinking he could get through one day. Two might be a stretch.
Using some basic numbers: If Sara has a master’s degree and started her career at 50K, which she didn’t, then after 10 years she would be making about 55K a year.
If Johnny obtained an bachelor’s degree in something other than education, business for example. He would start at the same 50K but after 10 years he could or would be making 100k or more.
As for Senator Curtis he is poorly informed as most politicians are; teachers are only paid for so many days…like 187 in Texas, the days they work. The school districts graciously divide the pay of 12 months instead of 10. So there is no any paid vacation. Most teachers work extra jobs in the summer just to make ends meet.
“If Johnny obtained an bachelor’s degree in something other than education, business for example. He would start at the same 50K but after 10 years he could or would be making 100k or more.”
And then after 15 years he’d be unemployed with the hope of making one day making 50k again.
Possibly.
Of course, teachers, with their guaranteed for life tenured jobs, never have to worry about unemployment.
Oh, wait….
Unless he’s related to the boss. Then all he has to do is rearrange pencils on his desk all day. Worked for enough of these guys. We just had to tell them to not make decisions and what to say in board meetings.
“And then after 15 years he’d be unemployed with the hope of making one day making 50k again.”
Same goes for teachers…our district is still laying off teachers. In fact, at the state and local levels, we’ve been shedding public sector jobs left and right.
Wow that guy is a total scumbag. Listen buddy, I suggest you shut your mouth because even though teachers in this nation are looked down upon nowadays, there is one profession the public hates even more…politicians. That means you.
An old joke I heard once was this (probably everyone has heard it?). Feel free to substitute [ed reformer] or [anti-teacher legislator] for [lawyer] :
Q: What’s the difference between a dead snake on the highway and a dead [lawyer] on the highway?
A: There are skid marks leading up to the snake.
Or you can replace snake with skunk.
google his name and go to his website and it will explain a lot about his attitude towards the teacher. But there are some young aides on the staff who write those letters and we need to do more to help to counter this attack on teachers everywhere; there is a major attack on pensions… this is part of the battle. Chicago teachers union etc… I tell the parents here that Boston teachers were also asking for more nurses in their union negotiations but voters only see/hear this viewpoint that david curtis expresses.
quote: “davidcurtisforncsenate.com to find out about my background and political philosophy. If you believe in family values and in a conservative smaller government, low tax political philosophy, please help send me to Raleigh.”
For a Senator to write theses words, is beyond anything I could imagine in my lifetime in America.
Shouldn’t the Senator’s response be sent to media outlets everywhere?
No his response should not be sent to media outlets….we should not promote stupid
A very fair point. Thing is, I think he may have done us a favor by showing his true viewpoints. Certainly don’t want to promote his thinking, but I suspect (hope?) his views aren’t generally agreed with.
He was voted into office I believe. Somebody must think he’s special.
Special is one word… I can think of many more less positive.
Apparently, it is enough to get into office today by calling your “political philosophy” a “Christian worldview” and claiming that you will be “Working for smaller government, fewer regulations, and a job creating environment. Working toward getting our state financial house in order so we can lower taxes for all North Carolina citizens and businesses in North Carolina, thereby creating more jobs”
This is “dog whistle politics,” employing buzz words that appeal to white, right-wing religiouus zealots who erroneously think that big business is their friend: http://billmoyers.com/tag/dog-whistle-politics/
I live by a simple philosophy: say what you’re going to do, then do what you said you were going to do.
To many times in politics, they tell us what they think we want to hear then in the end they do what they want to serve their own interest.
“Special” interests;^) I couldn’t resist.
“Note that he addressed her by her first name, which struck me as condescending”
Perhaps it is condescending, especially after reading it. I use first names in talking with teachers, administrators, our supe, etc. . . as I use it to level the field, eliminating argument by authority. Since he signs his name with “Senator”, though, I do agree that it is an attempt to “condescend” on his part and not one of “equals”
There are reports of members of this General Assembly saying things like, “I’m the Senator; you’re not. Be quiet.” Phil Berger, I think, said that.
Kind of reminds me of myself on a bad day. Just kidding, but I’ve thought it.
The politician is a little touchy. He’s worried about job security. His race to the bottom agenda is creating some controversy among the people he works for. He’s not getting a stellar value-added measure:
“As legislators returned to town last week, 10 months after a tumultuous 2013 session when Republicans passed one deeply conservative bill after another, one Republican seemed a bit like the odd man out.
That would be Gov. Pat McCrory, who ran for office in 2012 as a moderate bridge builder and then found himself the face of a party whose restrictions on abortion, voting access, and benefits for the poor and unemployed played out in the most polarizing legislative session in memory in what had been a relatively moderate Southern state.
The legislature has a less ambitious agenda this time. Protesters are promising another round of the Moral Monday marches that drew national attention to the Statehouse. But one of the main questions of the session is whether Mr. McCrory, a former bipartisan mayor of Charlotte, can influence the powerful Republican leadership.
“He was very ineffective,” said Sam Watson, 64, a mortgage broker in Raleigh, who voted for the governor but said the General Assembly had gone too far. “I think the majority of the legislature is further right than the majority of the people.”
Maybe attacking public schools in a fairly moderate state where people value public education isn’t such a sure-fire political tactic, after all. He invokes the magic “unions!” word that the end there, so that might work.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/us/politics/north-carolina-governor-tested-by-own-party-as-legislators-return.html?hpw&rref=politics
I like the VAM comment….lol
State legislators in NC are considered to be part time workers, and yet they receive pensions? Who else gets a pension for part time work, whether in the public sector or the private sector?
Here’s another interesting piece on pensions for lawmakers in different states:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/state-legislators-pensions/index.html
I’ve often wondered how politicians can rant about public employee pensions with a straight face. I guess it’s easy for people who utterly lack conscience….
Because they hind behind ALEC, which seems like a gang to me.
And for those “religious” and “Christian” members of ALEC, this church girl would offer up to any of them that they are worshipping the ALEC god now; that is their church. I would go head to head Jesus-talk with any of them! Bring it on.
I believe in public school. And I attend church.
that was supposed to have read “hide,” but I typed “hind,” which might have been subliminal
They need a kick in the hind.
How are they part-time workers?
Here it refers to “the state’s part-time lawmakers” and the pay looks low to go along with that, They jack up their pay with expense stipends to increase their pensions: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/02/26/1884711/amid-retirements-state-lawmakers.html
The website for Curtis says he is as an optometrist so I assume others work elsewhere as well.
I also looked on the ncls.org site and found the job demands vary by state, but NC is one of the lighter ones. But if teachers are judged by lawmakers only for time in the classroom as McCrory does, perhaps we should pay legislators only for the time they actually set foot on the statehouse floor.
I don’t know long it has been going on, but it kind of makes sense that a state which is so gung ho on reducing government and promoting deregulation would employ lawmakers just part time. NC legislators should not be getting pensions at all for jobs that have been designated as part time work.
I guess my question is what does it mean for a job to be “designated as part-time.” I.e., does it have some specific legal meaning (triggering specific statutory provisions that apply to “part-time” versus “full-time” jobs), or does it just reflect that the legislature is in session for specific periods, or something else. (To be clear, I don’t expect you to know this.)
I wonder if they get health insurance, too. The federal health care law requires that employers with at least 50 workers employed full-time, which is defined as 30 hours or more per week. provide insurance or pay a fine. Or maybe they are trying to dodge ObamaCare.
NH pays each legislator $100 plus mileage.That’s it.
Thanks for sharing this link. Speaks volumes about the duplicitous nature of politics these days.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
We’ll see how much NC really values education in November. I know that we are keeping the pressure on and don’t plan on letting anyone forget about how well the Republican tax plan has worked out.
Guess, the failure of Easley, Perdue and Democrats for the 12 years they ran the
state had nothing to do with dormant teacher salaries.
Like a bear in a 12 year hibernation…Rev. Barber has awakened and rallied his flock. Victim hood is the favored tool of the Left.
Wrong. Perdue attempted to raise teacher salaries and republicans blocked her.
I agree, “every year there is a debate” about teacher salaries. And, as a taxpayer I also ask why. But, from a different vantage point….as I do not believe ANY public profession should be held up to be a political issue.
The ‘debate’ should be for ALL public employees, and the media which uses teachers to attack any administration is an insult to the literally hundreds of other public professions in both state and local government.
While the media and teachers want the public to believe teachers have suffered….they neglect to mention so have
many others employed in the public sector.
The finger pointing only seems to go back three years, ignoring the previous dozen since former Gov. Hunt left office.
When teachers decide to join other public sector workers rather than continue to present themselves as victims of partisan debasement of their value (which there is) all parties can move forward to increase public salaries without overburdening taxpayers. ajbruno14 gmail.com
In our state (Ohio), the Republicans pushed an ALEC written bill targeting all public workers. The public workers all joined together to fight back with an initiative know as SB5. The face of the opposition was police, firefighters, and nurses. But teachers bank rolled the movement because there are so many more relative others. Teachers did have to stay out of the spotlight because of the prevailing anti-teacher sentiment you embody. We went through a governor’s campaign with teachers as the enemy. After all, it was Kasich who vowed to “break the backs” of teachers and say they needed to “take out a full page ad apologizing” for not backing him. Those comments were not directed at other public workers. But the divide and conquer approach did not take hold here as it did in Wisconsin with carve outs for police and firefighters. It is kinda hard to argue with the carveouts did not target teachers, as well as other public workers.
“I agree, “every year there is a debate” about teacher salaries. And, as a taxpayer I also ask why. But, from a different vantage point….as I do not believe ANY public profession should be held up to be a political issue.”
Ridiculous. Teachers build kids – we don’t collect trash.
We are educated, with many holding Master’s and some doctorates. We’ve invested tens of thousands of dollars to be educated people. Although there are some professions in the public sector that do require similar education (public defender, etc…), those workers go on from their positions in the public sector to lucrative positions in the private sector. Teachers are stuck.
Your comment is ignorant of reality.
ajbruno14, you do realize that when Bev Perdue was in office, we had a Republican majority in the congress? In fact, they vetoed her budget in order to get their cuts through. It’s been the GOP all along, not the Dems running the state. Don’t get me wrong, not a fan or party politics here, but you don’t have your facts correct. Also, NCAE actually IS supporting all public workers and have taken the stance that we should not be robbing Peter to pay Paul.
As an aside, I think it’s a little offensive for you to say we are presenting ourselves as ‘victims’ since it is obvious that we are out there fighting, protesting, and campaigning for not just a raise but for funding for the children of NC to be restored. Teacher pay is just a part of what we, the teachers, parents and people of NC, want and we’ve been very clear about that. This is another example where research might have helped you out.
When the state senator refers to the teachers union for being the root of the problem that raises a red flag to me because NC does not have a teacher union. Teacher unions are illegal in NC. The senator should know that, right?
The missing piece was the condescension in the legislator’ s response. But he got Batswarmed. On May 20, 2014 9:02 AM, “Diane Ravitch’s blog” wrote:
> dianeravitch posted: “Sarah Wiles, a science teacher in the > Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools with six years experience and a master’s > degree, sent an email to every member of the North Carolina General > Assembly with the subject line: “I am embarrassed to confess: I am a > teacher.””
Reblogged this on SD Educators United.
One point not made thus far: NC has low wages because it is a “right to work state”… and as such it led the race to the bottom in wages by luring factories away from the Northeast only to have the same corporations who sought low wages and tax breaks from the state to head offshore when they found they could manufacture products even cheaper and with less regulation abroad…
And one other point: there was a time not so long ago when a number of private sector folks had the kinds of pensions the good senator (and his Tea Party buddies) decries. When the corporations were asked to make certain they had enough reserves set aside to fund those pensions they decided to stop the practice in order to reward their shareholders.
If we NC employers chose to pay employees a decent wage and provide them with a pension that would allow them to stay in their homes the resentment toward teachers wouldn’t be nearly as high… and if anyone who’s never spent a day in the classroom taught for even a month they would come to appreciate the degree of difficulty in the job. Politicians pander to the public’s resentment toward public employees to divert their attention from the race to the bottom that’s gone on for decades.
“One point not made thus far: NC has low wages because it is a “right to work state”… and as such it led the race to the bottom in wages by luring factories away from the Northeast only to have the same corporations who sought low wages and tax breaks from the state to head offshore when they found they could manufacture products even cheaper and with less regulation abroad…
And one other point: there was a time not so long ago when a number of private sector folks had the kinds of pensions the good senator (and his Tea Party buddies) decries. When the corporations were asked to make certain they had enough reserves set aside to fund those pensions they decided to stop the practice in order to reward their shareholders.
If we NC employers chose to pay employees a decent wage and provide them with a pension that would allow them to stay in their homes the resentment toward teachers wouldn’t be nearly as high… and if anyone who’s never spent a day in the classroom taught for even a month they would come to appreciate the degree of difficulty in the job. Politicians pander to the public’s resentment toward public employees to divert their attention from the race to the bottom that’s gone on for decades.”
TRUTH.
Reblogged this on Network Schools – Wayne Gersen and commented:
After reading this post and the 35 comments made at that point, I entered the following comment:
One point not made thus far: NC has low wages because it is a “right to work state”… and as such it led the race to the bottom in wages by luring factories away from the Northeast only to have the same corporations who sought low wages and tax breaks from the state to head offshore when they found they could manufacture products even cheaper and with less regulation abroad…
And one other point: there was a time not so long ago when a number of private sector folks had the kinds of pensions the good senator (and his Tea Party buddies) decries. When the corporations were asked to make certain they had enough reserves set aside to fund those pensions they decided to stop the practice in order to reward their shareholders.
If we NC employers chose to pay employees a decent wage and provide them with a pension that would allow them to stay in their homes the resentment toward teachers wouldn’t be nearly as high… and if anyone who’s never spent a day in the classroom taught for even a month they would come to appreciate the degree of difficulty in the job. Politicians pander to the public’s resentment toward public employees to divert their attention from the race to the bottom that’s gone on for decades.
He gets paid 20 k a year for 6 months work one year and then six weeks the next and for that he gets a pensions and benefits too and he is complaining about teachers?. What a douche…
now now Chris…you’re giving him to much credit…:-)
Giggle
It is interesting to think about how the part time nature of state legislatures like this restrict the pool of possible candidates for these positions. Most who need to work full time will not be able to run for this very time consuming, but poorly paid, job.
Today, I don’t think it’s “very time consuming” when you are one amongst many lawmakers in a party that is basically against government, regulations and making laws. And when they are for legislation, it has been neatly handed to them by ALEC. The federal government is a prime example of how little this do-nothing party actually works. They pride themselves in this, too, but I think they should be returning their salaries and pensions altogether..
Many positions in local governments are UNPAID in the suburbs around here, such as members of school boards and planning commissions, and those ARE very time consuming jobs, but they have no problem getting community members to run for and fill those offices.
Community government jobs are generally a little different. How far does your local school board member travel to go to a board meeting? Some members of my legislature travel several hundred miles, and must attend daily legislative sessions.
There is a lot of traveling for people on the planning commision because they have to check out the real estate. Easy peasy. They can be provided travel reimbursements.
No government official should be paid for just showing up and then doing nothing, no matter now often. There is no accountability for those who are themselves calling for accountability the most.
And your employer would be just fine with you taking 4 months off? Most legislators in my state have to have flex ability in employment, and that influences the makeup of the legislature.
Many seats in local governments have been filled by stay at home moms who could get by on their husband’s salaries, but that was when we had a middle class. Do-nothing politicians who have no intention of addressing the inequitable distribution of wealth deserve no pay and no pensions.
Yup. Stay at home moms, independently wealthy men, bosses can all afford the time off as well. Does that help explain the viewpoints of those elected to state legislatures?
Yes, teaching economist. You are absolutely right. here in Nh where legislator are paid one-hundred dollars plus mileage, the makeup of the General Court is old and wealthy. However, I will say this– with 400 or so of them, you can’t throw a stone without hitting one, and that does make for more accountability in most cases, esp. in the House.
My upper-case “h” seems to be malfunctioning >:~{
What teachers’ union? We don’t have a teachers’ union. NCAE is not a union.
This is a link to 2 letters posted by the Pleasantville School District Board of Education on the school district website. (Pleasantville is in Westchester County, right next to Chappaqua, NY “the fifth richest town in the country” according to Time http://time.com/100987/richest-towns/.)
My point is that the wealthy suburbs of New York City are gearing up to go after teachers. These are the same people who pushed to get New York State to do away with the data cloud, these are the same people who opted their children out of Common Core tests in New York State. These are the same people who want to hold Commissioner King and the NYS Board of Regents accountable. These are the same people who want to go after Pearson.
This is a school district with a per capita income way above other areas of the country. This is a community in which parents are highly educated, almost all hold Bachelors degrees and many also hold Masters degrees. What I want to know is this: who do they think will even be able to afford to come and teach their children? Yes, teachers in Pleasantville make considerable more than teachers anywhere else in the country, but these same teachers pay more than teachers anywhere else in the country to live in this area. Who will be willing to go into debt to become a teacher to earn less than a private sector employee with a masters degree and have to pay for their health benefits on top of that? Already many new teachers in Westchester are living 45 minutes to an hour away because they simply cannot afford to live close to where they teach.
http://pleasantvilleschools.com/Board%20of%20Education/Advocacy/Repeal%20the%20Triborough%20Amendment/
http://pleasantvilleschools.com/Board%20of%20Education/Advocacy/Change%20Mandated%20Pension%20Contributions/
“…teachers in Pleasantville make considerably more than teachers anywhere else in the country…”
Sorry for the typo.
The wealthy suburbs of NYC are calling for the end of tenure laws and the end of district contributions to teachers’ health benefits. This is a very troubling development.
I think that it will be a good thing to break the connection between employment and health insurance. The ACA is a good start.
Why do you think “it will be a good thing to break the connection between employment and health insurance”?
In large part to reduce job lock. When you change jobs, any health issue becomes a preexisting condition with employment based health insurance. Retiring before eligibility for Medicare is at least as bad a problem.
Requiring everyone to have health insurance gets around the problem of adverse selection that tying health insurance to work addresses.
I think a better idea would be to stop allowing insurance companies to penalize and deny people health coverage for pre-existing conditions.
That won’t work because a significant number of people will seek to buy health insurance only after the diagnosis. It is fairly obvious why no insurance company would pay for the preexisting body damage to your car. The same problem exists with health insurance.
It’s okay to screw people over when the government condones your love of profits over people. Thank goodness Medicare does not deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. People matter more than money. This is why we need national health care for all.
It is not about screwing people over or about profits, it is about having the possibility of buying insurance.
Suppose you offered collision and liability insurance on preexisting car accidents. Who would buy the insurance before they wrecked the car? Who would keep the insurance after they have repaired the car? You would not have insurance, and since everyone who buys the insurance has already suffered a loss, your premium would have to be the average cost of making the repair. Oh wait, if you charged the average cost of making a repair, only those with above average cost would buy your insurance, so you would need to charge higher than average costs for repair as a premium. Oh wait, if you charge higher than average costs…..
The insurance company would no that anyone willing to buy the insurance has repair costs greater than the insurance premium. No one would get to buy insurance at all.
And you claim that economics is not about money.
As Richard Lewis once tweeted, “What a tragedy that caring for people in need is so debatable.”
In this case economics is about a prediction: if you allow people to choose to buy or not to buy insurance against automobile accidents and require insurance companies to cover preexisting automobile crashes, there will be no automobile insurance policies offered to anyone. Rather than providing coverage to more people, your policy would eliminate coverage for everyone.
That is why the individual mandate in the ACA is so important.
“In this case economics is about a prediction: if you allow people to choose to buy or not to buy insurance against automobile accidents and require insurance companies to cover preexisting automobile crashes, there will be no automobile insurance policies offered to anyone. ”
It’s unfortunate you don’t see the disconnect in your analogy.
People are not cars.
I question your character to comparing the two. Shame.
JIM,
I am not talking about cars, but people making decisions about insurance. This is a well understood problem in insurance markets, called adverse selection. It is why unemployment insurance can not be provided in markets and why the individual mandate is essential if you want to provide coverage for preexisting conditions in health care.
Sorry if the world is inconvenient.
Single payer system like the Europeans is the best solution, TE, but you’re too underdeveloped to know that . . . . .
I am an advocate for single payer. As genetic testing improves, the adverse selection problem will become so bad that single payer will be inevitable.
Wait! Did I read “an 8 week paid vacation”? I’m assuming that is in reference to summers off? I don’t know how it is for other states, but in my state and district we get paid for a specified number of contract days in a school year. I’m lucky that my district divides that pay up into 12 months of paychecks – once a month paychecks! So basically, I am being paid at the end of August, for a contract I completed in the beginning of June. Whoever holds on to the money meant for my August paycheck, is most likely earning interest. So, I’m giving whomever, an interest free loan – meaning they don’t have to pay me interest for borrowing my money for 8 weeks. Then, when I do get paid that money, I am paying taxes on it.
So if I am getting paid for only a specified number of days, that means they are actual work days whether it be professional development, prep and planning, collaboration, data review, and classroom instruction time. Which also means, any holiday, winter or spring break, including summer, is not a paid contract day! I don’t get paid for having Memorial Day off! But, thanks to decades of tireless advocating unions, other employers outside of education, will get a paid holiday! If I remember correctly, it’s those bad unions that protect bad teachers!
So the person who is getting paid holidays and vacations and sick days during a 12 month contract (along with a whole brochure of benefits that unions fought for), is complaining that teachers get paid for 8 weeks of summer off?
What did I miss? Is there something I don’t know that backs up a silly comment about teachers getting paid for an 8 week summer vacation? Wait! Is it really 8 full weeks because last I checked, teachers are usually taking classes during the summer, going to workshops, professional development, cleaning their rooms, prepping for the new year, reading and researching…. I’m still writing for that paycheck!
Oh darn! I typed ‘writing’ instead of ‘waiting’.
M,
Right, if you require the purchase (though we only require liability) you element the adverse selection problem. That is why the individual mandate is an essential part of the ACA. I am not sure why CT does not see this.
Where does he address her part-time job? I too work a part-time job, not because I am an overcompensated teacher, but because I like things such as food, clothing, and shelter.