The late night talk show host comedian Bill Maher takes on the hypocrisy of politicians who refuse to pay decent salaries to teachers.
As his evidence, he cites the story of a teacher in Arizona whose story went viral.
In one of Maher’s best lines, he quotes Sarah Palin, who said that teachers will get their reward in heaven, but says Maher, the rent’s due here on earth.
Count this as a big victory for the teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Kentucky, who have gotten the nation’s attention and taught the public a lesson.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Bill has always stood up for teachers on his show. I’ve heard him say that his sister is a public school teacher in NJ!
Working twelve-hour days for pay equal to what is earned by a cashier at a grocery store. Oh yeah! That sounds attractive, doesn’t it?
The funniest thing to me about the Oklahoma strikes was the “concern” that kids are missing school. Something like a third of Oklahoma districts were so broke they closed on Fridays. No one paid any attention to THAT. It was apparently fine that they missed one day a week for the whole year due to the neglect and disinterest of lawmakers, but it’s unconscionable that they’re missing time in school now due to teachers striking.
Where were all these attendance worriers when lawmakers and people in power underfunded those schools to the extent that they CLOSED?
We have an entire lobbying cohort of “education reformers” who somehow missed that public schools in West Virginia and Oklahoma and Arizona were collapsing from neglect?
Public schools were the LAST priority. It was WAY more important to lobby for vouchers and tests and teacher ranking schemes than it was to provide solid public schools for these kids. They can’t even keep the lights on in existing public schools yet they want to “transform” our schools?
Oh, sure, I’m certain they were “concerned,” all right.
“You love a teacher when they’re hiding your children from a crazed gunman in Newtown, and getting shot while protecting them. You adore educators when they’re using their body to shield your kids from a falling wall in the middle of a tornado in Oklahoma.
But let that teacher have the nerve to ask for job security or reasonable pay or a manageable workload and all of a sudden we’re crazy union thugs.”
Seen on the Web.
It would have continued if teachers hadn’t have walked off, too.
Because no one in our government is actually interested in public schools. They’re interested in “transforming education” or “reinventing government” but the 90% of kids who attend existing public schools? Not fashionable or exciting enough. Don’t bore them with these “status quo” details like keeping schools open and functioning. They have bigger fish to fry.
Of course in the same show he gave credence to Geraldo Rivera just by having him on the show and few hosts are able to confront right wing trash effectively. Giving platforms to propagandists gives legitimacy to their nonsense and delivers demagogues .
But don’t worry it wont take Bill long to repeat a neo liberal right wing meme about education . Or have a knee slapping interview with a reformer which undermines those Public Schools and their teachers.
But “never look a gift horse in the mouth” .
Maher also didn’t seem to agree with the boycott of Laura Ingraham’s sponsors. As Eliot Spitzer pointed out, sponsor boycotts are expressions of free speech, so tough luck, live with it. Maher was a “victim” of sponsor boycotts, he’s sensitive on the issue and he feels that such efforts close down free speech. I don’t agree with Maher. These right wing gargoyles and hate mongers should expect blowback and repercussions for all the filth they vomit up 24/7. If they can’t stand the heat, then they should retire from their positions. Talk radio is 99% right wing and too much of the media are owned and managed by right wingers (Sinclair).
All that being said, I was very happy that Maher was defending teachers. Thank you Bill Maher on that issue but not on the Ingraham kerfuffle.
Maher often steers clear on education issues directly, although he has had Randi Weingarten on the show a couple of times. Maher’s sister is an English teacher at a public high school in Bergen County, NJ. Maher attended the same public high school as Cory Booker. Booker went to Stanford, and Maher attended Cornell. They both seemed to have done quite well with their public educations.
retired teacher
Maher is no John Oliver .
It is the occasional snide remarks and agreement with popular memes that I find troubling. Not that I do not watch the show and appreciate some of the skits . He is relatively a light weight it comes to interviews as are many cable News anchors.
By the way, I have left messages on Maher’s Facebook and show pages several times in the past fiver years asking him to invite Diane Ravitch on his show. Perhaps if other suggest this as well during this turbulent period in education, we can get Diane on the show to share her knowledge and wisdom with HBO viewers.
I agree with your opinion on Maher. While he does sometimes make some brilliant observations, he is more likely to go for the joke or pop culture snicker than insight. He does have some interesting guests and discussions.
Right on the mark, Joel. I generally have a problem when people who have, shall we say, inconsistent opinions about issues are praised because we might agree with a particular sentiment. His comments on David Hogg completely negate his comments on teachers. Maher is also condescendingly sexist and his views on Middle East issues are completely in line with Benjamin Netanyahu. He’s a subpar entertainer and certainly no serious voice on public policy issues.
Sorry, I am not a consumer of late night TV, so I have no idea about Maher’s views on other subjects.
Just one example of the shallowness of Bill Maher:
GregB
Only because I was following a link, looking for a Labor article in today’s Daily News . I came across this headline .
“Bill Maher backs Laura Ingraham after Parkland survivor David Hogg calls for boycott”
Even in the Daily News, a paper written for third graders . The average reader is never getting past the headline .
Let me translate Maher says Hogg wrong Ingram right.
I can not wait for the talking points off of the “State News Network”
on Monday night about the rest of the interview . Of course I will have to get them second hand.
I love Bill Maher precisely because he’s a liberal who doesn’t give a sh** about orthodoxy. He is a free thinker! Rare these days. I meet many purist liberals who cannot bear Maher because he deviates from liberal purity on occasion. They can turn on Amy Goodman and never have their pure opinions challenged.
Of course in the same show he gave credence to Geraldo Rivera just by having him on the show
Mmmm, nup. Not the way I saw it. I think he challenged everything that came out of GR’s mouth and framed it in a way the audience would understand. He certainly can’t be accused of “censorship” the way that other liberals have been (wrongly, I should point out).
CNN elected Trump . Not Facebook . They could not find legitimate conservatives to bring on to panel discussions so they elevated a series of “ass clowns” to sit in opposition . The entire format is entertainment and not reporting . It degenerates into a he said she said debate and a shouting match . Basically claimed in a piece by Ross Douthat a few weeks ago. Glad to say many saw it before the conservatives at the Times.
GR ” think there are more voices its not state run TV.”
BM “I think MSNBC don’t make things up.”
GR “Russia collusion its an illusion ” “I say that any one who views
the witnesses who have been interviewed the indictments that have come down .”……..
I say that anyone who views the witnesses and the indictments that have come down has to speak Russian in order to understand them fully .
I say that if you have seen witnesses, you must have X-ray vision because they were all behind closed doors to keep the light of day off of them . Unlike Watergate or even Benghazi-gate where the public got to see not only the behavior of the witnesses but their elected representatives. This is a receptive audience to Maher’s message and it is entertainment . So it is not as dangerous . But I do not have to subject myself to 15 minutes of complete BS. Which happens more often than not when a host is not really an investigative journalist which few on TV are.
But for an intelligent back and forth on Russia read or watch the debate between Greenwald and Risen at the Intercept . I’m with Risen
but I would not accuse Greenwald of being phony BS propagandist like the shills Fox . (with very rare exception), why give them an audience.
https://theintercept.com/2018/02/21/video-glenn-greenwald-and-james-risen-debate-the-trumprussia-investigation/
It is far more insidious when it happens on CNN or gets carried as a sound bite . Investigative reporting is supposed to be a search for the truth . It is difficult at best . It is always a little bit subjective and not free of bias . So the consumer of the information has to have the ability to sort it out , most don’t .
You hit upon one of the most frustrating realities attached to the past decade-and-a-half of endless test punishing and charter school invasion: one day you hear a story which tries to expose the terrible problems now arising across the nation due to testing and charters, and the next day a ‘reformer’ is getting big publicity on the same media outlet.
Too many in our government are not interested in our children period! It’s the same when it comes to health, nutrition, personal safety as well as education. Too many fail to see the community responsibilities that we have and don’t want to spend “their” money to meet them. We need to increase taxes at the correct level, not what was just thoughtlessly done as a decrease, so we all pay our fair share of the income we derive from our economy to make sure all of our children get all that they need.
“Arizona educator: ‘I need a college degree to make this?'”
Be careful, the GOP is some states is already gutting teacher requirements and even hiring students with GED’s and no college to substitute teach.
The Koch brothers and “their” Republican party that’s slaves to their agenda are one second away from doing away with college degrees for teachers.
In fact, Trump might hire former Sheriff Arpaio to recruit his tent city prison inmates into classrooms as teachers and make them work for free.
“Hey, kid, if you don’t shut up and do the work, I’m going to crush your skull with this book. I’m already serving ten life sentences so what’s one more.”
Oh they’re interested in them alright. They are just interested in making money off of them.
A friend in Florida writes, “Latest news from Miami: they are looking at building housing for teachers on campus because teachers are paid so poorly they can’t afford any other housing. Sad.”
Yep, “the rent’s due here on Earth.”
Here’s the state by state data on teacher pay: “Teachers across the country have finally had enough of the teacher pay penalty”
https://www.epi.org/publication/teachers-across-the-country-have-finally-had-enough-of-the-teacher-pay-penalty/
I would love to require these politicians to do a teacher’s work, and receive a teacher’s salary for six months…then see how/if their opinion changes. Realistically, they wouldn’t want to, not because they don’t know how hard they work and how little they make, but rather because they simply do not care. A classic example of apathy versus empathy.
As for Palin’s rather mindless remark, if “heaven” is this wonderful eternity she makes it out to be, there would be no rent, therefore rendering Maher correct in this scenario.
The following information comes from Illinois Retired Teachers Association [IRTA]. Local districts are all struggling for funding. It is a STUPID move to expect them to take on any responsibility for retired teachers. Rauner spent $27 million of his own money to get elected. He is supposed to be a successful businessman who can run Illinois [‘into the ground’.] If Rauner and Trump are the shining examples of wealth, I’m not impressed.
Rauner [R] in Illinois wants the following to happen:
“The governor zeroed out any funding for Trip [Teachers’ Retirement Insurance Program]; lowering the state’s overall costs to Teachers’ Retirement System by shifting those costs to local school districts. His savings to the state would come from shifting $490 million in pension costs onto local schools, as was as from his proposal to slash health insurance benefits for retired teachers. The cost shift would be phased in at 25% per year over the next four years.
In addition, the governor has proposed eliminating the following programs for K-12: After School Programs, Advance Placement, After School Matters, District Intervention Funding, Parent Mentoring, National Board Certified Teachers, School Support Services (Lowest Performing Schools), and Teach for America.”