aibu to think that all those striking on thursday are being selfish and greedy?

[hellospoon]

And they should be thankful that they even have a job?

In a day where thousands of people are unemployed and living in poor conditions surely these teachers should be thankful they even have a job!

Many parents are having to take leave, some unpaid I presume the effect that it will have on family's is ridiculous.

Funny that there's a group of civil servants who are not being asked to help out in our moment of crisis - and they are very well-remunerated too. So how about dropping the many, many Red Herrings and actually focus on the whole nonsense of 'we're all in this together.' Bob Diamond isn't. Vodafone isn't. And the bloody MPs aren't either. After all, they are another group who aren not meant to be in it for the money.

BTW Lego awesome post

YABU. Teachers aren't your free childcare.

Isn't it a pity there is no magical money tree? That conservatives did so well in the elections? Most of England want them in for every £8 of cuts labour would be cutting £7

There is not an infinite amount of money, hard choices have to be made.

YANBU

I'm not sure why people keep referring to parents being (paraphrasing) 'annoyed at not having babysitters for the day'.

It makes no sense. Are you saying that you resent parents expecting their children to be taken care of during the school day? Should families only ever have one working parent in case teachers choose to strike? Just seems a bizarre thing to say.

TCOP, yours too

TCO B , sorry!

The standards of education are, and have been falling for some time.

Actually, standards are much the same as they were 60 years ago, and haven't changed much. Among 16 and 17 year old conscripts in the second world war. for example, virtually a quarter were illiterate.

If you're talking about children who haven't reached level 4 (quite a different concept from children who can't read or write), then in 2010 it was 20%.

lego What a fab post.

Yes something and if you look behind all the hate-mongering of the Tories you will see that the hard choices are NOT being made, the soft targets of families and public servants are so much easier than tackling the real problems.

BTW the government was not voted for by 'most' of the country at all. The Tories did not gain a majority. In fact they performed dismally and have since gone on to pretty much alienate every man, woman, child and tree in Scotland.

somethingwitty, try reading TCOB's post. that really isn't such a hard choice now is it? I am not sure that 'most' of england wanted them in. And if people did want them in, do they still want them in? after all the 'lies' they spun to get elected? really?

Well as a working LP I knew I was fucked when Tories were elected. I'm halfway through my OU degree to do teacher training and looks like they're fucking me over again. although I accept I've not yet had a pension package as not yet a teacher

Rant over - as you were.

YABVVU I thought it was pretty obvious by now that this government is systematically taking from the poor to feed the already very rich. What puzzles me is how the working class people of this country read right wing newspapers and really believe that taking money from the service sector can help our economic situation. It can't. The way capitalism works is that the banking/finance industry continually grows and takes money from the people who are actually making things or providing services. When this fails, as it has done recently we try and make it grow again, by taking more money from those who are making things or providing services. Better explained here in this amazing video

Lastly, how anyone could imagine teachers and public service workers are acting out of greed???? These people are the lifeblood of our society.

youarekidding, I think that as a lone working parent AND a teacher, in the eyes of the tories I am more or less the lowest of the low and deserve nothing. And they won't even discuss the changes they want to make. That's what makes me so angry

As opposed to Labour attacking a country to take away their WMDs, British Jobs for British workers, promised referendum on EU constitution, firm on immigration?

Or the Lib dems cast iron guarantee to end tuition fees?

They lie, they all lie.

People are complaining like there is an alternative, Labour were going to make cuts deeper and tougher than Thatcher.

Whilst Britain wishes to remain a hippy paradise donating Billions abroad, housing wasters who havent worked for decades, looking after ever waif and stray who can cling to the underside of a lorry, there will be large amounts of revenue extracted from those who it can be removed from.

Doing the link properly: Trust me it's worth watching right the way through till it gets to the picture of the monopoly board.

I can never understand why politicians run the country when there are people who actually understand economics who might find solutions that would help everyone.

There is an interesting thread about Graduates going on right now on AIBU. Many are struggling to find any kind of work - let along that for which they are qualified. Kind of puts the sheer bloody mindedness of the teacher's union into perspective really.

thanks youarekidding , good luck!

i could say, welcome to the the club... of being simutaneously used by the conservative government as a scape goat, kick bag, money saving opportunity and blame for all ills as well as a jolly handy excuse for not wanting people to stand up and be counted for believiing in something; being reffered to as a 'poor, hardworking group of society' only when it suits them.

Isn't it great how we can be all these handy things to them!? amazing, a bit like being a mere chess peice in a game.

Do you want to attract and retain the BEST teachers for your children OP? If so, support the strike. If you are happy just to have a teacher who will roll over and accept the changes to their pension agreements, keep moaning.

What the government and teacher bashers need to remember is the thats teachers are the future not the youth of today. Because without teachers the youth of today won't be able to provide for themselves or the government.

Teachers are public servants - they provide so much. It's only right they get something in return.

Pensions are just like bank accounts/ savings. Seriously if anyones bank refused them the money paid in they'd go mad.

LegoStuckinMyhoover - serious question. What might Labour have done differently if they were still in?

mdowdall, i have no idea. i also have not mentioned the labour party and i have not guessed at what they may have done or not done differently if they were still in.

I have only spoke of what i see happening now and isn't that what is important?

"Pensions are just like bank accounts/ savings. Seriously if anyones bank refused them the money paid in they'd go mad."

Sounds fair to me; let people take, out as pension, what they have paid in.

My point is, LegoStuckinMyhoover, that things would be pretty much the same. The govt's hands are tied here because the economy is fucked.

Labour wouldn't have done anything, they'd have just run up further debts and left it for the next government to deal with.

The youth of today can't provide for themselves or the government as it stands. Teachers aren't teaching kids what they actually need to know to get on life, they are too bogged down with political correctness and liberal ideology. There are far too many teachers that have gone straight from uni into teaching, with no real world experience. If I had my way, I'd make teacher training available to only 25 year olds only. That way the teachers in schools would have first hand knowledge of work, and be able to give more rounded teaching, rather than just purely academic as is the case at present.

Far too many kids that are not academically minded are just allowed to slip through the net rather than being encouraged into vocational education. For too many teachers it is either university or they aren't interested.