Will StopTeacherStrikes.org Trying to Help Prevent Teacher Strikes?

StopTeacherStrikes.org is a website run by parents in Pennsylvania. The parents who created this website believe that it will help prevent teacher strikes by making it public knowledge what teachers earn. They explain that teachers are public workers, and other public workers such as firefighters, military, and police are not allowed to strike therefore teachers should also not be allowed to strike.

StopTeacherStrikes.org claims that they have the support of many teachers. They claim that a lot of teachers don't want to be part of the unions, and that the unions force them to strike whether they want to or not. The creators of this site believe that stopping teachers from striking will help both teachers and students.

While at first glimpse this seems like it could be a good idea, it really is an invasion of privacy. I know teachers are public employees, but I feel giving out this personal information is an evasion of privacy. I know I wouldn't want the amount of money I was making posted on a Internet site. I don't think this is going to do much to stop teacher strikes. If the teachers still feel that they are not making enough money, they are still going to strike. I don't think we as Americans would want to have a website that makes it harder for certain employees of a job to go on strike. While a strike is hard and effects a lot of different people, it is a way of making sure people are getting paid what they deserve. I know any teacher that care about their students will think about the effects a strike will have on them. We need to think about what effects having underpaid teachers has on our students everyday.

The site explains that public workers are not allowed to strike and that should include teachers. I think we are thinking about this backwards. The Public workers that protect us and help teach our children should be paid very generously. I think allowing them to strike to receive better wages is a way of encouraging this. These jobs are very important to everyone in America. Could you imagine a city without police? Could you imagine you house catching on fire and burning down before your eyes, and having nobody to call to help you. Would you want the level of education to lack because there were not enough good teachers to teach our children? Everybody needs to remember what a important job these people do.

This site is trying to imply that since these teachers are making so much money, all teachers are getting paid better then we think. I know there are some teachers that are getting paid good. But I think teachers deserve high pay. We are trusting these people with our children. We count on teachers to help our child learn new things, and to encourage a love of learning in our children. When teachers aren't paid enough we don't get the high quality teachers that our children deserve. I don't think its fair to see what certain teachers are earning and assume that all teachers must be earning that. Pay scale for teachers varies greatly, and unfortunately it is not always based on good performance. I feel that are better at their jobs should be paid better, not just get higher pay because they have been teaching longer or at a district that pays higher.

StopTeacherStrikes.org is not a fair website for teachers. I also don't think it is going to have much of an effect in stopping teacher strikes. I think everyone in these situations needs to learn to communicate better. Since StopTeacherStrikes.org claims that many teachers support this then maybe they should just list the salary's of the teachers that agree to it. I think making sure teachers are paid enough and stopping teacher strikes is important I just don't feel this is the right way to go about it.