American Federation of Teachers American Federation of Teachers, also known as AFT was founded in 1916 and today represents 1.6 million members in more than 3,000 local affiliates nationwide, founded in Chicago by President Samuel Gompers. (“About”) The AFT also represents 80,000 early childhood educators and about 250,000 retiree members. (“About”) AFT targets to help students, families, and communities to target fairness, democracy, economic opportunity, high-quality public education, healthcare and public services. (“Mission”) The organization and members advance these principles through engagement, organizing, collective bargaining and political activism. (“Mission”) The AFT addresses multiple issues that they believe has an importance to the union and our country, …show more content…
The American Federation of teachers has multiple benefits including endorsed insurance, legal and finance services, shopping, travel, etc. (“Member benefits”) However, there are two benefits that I would like to address, starting with the benefits of scholarships. (“Member benefits”) The AFT offers an $8000 post-secondary scholarship for four years, along with ten other people who are chosen for a one-time $1000 scholarship. These members are chosen once a year to earn the scholarships. Earning a scholarship would be known as a material incentive, in this case. (“Interest groups”) This is because the members gain something physically through joining the interest group, which in this case would be AFT. (“Interest groups”). Another benefit of joining AFT is their members and the members' families receive health discounts on dental and eye care. (“Member benefits”) This is another example of material incentive because they are being provided with something physically, over a sense of belonging (solidary incentive) or feeling satisfied by taking action (purposive incentive). (“Interest
After the War of 1812, the national character of the U.S. was that of a country that wanted a new identity. The country began changing things about the education, manufacturing, mobility, and economy that they had before to separate themselves from other countries, especially Britain. The first way that they began to separate was with the new form of education. The United States saw education as a way to develop a rich and uniquely American culture. Webster made an English dictionary which was sued by many and showed that they didn’t need Britan for precedents on education.
If I were organizing a group of students to pressure lawmakers and textbook companies to reduce the cost of college textbooks, I would use purposive benefits as an incentive to get students to join my group. According to the textbook, informational benefits are “special newsletters, periodicals, training programs, conferences, and other information provided to members of groups to entice others to join” (444) and purposive benefits are “selective benefits of group membership that emphasize the purpose and accomplishments of the group” (445). The specific benefits I would offer the students would be purposive and informational benefits because it will allow the students to participate in public affairs and protest freely and get legal help from
This federation was named the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The creation of the American Federation of Labor was caused by the weakness of a labor union at the time called the Knights of Labor. Because the Knights of Labor had internal conflicts such as competition among the labor unions. Members of the AFL were required to pay 6 cents per year as a due for being within the union and under the protection of the union. The president of the union was paid $1000 per year for a full-time job of guiding the union. The American Federation of Labor spread rumours about the Knights of Labor, causing them to collapse. Despite this, the labor union’s growth was not fast, even though they had taken out their biggest rival. It wasn’t until 1892 that they hit the 250,000 member mark. A possible reason for the slow growth of the union were their beliefs against immigration. During that point in time, there were still many immigrants coming to America mainly from the European countries and some Asian countries. The American Federation of Labor were against the immigrants because they took away jobs from the already citizens of the United States, a situation much like the present day. One thing the American Federation of Labor did do was play a big role in the creation of labor laws in the United States. With the creation of worker’s rights, the workplace became safer and they were able to have influence over laws concerning immigration. During World War 1, the United States government encouraged industries and companies to compromise with the labor unions rather than face strike, otherwise it would stunt the production of supplies needed for the war in Europe. The American Federation of Labor signed an agreement to help with the war and to eliminate socialist and communist labor unions in the United States. They did this because it was in both
I seek to join Teach for America to give back to low income communities I have always had a passion to serve my community, rather if it was by volunteering at the local Boys and Girls Club, visiting the elderly, or lending a helping hand at Habitat for Humanity. If given the opportunity to join Teach for America I would be able to not only serve a local community but also teach the future leaders of America. I believe that a quality education should not be upon the basis of race or family income, but from the quality of the educator that comes in contact with each child. It is as if the quality of the teacher can somehow have an everlasting effect on the students that he or she comes in contact with. It is an endless cycle of an unmotivated and uncaring teacher’s coming into school districts and helping to further hinder the students. The
Education issues in Texas can affect several areas in the Lone Star State. Texas is the leader of all 50 states in teenage birth rates. This number alone can affect high school graduation rates which also trails other states in the rank of 41 of 50 states, and can be partially to blame for Texas’ last place position of the percentage of population over age 25 with high school diplomas. These low graduation rates affect social issues by forcing people into low income jobs, housing which usually leads to high poverty levels. Texas should be worried about the future that this information predicts because if nothing is done to correct the issue it will only get worse. In order to improve this reality Texas needs to be better equipped to help with
Today, education enables us to enlarge our knowledge and open doors for opportunities to the path of having a good future. In the five readings, each written by a different author, there was a lesson learned and something to take away from each one. Reading through the passages by Mann, Moore, Malcolm X, Gatto, Rose, and Anyon, each author contributed his or her point of view on general public education. This topic can be very argumentative depending on the quality of education people receive. Education today is the single most important mean for individuals to achieve their personal goals in the workforce.
The issue of teacher shortage today is continuing to grow. The effects of the achievement gap are reaching the teachers, not just the students: “...good administrators and teachers, who are doing their best under difficult circumstances, will be driven out of the profession…,” (Boyd-Zaharias 41). The achievement gap is part of the reason teachers feel they are underpaid, which happens to be one of the leading cause in teacher shortage considering, “Teachers were paid two percent less [than comparable workers] in 1994, but by 2015 the wage penalty rose to 17 percent,” (Long). Being a teacher requires passion in order to stay in the field, especially if the money in teaching is decreasing. Money is an important aspect for people when it comes to their careers, therefore, fewer people want to become teachers. This lack of teachers and the lack of college students studying to become a teacher leads to unqualified teachers and larger classroom sizes (Ostroff). Both of these causes are eventually affecting students’ learning environments. I chose this issue in education for my project because I have personally felt these effects, and I know others who have as well. As a future educator, I want to see better wages and better benefits, but this can only happen with qualified, passionate teachers. I plan on being one of them, and I plan on sparking a change. I am a future educator fighting to end teacher shortage.
The American public educational system is filled with an assortment of problems. Most students are graduating with less knowledge and capability than similar students in other industrialized countries. Classroom disruptions are surprisingly common, and in some classrooms, nearly continuous. The public education system is having difficulty adjusting to the no child left behind act. The No Child Left Behind(NCLB) is a landmark in education reform designed to improve student achievement and change the culture of American’s schools.
In recent years we have heard a lot about what needs to be done to raise the quality of the American education system. Some claim its a lack of funding, and if we just throw money at the problem the problem of a sub-par education system will just go away. Others claim we need to get back to basics or have more stringent certification procedures. The excuses are abundant. Carl Singleton offers more radical advice. He claims what we need more is more F's. Singleton believes F's would virtually overnight save our education system. Will more F's save the American education system?
The Pennsylvania Principals Association, 122 Valley Road, Summerdale, PA, is a non-profit volunteer organization serving all principals, assistant principals and other educational leaders across the commonwealth. Starting in 1936, the association functioned as two separate entities, the Pennsylvania Association of Elementary School Principals and the Pennsylvania Association of Secondary School Principals (Thompson, 2014). In 2000, representatives from both associations met to discuss the possibility of joining the two into one organization to increase efficiency in day-to-day operations. In July of 2003, the merging of both associations took effect as well as operations under their new name, the Pennsylvania Association of Elementary and Secondary School Principals (PAESSP). Most recently, the association changed its name to the Pennsylvania Principals Association in September of 2015 (Thompson, 2014).
Most would ask, "What exactly is teacher tenure?". Well, in short teacher tenure is a permanent job contract for school teachers. Teachers can earn tenure by proving their teaching skills over a specific number of years while working at the same school. In most cases the number of years a teacher must work at the same school is anywhere from two to seven years. After receiving tenure a teacher cannot lose his or her job without just cause, for example obvious incompetence or severe misconduct. Tenure offers job security to teachers that have successfully completed their probational period of teaching. (Heard)
According to Healthy People 2020 a goal of theirs is to “increase immunization rates and reduce preventable infections.” The influenza virus is one of these preventable infections, which can cause serious harm to patients. The influenza virus is known as the “flu.” Everyone in his or her life has had some experience with the flu, whether that is himself or herself or a family member. What if there was a way to ensure people from contracting a strain of the influenza virus? Well, thanks to technology and medical research there is.
Education in the United States is a very crucial part of a person’s life. Going to school opens doors and facilitates the pathway for future individual achievement and economic success. Formal education is a conscious effort by human society to convey the skills and modes of thought considered essential for social functioning.
Public education in the United States is perhaps one of the most critical issues we face as a nation. Once pronouncing the United States as a “nation at risk”, the educational institution began to implement one reform strategy after another. In efforts to improve schooling for K-12 students, education reform has fiddled with class size, revised graduation requirements, and created standardized testing just to name a few. Unfortunately, traditional public schools are still failing to provide students with a quality education. This is disheartening as we learn that the United States lags behind in math and science compared to our international counterparts. It is safe to say that educational reform has spent billions of dollars over the
Teaching is a profession that is considered to be a rewarding challenging and complex role. An effective teacher does not simply teach knowledge their students and instead aims to arm students with the knowledge, skills, understanding and attitudes that will prepare students for life-long learning. The constructivist theories developed by Piaget and Vygotsky have impacted on the way that teachers teach and this has changed the approach of teaching to place a greater importance on the teacher instead to act as a facilitator of learning in an open, constructivist environment and providing students with the tools to challenge themselves to develop both academically and personally. The education of students within classrooms of today is