BajaNomad

Teacher's Protests

Osprey - 5-9-2015 at 07:42 AM

Notes on Current Strikes by Teachers in Mexico

Here are some facts gleaned from a report in the latest Gringo Gazette magazine in Baja California Sur. It speaks to the larger picture of the National Teacher’s Union, not just to political turmoil in Baja California. If these figures and statements are true, it certainly points to corruption on the grandest scale and begs the question “How can teachers become such a powerful political bloc by selling their votes in elections that are meant to be democratic in concept and in practice?”

A woman, known as La Maestra, became head of the 1.4 million member union over 25 years ago and over the next 2 decades she sold the votes to politicians and amassed a personal fortune of $200 million U.S. dollars including a waterfront home on Coronado Island and other realty in the San Diego area worth millions more. She had a private jet, spent more than $2 million U.S. dollars in just 3 years at Neiman Marcus alone. She bought 59 Hummers for herself and her aides with money meant for union members, schools and teachers throughout Mexico.

The article says she sold the votes in the last election to the current President of Mexico but after the election he had her arrested and jailed. The National Educaton Department was then put in charge of paying the teachers and distributing education dollars to all school facilities. The first month there were 126,000 teacher’s payroll checks unclaimed. Records of those teachers were suspect because thousands of those on that list have the same date of birth and unverifiable personal identification. So the perks disappeared and the protests began.

There has been some talk that the union will close off the polling places (usually schools) and ruin the upcoming June election if their benefits are not increased or restored. Some see the inevitable outcome: regulators will cave a little now, enough to get through the election, then they will renege and trouble will loom large again in other forms of political extortion. Instead of one greedy woman spending millions for baubles, think about hundreds of smaller criminal types spending thousands at Walmarts. All adds up to progress.

woody with a view - 5-9-2015 at 08:15 AM

why do the citizens accept it?

monoloco - 5-9-2015 at 08:40 AM

Quote: Originally posted by woody with a view  
why do the citizens accept it?
Corruption is so ingrained in the culture that most just accept it as ordinary normal behavior.

mtgoat666 - 5-9-2015 at 09:11 AM

Quote: Originally posted by woody with a view  
why do the citizens accept it?


Hard to change bad things.

Many in mexico recognize that the education system is corrupted to the core and is broken, and is perhaps the most serious problem in mexico. But the problem is not fixed by those in power, because those in power are wealthy and send their kids to private school, so they really don't give a strong chit. The masses of poor are the ones using public schools, and the masses need to revolt and eliminate the teachers and their union... Shocking pack of thieves and crooks, those teachers are.

durrelllrobert - 5-9-2015 at 09:30 AM

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666  
Quote: Originally posted by woody with a view  
why do the citizens accept it?


Hard to change bad things.

Many in mexico recognize that the education system is corrupted to the core and is broken, and is perhaps the most serious problem in mexico. But the problem is not fixed by those in power, because those in power are wealthy and send their kids to private school, so they really don't give a strong chit. The masses of poor are the ones using public schools, and the masses need to revolt and eliminate the teachers and their union... Shocking pack of thieves and crooks, those teachers are.



..and the Government has the nerve to want to require teachers to take a competency test?

monoloco - 5-9-2015 at 09:39 AM

Quote: Originally posted by durrelllrobert  
Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666  
Quote: Originally posted by woody with a view  
why do the citizens accept it?


Hard to change bad things.

Many in mexico recognize that the education system is corrupted to the core and is broken, and is perhaps the most serious problem in mexico. But the problem is not fixed by those in power, because those in power are wealthy and send their kids to private school, so they really don't give a strong chit. The masses of poor are the ones using public schools, and the masses need to revolt and eliminate the teachers and their union... Shocking pack of thieves and crooks, those teachers are.



..and the Government has the nerve to want to require teachers to take a competency test?
First they need to make politicians take a competency test. I suspect that not many of the current group would pass.

J.P. - 5-9-2015 at 03:59 PM

Quote: Originally posted by woody with a view  
why do the citizens accept it?











Not much different in the good old U.S.A. The Teachers unions and Teachers are just as corrupt.:(:(

rts551 - 5-9-2015 at 04:04 PM

some of that info is suspect. The teachers in our area and Vizcaino are protesting because they are not getting PAYED. Same is happening to other governemtn officials including the police.

If the government took over paying these people...where is the money!

Pescador - 5-10-2015 at 08:00 AM

One of my really good friends is the director of education in the Mulege precinct and he says that the checks have all bounced and that none of the benefits like health insurance, retirement, savings acts., etc., have been payed. So as with all things in Mexico, the story changes depending on who is doing the telling. This only affects the public school system and is not affecting preparatory or college classes which are either private or funded by the state.

monoloco - 5-10-2015 at 08:44 AM

Quote: Originally posted by J.P.  
Quote: Originally posted by woody with a view  
why do the citizens accept it?











Not much different in the good old U.S.A. The Teachers unions and Teachers are just as corrupt.:(:(
Not even close. Painting all the teachers in the US as corrupt is beyond ridiculous.

durrelllrobert - 5-11-2015 at 10:30 AM

Quote: Originally posted by rts551  
some of that info is suspect. The teachers in our area and Vizcaino are protesting because they are not getting PAYED. Same is happening to other governemtn officials including the police.

If the government took over paying these people...where is the money!


"Last month, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed into law a national system implementing standardized evaluations of public school teachers. Over a year and a half of efforts to block this attack on Mexican teachers by a militant wing of the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE), the National Committee of Education Workers (CNTE), has ultimately come to naught."

www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/10/01/mexi-o01.html

"The education overhaul, which transfers power from the potent teachers’ union to the federal government, proposes periodic teacher evaluations to determine appointments, salaries and dismissals — a major adjustment for workers who are accustomed to buying or inheriting their positions and who have had, until now, virtual immunity from the state"

www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/world/americas/protests-by..

“Our dilemma had been whether to continue to stagnate or to allow the state to recover the leadership and transform and improve the quality of education,” he said.Many teachers are intent on blocking the legislation which is designed to professionalize the staff at Mexico’s public schools and implement measures to test performance."

www.forbes.com/sites/nathanielparishflannery/2013/09/03/..

Bajaboy - 5-11-2015 at 10:36 AM

Quote: Originally posted by J.P.  
Quote: Originally posted by woody with a view  
why do the citizens accept it?











Not much different in the good old U.S.A. The Teachers unions and Teachers are just as corrupt.:(:(


Guessing you were home schooled

[Edited on 5-11-2015 by Bajaboy]