Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
Member Is Offline
|
|
Teacher's Protests
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
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15937
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
Member Is Offline
Mood: Everchangin'
|
|
why do the citizens accept it?
|
|
|
monoloco
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6667
Registered: 7-13-2009
Location: Pescadero BCS
Member Is Offline
|
|
Corruption is so ingrained in the culture that most just accept it as
ordinary normal behavior.
"The future ain't what it used to be"
|
|
|
mtgoat666
Select Nomad
Posts: 17295
Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
Member Is Offline
Mood: Hot n spicy
|
|
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
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7393
Registered: 11-22-2007
Location: Punta Banda BC
Member Is Offline
Mood: thriving in Baja
|
|
Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666  |
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?
Bob Durrell
|
|
|
monoloco
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6667
Registered: 7-13-2009
Location: Pescadero BCS
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: Originally posted by durrelllrobert | | Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666 |
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.
"The future ain't what it used to be"
|
|
|
J.P.
Super Nomad
Posts: 1673
Registered: 7-8-2010
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
Mood: Easy Does It
|
|
Not much different in the good old U.S.A. The Teachers unions and Teachers are just as corrupt.
|
|
|
rts551
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6699
Registered: 9-5-2003
Member Is Offline
|
|
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
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3587
Registered: 10-17-2002
Location: Baja California Sur
Member Is Offline
|
|
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
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6667
Registered: 7-13-2009
Location: Pescadero BCS
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: Originally posted by J.P. |
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.
"The future ain't what it used to be"
|
|
|
durrelllrobert
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7393
Registered: 11-22-2007
Location: Punta Banda BC
Member Is Offline
Mood: thriving in Baja
|
|
| 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/..
Bob Durrell
|
|
|
Bajaboy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4375
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Bahia Asuncion, BCS, Mexico
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: Originally posted by J.P. |
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]
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
