Althouse: "So if I were, not president, but if I were king in America, I would abolish all teachers' lounges, where they sit together and worry about, 'Woe is us.'"

August 21, 2015

"So if I were, not president, but if I were king in America, I would abolish all teachers' lounges, where they sit together and worry about, 'Woe is us.'"

Said Governor Kasich, inanely.

47 comments:

Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/21/15, 7:40 AM
rhhardin said...: He inanely accepted Obamacare Medicaid for Ohio, which disqualifies him for everything.; 8/21/15, 7:46 AM
Unknown said...: He hasn't figured what Walker did that resonated with the tax paying public.; 8/21/15, 7:50 AM
Anonymous said...: Hard to do, it's probably a union negotiated condition of employment. Pity he didn't finish the thought and say he'd close all the publicly funded teaching coleges and change the degree requirement to anything but a teaching degree. Strange how we did without up until 100+ years ago, and the Chinese are doing so well without. It'd be amazing save for the dictum that anything government does that nobody else can do is a long term disaster. Agencies seem to come into exist in response to a disaster. Led for the first decade by (new to government) experts who are passionate about fixing something. Followed by a decade of "ok, harvesting past success), followed by a decade of decay to mediocrity, led by those who believe in the agency, and are jealous of both the mission and its perquisites. I remember the BIA trying to put some private efforts to help the native population out of business. Including holding up their letter from Congress (or the President) saying "that's our job, not yours!); 8/21/15, 7:52 AM
Original Mike said...: This is the side of John Kasich that turns me off.; 8/21/15, 7:52 AM
Mark said...: Because teachers and school staff should not have a place to eat lunch, access a refrigerator or microwave.

I hear he is going to revitalize business next, after showing how taking the lunchroom away revolutionizes teaching.; 8/21/15, 8:00 AM
Hagar said...: Kings do not have that kind of power.
Emperors do,
and presidents, if the people and the legislatures let them get away with it.; 8/21/15, 8:09 AM
Gahrie said...: We would spend a lot less time in teacher's lounges saying "woe is us" if you damn politicians would get out of the way, stop pretending you are education experts and abolish the federal Department of Education.; 8/21/15, 8:16 AM
Curious George said...: "Mark said...
Because teachers and school staff should not have a place to eat lunch, access a refrigerator or microwave."

Mark, our resident moron drops in to inform all that he is too stupid to realize that Kasich's comments were a joke, had nothing to do with teachers' lounges, and everything to do with the negative impact of the teachers' unions.; 8/21/15, 8:18 AM
David Begley said...: Who exactly will vote for Kasich and Bush?; 8/21/15, 8:19 AM
Hagar said...: Trump serves a useful function in making the 16 dwarves come out in the open and showing their colors.; 8/21/15, 8:29 AM
MAJMike said...: How many years has he faced a classroom full of sullen teenagers daring you to teach them? How often has he had to deal with idiot Administrators with less experience teaching?

Lost my vote.; 8/21/15, 8:33 AM
ndspinelli said...: I could not stand eating in teacher's lounges. They whine about students, parents, and administration. I would go down to the shop teachers and eat w/ them in the wood shop. Normal conversations w/ guys who actually knew how to do something and had REAL WORLD experience.; 8/21/15, 8:34 AM
ndspinelli said...: Michael McClain right on cue. LOL!; 8/21/15, 8:35 AM
bbkingfish said...: And Jeb says people who make low wages should work more hours if they want to get ahead.

Consider the party's passion for "liberty" and the GOP's 2016 slogan writes itself...

"Work Will Set You Free"; 8/21/15, 8:45 AM
C R Krieger said...: I think it depends upon where you are. My wife was a sub at the High School in North Pole, Alaska, a while back, and the top of discussion was not "woe is me" but how to organize a trespass on Federal Land, in this case Denali. The Great Denali Trespass.

Regards — Cliff; 8/21/15, 9:05 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: When I was in, maybe, the first or second grade, for a week I was the student assigned to get the little cartons of milk for the rest of the class.

The refrigerator was in the "teacher's room."

I still can recall the mind-freaking experience of the first time I saw teachers just sitting around, completely out of context.

It would be some time later that I realized that the teachers didn't all live at the school.; 8/21/15, 9:06 AM
Birkel said...: 'bbkingfish'

Would you prefer the time-tested option of getting a second job be dismissed? Perhaps you should lead a campaign to ban moonlighting and second jobs. Spread the wealth, right?; 8/21/15, 9:06 AM
C R Krieger said...: Can I give a thumbs down to "bbkingfish". That is a pretty low blow. Of course it may be, at this point, so obscure as to not make a difference.

Regards — Cliff; 8/21/15, 9:08 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Maybe it was kindergarten.

Who the hell knows?

The point remains.; 8/21/15, 9:09 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/21/15, 9:12 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: bbkingfish is a pretty good name, but at Beer Advocate there's a guy who calls himself "Dunkel Fester." Nobody's topping that. Nobody.; 8/21/15, 9:12 AM
Hagar said...: For at least 50 years, I have said that the biggest thing they could do for improving public education in this country would be to close down every college of education for a generation.
It isn't the teachers; it is the people who taught the teachers.; 8/21/15, 9:19 AM
lgv said...: The quote was taken out of context. Once you read the full text, it's only a 5 on the stupid scale rather than an 8 or 9.

Kasich is a guy who, if you let him talk enough, will eventually say something cringe worthy. I mean not in the league of Biden, but I think he has the ability to self destruct. Actually, closer to Hillary, who quit discussing anything with anybody.; 8/21/15, 9:22 AM
Humperdink said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/21/15, 9:29 AM
Ann Althouse said...: @lgv

Kasich is a very blabby man. It's a terrible flaw.; 8/21/15, 9:48 AM
Matt Sablan said...: "And Jeb says people who make low wages should work more hours if they want to get ahead."

-- When I started working, I put in extra hours on a special project and got reassigned from proofreader to editor on a weekly and then one of the lead editors on a quarterly.

It's actually good advice to make yourself more present at work and accomplish something.; 8/21/15, 9:54 AM
mccullough said...: If I were king for just one day, I would give it all away . . .; 8/21/15, 10:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Has Curious George ever disagreed with someone without resorting to childish-name calling?

He sure is a tough guy....when online.; 8/21/15, 10:07 AM
James Pawlak said...: If those places were abolished, where would public school teachers to to contemplate arrangements for adultery and sex-with-students?; 8/21/15, 10:11 AM
Anonymous said...: That is why Trump trumps them all.
We worry about illegals, worry about Iran nukes, worry about jobs and the economy, Kasich worries about teachers' lounges.; 8/21/15, 10:18 AM
Sydney said...: He's not the guy you want in charge of educating the young. Has made a mess out of it in Ohio. Supports Common Core. There are problems with unionization of teachers, but that's not what's wrong with education in Ohio. In Ohio it's the crap the state is forcing teachers to teach. And Kasich thinks it's OK.
Also- what rhhardin said about expanding Medicaid. Terrible mistake. Now the state is on the hook for billions that they don't have to pay for it. And he put the expansion through by doing an end run around the normal legislative processes. It was almost as if he took a lesson from Obama.
I do not trust the man.; 8/21/15, 10:40 AM
Christopher said...: Obviously, Kasich is joking in order to make a larger rhetorical point. He's probably not ignorant that teachers' lounges are typically a place where teachers work, not gossip and kvetch. (When schools are overcrowded and teachers have to share their rooms, where else do you think they go to plan and grade?)

But the larger point is worse. Kasich, like most hard-line school reform types, talks about teachers as if they were overgrown versions of the students they teach, who are just too dense to understand that their potential overseers really have their best interests at heart. It isn't possible, of course, that teachers are underpaid and overworked as a rule; they're just complainers. And their anxiety that external factors--like family income, parental involvement, school structure and culture, and plain dumb luck--will endanger their livelihoods under these "accountability" schemes is just paranoia, or worse, an excuse for laziness. He may not really be ignorant about what goes on in teachers' lounges, but he's pretty ignorant about what it means to be a teacher in general.; 8/21/15, 10:47 AM
bbkingfish said...: Matt Sablan:

"It's actually good advice to make yourself more present at work and accomplish something."

Putting yourself in solid with your boss is a time-proven path to success for those inclined to servility. It also is great advice for performing monkeys who depend on their organ grinders for food.

I'm not surprised you have achieved such august stature, and so quickly, too. You obviously have what it takes.

As you continue to climb the ladder, please don't forget about the rest of us down here on the ground.; 8/21/15, 10:48 AM
jeff said...: Jeb saying people need to work more, he was talking about people working part time that really wanted full time work.
John saying abolish all teachers lounges, was indeed speaking to the Unions. Ask any teacher that supports Governor Walker, they'll tell you how careful they must be around teacher lounges.
Of course the progs already know this, but their narrative make for great bumper stickers.; 8/21/15, 10:49 AM
Mark said...: madisonfella, please don't feed the curious troll.

He does a wonderful job of coming off like a fool all on his own, just let him. Don't be the only one who pays attention to him.; 8/21/15, 10:55 AM
dwick said...: "Said Governor Kasich, inanely"

- opined a teacher, providing no context.

It's a good bet a lot of teachers are now sitting around their lounges discussing how to blog or otherwise present Kasich's words in the worst light possible.; 8/21/15, 11:31 AM
Balfegor said...: re: bbkingfish:

And Jeb says people who make low wages should work more hours if they want to get ahead.

Well, that is typically how penniless first generation immigrants end up owning their own businesses and putting their children through college. It's that strong Confucian work ethic, not like those Protestant layabouts.; 8/21/15, 11:48 AM
Curious George said...: "madisonfella said...
Has Curious George ever disagreed with someone without resorting to childish-name calling?

He sure is a tough guy....when online."

LOL You drop in, write bullshit, and then run off. You never can support any of it of course penguin. Same MO all the time. Same as Mark. Never on topic.; 8/21/15, 1:08 PM
Anonymous said...: You drop in, write bullshit, and then run off. You never can support any of it

You are projecting your own behavior upon others.

For example - are you ever going to share this "absolute proof" you have that I'm actually penguin/Inga/Corky/Shortbus or whoever it is you think I am this week? Or are you once again just writing bullshit and then running off when asked to support your ludicrous claim?

Never on topic

But these last two posts of yours are?

You're a weird little man.; 8/21/15, 2:39 PM
Big Mike said...: @Balfegor, but under ACA (a.k.a. Obamacare) their employers can't afford to let them work more hours! Or any hours past 29, much less 40 or 50. Jeb is pretty out of touch with life in the 21st century United States.; 8/21/15, 3:52 PM
Paco Wové said...: "Kasich is a very blabby man. It's a terrible flaw."

As a transplant to the Midwest, I have noticed that hypertalkativeness seems to be a regional affliction. More than once I've found myself thinking, how could you possibly talk about this subject any more? and yet a way is always found. I don't recall having these sorts of thoughts prior to moving here.; 8/21/15, 5:00 PM
Gahrie said...: I have a nine inch E-penis.; 8/21/15, 10:20 PM
Ambrose said...: We should never again elect anyone who dreams of being a king.; 8/21/15, 10:22 PM
David Blaska said...: Truer words ...; 8/22/15, 9:58 AM
Unknown said...: ---Putting yourself in solid with your boss is a time-proven path to success for those inclined to servility. It also is great advice for performing monkeys who depend on their organ grinders for food.

Bbkinflounder... 'Im just above it all.. that’s why I’m the third best barista at the coffee shop'; 8/22/15, 3:34 PM
Nichevo said...: Bbk...that is astounding...if not for striving g and making ng effort and working hard, literally, how does one get ahead and get recognized? No, seriously, how?

Ann Althouse said...
@lgv

Kasich is a very blabby man. It's a terrible flaw.
8/21/15, 9:48 AM

And you are a blabby woman.; 8/22/15, 6:27 PM