Caption contest!
Thursday, Sep 20, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Bruce Rauner, a possible Republican gubernatorial candidate, an adviser to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a kabillionaire who’s invested tons of money into charter schools and a major foe of teachers unions was profiled by the Tribune this week about his thoughts on the recent teacher strike and busting up the union in the future…
“Wherever we come out on it, the good news long term, the taxpayers are frustrated in this city and they’re beginning to push back and very importantly, the parents are awakening to the issues in the city and I think we’re going to have a multiyear revolution,” he told an audience of business and political leaders at a seminar held jointly by the Dallas-based President George W. Bush Institute and the right-leaning Illinois Policy Institute.
“The critical issue is to separate the union from the teachers. They’re not the same thing,” Rauner said. “The union basically is a bunch of politicians elected to do certain things — get more pay, get more benefits, less work hours, more job security. That’s what they’re paid to do. They’re not about the students. They’re not about results. They’re not about the taxpayers.”
The CTU and its teachers will “always be aligned” over higher pay, he said. But teachers could be split off from the union’s leadership on the issues of evaluations and merit pay, he said.
“The good teachers know they’ll do fine. They’ve got the confidence. I’ve talked to them. I know,” Rauner told more than 200 people at the Art Institute of Chicago. “It’s the weak teachers. It’s the lousy, ineffective, lazy teachers that — unfortunately there are a number of those — they’re the ones that the union is protecting and that’s where there’s a conflict of interest between the good teachers and the union bosses.” […]
“You’ve got to break apart the union bosses away from the really talented teachers,” he said. “That’s doable. It’s not easy, but that’s doable and critical to improving the schools long-term.”
Since 90 percent of all teachers voted to strike, I’m not sure that he’s succeeded just yet.
* A photo of Mr. Rauner…
Caption?
- hisgirlfriday - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 3:52 am:
Rarely is the question asked: “Is our children learning?”
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 5:38 am:
“Hey! Don’t take my picture with Bush’s name in the background…I’m trying to run for governor!”
I’ve been a little harsh on Mr. Rauner. So I would like to take a moment to acknowledge that his namesake charter school is doing pretty well. Atleast according to their website, because I can’t find a Report Card for it on the ISBE site.
- Cassiopeia - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 6:17 am:
I’m not Pat Quinn.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 6:37 am:
“Ha! ..Cha, Cha, Cha, Cha!!!”
“Take it easy, pal!”
“Whoa, you can’t Prove That!”
“I didn’t say that…”
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 6:40 am:
“I never said I would SOLVE the problems, I just said I KNOW the problems …”
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 6:43 am:
“Wait, I never said I would personally PAY the state debt off myself … never said that!”
- Newsclown - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 6:43 am:
“You got TROUBLE, TROUBLE! Right here in River City!”
- truthteller - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 6:51 am:
If this guy didn’t have a boatload of money, no one would pay any attention to him. He so clearly doesn’t know what he is talking about. There are a couple of people I see frequently in the Loop, one with a bullhorn and one with a picket sign.
The difference between them and Rauner is a few hundred million bucks, and Rauner is a little better dressed.
Rich, if you’re going to cover folks who are clueless, why not them? Is it class bias?
- OneMan - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 7:03 am:
So this is the Kinect thing so big with the kids now…
- 618392dem - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 7:22 am:
And on the six hundredeth and sixty-sixth day Lucifer created unions, I’m just sayin’.
- Cheswick - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 7:28 am:
“I never touched the TransAm. I swear!”
- CircularFiringSquad - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 8:23 am:
“I have just established a new Tribune handpicked candidate record for self destruction,” said CousinBrucey after a debilitating speech which opened the door for NoTaxBill,DandyDan and Mr.Dreamey to open a three pronged attack on PQ.
- Midstate Indy - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 8:24 am:
I hate to inject such an off base thought, but there are too many similarities for me to ignore, thus my caption has to be simply: “Vote Plummer for Governor…again…in 2030.”
- Midway Gardens - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 8:39 am:
Uh Oh, that Union steamroller is about to run me over
- Bemused - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 8:39 am:
” I have friends who are in the Union, but”
I love these folks who of course don’t hate union members but do hate the union bosses who don’t do anything for thier pay for doing thier jobs well.
- And I Approved This Message - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 8:40 am:
I have more fingers than Rahm.
- Oh, please... - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 8:44 am:
What Romney said about the 47th percent…
- LL Cool J - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 8:47 am:
Stakes is High
- areopagetica - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 8:52 am:
Screw you Springfield insiders who destroyed out state.
- Nearly Normal - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 9:01 am:
“Hey, get those teachers and kids out of here! We’re talking education policy here and I don’t want to see the real people behind the numbers. I’m a numbers man!”
- Ron Burgundy - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 9:07 am:
Hey, I just met you. And I’m kinda crazy. But I’m a rich guy. So vote me maybe?
- Anyone Remember? - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 9:11 am:
Bruce Rauner has stated
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-12/news/ct-perspec-0912-strike-20120912_1_cps-teachers-cps-schools-charter-school
he has seen the ACT scores of Chicago Public School teachers: “I have seen the standardized test scores of CPS teachers that indicate many of them aren’t even capable of scoring 21 on the ACT, the absolute minimum score needed to be ready for college.” How? Where? Someone should call him on this. Did teachers actually show him their test scores? Did he get access to personnel files?
- Wensicia - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 9:12 am:
Next, we take on Sesame Street!
- Yossarian Lives - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 9:21 am:
“Well, what did the cat look like before you ran it over?” “Like this!”
- Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 9:21 am:
“Security! Please remove those people in the red shirts.”
- WazUp - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 9:33 am:
“Swanee, how I love ya how I love ya my dear old Swanee..”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGHdy7BsgWE
- western illinois - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 9:39 am:
Stop calling me a venture capitalist-they build businesses……I am a corporate raider like Mitt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GTCR
I like to fire people and darn it I couldnt get the teachers fired Maybe I can bankrupt their pensions and blame them!
(That is where this guy gets his money-wake up SURS TRS and SERS)
- TJ - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 9:41 am:
I think I’ll get this many votes from Chicago teachers.
- CircularFiringSquad - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 9:45 am:
Did Everyone else CousinBrucey looks a lot like Ross Perrot? Too bad it is not a look alike contest.
or
“I am hear to announce the good people at ReBoot Illinois have assured me that a gaffes, stumbles and bonehead comments will be vaporized.”
- wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 9:51 am:
“Whoa, whoa, Karen, chill out. I didn’t say there was a lot of ‘lousy, ineffective, lazy teachers.’ It was Rahm, Rahm, I tell you. He said it all. I told him he was wrong, but he wouldn’t listen. Karen, I think you’re swell. Please, please, Karen, get back, get back…. oh no, oh no…. I was going to be governor….aaarrrrrgggghhhh….”
- amalia - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 9:57 am:
talk to the hands.
- George - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:14 am:
==How? Where? Someone should call him on this. Did teachers actually show him their test scores? Did he get access to personnel files?==
The aggregate data is public information:
http://www.siue.edu/ierc/publications/pdf/IERC2008-1.pdf
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:17 am:
“Good night, Mrs Calabash, wherever you are!”
- walkinfool - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:21 am:
“You won’t have me to kick around anymore”
(Tricky Dick then ran for President.)
People who make piles of money gambling other people’s money, and leveraging others’ entrepreneurial hard work, develop giant egos. They think they are experts at everything. I like that Rauner wants to tackle big public issues, and to help solve them. I don’t like that he doesn’t realize when he’s not the expert.
- Loop Lady - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:22 am:
George H. Bush has an institute? Is it full of puppets? Cha-ching!
- just sayin' - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:22 am:
Oh no it’s the 47%! Get back!! Back!!!
Release the hounds.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:23 am:
Not a caption, but does anyone else see a resemblance to Jason Plummer?
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:24 am:
“Hey … Hey … HEY!!! Pat Brady is NOT my Idea … honest … I barely KNOW the guy … I confused him with Bill Brady for years and years … Stop ..NO … Pat Brady is not my idea of a Chairman …”
- Pot calling kettle - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:30 am:
It’s not that I don’t think teachers should get paid, it’s just that, you know, they don’t really deserve that much, nobody does…Unless you earn it the hard way, like I did, by investing other people’s money.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:34 am:
“Remain Calm. All Is Well!”
- reformer - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:38 am:
Forget about the track record of other rich-would-be pols — Blair Hull, Al Hofeld, Jim Oberweis, Jack Roeser…
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:39 am:
“It’s funny, you know. It’s a good story, it’s funny, you’re a funny guy. It’s just, you know. You’re just funny, it’s… funny, the way you tell the story and everything…”
- Obamas Puppy - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:42 am:
Lets see Bruce rohners day
x wake up
x bash public employee unions
x count new pile of money
x head to the club for martinis and connect with the common man (his waiter)
x call Koch brothers for tax advice
x check Fox news for talking points
x sleepy time, another sucessful day
- Bruno Behrend - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:43 am:
Anyone remember,
Whatever fun may come from the picture and the strike outcome, Rauner is on solid ground taking teacher quality and candidate quality to task.
___
Fewer teacher candidates pass basic skills test
http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/notebook/2010/12/04/fewer-teacher-candidates-pass-basic-skills-test
___
Low Admissions Standards, Lack of Quality Control
http://www.edschools.org/teacher_report_release.htm
The report says that because universities tend to rely on schools of education as “cash cows,” the quality of teacher education is compromised by setting low admissions standards to help boost enrollments and revenues. Although the SAT and GRE scores of aspiring secondary school teachers are comparable to the national average, the scores of future elementary school teachers fall near the bottom of all test takers, with GRE scores 100 points below the national average.
____
For a balanced debate and discussion, one could go to…
http://educationrealist.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/teacher-quality-pseudofacts/
and
http://educationrealist.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/teacher-quality-pseudofacts-part-ii/
Where a teacher actually deconstructs the numbers and peels back the layers of the onion.
___
Lastly, and as should be expected by anyone familiar with the breed, education administrators are the lowest scoring of all, causing one to ask, “Why do we focus on critiquing teachers when outright firing (and NOT REHIRING) of 1/3 of the useless class of administrators across the nation would a) save scads of taxpayer cash, and b) wouldn’t reduce one connected neuron in one child’s head?”
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/401654-educators-have-lowest-gre-scores.html
- Anyone Remember? - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:44 am:
George -
Thank you.
Warning flag for Mr. Rauner, however. He hasn’t “seen test scores … .” Rather, he has “seen research showing test scores … .” If he continues to be this inexact in his language, everything he says should be examined with a fine toothed comb.
- Judgment Day - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:50 am:
Actually, Bruce Rauner has two things on his side that will eventually win out for his position on education reform - it’s time and the current fiscal situation.
Neither of those two factors are working for the teachers unions. Now, splitting up the union probably isn’t practical. But reducing the union’s size will be practical. There’s likely (partially due to fiscal impacts of the new contract) to be substantive numbers of school closings, more charter schools, and overall, less CTU membership due to cutbacks. The numbers just don’t allow any other practical, workable alternative.
So, in that sense, he’s likely to win. But for right now, the CTU gets to bask in the glory of a rather impressive win under adverse circumstances.
But the CTU should remember “All glory is fleeting.”
- George - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:51 am:
No problem, Anyone Remember. I really don’t know what he’s seen. Maybe he has the same access to the information as the researchers? Maybe we can get it somewhere, too? Would that be subject to FOIA? I really don’t know.
Just trying to be helpful.
- zatoichi - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:57 am:
…the Aristocrats!
- Anyone Remember? - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 10:59 am:
George -
My point is that when someone says “I’ve seen …” I tend to take them as either an expert, such as the authors of the study, or personally involved, such as school employees or school board members. He’s nothing more than a VERY interested outsider with a definite point of view. Nothing wrong with that, but that should be clearly noted. His statement was phrased (perhaps in-artfully, not deliberately) in such a way to imply something different.
- Bluefish - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 11:06 am:
Niagara Falls! Slowly I turned…step by step…inch by inch…
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 11:09 am:
“There was an earthquake, a terrible flood, locusts! It wasn’t my fault!! I swear to God!!!”
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 11:16 am:
===“There was an earthquake, a terrible flood, locusts! It wasn’t my fault!! I swear to God!!!” ===
Outstanding!
Both in quote and context. Well. Played!
- Esquire - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 11:16 am:
What me worry? My kiddies attended private schools.
- Jake From Elwood - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 11:24 am:
If Hollywood needs an actor to play the role of Rauner in a movie, I strongly suggest they look to Ed Begley Jr.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 11:41 am:
Bruce Rauner mimes being boxed in by a kabillion dollars, screaming “it’s like soylent green…it’s made from PEOPLE!”
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 11:41 am:
Really, only Jimmy Durante could have done him justice.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 11:47 am:
===Really, only Jimmy Durante could have done him justice.===
I concur. Thought I would be the only one to see it …
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 11:59 am:
“I got a million of ‘em.”
- G'Kar - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 1:05 pm:
Biggest laugh I had so far today was reading that the Illinois Policy Institute is “right leaning”–they lean so far to the right they have fallen over!
Also, I get frustrated when I read “teachers can’t be fired”. That is simply not true. Teachers can be fired for due cause, and inability to teach is due cause. However, it is not a quick process and my experience is that most administrators don’t want to go through the effort to build up a case.
- areopagetica - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 1:23 pm:
Springfield insiders ridiculing a guy who tries to use his resources to undue the calamity you have made of the state. Pathetic.
- So. ILL - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 2:21 pm:
Reporter: By a show of your hands, how many dollars do you consider to be too many for a teacher to make?
- UISer - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 2:34 pm:
George W. Bush has an institute?
- Ron Burgundy - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 3:30 pm:
Oppa Gazillionaire Style!
- Boone Logan Square - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 3:40 pm:
“They’re not going to stop me. I’m on a mission from God.”
- too obvious - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 4:04 pm:
I’ve got jazz hands and I’m not afraid to use them.
- Belle - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 5:52 pm:
I saw him on Chicago Tonight on Wed…what a tough cookie. He was ripping on the guy from CTU big time—what a Richy-Rich!
- DuPage Dave - Thursday, Sep 20, 12 @ 6:53 pm:
Somebody call the subtext police:
“It’s the weak teachers. It’s the lousy, ineffective, lazy teachers that — unfortunately there are a number of those — they’re the ones that the union is protecting and that’s where there’s a conflict of interest between the good teachers and the union bosses. You’ve got to break apart the union bosses away from the really talented teachers”
To what sub-category of teachers could he be referring? How are the “good teachers” and “really talented teachers” different from the “union bosses”? He seems to be hinting at something without really saying it.