Tweeting with Dave this morning

I'm followed on Twitter by Dave.  He claims to be an independent and has been critical of Republicans and praiseful of Pres. Obama. But when it comes to the subject of teachers and their unions, Dave sounds like a T-bagger to me. This morning's Twitter debate began with Dave commenting on the Illinois senate's passage yesterday of a bill that curtails teacher union rights. Here's the back-and-forth:

D: it is not about money it is about breaking unions who give support ro democrats in elections. Break them break democrat bank.
M. Ur right Dave. But in IL, the teacher unions all signed on to the bill and Dems, not GOP, engineered it.

D: perhaps a case of better of two evils. If they do not then GOP will write one and do more damage. 

M. Problem is, union prez called it a model for the whole country, not lesser of evils. Dems in control in state house. No Wisc.

D: hmm maybe unions are out of control then. Jobs going to mexico and all. Need to create jobs and can't do it with unions demands
M: No teaching jobs going to Mexico, Dave.

D: Unions are unions. With unions demands being so much maybe it is a way to curtail them.
M: U sure ur a Democrat, Dave?

D: I hear teachers here whining all the time, we suffer from over 60% dropout rate. People graduating who can't read or write.
D:  they "work" 180 days a year every other week they have a day off, two weeks at fall, winter and spring breaks. kids r failing.
M: Teachers "whining"? Sounds like ur the one whining Dave. 60% dropout rate? In rich kids schools too? What city is that?

D. Robeson County NC statewide it is about 40% I believe. More interested in football than education.
M: Robeson Cty? History of segregation. Largest Native Am population in country. Maybe time for another Nat Turner revolt? What do you think?

D:  180 days and sick days and vacation days, holidays and summer break. And they are failing students needs. High Dropout rates
D. we can argue this til the cows come home and not conclude anything. Teachers work very little & are paid very well. Do the math

I took Dave's advice and did "the math." Here's what I found:

M: Certified teacher in N.C., with a B.A., must work 20 yrs before being paid the national ave. by the state. http://bit.ly/fBv24l
M: Average annual teacher salaries in North Carolina are 7% below the national average and fallin… (cont) http://deck.ly/~PO1ZL
M: While there are 180 inst. days in N.C. Teachers work more additional days than those in any other state.

M: Dave, u shouldn't talk any more. There are no real teacher unions in N.C. 98% of teachers are non-union.Teacher salaries among lowest in the nation.

D: u just made my argument. National average is based on overpaid underworked union teachers.

Oh well. Some people just know what they know. Dave is right about one thing though. While he exaggerated the dropout rate, it's still way too high. The graduation rate in Robeson County in a meager 55% compared with 68% statewide. But surely this can't be attributed simply to greedy, whining teachers and their (non) unions.

How about the fact that Robeson is near the bottom of the state in per/student spending? How about the massive poverty, unemployment, and worsening living conditions for children and their families in the county? Robeson ranks 98 out of 100 counties in terms of poverty. One-third of the county lives in poverty. It also ranks near the bottom in the nation when it comes to health care and  issues like teen pregnancy, low birth weight, obesity.

Keep it real, Dave.