This Is How We Treat "Professionals"?

In Massachusetts, a health care advocacy organization plans to mount a drive for a 2012 ballot law that would force public hospitals to prioritize doctor effectiveness over seniority when it comes to hiring, placement, layoff and transfer policies, an effort that appears likely to encounter resistance from the AMA and a skeptical Patrick administration.

Oh, sorry, I read that wrong...

An education advocacy organization plans to mount a drive for a 2012 ballot law that would force schools to prioritize teacher effectiveness over seniority when it comes to hiring, placement, layoff and transfer policies, an effort that appears likely to encounter resistance from teachers unions and a skeptical Patrick administration.

See, somehow, it's OK for doctors to police themselves, run and staff boards of review, and use seniority in granting positions and salaries. But teachers... meh.

Imagine if a group was pushing a ballot initiative to tell doctors how to judge themselves. Imagine if voters told lawyers how and when they should be disbarred. The uproar from the AMA and ABA would be deafening.

But when it comes to teachers... well, you know, there are professionals, and there are "professionals."

If you were a young person who was one of the best and the brightest, which would you rather be?

Oh, one last thing from the article:

Stand For Children has a presence in nine states: Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Washington. The group’s Massachusetts advisory board includes officials from Bain Capital, Fidelity Investments, Fisher Lynch Capital, and other major businesses, as well as a member of the Newton School Committee.

Yeah, that's some real grass-roots stuff, alright...