On the last teaching day of the year, another 170 teachers employed by a local school district received a surprise: lay-off notices! These teachers survived the first round of cuts and thought they were coming back in the Fall. According to the contract, notification must be served by March 15, but districts everywhere cover themselves by handing out non-hire notices by that date and then drop the bad news at their convenience. This group of teachers not only have to finish off grades and pack their classrooms, but they are turning in their keys and going home to stay. It's well past the time to look for another job, if, indeed, there were other jobs available. By this time all the part-time positions have been filled at the big box stores, which can only absorb so many overly-qualified employees with Master's degrees and teaching credentials.
During the campaign, I was promised change I could believe in; what I got were ongoing frantic efforts to save major corporations and major cuts in education, neither of which is change I believe in. Businesses come and go, especially when businesses engage in poor business practices: refusal to be on the leading edge of advancement, while continuing to price products out of a competitive marketplace. I drive Toyotas for one reason: they last beyond the payment coupons. Many people I know who purchase American brandname vehicles suffer from the Fix Or Repair Daily theory of operation, a cycle of spending that does not appeal to me even in a healthy economy. If American manufacturers want my business, they have to earn it by offering a quality product at a reasonable price. I am not one of those who will "buy American" for philosophical reasons if I can buy a better product at a better price from another manufacturing source.
America used to be a strong, competitive world market, but gave up its driving force to make a quick buck. You snooze, you lose.
During a huge tidal wave of immigration into America during the waning years of the 19th century and the opening years of the 20th century, American citizens realized how vital the education of all citizens is to this country's survival. We believe in what teachers call "Statue of Liberty schools," educational institutions that take our poor, huddled masses and educate them. In the smallest hamlets of this country, as well as the largest metropolises, immigrants went to school to learn the language, to learn the ways of this country, to learn the skills that would guarantee employment and fulfillment of The American Dream. Education was the foundation of a strong America and the businesses were a by-product of American knowledge and ingenuity.
My, how times have changed: we're flooding failing businesses with unbelievable amounts of money while shutting down schools.
I'd like to see change I can believe in, with a laser focus on one change that will turn this country back onto the path that it began to walk when courageous immigrants arrived on the shores and pointed their footsteps in a direction no other country dared to walk. I'd like to see education become the foundation again, the patient parent teaching the child what to do, how to do it, and when to do it, rather than a bastard step-child to big business begging for recognition and funding. I'd like to see each citizen doing a fair day's work for a fair wage, setting the industry standard, rather than being a victim of it. I'd like to see pride in ownership, rather than a disposal economy that varies with the whims of the rich and famous and/or the demands of the ignorant and indigent.
I'd like to see society recall that no one owes you a living: it is up to you to get the education, to get the job, to do it well and to live within your means. If you cannot accomplish those goals, so be it. The role of government is not to prop up the weak, but to support the driving forces that keep the nation growing -- and that includes education.
Here's change I can believe in: let the businesses fail and be rebuilt stronger by people who actually care about the product and services the business offers, rather than the comforts of their 401k's. Put our faith back into the educational system and strengthen it so teachers can do the job that has to be done for any country to survive: educate the children to become productive adults.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I'm hopeful that the Obama Admin will follow through (it is already starting) with reviewing the practices of the last 8 years -- the reason why we are in the educational straights we are -- and begin to correct for those unfortunate decisions. I was just reading in a news article that his education czar is, under Obama's direction, looking at what works and what doesn't in the No Child Left Behind (let's face it, little of it works!) and will start implementing repeals and corrections for it.
Unfortunately, CA has been lied to twice. First by Bush who consistently said that the west coast would be a priority and he would target CA for assistance and second by the Governator who said in both campaigns that he wouldn't touch education and has made more cuts in spending in education than any governor in the state's history! And this was already when CA rated in the 40s out of 50 states in education spending. The last stat I saw said that CA has dropped to 47! That's appalling for the 7th richest economy IN THE WORLD.
There are many, many ways to balance a budget; hurting your future employees' education is not the one I would start with. But, of course, those who are making the decisions can afford to send their children to private schools where the budgets aren't cut. Convenient?
The recent collapse of the American economy should have taught all of America one thing: so goes CA, so goes the nation. Greenspan warned that if our housing market collapsed, the country would go down like a house of cards. Sure enough, no one listened and CA housing market collapsed and, like dominoes, the rest of the nation went with it.
Fix CA, you fix the nation. Just don't do it by hurting education.
Post a Comment