I know, and, yes, I did know better.  I cannot explain why I fell for it.

The following email sent to Target (department stores) should be pretty much self explanatory.

Wow.  The economy is so bad!  Minimum wage hasn't gone up for over six months, now.  Your typical high-school kid has to work nearly all summer -full time, even - just to be able to buy one quad or dirt bike!  All three of my cars are over five years old now, and I'm gonna have to sell two, just to buy one new one!  I mean, it's like we're suddenly thrust back into the dark ages or something.  It's like it's 1973 or something!

But I think these two ladies from California really summed up the kind of unbelievable sacrifices that are having to be made by so many Americans today, in the wake of this current economy that has been thrust upon us by the republicans.  I'm just glad we have some real hope for change...

We the People  of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

I'm sorry.

I'm just so sick and tired of this liberal whining, complaining, sophomoric attitude against the wealthy...  Like someone owes you something just because they have more than you.  Honestly, folks.  You liberalists who think it is somehow noble to preach that OTHERS SHOULD BE REQUIRED THROUGH LEGISLATION TO GIVE OF WHAT THEY HAVE EARNED TO SOMEONE WHO HAS NOT EARNED IT!  You ought to be ashamed of yourselves.  You should feel deep and real shame for what you preach.

I'm sick of hearing it.  "The wealthy should pay their fair share."  BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.  Shut up, already!  Just Shut up!  Go out and earn your own way!

I have it on supposedly good authority from some of my friends who are tuned into what might be called the "ultra-conservative special knowledge" camp that, even if you hold the title deed to a piece of real property, you don't really own it -the U.S. goverment may still take it from you any time they like.  What you gotta get is some other document which secures actual ownership.  I should know these details, but the problem is that so far it doesn't really have application in my life due to the daily priorities of providing for my family, running a business, etc., etc.  Anyway, tonight as I was hosing off the blacktop in front of my shop, I had one of those epiphanal moments...

Someone has asked:

"So, why do leftists just seem to adore governments and hate corporations?"

My answer:

---

All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind are convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.

-Aristotle

---

 

But they do abound.

Okay, after reading some of my stuff here, you might be thinking, "Gee, Eric, what is this big gripe you've got about teachers?  Why the big chip on your shoulder?  Teachers are people too, you know."

Alright, then, perhaps I should clarify.  I think  that many teachers are truly great individuals.  Seriously, almost all of us can think back and point to two or three really great teachers who may have had a great impact on our lives.  These people have , no doubt, been a very positive influence in the lives of many, many young people.  These teachers exemplify what teaching is really all about.  They are taking part in the positive formation of productive citizens' lives.

Note, however, that each of us can think back and remember - what?  Two, or perhaps three great teachers.  Two or three out of how many?  Well, I had approximately fifty or sixty teachers in whose classes I sat from first grade through high school.  Out of those, I would say that six were excellent, and of those, three were truly outstanding.  The rest were okay, I guess, and some were just plain bad.  I had an English teacher who got canned for having relations with a student, a music teacher who got canned for having relations with a student (a different student),  a grade school P.E. teacher who was just plain sadistic and mean (seriously), a grade school teacher who was just plain old and crotchety (we all called her "The Claw"), and a whole slough of mediocre teachers.  They were all just kind of "average," to borrow their own term.

So what have we got here?  It looks like five percent of my teachers were outstanding, ten percent were excellent, ninety-four percent were not noteworthy, and six percent had no business being there.

So do you see where I'm going with this?  Fact is, I'm fed up with all the hype about what great people teachers are --just because they're teachers.  But the numbers simply do not bear that out!  Academians love to talk down to us commoners, don't they?  A couple years ago, I sat in a meeting with our [Medford, Oregon] district assistant superintendent with several other concerned parents.  We all wanted to make sure that a certain staff person would never again hold the position she had had (she was a staff member, not a teacher), and we cited numerous hard details of irresponsible and improper behavior, all with fully corroborated testimony.  Our esteemed overlord calmly informed us of his obvious superior wisdom and experience, given his specialized educational background, and let us know that the decision was not ours, and there was basically nothing we could do about that.  Somewhere along in there I found myself wishing that I were deathly ill with a fever and nausea, so that I could barf all over his shirt and tie.  I would have apologized, of course.  But his message was clear:

"Although you provide for my income, I do not work for you, I am not accountable to you, and I am therefore not obliged to answer to your concerns."

See, these people are not superior.  They are average.  Let's be kind and gracious, shall we?  Let's not say that teachers are bad, though many are.  No, teachers are average.  Not ALL teachers are average, but on average, teachers are average.  Not superior.  Not excellent.  Not outstanding.  Average.

Hey, wanna see some seriously average teachers?  Go to one of their union meetings.  The teachers union has made the most progress in the effort to average out the teachers.  In their relentless pursuit of the average, they have made some major headway over the past forty years.  They make sure that everything's fair for the average teacher.  They fight for the average teacher's right to keep his job, for instance.  But they don't discriminate, either.  Heck, they even fight for the really crappy teacher's right to keep his job.  For a really clear look at the average teachers union mindset, click here.

Now you might say, "Hey, that's hardly an average high school.  It's one of the worst!  You can't use the worst as an example to represent the average."  True, I say, but what I find fascinating in the video are the words of the union stooges.  Pay attention here, teachers!  Do you love your union?  Okay, but you gotta know they make you look bad, man!  If you don't think so, you're a stooge.  I'm sorry, but I just can't put it any more gently, folks.

Really, I mean, come on!!  Don't you think it's time we tax paying citizens offload this baggage?  How much longer are we as a society going to continue to look at our public education system, smile, and admire the king's clothes?  Am I really the only one who can see that he's buck naked?