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A Tale of Two Cities

  • Posted on February 27, 2011 at 8:20 pm

This weekend, just like every other weekend this year, I have been busy working on assignments for a couple of courses I’m taking.  When I finished today, I sat down and watched CNN and HLN news.  I couldn’t help but notice two news posts that seemed like a strange juxtaposition to be next to each other.  One showcased Oscar opulence and the other a scene from the state house at Madison, Wisconsin where protesters are camped out and being asked to leave.  http://www.wkow.com/global/category.asp?c=123753

Tonight belongs to Oscar but I, for one, could care less who or what gets an Oscar.  Watching the news where Wolfgang Puck showed off little Oscar chocolates coated with 24K gold just kind of repulsed me as I thought about what is happening in Wisconsin.  The heat and pressure is really being put on the teachers.  The next move is layoff notices which are now being sent out to teachers by many school boards across the state.  http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_4f6825c2-4160-11e0-afd8-001cc4c002e0.html

Of course we all know that Governor Walker is threatening to layoff state employees as well.  While this is being played out in Wisconsin, Hollywood is busy with all the Oscar parties and events.  The Oscar swag bag could pay for a teacher, benefits and all.  http://www.hollywoodtoday.net/2011/02/27/oscars-2011-even-the-losers-get-75000-plus-in-swag-bag/

It is kind of scary the tale of these two cities.  One full of opulence and one filled with normal people doing normal jobs just asking for the right to negotiate.  It’s even scarier when a simple gift bag for the 1600 or so Oscar elite is worth more than what most teachers received in a year’s salary and benefits.  Winners’ swag bags are worth twice as much.  Imagine a gift worth $150,000!  It’s hard to fathom how the rich, powerful and famous live.  I’m just a teacher.  I drive a 2001 Ford Taurus and I live a simple life but now the government has put a target on my back because I’m paid too well.  I have to “share” the sacrifice.  I don’t have a problem with sharing a sacrifice as long as everyone has to give their fair share.  What I want to know is what sacrifices are the wealthy facing?  What will they be missing in their opulent lifestyles?  Will the Koch brothers have a few less billion to throw around?  Will the Hollywood elite have to give up a few thousand from their swag bag?

Educating our children should be the top priority in our country.  Our children are our most precious resource.  The best thing you can give your child is a good education from dedicated professionals.  I know what I put into my teaching and I see my colleagues doing the same.  I’m sure Wisconsin teachers are dedicated as well.  There may be a few bad apples as every profession has those people that might be considered “lazy”.  However, the truth is teaching is a profession that has come a long way.  Teachers used to be able to teach with an 8th grade education.  Those days are long gone as most teachers have earned the equivalent of their Masters and beyond.  Teachers want to be paid for being the professionals they have become.  Teachers have had a lot of pressure to keep up with the times.  For years teachers have been the first to learn about the new technologies when they come out and they have worked hard to get that technology installed in school districts.  There is much more to the profession of teaching today than has been in the past.  Teachers have to learn new strategies for teaching the 21st century student who has been raised with an appetite for TV, video games and computer gadgets.  Teachers attend conferences, take more college courses and get involved in professional development to improve their teaching ability.  This effort is on going and lasts for the lifetime of the teacher.  Many people have no idea what is really going on in schools today.  They hear something about a test score and think they know the whole story.  Much of what a teacher does on any given day could never show up on a test.  I’ve listened to children tell me how their parent died and why their sad to letting me know they’re hungry, to even showing me their excitement at learning something new in my class.  These are precious moments.  Sometimes I’m teaching and sometimes I’m listening and sometimes I’m just someone showing a young soul that I care about them.  You may see me as someone that needs to share a sacrifice.  I see myself as someone that puts her hand out every day and lifts up children that need a helping hand!

This is what democracy looks like!

  • Posted on February 23, 2011 at 10:03 pm

I don’t have any time tonight.  I just wanted to share this video from the American Federation of Teachers.

Republican Right Wing…..You Don’t Need No Education!

  • Posted on February 22, 2011 at 2:49 pm

Just let Pink Floyd play while you read my post!

Those right wing pundits must not have been coddled enough by their school teachers.  Let’s take Rush Limbaugh who couldn’t seemingly tackle college and dropped out after two semesters.  Glenn Beck’s post high school education consisted of taking a theology class at Yale that he ended up dropping.  Were they worried about mind control or were they just not that good at schooling?  Why am I bothering with this?  I’m bothering with this because these are the two big guys that push the right wing media agenda.  I even have family members that listen to their bullshit and truthfully these two guys don’t know much about anything!

Even Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker couldn’t quite “cut” getting that little old college degree.  He dropped out!  My sister loves the statement, “To know something is to know nothing, and to know nothing is to know something.”  It really says a lot.  These guys don’t know much about anything, but they all know how to manipulate their audiences and make tons of money doing it.  These guys have nothing in common with the average working “Joe” but many of those average working “Joes” think these guys know what’s going on with everything from politics to religion.  I include Governor Walker in on all of this because he is so over the top with the right wing agenda, that he supports pharmacist not filling prescriptions for contraceptives because of religious or moral grounds.

Well, Rush and Glenn both have come from troubled personal lives.  They both wrap themselves in religious metaphors and both have been married more than once, Rush too many times to bother counting!

In my opinion, Glenn Beck is simply dishonest as this video shows:

Rush always tends to add “fuel to the fire” with his outrageous “OxyCotin” laced tirades.  Here is Rush saying teachers feel entitled to be “freeloaders”.

Here again is Glenn Beck feeding his special form of “hatred” to his fellow countrymen.

From my point of view, there are bad guys all around that have done much to destroy private sector unions and the right for people to belong to any union.  Now the right ring of the Republican Party is going after the public sector unions.  Even President Obama has done much damage to the teacher’s unions.  Here in Michigan we have signed onto legislation that ties evaluations to student test scores that really is rather senseless.  This opinion piece is well worth reading and basically says what I’ve been thinking about.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/race-to-the-top/the-irony-of-obamas-help-for-w.html

So what can you do?  I think everyone needs to get educated about the subject matter as eventually the bargaining rights of all Americans could be in jeopardy.  We, the working people of America, need to stand together or everyone will lose all bargaining rights.

So, stand together or FALL together!

If you do nothing else today, read this bit and definitely watch the Jon Stewart video placed here from last night!  By the way the “liberal’ pundit, Jon Stewart, has a college degree!  Imagine that!

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/02/22/jon_stewart_wisconsin_scott_walker

I will leave you with this last bit from Paul Krugman:

You don’t have to love unions, you don’t have to believe that their policy positions are always right, to recognize that they’re among the few influential players in our political system representing the interests of middle- and working-class Americans, as opposed to the wealthy. Indeed, if America has become more oligarchic and less democratic over the last 30 years — which it has — that’s to an important extent due to the decline of private-sector unions.

And now Mr. Walker and his backers are trying to get rid of public-sector unions, too.

There’s a bitter irony here. The fiscal crisis in Wisconsin, as in other states, was largely caused by the increasing power of America’s oligarchy. After all, it was superwealthy players, not the general public, who pushed for financial deregulation and thereby set the stage for the economic crisis of 2008-9, a crisis whose aftermath is the main reason for the current budget crunch. And now the political right is trying to exploit that very crisis, using it to remove one of the few remaining checks on oligarchic influence.

So will the attack on unions succeed? I don’t know. But anyone who cares about retaining government of the people by the people should hope that it doesn’t.

I just had to come back in here and post Rachel Maddow’s video.  It is long but so thorough.  It is a “must see” video! You must watch the whole thing and by the way Rachel is a Standford grad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7e4bj5rrd8