Corporate KINGS & Welfare QUEENS

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-01-2004
Corporate KINGS & Welfare QUEENS
74
Fri, 09-19-2008 - 6:13am

They have a lot more in common than politicians imagine, those corporate kings & welfare queens:


1)  They believe they can make foolish decisions, and the government will bail them out;


2)  They believe they can focus on short term gratification, and the government will take care of the future;


3)  They don't understand that those who consume without adding value will eventually kill the goose that laid the golden egg.


It has been fashionable to make fun of the middle class. . .those amusing "little people" who get up every day and go to work, real work that requires them to be present and productive. . .those quaint "little people"  who believe in God and country. . .those old fashioned little people who actually believe in living within one's means and paying as you go and saving for the future.


It has been considered oh-so-clever to look down on the children of the middle class who don't attend an Ivy League school - but who value an education nevertheless:  enough to work their way through to a degree even though it may take them more than four years and their classmates may not be trust fund babies.


The intelligentsia has gleefully looked down its nose at people who do an honest day's work (oh, say work in an oil field or on a fishing boat). . .rather than lounge in an ivory tower, engage in white collar fraud, or feed at the public trough.


The media has delighted in making fun of women who don't wear designer clothes or $400 hairstyles. . .after all, how quaint not to be a purveyor of all that Vanity Fair, Vogue, and Town & Country have to offer.


Most of all, the politicians have been disdainful of the everyday people who have asked - who is going to pay for the cradle to grave society and the golden parachutes you have promised to buy the votes that keep you in power???


Of all the candidates, Gov Sarah Palin is the one who understands those old fashioned values that made the US great - the values that will save us now. . .if corrupt politicians will stop pandering to their favorite vote selling constituency and do the right thing!


What is the right thing:  revise the tax code to reward productivity; stop penalizing the elderly who work after retirement; drastically revise the education system - demanding accountability from public schools and the teachers who staff them - it is ridiculous that any child can attend school for twelve years and lack basic academic knowledge or a skill that enables them to support themselves/ridiculous that total incompetents have been guaranteed employment; stop the pandering with promises of a free lunch; require those holding mortgages to renegotiate with homeowners in default wherever possible and to eat the losses they fostered if not- people who are struggling to pay for their own homes should not be forced to pay more to bail out the irresponsible; force failing industries to pay a public value price for the low interest loans they desire:  elect Boards who engage in REAL oversight, prosecute those corporate kings who have breached their fiduciary duties - seize their ill-gotten gains and send them to jail (the corporate king who defrauded millions from shareholders is as much of a thief as the drug addict who robbed a 7-11); drill here and drill now and do whatever is necessary to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries who hate us.

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Avatar for undefeated
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Sun, 09-21-2008 - 9:38am

"I don't imagine social workers, EMR workers, police officers, firemen and other public servants who work longer hours, more months, and for less pay will cry too many crocodile tears over "abysmal" teacher pay".

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-16-2008
Sun, 09-21-2008 - 9:43am

You are the one making the sweeping generalizations - so I have asked you what you base your assertions on - and I am still waiting.

I can tell you that the school I have worked in for the last 7 years, in a poor rural county with 65% free and reduced lunches and 55% minority has made APY each year under NCLB. We just barely made it one year not because of test scores but because of attendance. I can't speak to all school in the country but I have never met a teacher since I have been teaching who was not going above and beyond the contract to reach their students. So again, where are the links that support your assertions??

And the 'high' salary I make? For the first 5 years I was teaching my children qualified for reduced lunch - yeah really high salary there!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-30-2007
Sun, 09-21-2008 - 10:29am
I have to disagree with you.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-01-2004
Sun, 09-21-2008 - 10:40am

Educational systems doing a good job will not be threatened by choice/competition.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-27-2001
Sun, 09-21-2008 - 10:59am

Quality education is the only means by which citizens can protect themselves and ensure equal opportunity.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-27-2001
Sun, 09-21-2008 - 11:03am

Private schools do not seem to have problems recruiting competent teachers.


Again, not sure where you get your information.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-27-2001
Sun, 09-21-2008 - 11:13am

Educational systems doing a good job will not be threatened by choice/competition.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-16-2008
Sun, 09-21-2008 - 11:18am

So now that you have posted a lot of pretty graphs, please tell me what is YOUR summary of the information YOU posted.

By the way, I AM doing a good job educating my students even the ones who come to be below grade level. I am NOT threatened by choice or competition. I just don't think that those choices sever the lowest students - the ones most in need of help. You have not addressed that argument at all. Choice only helps if every child really has a choice but in reality the vast majority of students whose parents will be able to avail themselves of that opportunity are the students who are not failing. Again this leaves the failing students in a worse situation than before.

As to your argument on social promotion - there is no long term gain from retention. Retained students by and large end up being tomorrows drop outs - which just raises the drop out rate - another of your complaints. Can't have retention and lower drop out rates.

By the way I know of no teacher who does not support smaller class size - do you? Teachers are not happy with class sized of 30+ - that is not a union driven problem that is a budget cutting issue.

Avatar for undefeated
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Sun, 09-21-2008 - 11:31am
Well, perhaps an added option should have been whether the "student" wanted to do what was needed also.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-16-2008
Sun, 09-21-2008 - 11:48am
LOL I have to laugh because for the last two years I had a student who refused to do any homework at all and did very little class work as well. When we had a conference with the parent we asked what the consequence at home was for this behavior - the answer? None - there was absolutely no consequence. Dad just allowed him to play video games and ride his dirt bike because he wanted to be his friend. I issued detentions to help him get the work done, but he wouldn't work then either. I could have written office referrals but then he would have been suspended and that is what he wanted. Last year I had a teacher's aid and I basically had to put the aid with this students as a one-on-one to get any work out out of him. Thankfully he managed to pass then but there go our tax dollars at work - paying a full time salary so an aid can spend the entire day as a one-on-one because a student didn't WANT to do any work and the parents didn't WANT to have any consequences. By the way he was capable of doing the work - but with a class of 27 I couldn't stand in front of him for the entire period.

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