I spent two years in public schools teaching little kids to speak English. During that time I learned two valuable lessons about education:
1) Good public school teachers are a precious resource.
2) I don't have what it takes to be one.
I fail to see the merit in stripping the public sector workforce of its bargaining power, just as I fail to see how punishing already modest wage earners with smaller paychecks can be good for the economy. I see plenty of merit, however, in this:
McBone takes its hat off to Wisconsinites who have demonstrated against their governor's efforts to weaken the power of the public employee. Scott Walker, in stooping to the standard Republican credo of blaming unions for our economic woes, has fully aligned himself with the dark forces that seek to siphon American wealth away from the middle/working classes and into the distended bellies of the privileged few.
We maintain that a healthy, well-educated citizenry is crucial to keeping pace with the world, and we believe that strong public services are necessary in achieving that goal, ie good public schools populated with good public school teachers.
Wanna be no. 1? Tax and spend like you mean it. Let's keep the most talented and qualified people in the classroom so that hacks like me aren't forced to miseducate America.
Yeah, I'm a liberal. Fuck you.
nwb
4 comments:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=a6jskX_gPvVc
"In Wisconsin, Republican Governor Scott Walker championed a bill that would make public workers bargain for wages alone and require them to pay 5.6 percent of their pension costs; they pay nothing now. They would have to foot 12 percent of their health- care premiums, up from 6 percent. Police and firefighters wouldn’t be covered by the measure, which Republican legislative leaders had hoped to pass by the weekend."
The governor won election just six weeks ago with nearly 53% of the vote by stating what he intended to do. I think this is a very moderate concession considering no employment would be cut and the state is in a $3BB+ deficit. The private sector does not get ANY pension-- they're getting one on the taxpayer's back for FREE and are unwilling to pay a cent toward their own retirement plan. As for health care costs... everyone's is rising... but somehow their's shouldn't?
Let's start thinking about educating our children, shall we?
The last time I checked, a teacher knew his/her expected salary when he/she graduated from high school/college, just the same as any other person. The problem is the unions-- it's time to get rid of them... for every civil servant.
This is outright greed-- it's hard to believe, Nate, I know, but it's not just an issue reserved for the private sector-- while holding every citizen of Wisconsin hostage and beholden to unions that have no competition. How is that fair to the taxpayers? You know, the people that elected the governor... and, oh, by the way, pay for the union's wages with their hard-earned money, which I'm guessing may have also decreased in the past few years due to a massive "recession," which is still on-going and now taking an inflationary turn.
My grandfather was a chief of police. I'm pretty sure that he would be appalled that civil servants would out this much strain on those that they have chosen to serve. It used to be that honor and respect was the main reward for being a civil servant. My, how times have changed...
Civil:
adjective
1 [ attrib. ] of or relating to ordinary citizens and their concerns, as distinct from military or ecclesiastical matters : civil aviation.
• (of disorder or conflict) occurring between citizens of the same country.
• Law relating to private relations between members of a community; noncriminal : a civil action.
• Law of or relating to aspects the civil (or code) law derived from European systems.
2 courteous and polite : we tried to be civil to him.
3 (of time measurement or a point in time) fixed by custom or law rather than being natural or astronomical : civil twilight starts at sunset.
Servant:
noun
a person who performs duties for others, esp. a person employed in a house on domestic duties or as a personal attendant.
• a person employed in the service of a government. See also civil servant , public servant .
• a devoted and helpful follower or supporter : a tireless servant of God.
YEAH!
Walker is the first Wisconsin governor in 64 years to not have a college degree. No wonder he cares little for education.
Why aren't union folks tax-payers?
The main problem is that Scott Walker has put his foot down and said he won't compromise. It's either that the state employees accept the changes or 6,000 state workers will get fired. He sees no middle ground. But he's not afraid to lower the corporate taxes by an estimated $187 million dollars (out of $630 million). That is utterly ridiculous and the protesters in Wisconsin (and the Democrats who won't stand for cloture on the measure) should be applauded. Thank you, McBone for highlighting this!
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