So Friday the 13th was "wear pink day" to "save the teachers"... are you kidding me!? These same teachers who think the solution to a 9.4 million dollar budget cut shouldn't be that big of a deal. I'm sorry but that's not just chalk and pencils. That's entire programs. The speech & debate program that got me into the private school I graduated from, is most likely GONE next year.
I watched the news coverage of the day's events and I'm so annoyed at the teachers who say they don't understand or they supposedly have the "cure" for this crisis.... are you kidding?!
I'm so sick of getting Facebook invites to "save the teachers". WRONG IDEA! It needs to be "save our SCHOOLS" and teachers aren't the only people that make schools run. Not in the LEAST bit. They are very valuable, I get it, but so are the cooks, the janitors, the payroll people, the IT people, the secretaries and the bus drivers. Everyone plays an integral part in making a school district function.
Lodi School District in California already said they were cutting all sport programs. Could you imagine AGHS without their precious football team? Yeah what a shocker!!
Some people are like "well LMUSD is the lowest paid out of all school districts".... well doesn't the idea of rankings mean someone has to be first and someone has to be last? Yeah, thought so. That argument just makes me so mad. These teachers should be thanking their lucky stars they even HAVE a job right now in this economy. I know what it's like to try and find a job right now, and let me tell you it's HARD. I work 8+ hour days, 5 days a week with only 2 weeks vacation per year. Teachers on the other hand... work 7ish hour days, 180 days a year and get 3 MONTHS off EVERY year and 3 WEEKS at Christmas EVERY year. If they don't really have something to teach that day... remember random movie days? Yeah... I wish I could pop in a movie at work and tell my boss I didn't really feel like doing much that day so I was going to watch a movie.
Ughhhhhhh I'm so sick of hearing about the school budget "crisis".
I don't have a solution to this problem, and I'm sure no one knows exactly how to cut 9.4 MILLION dollars from an already strapped budget, but it has to happen and people just need to put their big girl panties on and deal with it.
*sigh* I'm done with my rant.... for now.
Until next time...
This is my mom, me and my dad in Sydney, Australia.
BEFORE she worked a ridiculous amount... 2001
Are you serious right now Noelle?!?!?!? I mean are you actually serious?
ReplyDeleteYOU are the one that should be thanking YOUR LUCKY STARS that you had people dedicate their LIVES to EDUCATING YOU so that you could get into your precious private college...where oh wait...who educated you...TEACHERS!
These people have dedicated their lives to educating children, for the betterment of society and the well being of everyone. If I am not mistaken and I quote for your post "The speech & debate program that got me into the private school I graduated from, is most likely GONE next year." WHO exactly do you think teaches those programs?!?!? The sports programs that are being cut, are being cut because those schools pay OUTSIDE people to come in and coach. Most of Lucia Mar's coaches are TEACHERS that DEDICATE their time to coach these kids, to offer scholarship opportunities to many kids that wouldn't be able to afford them otherwise.
As for your comment about "Teachers on the other hand... work 7ish hour days, 180 days a year and get 3 MONTHS off EVERY year and 3 WEEKS at Christmas EVERY year." I grew up in a household with a teacher and I know for a FACT that the hours you generalize about are completely wrong. Teachers spend hours at home grading papers, making lesson plans, creating workbooks, exercises, extra programs for kids with learning disabilities. The hours that teachers spend in dedication to their jobs is amazing.
Shame on you for turning your back and your EDUCATION to the people that have made continual sacrifices for you throughout your life. Who exactly do you expect to teach the kids that will be left without teachers in their classrooms?
Yes, The job that you have, was hard for you to obtain, but without the skills and EDUCATION that you received you would have NEVER been considered! If it was hard for you to get a job, how hard do you think it is going to be for the kids that educations are being sacrificed because of the lack of people that are going to have jobs to educate them?!?
You have NO IDEA the sacrifices that are being made towards educations with the teachers that are losing their jobs...so NO YOU DON'T GET IT....SO do not even attempt to claim that you do!
I realize that you graduated early (by the way...who do you have to thank for that education again?!?) but that doesn't mean that you can't continue to get an education after graduation..... Educate yourself on this issue before making a public display of ignorance against people that you owe a great deal to.
Jessica -
ReplyDeleteYou make great points. However, you're ignorance is shown as well.
I never ONCE said I wasn't THANKFUL for the education I received throughout my time in school. I am thankful, I would never deny that. HOWEVER, I am disappointed in the way the teachers are acting right now. They are blaming people who work in the district office and those that have no control of the situation and thinking that cutting staff members would solve all the problems. 9.4 million dollars isn't something that will just be cut over night. It takes time and it also will cost a few jobs.
I understand that teachers may work outside the classroom. However, I do see how some people in the District office ARE STILL THERE (yes it's 11:18pm on a Sunday night) to see that Arnold's cuts don't affect the school district in more negative ways then it absolutely has to. I also see how people in the district office are there literally EVERYDAY and for 12 hour days... even on federal holidays and the Mondays the teachers receive off and the holidays that the teachers receive off. There isn't a single teacher at the high school when some of the workers in the district office are doing thankless jobs without a PENNY of overtime pay.
I understand where you're coming from because your mom is (or was) a teacher. However, you can't believe that people are justified in demanding a raise and not caring about the fact that 9.4 million needs to be cut. Every year the teachers demand a raise without regard to the fact that sometimes money just ISN'T available.
Plus, you're wrong in your assumption that my teachers in high school are the same as the professors I had in college. I went to a PRIVATE school... aka NO state money... they were getting hardly what they deserved to be paid, however they loved their job, campus and students and weren't demanding raises when the school just couldn't afford it.
Times are tough right now and everyone needs to give a little to make sure we can get through this economy as intact as possible.
As to your last sentence. I would say the same to you and also I wouldn't go around insulting people with an opposing view. I may know way more than you think and YOU'RE the ignorant one.
Oh and Jessica... if I've not mistaken... I wrote...
ReplyDeleteI'm so sick of getting Facebook invites to "save the teachers". WRONG IDEA! It needs to be "save our SCHOOLS" and teachers aren't the only people that make schools run. Not in the LEAST bit. They are very valuable, I get it, but so are the cooks, the janitors, the payroll people, the IT people, the secretaries and the bus drivers. Everyone plays an integral part in making a school district function.
Therefore, I DO get it and YOU aren't seeing what I'm saying. You're being narrow minded about it and not seeing what I'm saying. We need to save the SCHOOLS which INCLUDE teachers...
I agree with Noelle,
ReplyDeleteThe reason why I chose prive school was to avoid the teachers union. The teachers union is a major reason why our public school system is declining. We are a lot better off education wise then most of the countries in the world, however, is has seen a major decline. So much of a decline that many students from India who use to come here, get educated, work in the tech industry, and pretty much caused the 90's tech boom refuse to come here anymore. Many of them are remaining in India or going to China to get educated.
The teacher's union has overstayed its welcome. They are not needed anymore with so much government regulation. They require the government to give them money, they require all public school teachers to give them money, and now they are demanding more, forcing schools to cut extra circulars. The union also protects all teachers, including many overburnt, underqualified, and just plan bad teachers.
I can understand where "Jessica" is coming from, but I completely disagree with her stance.
ReplyDeleteI had a couple of really amazing teachers. I was blessed in that way. But for the most part they had tenure so they no longer cared about what we were walking out of the classroom with so long as they taught the required material.
I'd like to take this opportunity to say thanks to Jeannine R & Ron M who taught me not only what they were required but also VALUES and WORK ETHIC... mostly by setting that example for me.
I feel badly for the people losing their jobs. Times are tough, but we all have to tighten our belts and do what's required.
When I lost my hours at work because of the county ending commercial building for the next four years, I didn't bitch and moan. I busted my ass on Craigslist to find a new job. I was fortunate enough to find one, even though I'll have to relocate away from my family and friends to (ICK!) Santa Maria.
And you don't see me crying or whining. Why? Basic survival. My parents (who are old, yes) were raised during the Great Depression. They taught me that when the going gets tough all you can to is hold your head high and push forward.
No one is really doing well right now and expecting special treatment because you are influencing the nation's future does not make sense... not when their are so many teachers that aren't affecting children in the way they should.
Previous anonymous, just a side not to our loss of Indian tech workers going to China and India, you should probably grab an economist and see why. Maybe look up the acronym 'BRIC' and understand that Brazil, Russia,INDIA, and China,are all burgeoning economies right now and are capable of employing far more people than the US. So why would people come to a country to pay through the nostrils for an education in a country whose economy cannot afford to employ them. Whereas they can stay comfortably at home and receive an education expansive enough for them to gain employment where it is to be had, and save some Rupees while they're at it. The California budget has been boned ever since the whole Enron thing, and Davis, Arnold didn't focus enough on it because he tried to keep liberals happy (not that its a bad thing) and then with the whole sub-prime/systems collapse that the economy has recently experienced, I say we're all better off licking the spoon and staring in awe.
ReplyDeleteNow, Noelle, I once heard a high school science teacher state that she calculated the hours she put in to teaching, grading, after-school projects, conferences, science fairs, back to school night, etc. and she only made 4.19 an hour. Hmmmm.... Kind of put things into perspective. I'm also married to a teacher who just got his pink slip, so... be kind to teachers. Okay? I DO agree, however, that we should put forth the mantra to save our schools, including teachers. :-)
ReplyDeleteVonnie -
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. I'm sure there are many teachers who can delineate their salaries down to pennies on the dollar. I wouldn't doubt it. However, the same can be said for many other professions.
I think the true tragedy that is among us is the teacher's union. I wouldn't imagine that (at least in the LMUSD) the union is speaking for all teachers. I'm sure some would agree a cut in pay is necessary to keep their jobs and their co-workers jobs because times are tough right now. At least a cut in pay still equals PAY when so many people are out of work.
I do pray for your husband and his job, however I am not being "mean" to the teachers as so many have read this post to be, I'm simply stating that we shouldn't focus only on the teachers because they need everyone else to make the lights work, feed the students and make sure the payroll is done for their paychecks however small they make think it is.
Can I just point out that you only looked for a job for about two months? Wow...hard work. Don't sound so ignorant-teachers put in hard work. No, wearing pink won't help them, but neither will views like this
ReplyDeleteRather than relying on ad-hominem attacks it would be preferable if your argument had a modicum of logical order...
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous on the 17th of March -
ReplyDeleteI wonder where you got the misleading information that I only looked for a job for two months. The true facts are that I had been actively looking for a job since October.
I can only assume three things from your post; 1) you have been in the work for a long time 2) you haven't graduated from college 3) you have a personal vendetta against me.
I'm guessing it's probably number 2 (and maybe some of number 3 as well) but when you come close to graduating, you will know that you SHOULD start looking for a job PRIOR to graduating so you can have something for when you're done. I did that, I wasn't successful and spent two months actively turning in applications and searching everyday.
I do not appreciate your assumptions about me and my job search. This post is about the school district, and you turned it into something that it never needed to be.
If you would like to talk more to me, I welcome your emails for questions and even more personal attacks I'm sure you have.
--Noelle
Noelle, you know i love you. But lets consider a bit of the following, I work 645 to 1 every day, maybe less, randomly i get days off and I have full medical, dental, life insurance, and i have 30 paid days off a year. All i had to do was drive 2 hours like 14 times to ventura to enlist. Should the Coast Guard get budget cuts too?? Teachers are probably the most underpaid profession there is.. They got to school get their bachelors or whatever, get there masters, and then get there credentials so they can make like $2200 a month or some rediculously low amount to deal with a bunch of asshole students with the few that were like you that enjoy school. They then head home and grade papers and spend countless hours preparing classes and trying to show that they care.. We have a saying in the coast guard; choose your rate, choose your fate, and it essentially means your responsible for your decision, so in that aspect i would say yeah, you chose to be a teacher, deal with it. But if we are going to cut funds maybe it should be to the $60,000 per inmate that the state pays every year to house the degenerates of society. I finished highschool a year early in home studies, dabbled in junior college and am currently pursuing the degree so i can try and attest to some sort of success based upon education. But my income has very little to do with the education of my piss poor liberal teachers, and more to do with the education that I have recieved from my republican mentors that have taught me how to use my money wisely. Pretty soon obama will tax the rich, aka (republicans) and we will continue to fund the ignorance of society (democrats). You voted for obama, now go and report on how he is "changing" everything. You will see this is the begining of the end....
ReplyDeleteMy mom is a teacher. She hasn't had a vacation in a very long time. Because the teachers are so LOW paid, she works all summer teaching the slackers who didn't care to listen to her during the school year. She TRIES to stay at the school later, but the administrators give her a cut off time to leave. You don't know teachers. You went to a private college, and you had dedicated teachers. My mom taught at a private school and loved it. But those teachers are paid even LOWER.
ReplyDelete"teachers aren't the only people that make schools run. Not in the LEAST bit." Yes you are right, but honestly they are the MOST important thing. Save the school...yes! Good idea, but you have to start somewhere. What will you save first? A cafeteria worker? Or a teacher?
"These teachers should be thanking their lucky stars they even HAVE a job right now in this economy" um they don't. That is what they are fighting for.
I agree with you about the programs getting cut. It is so tragic. How will kids learn without other outlets?
Good luck with YOUR job.