Saturday, October 31, 2009

????

If there are so many "great schools" (as designated in online Web sites), Blue Ribbon Schools, Exemplary Schools, etc. (go ahead, check them out), why are so many students still unable to write very well or do simple, basic math (you know, like count your change)? Just wondering....

Also, is it legal to make lane changes or turns without signals as long as one is on a cell phone or driving an SUV? Again, just wondering....

I see from an e-mail sent to me by a DC insider that the House health care bill is loaded with hidden "stuff," stuff that who knows who will see among the 1900 pages (and, after all, John Conyers asks who has the time to read all of it, esp without a lawyer). There are provisions that allow members of Congress to sign up for the national health care, er new bill, but don't require them to do so. There are provisions to require all to have health insurance in a few years or to pay a tax. There are provisions for employers to pay extra taxes if their health insurance is other than the national plan. Let's see if anyone is paying attention: one, the members of Congress who don't seem to get that the significant majority of US citizens, a key there "citizens," don't want this and, two, the voters who should take out their frustration, disgust at the polls. I doubt we'll see either. The NFL season is in its middle, while the NBA and NHL have started, not to mention the World Series and college football. Dancing with the Stars is nearing a champion and American Idol will start soon. You know, the really important stuff....

A great guest opinion in the newspaper this AM. Gov Jennie is "a nice lady, but a bad gov." Yep.
And I believe, were she allowed to run again, she'd be re-elected.

Teachers (esp the retired ones!) are taking a lot of flak recently, esp concerning the MI state budget. OK, admittedly, I am a retired teacher, spending almost 40 years in education. Maybe I am biased, but I also have a bit of a different perspective. I also think I am honest here, maybe wrong, but honest. First, I think Brooks Patterson is along the right path with a public employee 401K plan rather than the current retirement. Yeah, Yeah, I know I get that public pension right now, but I played under the rules that were provided me. Second, not all teachers deserve what they get. Oh, there are a lot of good ones out there, more than I sometimes seem willing to admit. They deserve everything they get and maybe more. But there are a lot out there who are a lot worse than people know. They are lazy, have no real degrees, don't know their subjects, have no standards, etc. They don't deserve much at all. The problem is identifying them. It's hard because incompetent, less than courageous administrators can't or won't identify them--partly because they themselves fit the above bleak picture. Third, many teachers in many districts (namely, the one I was in) accepted much lower pay than others to retain the benefits (the retirement pension for one). Give me the six-figure salary that others with my educational background (OK, a much less prominent one) in other industries have received and I wouldn't have needed the pension. What makes this a very difficult issue are two things. One is the number of teachers who aren't very good. Two is the waste that really does go on in schools (and I have cited a number of instances here over the months), waste that nobody wants to believe (after all, "it's for the kids!").

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