To Hell with "posters" - here are the facts!!

I know I've written on this subject before, but I am still somewhat amazed and oftentimes dismayed at what I see written on message boards sponsored by reputable newspapers. I used to think a lot of people around me were crazy, but I never had any proof. Thanks to the message boards, it's been confirmed.

Time was, the only way to comment on the day's news was to write a letter to the editor. And there, presumably, someone with some degree of knowledge reviewed the letter and chose those that were the most pertinent and, perhaps, the best written. And then came the internet (do I blame Al Gore here??) and with it the rise of the great unwashed of journalism - the neighbor with a fast internet connection!!

Now anyone with even a moderate degree of technical ability can log on and leave posts that sometimes boggle the mind.

What has started this, again, has been the proliferation of news stories and commentaries about the rather Draconian budget cuts that our new (and hopefully one-term) governor Chris Christie has ordered - especially those aimed at education (check the profile - I'm a second-career teacher). These cuts are having drastic affects on districts all over the state - large and small, suburban and urban. And, as a result, teachers are going to lose their jobs and students will, in the long run, lose out. It's inevitable.

So all the "posters" have to say is, in a nutshell, "good for the teachers and good for the administrators and aren't they all overpaid and they should all rot in hell (OK - I added that one)...." And most of these comments are written in what I guess is a form of English, although not the form I try to teach my students. And it seems that many of these posters comment several times per article.

It's not even that the posts are mostly illiterate - it's that most of them are so grossly misinformed! It's as though the only thing they know about teachers they learned from "Welcome Back, Kotter" in the Seventies.

Here are the facts:

• all teachers aren't rich, but some who have survived the longest do make six-figure salaries;
• there are an awful lot of school buildings that are over a half-century old and behave like they are - leaky ceilings, worn floors, poor electrical systems, etc;
• teachers do get a pension after their service is done - but they also contribute to that pension to the tune of about 5.5% per year with no choice (unlike opt-in 401(k) plans in private business);
• the state hasn't fully funded the pension system in about 17 years but the teachers have;
• teachers get really good benefits but more and more of them are contributing to their benefit costs;
• teachers are surrounded by a few dozen sick kids per day, which means they get sick too;
• I get about $1.10 per day for supplies for my classroom - that comes to about 4-cents per kid per day;
• teachers are off July and August;
• teachers don't get paid during July and August;
• mortgages need to be paid during July and August;
• teachers pay property taxes and income taxes;
• unemployed people don't pay income taxes, nor do unemployed teachers;
• teachers don't work from bell-to-bell - they work around 10 hours per day during the school year;
• teachers don't get overtime;
• teachers don't get merit pay because nobody can figure out how to make that work;
• most teachers actually love what they do and wish the public would just let them teach and knock off all this nonsense;
• and finally, the only place you will see a beige computer is in an elementary school classroom - yes, they are that old.

Hey - all we did was see a good job and take it. We decided to work for a little less and hope for a pension at the end of the day. Most of us didn't even know about the health benefits thing when we started but I'll admit we do like it once we get it. And none of us have ever begrudged those who work in the private sector when things are going great and there was an abundance of paper millionaires - and we won't begrudge them in the future when things come roaring back and the paper millionaires are there again.

So to all of you posters who seem to have nothing but time on your hands, do one of two things. Either get a real job and contribute something to society or go back to school, take the classes, pass the test and become a teacher. Then you can see just how great life with two unpaid months off, no air conditioning in the summer, no heat in the winter and the need to pee on a set schedule can be.

Blame it on the Go-Go's

I was born in the early 1960s, which means I did most of my growing up in the 1970s. And what that means is that my key college years were in the early-mid 1980s. Like most of those of my generation, music has been an integral part of my life - I can't remember a single day when I haven't listened to an album (CD or MP3 now, I guess) or the radio. And I can't remember a day when I haven't listened to at least 1 Beatles (or solo Beatle) song. My musical tastes are varied, ranging from 1940s big band to John Mayer, classic rock to classical, jazz to country.

And yet I have almost no use for anything recorded in the 1980s. I came to realize that the other day when I finally replaced all of my stolen Sirius radio accessories and returned the radio to the car. 200 channels of stuff and I ended up, for five minutes, on Channel 8 - Eighties on 8. And it was then that I thought my ears were going to fall off.

The song that set me off - "We Got the Beat" by the Go-Gos - was when I came to the realization that the Go-Go's are living proof of everything that was bad about the 80s. To say that they were mediocre is putting it mildly. The truth is that they were just awful. And yes, I will acknowledge that there were some really awful bands in the 1960s and 1970s. But these were mostly one-hit wonders that came and went and now, when you hear their song, you say "Oh Wow - I remember this song. It sucked back then, too!" and then you move on.

But the Go-Gos were a bad band that SHOULD have been a one-hit wonder but somehow weren't. The kept releasing bad record after bad record - and America kept buying them!! And so, as a result, they are a staple on 80s on 8. And a constant reminder of the lost decade of music. Their effects were far reaching, taking so many others down to their mediocre levels.

Don't believe me? Look at all the great acts that went to hell in a handbasket during the 1980s. Hall and Oates - great blue eyed soul in the 70's, pop crap in the 80s. Chicago - cutting edge jazz-fusion in the 70s, the same old David Foster sounding pop in the 80's, Cher - oh, who am I kidding, she just sucked all the time.

Even the legends weren't immune. Name one great Rolling Stones record in the 80s - "Dancing in the Street", Mick Jagger's nightmare with David Bowie? Or how about Bruce Springsteen - musical genius in the 1970s who was reduced to recording the song with the single worst lyrics ever written by a rock and roll hall-of-famer - "Glory Days." Just what the hell is a "speed ball" anyway, Bruce?? And just to show that I'm not ignoring my own musical favorites - did we really need McCartney II? I mean, really??

All of this music sucked - the shitty soundtrack to what should have been my own glory days - graduating high school, college, and the start of my first career. Instead of fond memories, I have A Flock of Seagulls, Softcell and Kaja Goo Goo to look back on.

But no matter how hard I try to twist and turn this - I still blame the Go-Go's for making mediocrity acceptable and setting the cause of all-girl bands back 20 years.

Thanks girls.

The Loneliest Profession

When I became a teacher, after a long career doing other things, one of the veteran teachers surprised me with this little tidbit. "One thing I never get used to," she said, "was the loneliness. Teaching is a lonely profession."

I was somewhat taken aback by that. Lonely? I'm surrounded by 25 kids all day. Constant interruptions. Library. Gym. Art. The occasional assembly. Who could be lonely?

She was right. It is a very lonely profession. But not lonely in the sense that you are "alone" such as a hermit might be. But you are very much alone despite being surrounded by a sea of young faces. You are pretty much on your own after your initial training. You get a curriculum guide, a few reference books and then have at it. Figure it out on your own. And, after a while, you do. Or at least you think you do.

But the loneliness persists. You don't have much adult conversation during the day. And after school, you are busy copying or grading or having mandatory meetings to do anything other than just packing up and going home. As far as professions go, other than an undertaker, I think teaching is a pretty lonely profession.

But the loneliness doesn't end in the classroom. Not any more, at least. No, the loneliness continues outside the school now. For I'm finding that being a teacher is not only a lonely profession, but one that is clearly the scapegoat for everything that is wrong with America today.

Don't believe me? Just look at the newspapers for proof.

Here in New Jersey, we have a tremendous budget deficit. And our illustrious governor has decided that it's the teachers who are at fault. If we could just find a way to have schools with teachers that would work for NO money, things here in New Jersey would be paradise, to listen to his rhetoric. Teachers make too much. Teachers have tenure. Teachers have summers "off" (which is complete bullshit, by the way. Just ask any teacher how much real "off" time they have during their unpaid vacations and I think you might be surprised). Teachers have a pension. Teachers get health benefits.

Nobody ever asks what teachers give up to be teachers. Like the right to work in a building that is less than 40 years old. Or computers that actually have an operating system newer than Windows 98. Or the ability to take a vacation when everyone else ISN'T on vacation. Or the ability to pee when you have to, instead of on a schedule. Or heat in the winter. Or air conditioning in the summer. Or overtime. Or a bonus.

The reality is that teachers perform a valuable service and expect to be paid. We don't expect to become millionaires. None of us got into this gig for that. But after a number of years, it would be nice to be able to have a few nice things.

The truth is that during boom times, nobody wants to be a teacher. They all want to go into private industry and make big money - myself included. But these are not boom times. And, the nerve of it all, teachers are actually working while other industries are not. But that's not our fault. We didn't tell American manufacturers to outsource all of their work. We didn't tell the banks to make all those bad loans. We didn't tell GM and Chrysler to make all those shitty cars (who really needs the Pontiac Aztek anyway!!) All we did was decide that education was the calling we had. And now we are the bad guys.

And to those that think we're the bad guys, let me ask you - just who do you think is paying all the income taxes in this state while everyone else is unemployed? The teachers, that's who.

But I digress. It's not only the teachers making too much money. No, now the federal government wants to revise the shitty No Child Left Behind law with still another half-assed attempt to "fix" American schools. Hey - I have an idea. Let's figure out just what's WRONG with American schools and fix that. Because all this fixing isn't doing a damned thing. Oh, and did anyone ask a teacher to help "fix" the schools? Look at who's doing the writing of the law and let me know what you find.

And, while they are at it, let's not just fix the law, let's rewrite the standards so that we have national standards - across all 48 states. Oh, wait a minute, there are still 50 states aren't there. At least there were when I looked at my flag this morning. But Texas doesn't want to play nice in the sandbox. And if Texas won't play nice, the textbook makers won't play nice. And if the textbook makers won't play nice, you can bet your ass there won't be any national standards.

Did anyone ask a teacher about this?

Just when I'm ready to pitch this whole thing and return to Wall Street with the ridiculously high bonuses, free-flowing coffee and the ability to pee when and where I want, something happens to draw me back in.

Tonight, it was "To Sir, with Love", the great movie with Sidney Poitier. This movie always reminds me that there is more to this lonely profession than the bullshit that you read in the paper. There is the dedication to the students - to making a difference for them, to being a role model for them, to being "there" for them. That is why we accept the sub-standard working conditions and the wrath of the public and the interference of the politicians.

Because, at the end of the day, when a former students stops by to say hello, or when you run into a parent of a former student and they say "Thank you. You made a difference for my child" it makes you feel better than any six-figure bonus check ever did. That's why I stay in the lonely profession. Because, despite what everyone else seems to think about teachers in public education, we DO matter and we DO make a difference.