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.