Oh, one other thing that really, really bothered me out of President Obama's speech Thursday night.
(For my initial reaction - if you care - check here ).
He really reached out to his strongest constituency, unions and public school teachers.
Which, unfortunately, are one in the same.
The NEA (National Education Association) is the largest labor union in the country. So when the head of the Teamsters Union, Jim Hoffa, told President Obama that the President had an Army of willing followers in Union members, that included the 3.2 million members who are organized in every state of the union.
So no wonder President Obama made a point of talking about teachers in his speech - the usual claptrap of "putting teachers back to work" and how our kids need teachers for a quality education and the usual drivel we hear when it comes to teachers.
Oh, I know - criticising teachers is dangerous ground. We're supposed to believe they are the most unappreciated, underpaid, self-less and self-sacrificing people in the world, "America's Heroes," the embodiment of Mother Teresa and Saint Francis.
The truth is, teachers are well paid, safer in their jobs than almost any other profession, and basically above criticism.
The average salary of primary and secondary school teachers in the United States is $50,479 a year - and that's the average. Teachers make more based on years in the profession.
I come from a family of teachers. I have some friends who are teachers that are phenomenal teachers, that embody the best of the profession.
But I also have friends who embody the worst of the profession, teachers who have come to hate the students they teach, but who love the benefits and know they can't be fired.
As for trust?
If you looked at the number of public school teachers who have abused their students, I'm willing to bet it would make the number of Catholic priests who have abused kids pale in comparison.
We all know about the lawsuits filed against the Catholic church, the millions paid out by the Catholic church, the damaged reputation of the thousands, if not millions, of good, decent, committed Priests.
Why haven't there been just as many lawsuits against public school systems, against teachers' unions? Why don't we hear the same "jokes'' made about teachers and the public school system that we hear about priests and the Catholic Church?
Oh, you might say it's because we expect more from so-called "men of God," and I wouldn't disagree at all.
But what - we don't expect high standards from our teachers?
More teachers won't improve our public school system. But competition might. It's worth a try.
You know this big push that says getting our kids in an educational system earlier and earlier - mandatory pre-K programs - will help our students become competitive in the world again?
I don't believe it. I've read studies that say in the earliest testing done that compares students world-wide (apparently about the fourth grade), American students blow the doors off other students, particularly in reading, writing, and comprehension (however they do rank behind Koreans and Japanese in math and science even at that young age).
So what happens between fourth grade and senior year in high school?
Our once world-class students are exposed to less than world-class teachers and a less than world class teaching system that spends outrageous sums of money every year with worse and worse results.
I'm sure this study has been done, but I'd like to see it: compare the graduation rates from high school among the last class before all these mandatory Pre-K programs began to the current graduation rates. I've had professionals tell me there is really very little difference. And yet we keep hearing if we just added more years of Pre-K, what a difference it would make!
Stick with me on this for a minute. I recently read where the coastal Southern States, if taken together as their own country, would rank No. 7 in the world in GDP. You want to know why I think the economies of the Southern states have done so much better, why Mercedes and Honda and Hyundai and Toyota and so many other car companies are building their cars in the South now?
Could it be because so many Southern states are 'right to work' states? And the workers in the South seem to be just fine with that?
Couldn't the same thing be true for public education?
Instead, the teachers union has become so powerful, because when attacked, it becomes "all about the kids!"
Again, I had some great teachers. I wanted, at one time, to be a teacher. We need good teachers.
But simply being a 'teacher' doesn't mean you might not be incompetent - or worse - and if that's the case, then teachers should be held accountable, just like people in any other profession (like priests!).
I want good teachers. I want schools to be held accountable for the way they spend tax money. And I want bad teachers fired, and kids allowed to cross school districts to enroll in better schools if there is room in those schools.
But, hey, that's just me. What do I know? I am a product of the public school system, from kindergarten to state university.
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