I do have massive sympathy for teachers however, in an age where parental responsibility has been all but abdicated - but like nursing - it's a vocation not a career and money or hidden political agendas (should) have nowt to do with it.
If you have the ability and the passion to pass on knowledge (without colouration) to children, then you are one of the most important people on the planet, for there lies the future. If you want to politicise that education for an obscure belief or agenda, then, you are guilty of far more than simple neglect.
PS, I am probably being thick but perhaps one of our American friends can answer: Can you be Conservative or Liberal in both Democrat and GOP parties?
If the answer is YES then it explains much.
Pardon me, Keith, but I find those two comments I highlighted in red to be diametrically opposed. How could you consider a job that is held "...one of the most important people on the planet", held by a person who works diligently despite all the challenges (not just the students, you have no idea how much of a challenge it is to keep up with the governmental changes in education), and not consider those people professionals or that choice "...a career".
That's a ludicrous statement, plain and simple. I have a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, and multiple semesters of post-graduate work...how can that not be adequate to call a 32 years of service to the children of our nation a "....career"....what else would it take?
I agree that parents have abdicated on their responsibility to raise their kids with good values....they have said many times in my presence that they think that is the school's job, but then parents don't want us teaching morals or doing anything that they would call "immoral", like passing out birth-control pills in the student clinic to keep those very children of theirs from getting pregnant out of wedlock. I'm not a prude, the "out of wedlock" part matters not to me, but how many young ladies who start out their adult life, after they graduate from high school, with a child who manage to go back to school to develop some employability/earning power? Yeah....not many, you can bet on that. Education is the great divider between a life of poverty and one that can be comfortable....never mind getting rich!
Schools and local school systems are not necessarily "political", but state school boards ARE and many times those positions are filled by people with their own political agendas. I was raised in the state of Kansas and a decade ago Kansas became the laughing stock of America when the religious fundamentalists managed to elect enough representatives to the STATE school board to have "creationism" declared the truth and have any mention of evolution prohibited in the public schools. How do you think well-intentioned teachers, who from my experience only want to raise functional adults who will be able to support themselves LEGALLY, reacted to that? I, for one, was ashamed to admit I even knew where Kansas was....
To answer your last question, the answer is "yes", there are conservative Democrats and "liberal" Republicans.....yet, you don't see the Democrats arguing over which of the candidates can "out-liberal" the other one like you see the Republicans fighting to see who can be the most conservative. Add to that, it is not unusual to find people "switching" parties in the middle of the stream, so to speak, when they find their political views (and, most likely, their political future) out of synch with modern issues...not unusual, at all.
We're a really screwed up society....hard to believe we've lasted this long, so it should come as no surprise that we're entering a decline as a world power, economically at least....we still have the military power to kick any country's ass into the next continent, but we'll see how long that lasts, too.
There is little difference between a conservative Democrat and a "liberal" Republican, until you get into the voting booth....
Cheers!
Doug
I'll be buggered if I ever go there again... :laugh:
