Most of the opinions that I do have can be easily swayed one way or the other by a good argument - I consider myself pretty decent at being able to see things from different points of view.
But there is something that I am pretty confident about believing in without the slightest lack of conviction: education.
My mom has worked in schools for as long as I've been in them - longer, now that I'm all graduated and stuff. So perhaps it gives me a bias, but I firmly believe in the power of public education. I will say that I believe it has a very strong downfall - lack of preparation for the "real world" - but I don't think that the institution of public education is to be blamed. It's the lack of general support for it by the majority of the population, which leads to the lack of financial support that it receives, etc. etc. As an artist, I obviously support arts education in schools, and as a former high school student who was a part of productions so shoddily thrown together and so poorly funded that not even Sue Sylvester would be threatened, I know how much of an impact a well-developed grade school arts program can make.
And so, the point of this introduction is to post something that I found on facebook today that I thought was funny yet poignant - my favorite kind of find.
Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year. It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (...........................7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and planning-- that equals 6 1/2 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year. I am not going to pay them for any vacations. LET'S SEE.... That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year. Wait a minute... The average teacher's salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids! Make a teacher smile; repost this to show appreciation for all educators.
The funding of arts within the public education system is an analogy for the funding of teachers' salaries within the greater scheme of government spending. In high school all the money goes to the football team. In the U.S. it's all going toward another kind of team that we tell to "Fight! Fight! FightFightFight!"
Maybe the antiwar reference is a bit too much. I said I didn't try and tout my opinions when they're too unfounded, and I digress. But silly or incorrect opinions aside, go do it! Do what it says and repost this blog, or a link to this blog, or even just the quip. Because the people who educate us and our children are the people responsible for the future, the ones who educate us enough to let us form our own opinions - and that's a lot of weight to carry on one's shoulders.
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