Hello everyone On Sun, Mar 20, 2011 at 8:28 AM, david buchanan <[email protected]> wrote: > > Dan said: > Yes, there is an unfair distribution of wealth in this country. I agree. And > I could mention how my teacher-neighbor leaves for work at 8:30 am and comes > home at 3:30 pm every day, gets every weekend, holiday, x-mas break and > spring break off, and doesn't work for 3 months during the summer, but I > won't. Well, maybe I will. She worked a total of 165 days at 6 hours a day > last year compared to my 320+ days at 10 to 14 hours a day. ..., I have to > say that I don't care for it much when I see my property tax bill has gone up > again on account of the school district needing additional money to pay > teachers more than I make, even though they only work half as much. Of > course, they probably spend a lot of time at home grading papers and such > (wink, wink). > > dmb says: > In the interest of full disclosure I should say that my wife is a teacher, > some of my best friends are teachers and I hope to teach college after I > graduate. The hours aren't quite as sweet as people make it sound. Teachers > have to attend courses to keep up with the latest findings and there are > lesson plans and meetings and some teachers teach in the summer. It's not an > easy job and if you compare a teacher's earnings to other people with the > same level of education (A Master's degree in my wife's case) teachers > actually make less than their counterparts in the private sector.
Hi David Hopefully you saw I was being a bit flippant. I have great respect for teachers and academia in general. I could never teach as I haven't the patience required. That and I lack any sort of degree. I would think most of those who go into teaching go into it with the full knowledge that they will never get rich. Maybe they have a calling... a sincere desire to help others achieve better things. Maybe the hours appeal to them. Why are you hoping to teach college? >dmb: > Teaching has never been considered a lucrative field. Nobody ever got rich as > a teacher. But some people value stability and security and the rewards of > doing something helpful over wealth and that's what's attractive. Teachers > don't make more than they used to. It just seems that way by comparison > because wages in the private sector have been shrinking. Now it's almost as > if people resent teachers because they haven't yet been screwed at badly as > everyone else. Man, I just don't get that attitude. I mean, do we want to > make sure everyone gets equally ripped off and abused as the nation's wealth > moves into the bank accounts of the few or would it make more sense to form > some kind of middle class alliance to push back against this trend. As I see > it, they've got regular people fighting each other over tiny scraps. They're > pitting us against each other. It's like there is 100 people sharing a pizza > with 100 slices. One top guy takes 80 slices and the bottom 50 people have to > sh > are one slice among them so they each get one 50th of one slice. The > professions are in between those two extremes. All the people who had to go > through higher education and some kind of internship like doctors, lawyers, > engineers, teachers and professors can still have a middle class lifestyle > and hopefully send their kids to college. But the middle class is shrinking > at an alarming rate. And this attack on teachers and other public sector > workers is just one more example of that destruction. Dan: Education is key to a better life, to getting more pizza. I understand that. But I also think we have to balance the cost of education with fiscal responsibility. Yes, teachers do amazing work, and yes, they deserve to be well-compensated. But when is enough, enough? I am thinking of selling out and moving to a low-tax state like Florida. I've basically lived here my whole life. But my property taxes keep going up and up... they've basically doubled in five years. There are many others who feel the same way. The state is losing population. The people who are left will be taxed at an even higher rate to make up for it. The thing is, I bought this house with hard-earned money that I paid income taxes on. It is paid off entirely. But I feel like I am still a renter, only my landlord is the government now. If I don't continue to pay increasingly exorbitant property taxes, they'll take my house and sell it to someone else for a fraction of what its worth. And looking at my tax bill, by far the largest chunk of my property taxes goes to the school district. I read where some states cap the property tax rate at 1% of the value of the home. Which is great when compared to the nearly 4% I am paying! It is beginning to border on the ridiculous. >dmb: > Divide and conquer. That's what they're doing to us and, sadly, it's working. > Don't buy it, Dan. > > Check out this amusing little clip. Diane Ravitch on the Daily Show. She used > to be the Secretary of Education under the first Bush but now she's out there > with a book explaining what is going on with our schools. It ain't pretty. > > http://annmic.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/diane-ravitch-the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-030311-video-clip-comedy-central/ Dan: I agree it isn't pretty. I have no answers other than I grow increasingly tired of paying public employees greater wages and benefits than I'll ever receive. Like postal employees, I think public employees need to understand someone has to pay for it all. I am not convinced they realize that when they keep asking for more. Thank you, Dan Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
