Bail out the auto industry, but let our children sink!

I consider myself a professional educator. It is my career of choice and I love it. Since the age of four I wanted to be a teacher and that is what I became. It is amazing to be in a classroom and watch the light in children's eyes as they learn a new concept or connect it to prior learning. Sometimes I look into a child's eyes and am almost speechless/breathless thinking of the awesome task that everyday I, and my fellow colleague of educators, hold in my hands.

In this time of a budget crisis, we have less money in our hands to do it with. Can you imagine that we are facing even more budget cuts? We are already operating on 71% of our budget. At what point is there no more to cut? How is it people in decision-making capacities can't seem to grasp that if we continue to short change our children, then our future is grim.

The government bailed out the automakers, the mortgage industry and many others. There is no bail-out for education. Most funding for schools is provided by the state government. When you live in a state that the governor wants to give money for parents to enable their children to attend private schools, you know there isn't much empathy for public schools and their mission.

Currently in South Carolina, the legislators are going to vote on whether school districts must have mandatory furlough days. Teachers would be furloughed 5 days and district and school administrators 10 days. Now, the task at hand is still the same- provide excellence in education and learning to produce productive citizens- we will have at least 5 less days to prepare for it. Yes- the students will have the same amount of schooldays, but those who must provide their instruction have 5 less days in which to prepare for the best for them. Teachers will still have to plan and need professional development opportunities in order to keep abreast of the educational trends, but apparently the legislators think it is okay to do it on their own time. Those who are professional educators take on the responsibility at hand and want to do their very best for our children, so they will work even more on their own time to prepare the best for them. Do you feel appreciated when someone takes 5 days of your work away along with 5 days of pay, yet the expectations are still the same? Do you want for our youth to have "dummied down" standards and expectations so everyone can rationalize cutting 5 days of work?

What about the administrators of schools? Do you truly think that schools can be totally ready for students and all the small details attended to when they have less days to do it in? Again, professional educators will be working on those mandatory furlough days- just at home, as though that is done enough already.

I have a twelve-year-old son and it absolutely makes me sick to think that because of how the government chooses to allot "our" monies, his education is going to suffer. What are his chances of competing in a global society when he gets less and less? What is future like? Who is going to compensate for the less than adequate education so that he can get a good job? Are he and his peers going to be able to become doctors, lawyers, etc., with the education they are being "given". South Carolina law only provides for a minimally adequate education and that is basically what they expect.

We live in a time of accountability in education. We have No Child Left Behind legislation, but we have less funds to do as it requires. We also get "graded" by the federal and state government on how well our school and students perform. Think about it- how many industries get graded each year? Oh... wait a minute....... creditors, banks, automakers... where was their accountability? And guess what, tax payer's money was used to bail them out!!! No grade, no accountability, but they were "saved". Imagine you had to take a test with less days to study, less materials to prepare you..... how do you think you would do? What if that grade was posted to compare you to everyone else? How would that make you feel?

That is what the legislators are counting on- educators desire for the best for our students and perseverance through the toughest of times and don't speak out often enough (probably because we are busy writing lesson plans)- and we WANT our grade to be high, so we spend the extra time and the money out of our own pockets so our school and students "score" well. The gratitude is shown by having 5 days of pay cut out of our salary?

As I blog, I refuse to revise, edit, add voice, check for conventions, organize it according to a guide, etc., so put your rubric and red pen away and just read it for content.

This is my opinion, although no one asked..........