Teacher, Teacher...

Can you teach me?

Can you tell me all I need to know?

Teacher, teacher, can you reach me?

Or will I fall when you let me go? Oh no. 

http://sweetsugarbelle.blogspot.com

Guess what? The week of May 2-6 is Teacher Appreciation Week! May 3 is Teacher Appreciation Day and to celebrate, the Texas House is proposing huge cuts to education! But in their infinite wisdom they approved a tax break for those who want to buy yachts costing $250,000.00 or more. I could almost guarantee that none of those people would be teachers. Isn’t there something wrong with this picture?

With the current budget proposal, approximately $7.8 billion will be cut from Texas public school budgets. Four community colleges will be closed and about 60,000 students will lose the financial aid that’s allowing them to further their education. As many as 97,000 teachers and school employees will lose their jobs. And there’s $9.4 billion in the rainy day fund. If this doesn’t qualify as a rainy day I don’t know what will!

To add insult to injury, substitute teaching could cost any laid-off teacher their unemployment compensation. The reason is a clause in the Labor Code designed to keep educators from seeking unemployment benefits in the summer or during holiday breaks when they have a guaranteed job waiting. School personnel can’t get benefits during a break if they were employed before the break. It carries over to substitute teaching. It makes sense for full time employed teachers. It doesn’t for substitutes.

It doesn’t matter that the substitute services are only part-time and on an as-needed basis. The commission ruled that if a district is using someone to substitute they could very well offer that substitute full time work in the fall or after a holiday. Therefore, the way the law reads it means they can’t be paid unemployment benefits during the breaks.  Thankfully the commission is supposed to be writing new benefit explanations that will warn teachers that substitute teaching isn’t worth it! I’m sure they’ll be a little more politically correct than I am and not tell them that if they substitute they’ll be screwed.

You're screwed.

In the meantime, if you can read this you need to thank a teacher. It doesn’t matter if you learned at home or at school, someone taught you and that makes them a teacher.  You should be grateful that they took their time to help you to become a better person. And when the next election comes around…remember to read the ballot carefully and express your appreciation to the powers that be this time…by not asking them back.

Just when I thought I finally learned my lesson well,
There was more to this than meets the eye.
And for all the things you taught me, only time will tell,
If I'll be able to survive. Oh yeah.

I’m fortunate that I had good teachers, (for the most part anyway), during my years in school. My first grade teacher gave me my love for school. If I’d had someone who wasn’t devoted and caring (even though she had a loud, gravelly voice that scared me!), I wouldn’t have done as well as I did because I was a terribly shy little girl. Thank you Mrs. Martha Roberston! 

http://sweetsugarbelle.blogspot.com/

One of my favorite high school teachers was my favorite because she thought I had potential. She encouraged me to explore different possibilities not only in art and craft type things but in other areas as well. She believed in me. There’s more to that story but maybe it can be in another blog post. Anyway, one time she spun some yarn and asked me to knit her a sweater. I even got to work on it at school, in classes besides hers! She did a lot for me and doesn’t even know it. Thank you Ms. Carol Klattenhoff!

http://sweetsugarbelle.blogspot.com/

Speaking of knitting, I made another ball. They are fun but this time I had a harder time getting it together for some reason. But I finally got it.

I also put the beads on the blue/green shawl. I had two on each fringe and it was too heavy. So I took one off each fringe. I still don’t like it. I think I’m going to take it completely apart and do it again on a smaller needle. I pulled out the telephone pole #17’s for this one but I think I’ll try again with a 15. I’ve got another ball going but that’s about all for now. I’m just in the mood for some no brain knitting. Oh yeah, I still haven’t blocked the crocheted shawl. I’m beginning to think I might have to hire it out!

This little guy is thankful for his teacher and so am I. Without teachers we don't have a future. And that's nothing to look forward to! 

Am I ready for the real world, will I pass the test?
You know it's a jungle out there.
Ain't nothin' gonna stop me, I won't be second best,
But the joke's on those who believe the system's fair, oh yeah.

Teacher, teacher, can you teach me?
Can you tell me if I'm right or wrong?

We Don't Need No Education…

We don't need no thought control.

No dark sarcasm in the classroom,

Teacher leave them kids alone.

Hey teacher leave them kids alone!

All in all you’re just another brick in the wall…

Is it just my imagination or are people, especially younger people, a lot dumber than they used to be? The other day I was at the grocery store in the small town where I live. I was waiting to check out. When the checker got off the phone it was my turn. Not the company phone but her personal cell phone. My husband happened to be there as well and he made a comment about no talking on personal phones at work. He got the blank stare. She had absolutely no understanding of what he was referring to.

She started scanning the products then made an unintelligible request on the intercom. Apparently whatever it was she said was funny. To her, anyway. She started cackling and talking about how embarrassing that was. She was so embarrassed. She couldn’t believe she just did that. I wanted to tell her it didn’t matter because nobody understood a word of what was said anyway. When the sacker came to help she went into it again. The funny thing she said? She needed help on three four. She never meant to say three four just three. How embarrassing. Ha ha ha ha ha. Give me a break and scan the rest of the groceries.

Next, as people were lining up behind me, she called for a quick check. A manager type, I presume, because she came out from behind the locked counter where the cigarettes are, went to the next counter to check. A Taylor Swift song came on over the intercom playing the canned music. The ‘manager’ type started singing, loudly, with customers in line. That created another fit of laughter and hysteria from my checker. The sacker grinned some as my husband tried to make a joke out of it. The ‘manager’ type apparently enjoyed the attention because she sang louder and did a little dance.

Finally, after leaving the grocery store twilight zone, the sacker was putting the groceries in the car. They have gone to transparent bags. Are these bags stronger? No. Are they bigger? No. It seems that nobody bothered to tell the sacker. He put ten vegetable cans in one sack, not double bagged. Guess what happened when the groceries were being unloaded at home? He also put the groceries in the bags in odd combinations. This could be a Monkish trait on my part but when I get two bags of frozen corn I want them in the same bag. If not the same bag I want them in the bag with other cold things, not the laundry detergent. At least he didn’t squash the bread.

If you are up on what’s happening in education at all you know that the governor of Texas is trying for a balanced budget. If he realizes his vision through cuts alone, 100,000 teachers could lose their jobs. That’s approximately one third of the teachers employed by Texas public schools. That is not counting the support staff that is essential to the education system who will also be cut. Currently in the budget, schools got $50 billion in state and federal money to teach 4.8 million students. With the cuts the governor proposes to make, Texas schools will be short $10 billion. This includes money that would be necessary to pay for an estimated 160,000 new students expected to enroll over the next two years.

http://dallasdrilling.wordpress.com/2010/12/30/clown-of-the-year-2010-rick-perry/

Texas already has the lowest high school graduation rate in the nation. The shortage in education funds will help make sure that our kids will not only be dumb, they won’t know how to go to work. And if they are lucky enough to get a job they won’t know what to do or how to act after they get there.

http://tinyurl.com/4rct435

They say everything is bigger in Texas. I guess the governor is insuring that we’ll have the highest amount of future citizens who can’t perform. If the scene at the grocery store is any indication, we are well on our way.

We don't need no education,

We don't need no thought control.

No dark sarcasm in the classroom.

Teachers leave them kids alone.

Hey teacher leave us kids alone!

Sorry for the soapbox. I’m off of it now. It just really worries me. These kids are the future. And it’s looking bleak. I’m not too worried about them taking care of me. They won’t know how!

Willow cowl from Ravelry, in progress.

Close up of Willow

Sorry for the soapbox. I’m off of it now. It just really worries me. These kids are the future. And it’s looking bleak. I’m not too worried about them taking care of me. They won’t know how! Day 335, March 1, and I’m taking a mental health day. That’s what I told my boss! He didn’t know how true it was. I’m still pretty upset about Bryce’s car. I know, it was an accident and it could happen to anyone. But he trusted me with it. I know, get over it! I choose a nubby black yarn with off white and blue green puffs on it for this day. Wednesday, day 336, is March 2,hump day, halfway through the work week, and I’m glad. I had to drive the truck to work today. It’s too big for me. And it’s dirty. I hate to get my hands dusty or dirty and even the steering wheel was nasty.. I put in for vacation for spring break. It’s an automatic leave system we have to use now. Interesting, and not hard if you can read. I met some friends and we ate and went to a movie. Ashton Kutchen is nice to look at! I picked an orange and white boucle yarn for today. Day 337, March 3 and I’m looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow so I’ll probably wake up early! Alan comes home tonight. I’m glad. I think a thick blue variegated yarn is a good pick. Friday, day 338, March 4, and I do get to sleep in a little anyway. It’s nice. I don’t have any plans. I just hang out here because I don’t have a vehicle anyway. Hockey game tonight and that should be fun. We meet the kids and they all enjoy it. The only thing is that it’s freezing. I am literally shaking I’m so cold. I used a flag ribbon yarn that is mixed greens, hoping that thinking of summer will make me warmer! I remember when summer was a good thing, a time to rest then renew for the coming school year. It might not be that way this year.

All I can say to my teacher colleagues and friends is hang in there. They, the kids, do need education. I’m just afraid they are going to all find out the hard way.

All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

All in all you're just another brick in the wall.