June, July, & August

Today, after listening to the same 15 songs for the forth time, I tuned into the local PBS radio station and spent the afternoon catching up on the current events. In between work and the phone I heard the announcer tell how one of the states is going to start a new program where Public school teachers will be reviewed on their performance. If their students don't do well they don't get raises. The teachers union is up in arms and many of the people interviewed felt it wasn't right.
Well, I believe it is about time!
Every person that has ever attended school in the United States has a story about the one teacher that made a difference or the one teacher that was as dumb as dirt. Now I am sure that a teacher doesn't make the money that a lawyer would make, but sometimes it's what you don't get that makes the difference. For example:
1. Weekends off
2. All day turn. No shift work
3. Spring vacation
4. All summer off
5. Full retirement
6. Health insurance
7. Benefits
8. Free Assistant (College Professor)
9. Last but not least, The requirement to produce absolutely NOTHING!

that's right boys and girls as a teacher you are required to produce not one thing. Your handy neighborhood burger flipper is required to flip burgers, your barber is required to produce bad hair cuts, and your lawyer needs to be a prick to someone hourly and generate reams of worthless legal documents. But the teacher is not required to do anything that can be measured.

A teacher is required to teach, perhaps the single most easily understood job description in the world. Now to be a good teacher takes talent and intelligence. A good teacher is someone who has earned the title of Educator. They can make a bad student better and a good student excel.
A good teacher can inspire the mind of a child, no matter what the age, to not only do what is required of them but to give that extra effort.

But a bad teacher will ruin a good student and give credence to a students bad self image.

If a bad teacher is lousy at their job and they fail to teach, it isn't the teacher that failed it is the student. "Johnny can't read But it's not my fault" "They don't pay me enough." "I have a Masters Degree."

By doing reviews Good Teachers can earn the recognition and monetary rewards they deserve. Also Bad Teachers may get fed up and leave the profession entirely, we can only hope.

Once a long time ago I asked my "Lousy Teacher" why he became a teacher and I got one of the most honest answers I ever received in my life. He said three words, "June, July, & August."

God, I hope he's retired by now!