tfp26

               TEACHERS DESERVE (P)RAISE, NOT CRITICISM
(Written under the psuedonym, "George Steinkrueger",and published in the Neighborhood Journal 28 August 1996. Posted in toto with Preface and Epilogue 16 September 2001)

PREFACE -- In August 1996, the teachers of the Pulaski County (Arkansas) Special School District went on strike. As a result of the strike, the beginning of the school year was delayed. The teachers did not have the support of many -- they were called greedy, lazy, money-grubbing, you-name-it. At the same time that the district was pleading poverty and the teachers were being accused of driving the district to bankruptcy, no expenses were being spared to field football teams. Having been a teacher (albeit at the college level) myself, and seeing the University of Tennessee library facing a shutdown due to lack of funds while at the same the athletic department’s coffers were overflowing, I felt a certain kinship with the striking teachers. George Steinkrueger, my alterna persona at the time, weighed in on the subject. Since I felt pretty certain that Arkansas readers were not familiar with my Farmington columns, George borrowed a theme from Column #10, the lowest-common-denominator philosophy, without worry that he would betray his true identity.

        The greatest and most admired philosophers of ancient history, Confucius, Aristotle, Plato, and Jesus, were all teachers. Many people, when asked who has had the biggest impact on their life, will name a teacher. So why, then, are members of a profession that for millennia have been looked upon with great respect and reverence now looked upon as pariahs and leeches? Two incidents indicate that teachers are no longer admired, but scorned: Bob Dole's blistering attack on teachers in his acceptance speech, and the comments made about the striking teachers of the Pulaski County Special School District.
        The remarks made by Mr. Dole regarding teachers showed his lack of character, and demonstrated to the American public that Bob Dole lacks any class and is not fit to be President. In his speech, Bob blames teachers for our societal woes. It seems that Mr. Dole thinks that our teachers are not doing their jobs, and that it is the teachers' responsibility to produce God-fearing, law-abiding, family oriented members of society. Wrong, Bob. American teachers work hard for grossly inadequate pay to try to create a productive member of society from one that feels worthless and ostracized due to parents who are more concerned about themselves, their careers, their status, and the almighty dollar than their children. And Bob Dole, Newt Gingrich, and many other hypocritical Republicans fit this description. After all, Bob Dole's daughter had to make an appointment to see her father to ask him if she could pierce her ears because he was too busy furthering his political ambitions to be bothered with his own child. But, it is easier to blame the teachers for today's problems than oneself, especially if the teachers are of a different political party.
       Even more appalling than Bob Dole, however, is the calling of the striking teachers of the Pulaski County Special School District greedy, selfish, and uncaring for wanting to earn a decent wage. To the parents who have filed suit and who believe that the teachers do not deserve a raise, I issue a challenge: cut your salary to the salary of the lowest paid teacher. If this option were presented, the parents who are criticizing the teachers will probably give a million and one reasons why they couldn't. Why? Because, to put it bluntly, teachers don't earn squat. Shame on all of you. Until you are willing to live like the teachers do, and experience what the teachers experience, then you have no right to criticize them and call them greedy and uncaring.
       The administration claims that there is just not enough money to give its employees a decent wage. Here are some suggestions for cutting the budget:
       Apply the lowest common denominator rule to the salaries of the superintendent and his assistants. That is, cut the salaries of the district administrators from their current generous amount to the salary of the lowest paid full time employee. The money saved could then be given to the teachers.
       Eliminate district sponsorship of all extracurricular activities and convert these activities to clubs, i.e. make extracurriculars a privilege instead of a right. If a boy wants to play football, he should have to pay all the expenses incurred in playing football, not you and me. The money saved could be applied towards educational equipment and salaries. So, any activity that is not directly related to "getting an education" should not be paid for by the (over)tax(ed)payers, but by the participants. Want to play, got to pay. It is not only fair and equitable, but it is also a darned good motivator for participants. After all, won't you put out a lot more effort knowing that your own money is involved? Of course you will. It's capitalism at its finest.
       The budget of the Pulaski County School District can be stretched to provide the teachers much needed raises. It's a matter of the district administration being willing to make some hard decisions and implement some innovative ideas. If not? Well, you get what you pay for. Pay substandard salaries, get substandard teachers. And substandard teachers yield substandard educations for our children at taxpayer expense. Is that what we really want for the next generation of Americans?

EPILOGUE -- Memories run short. Two years later, I would be roundly criticized by the teachers in Beebe for a column in which I placed part on the blame on educators for the dismal performance statewide (all but one Arkansas school district had fewer than 50% pass) on the Arkansas standardized evaluation test.