Broken

I think I may have cracked.  This may be it.  I lasted 5 years longer than the average, so, I've got that going for me.  They say (no idea who "they" is) that the average teacher only lasts 5 years in education.  Well, I've been at it for 10 now and yesterday may have done me in.

Let me preface this by saying (if you couldn't guess from reading my other posts) that I am a strict teacher.  I expect a lot out of my kids, I set expectations, I hold kids to those expectations, I follow through with stated consequences for them not meeting those expectations.  I also have fun with my kids, teach them relevance, and show them that accounting and computers (which is what I teach) do not have to be geeky.  I teach them to think, but don't give them the answers.

So, yesterday, I had a kid break a rule for the 3rd time (listening to his i-pod during class).  This may seem small to a non-teacher readin this, but it's an issue with these kids.  I'm not even going to get started on kids who are addicted to their i-pod.  So, I took it from him and told him he could pick it up from me the next day.  Well, he went crying to his "guidance counselor", aka- school assigned enabler, (which is the biggest waste of financial resources in public education)  who in turn talked to our assistant principal about it.  Our AP talked to me and told me I shouldn't take kids' property because it's "dangerous".  I told her it was my policy and she asked why.  My response was that if a kid could not responsibly behave with something, I remove it from the picture.  She repeated that it is a dangerous move to take another kids' property.  I asked "why" again.  All she was able to come up with was that it was "playing God with his property".  I asked what I should do and she replied that I should give him another consequence, such as a detention.  I said, "Isn't that 'playing God' with his time?"  She replied that it's different and that a parent would not be as likely to get upset about that... THERE IT IS!!  I cannot believe that she has turned into this.  Seriously, making decisions based on what will or won't upset a parent is so saddening.

Now, you should know that the biggest crush to me in the situation is that I previously had a tremendous amount of respect for this AP.  She was one of four people in the building whose opinion I actually valued.  Now I'm down to three and a crushed "teacher spirit".

I'm not going to go through our whole conversation and debate about this, but I hope you've gotten the jist of it.  I told her that I wasn't sure how long I could last in public education.  She seemed surprised and concerned, but not too surprised.  She went on to talk about a paradigm shift happening.  I couldn't agree with her more there.  It is a shift towards enabling and taking the problem solving / responsibility off of the individual and putting it onto the institution.  This is insane to me.  Sure, we have the responsibility to provide the opportunity for kids to improve.

What about the people who do the right thing?  What about the kids in class that don't break the rules?  The ones that do study?  That do show up on time?  I will ALWAYS act to reward them, rather than reward the bad kids.  A lack of consequence for the wrong do-ers is a consequence for the right do-ers.  I was (for the most part) a good kid.  It drove me CRAZY to see the bad kids get away with stuff.

So, anyways, I think I'm done.  I'm going to keep teachin for now because I need a paycheck.  But my energy level to fight for what I think is right is crushed.  Starting Monday, I will be waking up to go to a job.  It sucks, but most of the people I know wake up to go to jobs, so I shouldn't complain.  Not to mention, I chose to go into this career.  I have only myself to blame. So, I'm gonna nod my head, like a good worker, and do what the administration tells me.  I'm gonna close my door for five hours a day and teach.  If they question me on something, I'm just going to ask them what they'd like me to do and do it.  Until I figure something else out, that's the teacher I will be.  A robot of the main office.  Great, this should be great for the kids.  I mean, they're the experts.  They know, right?

Shame on WXLC 102.3

I listen (at least, used to) to this station frequently.  I am now going through a dilemma.  I heard an ad on this 102.3, Our County's radio station that appalled me.  It was an ad for a divorce law firm.  It was disgusting.  It was running during Halloween time and had Halloween themed, scary music in the background.  The ad included the following things:

1. A man saying "My wife haunts me every night"

2. The announcer saying "Your wife is not going to turn into a pumpkin at midnight!!  Get divorced now!!"

3. The announcer saying "Be divorced in as little as 10 days!!"

This is sick.  I know the divorce rate in our country is also sick.  I know it's not these attorneys' fault for trying to make a buck.  I don't blame them.  I blame the radio station for agreeing to air this advertisement.  Yes, I understand the radio station is also just trying to make a buck here by running this.  But, we have to have some ethics.  The tone in the guy's voice was eerily excited about the opportunity for YOU to accomplish divorce.  Our society is already pretty good at accomplishing this unfortunate task.  Why do we need to help promote it?  102.3, why do YOU need to help promote it?  Take the monetary hit on this one, do what's right, and decline this sponsorship.  Please!!

Book Reviews

I was reviewing this blog site and notice I have a favorite books section, but only the list. I like good books a LOT. I think I cherish good books because I've read (or at least started) a lot of bad ones. I hated reading until after undergrad. I'd been forced to read a lot of terrible fiction in my formal education days (except for "Lord of the Flies") and it just really turned me off. So, I have a developed hatred towards fiction. I'm more of a realist anyways. My book list is made up of all non-fiction and the only fiction I've read that a teacher hasn't required me to read is "DaVinci Code". I just HAD to see what all the hubbub what about.
Here are my reviews (just what I pulled from personal notes I put into a word document as I finish each book) on several of the books I have on my list (and I few I don't).

What Jesus Meant
Interpretation of bible from Northwestern professor
Very good. I liked his simple take and translation on things

Rome Inc.
Rise and fall of the Roman Empire… parallel with rise and falls of big corps
Awesome book, I'm not even a history guy and I loved it
Very cool parallels between big business and Rome

Why I am a Catholic
Wills
Same guy as “What Jesus Meant”
Did not finish… very long and SLOW!!

From Good to Great
Comparison of co.’s in diff. industries and the commonalities of their successes of going from being a good co. to a great one
Very Good book and great read for anyone in leadership
A bit repetitive, but not in an annoying way (like Wiki-Nomics)

Jesus CEO (Recomended by Millionaire Republican)
Much lamer than I expected
Don’t know what it was, but just kinda blah!

Wiki-nomics
Made it most of the way through, got slow and repetitive (VERY)
First 100 pages or so are very good, good concepts and ideas
Repeats itself like no other. Could have ended after 150 pages and saved a lot of people a lot of time.

Bringing Down the House
MIT black-jack team… AWESOME!!
I love this book. Couldn’t put it down and read it in 3 nights. That’s impressive for me!!!
If you like fun, excitement, and just cool stuff then you HAVE to read this book!!

Leadership (Rudy Giuliani)
Really cool book. He started writing this before 911.
Just very interesting to hear him describe not only 911 stuff, but his leadership style

Rich Dad, Poor Dad
EVERY teenager should read this book. It should be a mandatory piece of the national curriculum for financial literacy that I think should exist (I’ll blog about this soon)
I don’t agree with everything in here, but it’s a great book!! MUST read for anyone over 15 who hasn’t read it!!

Fair Tax Book
Total propaganda and very interesting proposal.
Most propaganda bothers me, but this doesn’t. I like how it’s written and it’s ideas for taxing spending instead of income.
Most interesting piece is how this method would end up taxing illegal income, because it’s spent legally.

Great Gatsby
Yes, I know this is fiction, but I’ve read this twice now. Just re-read it because some of my “at-risk” students were reading it for class. I told them I’d read it again with them to help them get through it along the way.
I am glad I did. I knew I loved the book. I realized I had forgotten why.
Man, what a classic. Will ALWAYS uphold the test of time. I hope I re-read this book at least every 5 years!!

The World is Flat
Kick-ass book. I read it before it became popular and I’d like to think I helped make it popular.
Man, I told everyone I knew to read this book. I’ve used so many excerpts from this in class. I love when he says that when he was a kid and didn’t eat his dinner, he was told “There are kids in China starving” and now he tells his children “There are kids in China starving for your job”.
Love it… Read it!!!

Responsible Spending

As I was reading over my last post (I just put up about 5 minutes ago), I realized that the term "responsible spending" that I used deserved a blog of its own. I'll keep it short, but I feel it's worthy of its own posting.
Spend responsibly!! If you can't afford it, DON'T BUY IT!!!! What the heck?? Also, don't rely on someone else telling you if you can or can't afford it. Don't let someone telling you, "Yeah, I'll loan you the money for this" be your justification for buying an item you can't afford. "We'll loan you the money" does NOT equal "You can afford it"!!!
Seriously!!!!
No, really, seriously.

Debate-Able

Last night's debate got me fired up. It got me more fired up than normal and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because O'Bama didn't actually answer ANY questions. Maybe it's because McCain was focusing so hard on moving his body to look animated and personable that he couldn't get words out smoothly. Maybe it's because I'm at the point (again) where I just want the election to be over because I'm sick of hearing ignorant people comment on the candidates.
At 33 (almost - might as well be), I am bummed that I am already so cynical. It bothers me that stupid people are allowed to vote and procreate. I wouldn't want it any other way, really. But it still bothers me. There are a couple stances in politics that I just cannot understand how a smart person can take. (I avoid the word "educated" because I know too many people who've been given degrees that aren't smart. I also know many smart people without anything more than a H.S. degree)  I think this may be what really gets me going. So, I'll address them (duh!):

1. Taxing "rich" a higher % than "non-rich"
How can this make sense? I make more, I pay more in taxes relatively. O.K., I still don't buy that one completely, but I can live with it. But if my household makes more than 250,000 (I wish) why should I have to give more pennies on my dollar than you? This doesn't work even if you do agree that I should pay a higher %. Because if I pay more taxes, I spend and save less (both very essential to the economy). If corporations pay more taxes (Corporations are made up of human beings by the way. This seems to be very conveniently forgotten.), they have to find a way to pay those extra dollars. Do you think they are going to pay with their profits? Really? No way!!! They will pay those extra taxes by doing two things: 1. Increasing prices (you and I take that hit) 2. Lowering wages / laying off workers (you and I take that hit too).
After making this point, the typical democrat response is (I swear they are given response flow charts like a telemarketer because they all respond the same way on things. My favorite is when you just completely have them on something and they say "Hmm, I'll have to check the facts on that"), "Well then, how is the government going to pay for everything?" This is where I start my belief that the person cannot be smart. The gov't is going to pay for "everything" because they must become responsible spenders (which I am not claiming Bush has been) and get rid of a ton of crap that makes up "everything". Does this mean some people may not be able to buy houses... YES!!! If you really want to buy a house, get a job that pays more!! If you can't... read a book or something and then apply again. We are in this credit crisis because Dem's wanted their voters, who they make their living off of (underachievers), to be able to get home loans. So, how can they do that? Sub-prime, no-documentation loans!! What a joke!!
Taxing the rich more and making it easy for lower income earners to buy houses and other luxury items gives no financial incentive to move up and out of a low income situation. That's doing the poor a dis-service. How about this: Tax the poor more and the rich less!! Holy crap, that would make me want to earn more. If I knew that earning 10,000 a year more meant I got to keep an extra 1,000 a year?
2. Pro-Choice
This means you think it should not be illegal for an expecting mother (and a medical staff) to murder their unborn child. I honestly just got sick to my stomach typing the last half of that sentence. It's murder.
The typical "pro-choice" response, "Do you understand what kind of burden that would put on society?" Yes, life if full of burdens. We deal with them as best as we can and I was taught that it's not to be done by murdering the person who's creating the burden. But, if you must, how about this: Let's at least give the kid a chance. Maybe until he or she is about 10 or so. If it seems like they really are going to end up being a burden on society, then whack 'em.  (stomach just got sick again typing that because it's just as ridiculous as abortion).
3. Peace Hippies
I can understand people being against certain wars and reasons behind why we entered into them. However, the people with the bumper stickers that say "War doesn't solve anything"... stupid. It sure does!! Solved the problem of Sadam Husein running his country like a madman. Solved Hitler's rule.  I'm not sure (at least I'd like to believe this) anyone is "pro-war". People who claim to be "anti-war" seem to think that if you are not against a certain war, then you are a cruel gladiator. I'm not "pro-killing animals", but I like to eat meat because it's delicious. So...

Well, that's it for now. Those are the big three for me in terms of not understanding how you can have a different viewpoint and still be smart. Oh, wait, and people who hate Wal-Mart because of their business practices. If you hate Wal-Mart because it's dirty, I'm not with you but I understand. This actually reminds me of a quote my buddy (republican) Chris said to another buddy (democrat) of ours while he was going off about how much he hated Wal-Mart. Chris interrupted him and simply said, "Pete, why do you hate saving money?" EXACTLY!?!?!?

Un-Retire Part II

After a month of happenings since I wrote my last blog expressing my original thoughts / gut feeling on this whole Favre situation I will respond... to myself. Republican Teacher, you (I) are right on!! Your innitial feelings were flawless and your ability to read a situation and gauge peoples' character (or lack there of, Ted) is spot on!!
I am writing this after hearing the news that the Packers (who I will seriously have to re-evaluate as my favorite team after all of this) have offered Favre $20 Million to retire. Holy Crap!! There is so much wrong with this.
1. Ted "The Terrorist" Thompson (because he's holding Favre hostage in this whole thing where all Brett wants to do is play football) is the worst listener (this includes ALL students I've EVER come in contact with) on the earth. Ted, seriously, you don't know by now that it's not about money for Brett? He's taken pay cuts to help with the salary cap and offered to take a big one in order to get Randy Moss on the team. You IDIOT!! Seriously, I cannot pound on these keys hard enough to express right now how much I cannot believe someone as STUPID as you is allowed to run a pro sports team.
2. That's just dumb.
3. You are re-creating a bad 80's movie where the rich dad tries to pay the "not good enough" boy to stop dating his daughter. That's so lame. Ted, were you bullied in high school? Is this your chance to finally have more control over someone "cool" and you are trying to stick it to him by sitting behind your big, rich desk with your arms folded saying "no"? That doesn't make you any less of a loser!!
4. That's just dumb.
5. Ted, if you can't pay him off with $20 mil, what's your next move? You gonna have Rocco come in with a baseball bat and "take care of him"?
Ted, it's lucky for you that you cannot be traded. Although, you can be released and free to go to another team (sounds good), or paid $20 mil to retire (that's fine too). Regardless, will you please leave Green Bay? Please? You have tainted this whole situation. YOU have created this!! Not Brett, not the press, not the bullies from high school who made you feel sad. Get out, Ted!! Get out now, please!?!?

Un-Retire!?!?!?

Favre wants to play again! I have mixed feelings on this one. Let me start by saying that I LOVE Brett Favre!! I am a Packer fan, my dad has season tickets and is from Green Bay. Favre is amazing, and a great quarterback too.
He wants to come back now and play... that's annoying. I haven't liked it the past several years, how he's wained all off season and I don't like this move right now. I have no idea what it's like to give up being a professional athlete and will never claim to. I'm sure it's incredibly tough, especially when you are amazing at it (forget about the money piece, I know that's weird to hear from me). But, the indecision has driven me crazy and this last "Michael Jordan" like move is the icing on the cake of the career decision delimma Brett has forced us to stand by and watch. Bad move here Brett, you're really annoying... but I still LOVE you!! (Ha! That's actually what my wife says to me several times a week)
Now having said that Brett is annoying, Ted Thompson... you are an idiot!! I've already said how I feel about Brett's move and that's over. Ted, your job is to put the Packers in the best situation to win. Brett vs. this new kid, hmmmm??? Seriously, Ted? You're dodging this decision because it's that tough? Because you're "on vacation"? I'm a teacher and I'm currently on a 2.5 month vacation, but I'll tell ya what... if my school called me with a great opportunity today, I'd call them back. There are two quarterbacks in the NFL that are easily pegged as currently better than Favre and that's Manning (not the adopted one in NY) and Brady. So, Ted, you are gonna put the third best current quarterback (and top 10 of all time) on hold so you can have another Mai-Thai? You're an idiot!!
To summarize:
1. Favre is not doing this the right way, he screwed up here, he wants to come back and it's annoying, but great.
2. a. So he's not doing it the best way. Call him back NOW, Ted. Welcome him back and THANK him for changing his mind. Greet him at Austin Straubel Airport with a sixer of High Life, a fishing pole, and a cup of worms!!
b. If you don't do this, you're an idiot!!

Ohh Bama

I'll make this one quick!! I'm so sick of hearing about O'Bama's pastor. I'm not even a big O'Bama fan, but seriously leave him alone about this brow beating, brimstone and fire throwing, sometimes "white man" hating preacher.
Two points on this:
1. At least he HAS religion in his life. So many politicians are afraid to go there because it could cause a problem in their campaign (hmmm, maybe they're smarter than I gave them credit for). Religion is so complicated, so many rules, so many choices, so much (fill in the blank). Picking a religion and then a church within that religion is NOT an easy thing to do. I compare it to choosing my friends. So many humans out there to pick from, so little time (like I'm so desirable that anyone will say yes if I so choose). You find a set that you can trust, lean on, care about, tell things and know they still won't hate you. Are there things they do and say that you disagree with? Yes!!!!! So what, the good WAY outweigh the bad and you live with the bad, usually in a rolling your eyes kinda way.
2. If we stayed away from everyone that said or did something that could "look bad" or even be bad, we'd all live in our own little world of solitary confinement. I look up to my dad like crazy, but he says some crap I can't even believe he's o.k. with. I guess when you hit 65 you can say whatever you want... man I can't wait 'till I'm 65. But really, I teach at a public school. Does that mean I'm lazy, complacent, unionized, leaning on tenure and ruining our youth? Don't answer that, please.
Anyways, leave the guy alone. He goes to church, has his kids baptized, and his pastor is crazy. Welcome to being religious!!

Holy Hillary

O.K., so there are plenty of things this could be about, right? However, this one hits close to home (no pun intended, you'll see why). So, Hillary has proposed to resolve the mortgage crisis by bailing out homeowners who cannot afford their mortgage payments. In her plan, there are two things that really don't make sense to me. 1. She attacks mortgage lenders for being unfair and wants to hold THEM accountable. 2. She wants to use government money (aka - mine and yours) to make payments for people who are unable to. These are both taken from her website that outlines her plan: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=2730
Let me first explain "me" before I address each of these. From February - September of '07 my wife and I (along with our BRAND newborn son) made double mortgage payments. We built a house, thought we could sell ours before the new one was done and we were wrong. You know what we did about it? We did what we were supposed to do, sacrificed a lot of things, and made two payments until our house finally sold!! What the hell? If I'd have know that Shrillary (because it makes me shrill everytime I think of her running our country) was gonna swoop in and "take care of it for me" I would have gotten cable in our new house, bought cool toys for our first child, continued to enjoy Dunkin' Donuts coffee a few mornings a week, and taken my wife out to dinner every once in a while. I didn't because I was taught to take responsibility for my actions. We CHOSE to committ to owning a house while already owning another one!!!
Crazy Point #1: Shrillary's website says that one of her main points is to, "Crack Down on Unscrupulous Brokers." It's the mortgage lenders' fault? THEY need to be held accountable? Last time I checked, mortgage lenders do not hold people down and force them to get loans. When they say "approved", it means they are willing to take the risk of lending you money. THEY are taking a RISK. When you default, THEY lose too. Just because we are approved for credit doesn't mean we can afford it. Do people really NOT know this? Does Shrillary not know this? I promise you I teach my students this and will do the same with my son (I will actually also be taking taxes out of his allowance, but that may be another blog). My car can go 110 MPH, but that doesn't mean I can handle driving it that fast. When someone dies in a high speed accident, do we blame Ford? When someone has a heart-attack from eating too much McDonald's do we blame... wait, holy crap, what is this country coming to??
Crazy Point #2: First of all, it truely doesn't matter whose money is used (in my eyes). It just makes me madder that it's actually mine (and yours, I care about you too). Shrillary's website says, "Hillary will establish a $1 billion fund to support state programs that help at-risk borrowers avoid foreclosure." So, what you're sayin' is that if I would not have been financially responsible enough to make all my payments (for both houses) in full and on time, I could have gotten my neighbors to pool their money together and cover me? You're tellin' me I didn't have to miss the season finale of The Office last season because my rabbit ear antennas had aweful reception that night and I could have just gotten cable as soon as I moved in even though I couldn't afford it? Crap!! Now you tell me.
I just don't get this. But it has taught me one thing. I'm gonna go buy some houses, have some of you make a few payments for me, then sell it when the market picks up for a gain. Who wants to join me?