SELF-ENTITLEMENT'S IN THE CURRICULUM

I am not what one would consider anti-union. On paper, they are a great idea. Ensuring humane treatment and a livable wage are things everyone should have the right to expect in exchange for toiling away their lives to line the pockets of people who can’t possibly relate to them.

Contrary to neo-con “logic,” which loves to throw out rhetorical questions such as, “When was the last time you asked a blue collar worker for a job,” the real question is, “When was the last time you asked a billionaire or millionaire to fill the positions necessary to keep a company running?

Sadly, those who own companies don’t always want to provide fair treatment to those they not-so-secretly despise for who they are. Hence the advent of the labor unions. The history of these unions is a long, bloody and brutal one. Much like the Civil Rights Movement, many lost their lives fighting for things that should have never been in question in the first place. But, like every organized movement built on a foundation of steadfast resolve, the union organizers eventually won out, much to the revulsion of the companies for whom they worked.

The Mafia, always looking to extend its hand into legitimate enterprise, infiltrated and took over the labor unions much the same way genuine feminism was taken over by militant lesbians. Union corruption became the norm, especially the Teamsters and UAW, feeding right into the neo-con anti-union philosophy and creating entire generations of workers who weren’t in unions filled with resentment and disgust.

In retrospect, it was probably only a matter of time before a U.S. president would emerge as a union buster, and Ronald Reagan certainly fit the bill. His approach to the air traffic controller strike created an avalanche of anti-union sentiment that weakened all but the Teamsters in its path. These days unions are the exception rather than the rule, a sad commentary on the monumental amount of corruption and entitlement they have instituted. By becoming as bad as the companies they are supposedly fighting, they merely contributed to the problem. Yes, it is disgusting to think of some guy pushing a broom for 25 years making 60,000 a year, but there’s more to this than playing the “Cadillac driving welfare mama” card.

Union membership in the public sector is expected, for the most part. People whose salaries are paid by our taxes have more job protection than most of us paying the taxes. That would be fine if they were grateful, respectful representatives of those tax dollars at work. If you are able to stop laughing long enough to read this next part, I’ll remind you of your last experience renewing your driver license as an example of the graciousness of the public sector.

Among those at the top of the self-entitlement list, teachers have always held a special place of honor for me. Nowhere is there a more cliquish, self-important, inflexible group of so-called individuals. Never mind the inherent flaws in the public school system. Ignore the utter, repeated failures of that system to properly educate American youth. Let’s focus instead on the fact that there is zero accountability on their part.

President Obama wants to change that by installing a merit system designed to reward teachers who, Oh I don’t know, accomplish something more than winning a territorial dispute over their classroom. Is it a good idea? I’m still on the fence. In theory, it makes perfect sense. Most jobs and professions not subsidized by tax dollars involve some form of merit pay. Public sector employees have been allowed for so long to view themselves as exempt from such practices it could well be a disaster.

Teachers are notoriously elitist when it comes to their "profession." This is eclipsed only by their arrogance in believing they are an essential part of a child’s life. Installing a merit program will not sit well with them. In fact, it already isn’t. They and their union representatives are all over the TV and radio talk shows flooding the American public with scores of reasons the merit idea is a bad one. Some of it is valid, but only because those of us who have suffered through public sector arrogance already know the outcome of any attempts at change.

One teacher on a call-in radio show mentioned the sharing programs teachers participate in where one who hits upon a successful technique provides his or her colleagues with the tools to do the same. “Do you really think if we’re paid according to merit that I’m going to share anything that might prevent me from getting more money?” he said. A valid point, but one easily fixed if the merit is an across the board reward.

What’s really got teachers up in arms, it seems, is the repugnant notion that they might actually have to compete with each other. Umm, competitiveness is bad, m’kay?

How can you teach the kids that everybody’s a winner when you’re knocking some other teacher to the ground as you run for the principal’s office with your latest moneymaking idea? There’s so much jealousy and backbiting in that field I doubt anyone would notice the difference. It’s a proven fact that honing one’s skills involves some form of competition. You don’t have to be like Michael Douglas in “Wall Street” to compete. It is possible to do so and remain ethical.

But teachers have grown fat and smug over the decades. No accountability, benefit after benefit, tenure, it just goes on and on. They don’t even work for an entire year in most cases!

In case you can’t tell, I’ve always had issues with teachers. I saw through them early on as a child and generally found it difficult to respect them as a whole. That’s not to say there weren’t teachers I respected, nor that there weren’t a few that made a difference in my life. But most of the important things I needed to learn prior to college I learned either on my own or with the assistance of my over-educated mother. She, by the way, had the utmost respect for the teaching profession and had been a hippy in the Sixties and Seventies.

Then again, hippies had a huge amount of love for academia. As a closet anarchist, I mistrust all institutions, but especially those that indoctrinate children to be good little earning wage-slaves. I also tend not to trust professions that make grandiose claims at societal and cultural relevance while at the same time fostering an attitude of pervasive apathy and self-entitlement.
Obama’s merit program may or may not be a good idea, but one thing is abundantly clear: Teachers need to adjust with the times like the rest of us.

They are not exempt. They are not immune. Time for them to emerge from their darkened classrooms, squint into the sun and grow the hell up~