Just Waitin' For The Hammer to Fall

Well, the hammer fell. We are now officially touched by this rotten economy and the imbeciles in charge of the state budget. My wife is being laid off from her position as an instructional aide.

This may not seem like much to some. In some schools, an instructional aide is a luxury. Some schools don't have enough teachers. I don't disagree with that image. However, whether it is a teacher, an aide, a clerk, a nurse, or a janitor, the ones that suffer are the children. While district administrators wrangle over getting an extra $30k a year because they have degrees, teachers with degrees are waiting tables or sitting at the Employment Development Department hoping for a job. I'm sorry, but cuts like this directly affect the kids, and make it tougher for a state like California to have the intelligent future adults they will need to compete with the rest of the world.

There was an episode of the West Wing that I liked. Rob Lowe, playing the character of Sam Seaborn, went into a tirade about how schools should be palaces, and how teachers should be paid six figures. If you get a chance to see that episode, do it. (For the life of me, I can't remember the episode title. Just go watch them all. It's worth it.)

It is amazing to consider the amount of waste that goes on in government and school administration. Just a bit of accounting intelligence and wise choices would allow our kids to have what they need in terms of materials, teachers, and even healthy meals. Instead, many of these kids are going to be stuck in crowded classrooms, with some teachers who are only there due to tenure and aren't really good teachers (not saying all teachers - there are some really excellent teachers out there), and bathrooms that look like a "before" picture in a Scrubbing Bubbles commercial.

What's the solution? Ask the idiots in charge. You won't get a clear answer, because most are just worried about spouting the party line or protecting and enhancing their own positions. And the worst part is that they keep getting elected by people who think Fox News is the truth and parrot the words of Glenn Beck by rote, and others who are so wimpy that they won't stand up for what they believe. (Just another reason to have zero faith in the political systems of this world.)

As for us? Well, I guess we'll do as others do. We'll tighten our belts, cut down on spending (which further harms the economy), and do the best that we can while my wife searches for another job. We'll focus on our spiritual lives and trust in God to get us through. And every now and then, we'll see a child and wonder what kind of education he or she can expect with the idiots in charge of things. And we'll worry about them.