Aristo! Aristo! A la lanterne!: Mike Rowe explains why I have the best job in the world.... and why whats happening right now is a hidden crime.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Mike Rowe explains why I have the best job in the world.... and why whats happening right now is a hidden crime.

I am an instructor at a Career and Technical school. We are 'run' by 16 public schools and a handful of private schools. Our funding comes from them, from the State, from adult ed programs, and a few donations I gather.

At this time...... those schools are fighting for funding for themselves, and are lining up to cut our throat to do it. It's far easier to slash our programs than it is to cut unionized teachers back in their own districts.

No... they would NEVER say that out loud and in public, but the reality is self evident. They don't need to say it.

The reality.... the clear reality.... my school functions better and gives our students a more useful education than any other in the county, and perhaps in the state. Our students are being set up like bowling pins in the grand game of school funding, while people in ties fight over who can throw the ball at them the hardest.

5 comments:

ZerCool said...: Preach it, brother. Preach it.; December 6, 2011 at 9:14 AM
Old NFO said...: Well said, and dead on the money (or lack thereof)...; December 6, 2011 at 9:29 PM
libertyman said...: Thanks for showing this -- Mike Rowe says it better than I can -- I will forward this to a lot of folks.; December 7, 2011 at 6:17 AM
witch said...: Many years ago up in Puget Sound an old timer taught me how to catch crabs. Now crabs are really dumb critters, as long as they have food (bait) in their claws they won't let go until they have to even as the net surrounds them and scoops them from the water if you take it slow and easy.

It seems pretty dumb to me anyhow, if they just let go when the net approached I'd have never caught them. Once they were caught we just threw them into a plastic bucket.

I was concerned that they would climb out; but no crabs are really dumb (I've heard that) and they have absolutely no concept of team work by any stretch of the imagination.

So any crab who attempted to climb out was promptly pulled back down into the bucket by his fellow crabs. It was every crab for himself so they all ended up in the same pot seasoned with the same spices and served with the same side dishes...... And they were very tasty indeed; dumb crabs!

Only the largest, oldest and smartest crabs were really difficult to catch (requiring traps) because they had learned not to hold onto the bait and to let it go!

The linked article reminds me of those dumb old crabs, except its people who won't let go of the bait and once they are caught fight to pull everyone down till they all expire.

It doesn't matter if its school, politics, unions, government, law, family, or whatever there are always some who keep pulling those who strive to escape down to their level.

Now I don't know if in their little crab minds any of them realized that they had made a mistake in not letting go of the bait or not, or if they knew they had to escape and I don't even know why the other crabs pulled them down when they tried.

So why do people act like crabs and pull everyone else down with them?; December 7, 2011 at 12:26 PM
M*A said...: Years ago I was invited to an in service day at my son's middle school. Ohio had just finished revamping their special ed. We went from teachers with specialties (learning, physical, behavioral disabilities) to "intervention specialists". And....mainstreaming. Everyone no matter their disability in the regular classroom.

In one of the sessions I asked about kids who were not traditionally "academic". Kids whose skills leaned toward working with their hands. Crickets...and I'm pretty sure some cringing. My kid was dyslexic. He was good with his hands. I got a lot of double speak but never really an answer.

Ok...I'm rambling and I'm sorry...but even after all these years (the son is 28) it makes me so mad. Like I said, he is good with his hands, he can build things. He is not afraid to get dirty and to work hard. He has great situational and physical awareness. But he had to learn those skills on his own. All school did for him was make him feel like a failure because he could not succeed in their college prep curriculum.

I love that Mike Rowe gives craftsmen their due respect.; December 9, 2011 at 11:12 PM

Robert Heinlein

"Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please — this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No — and to be rude about it when necessary.
Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you.

(This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)"

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.