Reply #17: And you should be proud

[LiberalEsto]

Real teaching is damned hard. When I was majoring in English in the late 60s-early 70s, my options were teaching, journalism or academia. (or getting an Mrs. and being a housewife) I was terrified of speaking in front of an audience, so I opted for journalism. I actually thought in those days that I could do good and help people through the power of the press. Teaching was totally beyond me, and I admire those who can and do educate our young people. I had the good fortune to go to public school in a NJ town where there were many truly excellent teachers, and some of them influenced me greatly. Because of the encouragement from one of them, I went into journalism.

One of my close friends is a 5th grade teacher and union local member in New Jersey, where the disgusting governor calls the teachers union members thugs and does everything he can to destroy them. She has taught for many years but fears that a good part of her pension is gone, diverted to other things by a former GOP governor, Whitman. She has always had to have one or two side jobs such as teaching Jazzercise and selling cosmetics in order to keep a roof over her head and educate her daughter, also a teacher, as a single parent with no child support. Her daughter works as a sub because she can't find a full time teaching job.

Another close friend of mine taught in the Miami-Dade juvenile correctional system until a teenager brained her with a brick and ended up in the hospital with a concussion. Her pension isn't enough to live on; she sells cosmetics in a department store to make ends meet.

These are the people who the Repukes say are earning too much, getting too many benefits and squandering the taxpayers' money. They call the educators "greedy" and "thugs". But if you ask me, the Repukes and the corporations are the real greedy thugs.