Our quality of life begins with our teachers
BY BILL DIGGS
bdiggs@m-dcc.orgWhen I was a young child, I grew up and went to elementary school in the mystical country of Japan. That country is strewn with tradition and steeped in discipline and old world values. There is an ancient Asian saying, ``I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.''
I love this quote. It helps me recognize the value of work and the wonderment of teaching.
I have been watching the evening news and the story about the nearly 400 Broward-based school teachers who have been laid off. That is a disturbing incident to me.
It is hard to fathom that the Broward School Board has excess teachers running around Fort Lauderdale so much so that they had to lay off such a large number. I have a strong opinion about teachers and what they do. I am so adamant about the education of our children, that I believe that any time that a governmental entity starts to discuss budget reductions and shortfalls, education should be held harmless.
All great societies are held together and created based on their varying degrees of education. Many cultures value education, and I am becoming convinced that we as Americans simply do not. We don't seem to understand that everything is tied to an educated work force. Your community growth is tied to the educational level of your workforce. Your crime is tied to the level of an educated workforce. The value (rise and fall) of housing prices is tied to the level of the educated workforce.
I have come to believe that the level of customer service that you experience when you are out eating with your friends and family is tied to an educated workforce. As you go through some of the drive-through lanes at fast-food restaurants, I am convinced there is an ongoing contest that is taking place to which many of us are not privy. It is called ``who can give you the worst service.''
In the past four years or so, I have gotten my order of fries and a burger given to me in a closed bag more incorrect than ever before. It has gotten so bad that I now hold up the line to check my order before I leave the window.
I am convinced that many of these folks who have given me the wrong order have been undereducated as a result of America's devaluing of our school systems.
The teacher layoffs are not being counted the same way in Miami because approximately 1,000 of them were hired as temporary employees last year and not permanent teachers. Thus the news is not talking about Miami-Dade. So this summer you have scores of young teachers in Miami-Dade with no health benefits or pay. Sad, isn't it?
Like it or not, we are all products of our public school systems. They educate the majority of our kids, they service all of the working class of America, and quite frankly, they set the tone for the political climate that this great nation is under.
We need to find a way to allow for our teachers to do so that our nation can stay great and we won't all end up with the wrong order when we go through the drive-in line. Nothing makes me more upset than getting Diet Coke when I ordered regular Coke. Know what I mean?
