Mayday or May Day??

 "Mayday" is the worldwide call for help. It indicates that you are in distress. You are actually supposed to say it three times, "Mayday, mayday, mayday". On the other hand, May Day is May 1. The Communist Party celebrates May 1 as International Workers Day. So, we are left to assume that all of those celebrating May Day are Communists.

Here in North Carolina, most of the larger school systems have announced that they will not have classes so that teachers can attend a large May Day rally in Raleigh. I watched a "news report" last night where they interviewed a Charlotte teacher who said that teachers need "bonuses". Yes, and people in hell need ice water.

While our "teachers" celebrate the Communist holiday, voters/citizens should examine their claims that they need increased compensation. 

First, there is absolutely NO correlation between funds expended and educational excellence. As an example, parochial schools spent a fraction of what public schools spend and get equal or better results. Home schoolers spend even less than that and get better results. So, spending more money is no guarantee that we will get better results. It only assures that we will spend more money.

As I have ranted in this space for more than twenty years, all businesses are judged by the quality of the products that they produce. The quality of education that public school students receive is dropping by the day, month, year. You pick!! Why are the majority of public school students unable to read at grade level? Why can't public school students do simple math? I am talking about addition and subtraction, not geometry or trigonometry.

Young people are spending twelve or more years in public schools and graduating as functional illiterates. Take away their smartphone or computer and they are hard-pressed to spell their own names. I spent almost fifty years working with high school and college students and I am here to tell you, "This shit isn't working!"

I am sure that I will hear this story today, but years ago, one of my sons was training a young lady who was a high school junior, to be a cashier. She had entered the amount of the customer's purchase and the amount of cash tendered, and the register showed that the change was 53 cents. The cashier was trying to give the customer a roll of pennies (50 cents) and 3 loose pennies as their change. My son explained to her that 2 quarters was the equivalent of the roll of pennies and would be easier for the customer to carry. I am sorry, but if you are a junior in high school and don't understand how the money system operates, you are functionally illiterate. Don't waste your breath telling me that in the future we will be eliminating money. You have to be able to function today. One of my basic truths in life is this; You have to get through today, to get to tomorrow. 

There are groups putting up billboards in this area proclaiming that we need to pay public school teachers more money. Like every other employer, the public should respond to this by examining the quality of the work being done. Teachers all chose to be teachers. Nobody was drafted into teaching. Nobody was sentenced to be a teacher as some sort of plea bargain arrangement. Everybody who teaches, chose to teach. If you want to make more money, produce a better product. If you don't like the pay, get a job where you work twelve months a year and weekends.

How often are teachers terminated for poor performance? I know this will stun you, but that information is not available from the Department of Education. I can only assume that there are no "inquiring minds" in our state government.

My final point is one that I often repeat, public education is the experiment. We have been doing this a couple of hundred years. People used to all be home-schooled or educated in church schools. Newton and Galileo didn't attend public schools. Edison was home-schooled. 

Why should we keep pouring money into a broken system? No one who can't make an omelet keeps their job at the Waffle House, why should we keep paying teachers for high school students who can't read? Obviously, it isn't working. Let's go to a Plan B.