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But I Deserve …
By Ben Davidson, Winsted
With tearful eye, I read the plight of a teacher who cannot afford to teach because the pay is so low ["Why I Can’t Teach" by Jennifer Hurley, March 22]. Meanwhile, in the world of "produce something tangible and of decent quality of starve," some of us are getting paid half as much—and often less. Of course we do not feel entitled to a new car, trips to Disneyland (or anywhere else), and money flowing such that we need not pay strict heed to what gets spent on things other than taxes (which pay for the services of those who think that $40,000 a year is not enough, in a profession that offers the most security of any that I can think of, and where the products of your work can be junk and still the security remains).
The following is part of a letter that I just received that is the product of these underpaid, highly skilled, caring professionals: "I'm sorry on 4-5-02 Im testing for collage please keep me informed on all else. Thank you."
Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot. The reason that letter was so illiterate is that the selfish taxpayer did not give the school enough money for better computers and more pay for the teachers. Meanwhile, that kid and thousands more like him are being cranked out of schools to ultimately produce—what?
Yeah, you are looking for excuses for that letter: maybe the person was in a rush; maybe it was just an email; maybe the spelling or grammar checker wasn’t working. (By the way, if I were a teacher, I’d consider the use of a spell-checker to be cheating.)
In an environment where quality of behavior and thinking is what counts, do I want to deal with somebody who has never been taught to pay attention to what they do? Unless things have drastically changed, reading, writing and spelling are basic things that are supposed to be taught in schools—and if the teaching is done well, those things should be demonstrated as a simple fact of life by every student taught. Sporadically good behavior means that nothing has been taught.
"Sporadically careful" can kill you.
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