Van Gogh? or How I see this mess.

I'm standing here in the town where Van Gogh spent a lot of his time, to honor the famous painter that did not get much respect in his life time. I'm standing to honor the man and to ponder about our values, how we show what we value, and how we promote the same across generations. This week in the States, our President is talking about values too.

WE value our children and their education..

Yesterday, President Obama spoke about getting rid of poor teachers and reward the good ones. I couldn't agree with him more.

I have been a teacher and an administrator for decades, developing programs, hiring and training personnel, balancing all the services necessary to support education.

Three people in my immediate family are teachers, the day-to-day variety, young adults who spend their own cash so that the work they do is supported at the desk level, every desk, every classroom they are responsible for. Their time, even their leisure time, is all about providing activities and lessons that are creative, challenging and highly supportive. Their work goes beyond any slogan. When we meet, all we talk about is schooling. My husband, who has spent some time in the classroom, understands these obsessions, but still feels left out. Teachers do not have hobbies that do not relate to their job. Taking a vacation and providing support materials for their lesson are one and the same. We have a family obligation to support our children who are teachers.

All of their discretionary cash supports their classrooms.


President Obama is starting at the political end, not at the functional beginning. During his campaign, he spoke about pre-school education. That's a perfect beginning. A child is ready to absorb social skills, concepts and habits that will prepare him for the formal reading and writing lessons. At this point, the entire family can be engaged and trained. Even second language learners can get a leg up at this point. In many big cities in America, there could be more than one hundred different languages spoken in schools.

But President Obama started the conversation with a challenge to the unions. That was wrong. We are not adversaries. Yet, the position the President is taking will pit unions against administration and against the very government that is trying to support their efforts.

Unions need to deliver and promote quality practices, as in the case of Medical Associations, or Contractors Board. They need to police and maintain high standards of professionalism. Many times they are busy protecting staff that is marginal at best, staff not willing to become qualified, busy maintaining the status quo. We need to bring them in the conversation; we need to engage them in solving the problem. Our interests are the same.

Teacher quality will improve when the budget is prepared at each desk, each classroom, with specialized materials, distinctive tools as necessary for best practices to be successful. In a language class, a television is a basic tool, cd's and games and access to language manipulation devices, such as tape recorders and books on tape should not be extras for schools in wealthy districts; They should be available everywhere. We have never asked the teachers what they needed to do the best job. We have crowded classrooms, buildings that lack adequate heating and ventilation; textbooks that go back a few years, and not enough of them for children to have one text at home, and one at school to avoid carrying such heavy items in backpacks that are already burdened.

We are not even talking about paying for time to work together to assess, monitor and build specialized lessons. We are not talking about services that are so necessary as counseling, trama and social adjustment, as well as learning difficulties. We are not talking about paying teachers extra if they volunteer in hazardous neighborhoods. These needs are not even on my list yet.

I worked in Los Angeles. Not every school is in distressed areas; but many are. Teachers in these areas do not survive more than a couple of years. I have a son who has worked in one of these schools for fifteen years; and the fight to survive goes on.

Next time, I'll talk about the elements necessary to improve the big system.

Jobs, jobs, jobs

People are beginning to move out from our small hamlet. Local schools keep tabs on who checks in and out, and they report steady decline, even more than they had anticipated back last June, before the economic downturn, before the news of economic troubles hit the nation.

California, south of us, has worse problems, slashing its state budget,forcing employees to take unpaid leave. In effect, all state workers in California will be taking a 3%-5% cut in wages and benefits. Unions are going to fight these cuts as unfair labor practices, as the pressure to save jobs and prevailing wages mounts all around us. Most folks remember what Reagan did to the traffic controllers back in the 80's and they are ready to fight back.

Everybody expects cuts to occur. But nobody expects the new administration to trash contracts and destroy union memberships. The temptation will be there for corporations and municipalities to stay solvent by all means. We hope that human rights and workers' rights are not slashed as well.

Count me In among the Decided

How can people still be undecided? Simple. They were always undecided, split in their allegiance, or confused by all the blabber and the fury. Undecided get what they deserve, though. If they don't take the time to educate themselves on the choices and then make a committment to one of those choices, they are either lazy or stupid.

They want somebody else to decide for them. And someone will. I read somewhere that we get the leaders we deserve. WE DESERVE. Simply put, people who run for office are interested in leading and governing, we assume. What we don't know is who is supporting them, who is financing their campaigns and gets a piece of his/her soul. So, those are the people who get elected, usually.

But this election has taught us something else. Ordinary folks,those who could give no more than $100 to the campaign came together, contributed what they could, and they now have a superlative candidate who is not financed by big money and selfish interests. We have a candidate whose pilgrim's progress was humble and truly christian in spirit: helping those less fortunate. He does not have country club credentials or jet-setters interests. Both he and his wife paid for their education through hard work and hope. If we had this type of candidate in the past, we didn't recognize him. He would never have surfaced to this prominence. We needed the experiences of a six-pack George administration to understand the importance of selecting the right candidate.

Undecided will get what they get. They choose not to choose. But for me, and those of us who have thoghtfully vetted our choices all these months, we have made our choice.

After Tuesday, with Barack Obama's leadership, America will finally have a government responsive to all people.