What Teachers Make...

I'm stealing that title from the YouTube video that I hope comes through here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xuFnP5N2uA&feature=player_embedded


So, with all the unrest in Wisconsin and after a totally unsatisfying conversation with my brother, I found this guy's name in a Chicago Tribune column so I figured I'd look him up.
 
Awesome. As you listen to the for or against discussions about teachers; as you listen to people who mouth the words: Education is Important while they take their veto-pens to the education budgets...listen to what Taylor Mali has to say about what teachers offer. And then use the brain you were given to determine for yourself if they're 'overpaid babysitters' or the important influence on our childrens' lives that we hope for.
 
Look, I realize that unions can be corrupt. Oh, by the way - so can corporations. And what people don't want to look at is the HISTORY. Unions gave us things back in "the day." And right now, corporations want to take that away.
 
Why did Exxon Mobil pay NO TAXES last year, after record earnings?
 
Governments are run by taxes. But by giving massive tax breaks to those individuals and corporations who can actually afford to pay them, the government then has to go to the next step: taxing those of us in the rapidly decreasing middle. The "Middle Class" is the only thing in America that's shrinking, that's for sure! Our waistlines, gas prices, food prices and collective blood pressure are all rising.
 
So, ok, even if this measure in Wisconsin passes, what else bugs me? Well, the WAY it's being passed. It's not being "passed," it's being rammed. And if it was a Democrat who'd have been doing the ramming, you can bet your last dime that the (R) bloviators would be screaming from the heights of every skyscraper and radio wave, "The Democrats are DICTATORS."
 
So what is cutting off debate? What is cutting out the right to negotiate? What is "offering to talk then tying them in their chairs"? None of those behaviors are "small-d-democratic." They're BIG-D-DICTATORISH. Governors don't have the power - or they shouldn't have it - to cut off debate. Debate on an issue is ingrained on our national soul. We have the right to debate. We don't elect dictators; we supposedly elect people who'll listen to us.
 
Right now, I don't feel very listened-to. I feel fearful for my kids. And it looks like a lot of other folks feel that way too.
 
Watch the video. You'll be blown away - and you'll see why teachers are our most important resource.