May you live in interesting times.

The "curse" above is of dubious origin, but I still like it. As educators, we are certainly living in not what I would call interesting, but rather horrible times. I chose to get into the field of education two years ago. It didn't seem so bad at the time, but now? Oy gevalt! Tomorrow I will be interviewing for a temporary position in one of the larger school districts in the state of Oregon. Just the fact that I've had interviews in this economy could be viewed as something of a minor miracle. I find it so ironic that we (and by "we," I mean all of us) talk so much about the importance of education, yet we can't find ways of funding the schools. Now, as a person who understands the way that economies and recessions work, I also understand that falling tax collection has a direct impact on all government services, and that because states can't borrow money like the federal government (which is a good thing, trust me) that the states aren't shielded from the effects of recessions very well. Education usually makes up large portions of state budgets, so when it's time to cut, they must cut education.

But that doesn't mean that I have to like it. 

So, simply, what are solutions to the problem. Well, long-term would be stable sources of income based on strong economies. Oregon doesn't really have a "rainy day" fund for times crisis. If the government takes in more than they were anticipating, they're prohibited from holding it back for a rainy day and must send back rebate checks to the taxpayers. That includes during times like this. So, imagine a situation where the economy rebounds faster than expected. Could we use that money to offset the cuts in government services? No. This is insane.

It is recommended that in good times, good times, that people have at least three months worth of living expenses in the bank to help weather the storm of unemployment, hospitalization, or other problems. But these aren't good times. We wasted our money in the form of tax cuts during prosperous times when that was the time that we should have had higher taxes. That way we would have had the latitude to lower taxes as a stimulative measure. But unfortunately we didn't do that.

Bluh.

Swearing at the TV.

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I saw this on the NBC Nightly news and I should have gotten depressed. Instead I let loose with a series of expletives that are usually reserved for use exclusively by sailors. Then when Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels spoke at the 1:32 mark, I lost it! He said “…class size, by comparison, is virtually meaningless. Put a great teacher in front of large class and you can expect results!” Anyone who is a teacher or a parent knows that both classroom size and teacher quality have an impact on student performance. So I call shenanigans on Governor Daniels. He has a political ideology, and is firing yet another salvo in the war against teachers.

Sorry, I can't write anymore. I'm seething with rage... (calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean)