Public Education

  POSTER BOY for the need for HIGHER EDUCATION is none other than TAX CHEAT Secretary of the Treasury TIMMY GEITHNER. Timmy didn't just pop up on the scene as a STOOPID PERSUN he was in charge of one of the 13 Federal Reserve Banks. Nice. He gets one of the plum jobs in America and then fails to pay his fair share of the taxes. Just as a reminder Timmy, those taxes pay for bridges, hospitals, schools and the BONUSES AT AIG.

   I don't have much of an education, if you've read this far you know that. Most of what I know, that I didn't learn on my own as an adult or in the US Army, I learned by the 8th grade. Think I'm kidding? No, my high school years included a entire year I didn't attend yet got grades. At the start of my Freshman year my father died and teachers took pity on me as I did nothing to learn or attain a grade. The era of the computer punch card officially kept me in school my sophmore year courtesy of a neighborhood kid who worked in the office. After being discovered, it seems my instruction book for cutting class fell into the wrong hands, my mother, sister, aunt, and uncle moved 2500 miles away toa new school district. My junior year I must have learned something but for the life of me I do not know what. My senior year I had two classes. American History which was a pass or fail class. Show up enough times and you passed. The second class was Commercial Art. At another high school. Yes, they bussed me from one to another.

   Along the way though there were a few teachers I learned to admire. There was Mrs. Sofia my 3rd grade teacher. She seemed nice. And safe to be around. Then there was Mr. Gallagher, the very old 5th grade teacher I didn't have but respected. Most of all I remember Mr. Cosakis the most. He was my 6th grade teacher and he proved to me that in my life all things were possible. You don't know me but trust me when I tell you that I have come a long way from where I started. I got a lot more that what I had at he beginning which was nothing. And there are two very primary reasons for that, Mom and Mr.Cosakis.

   So I guess this is a long way of saying how much I support public education. Does that make me a hypocrite for having sent all four of my kids to private and Catholic schools? No, not if you factor in that two thirds of them, as of this writing, went on to public universities.

   I belive that if we really want a better America we continue our kids in school through a two year Junior College program instead of stopping at High School. I belive that we then work towards increasing that to a four year publically paid college education. How do we do that? Go back and read the first two lines of this page please. People are arriving in this country with Master Degrees and are willing to work, are qualified to work and you want to know why your kid can't get a job?

   That's chage we can't compete with.

   How do we stop kids from dropping out? Our teachers have to have, and many already do, the ability to motivate kids the way Mr. Cosakis motivated me back in 1968. I have never forgotten, never stopped believing and will always be thankful for his concern and interest in me. Teachers need training in how to motivate kids as well as all the other tools they need to do their jobs. They need safe environments. They need computers, Smart Boards, space and they need to be paid and respected as professionals.

AND MOST OF ALL THEY NEED LEADERSHIP IN WASHINGTON THAT PAYS THEIR TAXES!