Proposition Failure in Oregon

We all complain about the powerful running our lives. The lobbyists, big business etc. We always seem to leave out "BIG UNIONS". Not that I'm anti-union. I just believe all of these big boys use their clout and money to twist the truth and to get their way.

I don't recall the number of the proposition and that is probably irrelevant. The proposition basically dealt with the radical Idea of Merit Pay for Teachers, based on their performance. Gee, I've been under a merit pay and performance based system all of my working life (45years) and sometimes I've done well and other times I stayed put, contemplating what I needed to change for the better. So even after 25 years on the job, I always had to show I was performing better than the other guy. I am certain that many jobs are like that in profit driven enterprises.

Now, I'm not a fan of Mr Sizemore, but the big "Teachers Union" which has for decades stood in the way of any sort of progress for our nations downright crappy schools has chosen to run commercials which show on one side "a sad faces Sizemore and on the other side a smiley faced blond teacher whining how Sizemore knows nothing about teaching. Puke. I guess we are supposed to think that Sizemore was going to be the one setting up the "Rating System" for the teachers and deciding on who goes and who stays. So once again the ignorant electorate sucked it down. Hook line and sinker and voted against their own children and the crappy schools system in Oregon. Oh yes and let's not forget - no matter how lousy a teacher is, they can't be fired. As long as they have "Tenure". In other words all of their student could be failing and they would still get their annual raise as well as their raise for time on the job.

I'm glad my kids are out of school and graduated. By the way, I spent a lot of dollars on tutors for various classes that my kids were just not getting the right instruction in. I'm glad I could afford it. Can you? For a country that used to have the best primary education system in the world and who is now at about # 20. That's pretty sad. So of course we are not preparing our kids for College. Ask any college intructor. Nuff said. At least on my part.