Finally, an article in support of Florida's public school teachers.

[The Backlash Cometh]

It should be obvious to anybody that the right have been bashing the public school teachers, treating them much as they treated civil servants decades ago. Obviously, their intent is not a good one. So, it's nice to see someone who actually has something nice to say about them:

Graduation rates up -- thank you, teachers

I know it's not terribly popular nowadays. But I thought I'd take a moment to say thanks and congratulations to one of Florida's favorite punching bags — the public school teacher.

The latest reports show that Florida has its best graduation rate ever. And there will be all manner of politicians, bureaucrats and pundits heaping praise upon themselves for supposedly making this happen.

But I had a novel idea — thanking the teachers.

See, teachers have become the boogeymen in most of the efforts to dismantle public schools. They are portrayed as lazy incompetents who don't care about education, their students or anything other than collecting a union-protected paycheck.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-scott-maxwell-thanks-teachers-120120101130,0,136683.column

[MichiganVote]

1. Yeah teachers all suck until they save 23 kids in a classroom with a shooter

Hell they'll probably lay that teacher off soon as not being effective.

[vssmith]

2. 15 years ago my daughter was making decisions about

college and I suggested education--both my wife and myself were teachers. If she were trying to make that same decision today I would not give her the same suggestion.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. The thing is, many of us had mothers who were teachers.

This desire to acquire knowledge and to make the best decisions based on the best information possible, that's our legacy. Our heritage.

All this dumbing-down of America is distressing, with Fox News dishing out misinformation, and much of the American public satisfied with their explanations. How can we remain a supernation if we have a population that is happy to be fed dogma and lies?

Look, what they teach in parochial schools is to accept things on faith and/or never question authority. These two qualities are the very kind of qualities which allowed leaders of other countries, to drive their economies into the ground. And now we're doing the same thing.