Sent this off to the local newspaper.  Probably won’t see the light of day there, but here it is, in all its hyperbolic glory.  Enjoy the rant!

I don’t understand the current hatred of teachers, and the teaching profession in general. Underpaid, overworked, disrespected, they are blamed for the societal ills that afflict today’s youth. The press teachers typically get is usually bad, focusing on the rare and unusual, and yet they all get tarred with that same brush. “Oh they don’t work all year” or “they get summers off” – gee, no kidding, when you work 60 hour weeks on a ten months contract, for pay you can’t live on, so a second job is required – yeah, you get tired. Teaching is a job, a passion, and a calling, but certainly not indentured servitude. If politicians spent more time supporting teachers, instead of prowling around dictating medical procedures, handing out guns, or flogging same sex couples, maybe something constructive could get done. But no, we need to create more rules to make government more intrusive, hold teachers “accountable” for policy maker stupidity (under the guise of getting rid of “bad” teachers), endlessly collect irrelevant and instantly out-of-date data, while allowing students to optionally attend class, optionally do assignments, and casually ignore due dates and school board rules. Since we mustn’t allow students to fail, because it would damage their psyche, we guarantee success by lowering expectations, and ensure another generation of entitlement leeches drain the wallets of their parents and the tax paying public. So keep those tax and budget cuts coming and ensure that not only will Johnny not be able to read, write or hold a job, but he will be living in your basement when you are retired, drinking your beer, making meth out of your prescription medications, and wondering how society failed him. Sometimes you get what you don’t pay for, so do the responsible thing and support your teachers.