Wisconsin continues to be interesting. I have a number of friends that are teachers both currently working and retired. Twelve people who I can put names to, come quickly to mind. My wife has three teaching credentials from the state of California. While in college I took many of the same courses that people pursuing a teaching degree took. I feel I have a pretty good idea as to what it takes to be a teacher.

Having said that I'll give you a few things that puzzle me. Teaching is a great job. Yet, every single one of the teachers I know who has not retired is counting the days till they can get away from those little monsters. They want to leave just as soon as they can. Why? I don't know of any jobs that have "Tenure" other then teaching. All the other jobs require that you "Produce" something worth your pay or you get fired, laid off, down sized or something similar. The pay is great, the health and retirement benefits are fantastic.

The school day is closer to six hours then to ten. All kinds of "Training" days off plus Christmas and Easter breaks and remember "Summer Vacation"? Yes, I know, it takes time to grade papers. Yes, I know, you have to take extra college courses. It is still a great job... or at least it should be. The real question is why do so many teachers want out as fast as possible.

The retired teachers I know are frugal with their money but are still kind, generous, and willing to donate their time to help others.

They also are able to take many trips to visit family and friends and are young enough to be able to enjoy life while on all these fun trips.

That is the good news. This is the bad. One third of the high school students in my community drop out of High School. The ones that stay, according to all reports, simply do not know the basic three Rs. Readen, Ritin and Rithmetic. It seems that a college Bachelors degree today produces the education level that a High School degree did back 80 years ago. That is a big, big problem.

According to the U.S. Department of Education Two-thirds of the eighth graders in Wisconsin public schools cannot read with proficiently. This is despite the fact that Wisconsin spends more per pupil in its public schools than any other state in the Midwest. You can read more about it at CNSNews

Would you go to a motorcycle mechanic that could not get one third of the engines he worked on to start and run? Would you buy a car from a manufacturer if one third of their new cars blew up?

Another problem is the attitude of "No child left behind" Keeping some kids, who are simply bullies, in class, is wrong. If they are keeping other kids from learning they must be removed from the general school population. That is not something our present school system wishes to deal with. There seems to be an explosion of bullies in our schools. I don't remember this happening at all when I was in High School. The cure? Get rid of any student who harms another student or teacher.

We need to free up our school system. Giving parents the right to put their child in whatever school they consider the best school is the first step. What I mean is School Vouchers. This would give each parent control over their children's education. Unions don't like this. It takes away their control over your child. Tough luck Unions!

Things are changing. Rotten politicians and greedy Union leaders beware.

Addressing the New Jersey state firefighters convention Governor Christie of New Jersey said:

"Here's the deal: I understand you're angry, and I understand you're frustrated, and I understand you feel deceived and betrayed." He continued, "For 20 years, governors have come into this room and lied to you, promised you benefits that they had no way of paying for, making promises they knew they couldn't keep, and just hoping that they wouldn't be the man or women left holding the bag. I understand why you feel angry and betrayed and deceived by those people. Here's what I don't understand. Why are you booing the first guy who came in here and told you the truth?"

"The way we used to think about politics and, unfortunately, the way I fear they're thinking about politics still in Washington" incorporates "the old playbook [which] says, lie, deceive, obfuscate and make it to the next election." After seeing a report noting that New Jersey's pensions will be insolvent by 2020, he was told not to worry about it because he won't be governor anymore. "That's the way politics has been practiced in our country for too long. . . . So I said to those firefighters, You may hate me now, but 15 years from now, when you have a pension to collect because of what I did, you'll be looking for my address on the Internet so you can send me a thank-you note."

Bottom line? Much as I like all my teacher friends, much as I understand and sympathize with their problems, the fact remains we are paying too much and getting too little for our education dollar.

PS. We home schooled my daughter... worked great!

OK, How do I say this without being offensive. I am really interested in what you say but I don't give a flying passage of gas in a hot place about what you think!

WOW, what does that mean? Simply this. I am interested in what you say about the things I say and you can tell the truth to me because you can't offend me. That is because I don't care about what you think of me! You can FLAME me, Rant and Rave, say you love me or say you hate me, it's all the same to me!

I am interested in how you come to whatever opinion you have, why you say what you say. Lately, I keep hearing and reading about people who say they HATE, absolutely HATE Palin, Beck, O'Reilly, Fox, ETC. They are just liar, liar pants on fire. However, they never seem to be able to give proof or at least some kind of reason for what they say. I gave you reasons why I feel as I do so if you disagree with me can you give me some reason why?

So there you go. Tell me what you think. I promise to read what you say but I will not write back because I don't care what you think. I only care about what you say!

One last thing. This is for comments on my Blobs only. No motorcycle questions because I'm not writing back from this E-Mail address. OK?

If you have motorcycle questions click the motorcycle and follow my rules.