I am reading a lot of hostile commentary aimed at the Chicago Teacher's Union these days, none of it surprising or original or even true really but it made me wonder about Americans who love to pound their chests and crow how they value education. The games have begun with WBEN rolling out some schmuck from a lobbyhole calling itself the Labor Relations Institute. I looked him up and he's exactly the anti labor anti union shill one would expect to be having his ass kissed by the morning dopes who warm the mic for Little Tommy Bauerle, then Limbaugh and finally Sandy the Beached and his little giggling sidekick Tony. Oh yeah the righties are in Melvin class wedgie state about these teachers, see if you can complete the little CLOZE procedure with me. These teachers are ________paid. They only work__________ time with _________________ and __________________ and ______________ off. They don't ______________ how hard everyone else works. And they don't _______________
to make a decent wage. If it were up to me I would _______________ the whole lousy bunch of them and bring in ____________________ to replace then at ________________ the pay.
That wasn't hard was it.
Now let's take a look at another labor scenario here in the City of No Illusions. The Buffalo Bills (for now at least) have contracted to pay their new Defensive End Mario Williams close to $100, 000,000 for the life of his contract. Between the signing bonus he got for completing his name and his guaranteed salary this year he will earn approximately $24.9 million possibly more with incentives. So let's live large and say Mario will take home $25 million. I skipped preseason which proves I am no math guy but most of the Bills skipped it too so let's just divide as though we are spreading out his salary over the16 games of the regular season. Last week Mario had one tackle. ONE. He tackled ONE New York Jet and didn't tackle anyone else in the course of a 60 minute game. For that one tackle. Mario earned $1.5 million by my round off math. I wonder how Mario will be evaluated ? Will he be tested for proficiency, will he be evaluated for the value he adds to the performance of his teammates? Is there any expectation that he should make more than one tackle in a game to claim his million and a half on payday? Are the so called blue collar denizens of this big tough Great Lakes city as irritated with the performance of their new Idol as they are with a chemistry teacher in a major city (where cost of living is always higher) bringing home 65K for working with tough kids from tough neighborhoods who don't necessarily even want to be in school?
Ask an American if he values education. Then ask him who is worth more to the community, a teacher or a 20 something athlete who blames the refs for a disgraceful performance and cashes a million and a half dollar check for one tackle. Do you ever hear anyone say I thought it was all about the fans, Mario? Naaah, but I thought it was all about the kids? Oh I think we've ALL heard that one plenty of times.
to make a decent wage. If it were up to me I would _______________ the whole lousy bunch of them and bring in ____________________ to replace then at ________________ the pay.
That wasn't hard was it.
Now let's take a look at another labor scenario here in the City of No Illusions. The Buffalo Bills (for now at least) have contracted to pay their new Defensive End Mario Williams close to $100, 000,000 for the life of his contract. Between the signing bonus he got for completing his name and his guaranteed salary this year he will earn approximately $24.9 million possibly more with incentives. So let's live large and say Mario will take home $25 million. I skipped preseason which proves I am no math guy but most of the Bills skipped it too so let's just divide as though we are spreading out his salary over the16 games of the regular season. Last week Mario had one tackle. ONE. He tackled ONE New York Jet and didn't tackle anyone else in the course of a 60 minute game. For that one tackle. Mario earned $1.5 million by my round off math. I wonder how Mario will be evaluated ? Will he be tested for proficiency, will he be evaluated for the value he adds to the performance of his teammates? Is there any expectation that he should make more than one tackle in a game to claim his million and a half on payday? Are the so called blue collar denizens of this big tough Great Lakes city as irritated with the performance of their new Idol as they are with a chemistry teacher in a major city (where cost of living is always higher) bringing home 65K for working with tough kids from tough neighborhoods who don't necessarily even want to be in school?
Ask an American if he values education. Then ask him who is worth more to the community, a teacher or a 20 something athlete who blames the refs for a disgraceful performance and cashes a million and a half dollar check for one tackle. Do you ever hear anyone say I thought it was all about the fans, Mario? Naaah, but I thought it was all about the kids? Oh I think we've ALL heard that one plenty of times.
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