What the parade should really feature is row upon row of teachers, daycare workers, college professors, janitors and cafeteria workers brandishing automatic weapons and bazookas, riding in tanks and launching little nuclear missiles. That would be really fun.
8 responses to “Parade Suggestion”
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Sure why not? After all, politicians are saying in addition to having teaching certificates and high education, teachers should double as soldiers of fortune. A parade for teachers would be excellent.
Speaking of teachers:
All of West Virginia’s teachers are on strike. Here’s whyTeachers across the state argued that the pay increase did not do enough to offset the rising health care premiums from the state Public Employee Insurance Agency, at the same time that their benefits are getting slashed in the state budget.
The average starting salary for a West Virginia public school teacher is $32,435, and the average salary is $44,701, according to the West Virginia Education Association (WVEA). West Virginia teacher pay ranks 48th in the United States, the Associated Press reported.
“I don’t think we’re asking for anything that’s way out of line … just give us what we deserve.”
“I don’t think we’re asking for anything that’s way out of line,” Charleston South High School teacher Joe Oliver told the PBS NewsHour. “Just give us what we deserve.”LikeLike
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The striking teachers are all breaking the law — and if they were willing to sign a starting contract for a mere $32 thousand a year, so will their replacements.
Nobody gets paid “what they deserve.” In a capitalist system, what you get paid is your market value.
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I agree with each sentence. It’s the juxtaposition of the last two sentences which is funny.
I wouldn’t call working for the government (state, federal, county, town) strictly capitalist by any means. Any physician who has worked for the government most assuredly did not get paid their “market” value. Are you going to tell me you would’ve made the exact same salary working in the private sector?
Health insurance through employers was an arrangement designed to compensate workers when wages couldn’t be raised during World War II. Big corporations love love (loved) referring to your “total compensation” package. They even love including their employer health insurance as part of your “total compensation” even when they classify you as a part time worker to avoid picking up any part of the premium of employer offered insurance. Shit, I bet Clarissa’s employer is classifying her insurance as part of her “total compensation” this minute even though she doesn’t have it anymore and even though the employer wasn’t paying the premiums when she nominally had it.
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“Any physician who has worked for the government most assuredly did not get paid their “market” value. Are you going to tell me you would’ve made the exact same salary working in the private sector?”
I got my “market value” as a uniformed military physician. My gross pay was certainly less than I could have gotten in civilian practice, BUT my overhead was nil because the government paid for everything (office space, equipment, assistants, transportation, even housing when I lived on-base, etc.). I didn’t have to pay for professional insurance or personal health insurance, didn’t have to display an affluent lifestyle to my peers to show that I was a successful psychiatrist (as I would have been expected to do if I’d stayed in Southern California), didn’t have to join the expensive California Medical Association, and didn’t even have to pay the annual fee on my California state medical licence. So my net income was very high relative to the gross, and I was able to invest almost all of it in the stock market during all my years in service.
I probably wouldn’t have ended up any more wealthy than I am today if I’d stayed in civilian practice.
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What parade are you referring to?
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I think her musings stem from this parade.
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Personally, I think educators and scholarly types are far too idealistic, sentimental, and “artistic” to ever be the kind to willingly and enthusiastically take up arms, even for self-defense.
They need to turn such duties over to the professional security and/or police agencies. Period!LikeLike
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Of course. I wasn’t suggesting this seriously.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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