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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: y2kate who wrote (113219)	12/12/2000 9:08:29 PM
From: Broken_Clock	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Y2kate, Both my parents are retired teachers. They live in a Republican County in California. The public schools are so good that the County had to adopt a limited growth policy in the County to keep Democrats from moving in just for the schools. Now why don't the dems just do the same thing in Counties they control? PS.They taught in a Democratic controlled school district which basically tried to screw the good teachers and promote the braindead ones into management. It galled my Mom's heart because she was/is a Democrat!.

To: y2kate who wrote (113219)	12/12/2000 9:41:06 PM
From: RON BL	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Teachers salaries are a joke ? Oh really ? Question how about the administrators ? No joke there. Nice salaries. Get to go on nice paid trips to meet with other bureaucrats to wine and dine on caviar in Hawaii. DO you know how much of my life is taken from me and handed to bureaucrats ? This isn't money it is the hours of my life. That portion of it that is confiscated denies me the opportunity to do what I would like. It means I can't purchase a painting or go go on a vacation like the rich politician or the lawyer. That money means I have to be denied a lot of things that I believe I could do better with than they could. In spite of that if the society around me was a happy one. If there were happy and safe children. If there weren't young kids shooting each other for drugs. If there were parks and grass instead of a concrete jungle. If the young respected the old. If there was peace and harmony than I could consider that my sacrifice was well spent and I could live with it. But it ain't happening. The elitists are grabbing it all for themselves pitting you and me against each other. It is in my best interest to have children from all over be well educated and have a bright future ahead. I want that as much as you do. I just believe that you are wrong in placing your trust in these bureaucrats. They have delivered nothing. And they have been given plenty. I want the money going to good teachers using proven methodologies not stupid bureaucrats.

To: y2kate who wrote (113219)	12/13/2000 6:47:42 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 769670

<My mother teaches because she loves it, but depending on altruism and charity is a very poor way to run a school system. Every decent businessman understands that you pay and motivate your best people with FINANCIAL incentives> Having ended up here following Gregg's post [and yours] I'm not sure about that comment. When people are earning money, if they are not paid enough, which is the 'market' rate or 'what the market will bear', then they will leave and go where they are most valued. We all like to be valued. But having to be paid diverts people from what they would truly like to do. When they do what they really want to do, they do very, very well. Irwin Jacobs does not run QUALCOMM to get money. Sure it is part of the recognition of value, but it's not the primary motivator. I suspect that altruism and charity might be the best way to run schools, parenting, politics and a lot more besides. The problem with that is that there aren't enough people in a position to do it without being paid. I'd prefer a voluntary politician who is not beholden to a payment from industry or is seeking financial gain. My ideal would be somebody who is set up, independent and is doing it for the same reason that $ill Gates is providing immunisation to millions of people. Once we have enough to run our own little world, any more [for fast cars or flash houses all over the place] becomes meaningless. We are better off if we do something which individual communities can't afford and is too risky for investment purposes but which helps everyone and therefore ourselves. For example, $ill Gates might decide to kill all cancer cells on the planet. I think that's a good thing to do since they have no life of their own and seems to be an accidental byproduct of the evolutionary ability of DNA when exposed to radiation and chemicals [some viruses opportunistically using the reproductive nature of cancer cells to propagate]. Or he might decide to build an incoming comet buster! An incoming comet buster is a community benefit and it would be hard to get a return on that investment, but it could be the best personal protection and life-enhancer which $ill could come up with. Especially if Seattle turns out to be the bulls-eye and the impact is due soon. That wouldn't really be altruism though. I'd rather have teachers who love it than teachers who need the money. Teachers who need the money might also love it, but they would be underbid by those who love it but don't need the money. It's a tricky problem and all about motivation. A complex thing for humans. Especially humans who don't need any more food, clothes, houses, cars, or other things of a strictly personal nature. What do people really, really want? Mqurice