Florida’s SB 6 bill...my take

 Here's the deal with this one...for some time now, teachers have been getting the blame for students failure and their inability to measure up to standards. A senator from Florida suggested that teachers be put on a merit pay system that would award them compensation based on how well their students did in standardized testing, etc. This would take away the "years of experience" a teacher had in the profession and replace with just student scores as the final determinant of a teacher's pay.
Needless to say, it is a Republican senator who devises this brilliant idea. This is almost as ludicrous as saying if a patient eats fatty foods and gets heart disease, the doctor should be blamed. Now, a doctor can advise a patient what to eat and what not to eat but ultimately, it is up to the patient if he/she will follow through.
To recap, it was the Bushes (republicans) who made standardized testing into the megalithic disaster that it has turned out to be. It was Bush who introduced NCLB (no child left behind) which turned out to be Every child left behind with the advent of the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test). It was a good test that counted for too much and came attached with too much political agendas. House prices were attached to how well schools in the area did on this test! Schools received money for doing well on this test...lots of money...to the point where teachers started teaching toward the test and not anything on their curriculum map. Here is where I am happy our now President is making major breakthroughs in education...himself being a past professor...and hence will never fully be out of the academia mentality.
I wonder if some of these policy makers know what happens in these schools..and if they really know what the teachers deal with. Of course there are people who are not suited for the profession they are in but the majority of teachers out there are well qualified for the job and they stay because they really like the kids.
Teaching is a wonderful profession. It has its perks....and I don't mean the endless holidays! After a week or two off, you miss the kids....well if you really like teaching. You are able to influence a child and sometimes, you are that one person who a child really gets to talk to one on one. You yell at them, they get upset, you get upset, and the next day...sometimes even a few minutes later, everything is fine again. That's the best thing about kids. They forget. It's something I like and I wonder how much happier the world would be if we all followed this childlike trait.
One thing I have noticed is that they appreciate you more when you push them to their limits. Maybe they will not like it initially but that reward is worth waiting for. I notice that I have digressed.
Back to the schools. Teaching is one of those professions that is needed in society just like medical doctors but this senator made it seem as if there was no respect or regard for the job that teachers do because of a few not-so-great teachers who made the news for the wrong reasons. It is true that the media focuses on the bad things and teachers are not held in high esteem in this country for that very reason. However, most teachers do a darn good job! Like I stated earlier, many teachers do it for the love of the kids or their subject area or both.

drawing analogies or parallels

It seems as if only the chosen few have stuck with blogging. Life came up and all of a sudden everyone got busy. I am not too certain where I am at right now. Somewhere in my mind, I know my cousin died and I am not sure if it is a natural defense mechanism but I am trying to not allow myself to think at all about him during the day. The nights are different though.
Two days ago, I sat on the floor in the mandir chanting the Hanuman Chalisa trying to get to the 108th chalisa in celebration of Hanuman Jayanti. I remembered sitting on the floor in his room doing the same thing not too long ago. See, in order to finish the 108 chalisas, we chant really quickly and I was leading the group for quite some time. This time, every chalisa I sang brought back memories of my cousin. He used to love Lord Hanuman. I thought of the night on the floor in his room when he could barely talk because his lungs were no longer holding the air and he would mouth the words of the prayer. Sometimes, he would fall asleep during the prayers and when I looked at him, he would be smiling at something in the sleep.  Back then, I really focused on the couplet, "nasai rog harai sab peera, japat nirantar hanumat beera." On the morning I left, the day before he died, he was finally asleep after a long night. I couldn't wake him so I stood at his bedside and I prayed to Mahaveer asking Him to take away the pain. I kissed him on his head and said a prayer over and over. In many ways, the pain and disease as well as the suffering all all gone. Completely. Along with him. It will be two months soon.