Cousin Manny is in Sales in Silicon Valley.  He came to the US with parents when he was 5 years old. He has worked his BUTT off. In high school, in college, in his whole adult life. He never, ever made any excuses, EVER. He invested wisely, went to school, choose his jobs wisely, and is living the American Dream.

Manny: I know teachers should get paid more and I agree my taxes should be used for the common good, but it makes me so mad while some teachers work their asses off, some, sit on their tenure, and pretty much are not effectively doing their job.

He was SHOCKED that I only partly agreed with him.

Amy: Manny, I think I make pretty good money actually. I have worked in the field 25+ years, have awesome health insurance, a fair amount of personal necessity days and summers off. My room is usually clean, and my computer runs. I make a fair hourly wage. (And I agree with you about those stinky teachers who don't even put their homework up online and call the "inconvenience" a "change in working conditions.") I also LOVE MY JOB.

And for someone like me who has a Master's Degree (I get $500 per year stipend for it. It cost about $10,000, public Uni)  it would be nice to have 1 hour of secretarial support per day AND it would be nice if my industry reimbursed me for the professional development expenses I incur so I continue to be the most effective teacher I can be. (For that, I would even give up my secretarial support)

That's all.

Manny: OOOOHHHH that is so reasonable...how can we accomplish that? We would probably have enough money for that if schools were run more like businesses and teachers were paid for what they produce.

Manny is one heck of a smart person.