My Unsustainable Pension...

I heard a guy talking today about the "unsustainable pensions" that the public school teachers are getting, and how they are causing such a problem with Ohio's budget.

But here's the problem with that statement. The State Teachers' Retirement System of Ohio (STRS) doesn't get any money from Ohio's budget. None. Really. I even called them and asked.

It is true, that when I retire in two years, I will get a pretty good pension for life. But every penny of that will come from money that teachers and their school boards have put into STRS along the way. STRS of course invested this, and the fruits of those investments are what fund my retirement. Of course, as a public school teacher, that money came from taxes. But it is a "public" school, so I kinda think that's expected.

If you want to say we're overpaid, get too much sick time, top notch health care, work too little, and have cushy jobs, that is your right. I will disagree, but at least those are judgment calls, and a fair discussion would make sense. If we have to give up some of those things to help Ohio balance its budget, those would be fair negotiations. But to say my pension is breaking Ohio, well that's just plain wrong.

Will I get a better pension than you? I don't know. If you're only counting on social security, then yes I will. But while you and your employer have been putting away somewhere around 12% of your salary, my employer and I have been putting in almost double that. And whether it's out of my paycheck, or from the school board, that's all money that could have gone directly to me. Instead it went to my retirement.

I honestly think that a lot of people assume my retirement is going to be paid by Ohio taxes in the coming years. No, STRS is self-contained. If I die early, I won't come close to getting all my money back. If I live till I'm 100, then I'll be using the money of somebody who died early. Actuary tables figure that all pretty well.

And why is it such a problem now? If you think it's because our pensions have grown, then you're wrong. The pension payout plan from STRS has stayed pretty constant over the last 40 years or so, with only minor changes. What hasn't stayed the same is the value of STRS' investments. When the economy came crashing down a few years back, everybody's investments tanked, including those of STRS.

So if you want to blame someone for the "pension problem" of public employees in Ohio, blame whoever caused the economic crash in 2008. And I don't think that was the teachers.

Overachiever!

Overachiever!

Is that word meant as a praise term, a term to honor? Or as a slam, a cut, a dismissal of sorts. Actually, that depends. On where that person is overachieving.

OK, take Rudy. You know, the movie. The no-talent athlete who had a dream to play football at Notre Dame. You know how this goes. Rudy has no chance as an athlete. But through incredible perseverance, he actually makes it into Notre Dame, then in almost an act of pity, he’s allowed to be on the team. Finally, because of incredible hard work, dedication, and single-minded effort, he actually makes it into a Notre Dame football game. The crowd goes berserk, they scream “Rudy, Rudy, Rudy” and the players carry him off on their shoulders. Or something like that anyway.

We all love that guy. We admire his dedication, his optimism in the face of certain defeat, his incredible refusal to give up or be defeated. We make movies about that kind of guy.

But let’s change venues. Let’s say Rudy is a 15 year old girl of average intelligence, and her goal is to graduate at the top of her class, because she knows that’s the only way she has a chance of getting a college scholarship. So she studies nonstop, works with incredible focus, and sacrifices all other things, so that she can excel. Not in sports, but in academics. Finally, because of incredible hard work, dedication, and single-minded effort, she finally realizes her dream. She makes it to the top, and at her graduation day, do we hear the crowd go berserk? Cheer her name? Carry her away on their shoulders? No, what we’re most like to hear is “Yeah, she was valedictorian, but she’s not really that smart. She just works hard. She’s an overachiever.” 

First of all, trust me on this one. I've seen it over and over. When a student excels because of hard work, that is almost exactly the “praise” he or she earns. People say he or she is an “overachiever” almost like it’s somehow cheating if you become a good student by hard work. Sure, we say we want them to work hard, study, and try to excel. Yet when it actually happens, nobody outside of Mom or Dad admires what that student did. The rest of us? Well, she’s just an overachiever.

Feel free to disagree, but I’ve heard it a million times. And, for what it’s worth, the term “overachiever” is invariably applied to a girl. Almost 100% of the time. I’ll let you make your own interpretation about this one. I know what mine is.

You know, I've never figured this out. In sports we admire the Rudies, the Rockies, the Titans. Whoever wins in the face of adversity. But in academics, no.

Somehow, I don't like it at all..

Light Red

Yeah,  I know. There is no such thing as light red. I’m not sure why, really. Follow me on this one.

Take blue paint, and mix white paint with it. What color do you get? Light blue, obviously. Or maybe sky blue, or robin-egg blue, or columbia blue, or whatever you want to call it. But for most of us, it’s just light blue.

How about green? Mix green paint and white paint, and of course you get light green. And honestly, I have no idea what else you’d call that one.

Finally, let’s mix red paint and white paint. What do you get? Light red? Of course not; you get pink. Not light red, or easter bunny red, or even Susan G. Komen red. No, you get pink.

Really, why does pink get it’s own name? But light blue is just light blue.

I have no idea.

I hope you didn't think that maybe this post was going to be important. I'll try not to waste your time next time!

Cheating. And Schools. And Unions?

Hypothetical scenario here. I'm a 12th year teacher, and during one of my classes, I find the principal's daughter cheating. As a good teacher, I reprimand her and give her a zero on the assignment, according to the school rules.

Or do I?

I guess that would depend. On how much integrity I have, and how badly I need a job. And whether the rumors and ideas being tossed around here are true. According to people I've talked to, articles I've read, and the talking heads on the radio, some lawmakers in Ohio are trying to ban public employee unions and end collective bargaining.

If those are just rumors, please comment and tell me. I hope they ARE rumors. Honestly, they really sound like something that some people are throwing out there just to get people really pissed off. And if so, then there's no reason to read the rest of this post!

But just for fun, say those rumors are true, and they do come to pass.

So as this hypothetical teacher,  I follow the school rules. Then the girl goes home and tells her dad (like just about any kid would) that "No I didn't cheat. That teacher just doesn't like me, and he's being unfair to me."  A month later my contract comes up. Hmmm.....

What's to keep the principal from having me fired, or maybe just laid off? Or maybe lower my salary. Since there's no collective bargaining, each teacher would negotiate independently I assume. (Or so the talking head on the radio said.)

Don't tell me to just go get another job. Even if I could find one, I'd have to move my family, completely change my life, and move my kids to another school, all because that girl was cheating.

And don't tell me to file a wrongful termination suit. I don't have the money for that, but of course the school does.

No, if I turn that girl in for cheating, unless we have a superintendent of extremely high integrity, I'm pretty much done.

Disrespect

I’m not sure where to go with this. But I’m having a problem with disrespect. I’ve seen so much of it lately. And so many times, there’s no reason for it.


Before the Super Bowl, Bill O’Reilly interviewed President Obama. During that interview, he asked the president how it felt to be hated by so many people. Three times he asked this. And he interrupted the president 42 times. Yes, 42! You know, I don’t care if you like the president or not. But he’s the president, and he deserves some measure of respect. It was just wrong to treat him like O'Reilly did. 


Toward the end of George Bush’s second term, a lot of people were calling him out, treating him with that same kind of disrespect. I have no probem with disagreeing with the president, and pointing out what one feels he’s doing wrong. That’s part of democracy. But this doesn’t have to be nasty, or sarcastic, or disrespectful.Yet many behaved that way, and that was just as disgusting.


I recently watched a very small man treat a very strong woman with disdain and disrespect. Her crime? She had the audacity to stand up to him, to be strong. Even if this small man disagrees with her, he has no right to ridicule her, scold her like she’s a child, or make faces when she speaks, (I’m not making this up!) Yet, he did. But of course, she’s only a woman. So I guess it's OK.


I personally faced it a few months back. I do my very best to be fair as a teacher, and I think I have that reputation. Yet when some favored student didn’t get the grade needed, the people who should have been supporting me, turned on me. I can live with that, but the things they said, and the disrespect they showed, astounded me. I really think I’ve earned more respect than that. But apparently not.


Maybe it’s always been this way, and I’ve just never noticed it. But I don’t know about that. Maybe it’s because our political dialog is so nasty, on all sides, that respect is no longer in vogue. Or maybe as America becomes more and more secular, with less and less attending church, this is the logical outcome. Like I said, I just don’t know.


To be honest, I see some of this in myself, and I don’t like it when I see it either. When I ask myself why I do that, I think it’s because by showing them disrespect, putting them down, I build myself up in my own eyes. I hate to admit that, but I think it’s accurate. I can only assume it describes other disrespectful people as well. But once again, I just don’t know.


But what really bothers me is not just the disrespect. No, what bothers me is that we now accept it, just let it go, let the disrespected person suffer on his or her own. How many times do we just watch as it happens? Way too often, unfortunately. I’ve seen it way too often.


And I don’t see how that can be a good thing.

We Use These Up - Magically

I remember once when I was so busy, it felt like I didn't even have time to breath. We’ve all had times like that. Mostly, we hate them. We always say that when we get through it, we’re going to kick back and relax. Or read more. Or something. At least that’s what I said. And when I finally got through it, that’s exactly what I did. For a while. But a short time later, somehow I realized I didn’t have that free time anymore. I wasn’t involved in as many things, but somehow, all that extra time just kinda got used up.

Almost everybody I know who retires, within a short time says “I’m so busy right now. I don’t know how I got by when I was working.” Time: no matter how much we have, we use it. We all do. Human nature I guess.

But it’s not just time. The same goes for money. Yeah, we all know that. One time many years ago, my wife got laid off. Our income was cut just about in half. We felt so poor. For a while. But then somehow, we got by. Pretty much the same as when she was working, or it sure seemed that way. Then, when she got a new job a few months later, we had all kinds of cash rolling in. We felt rich. For a while. But then somehow, we seemed to adjust, and we didn’t feel any richer than before.

Time and money. Two things we always use up. But there's one more, at least in my mind: Space. As in living space, or storage space. Think your house is cramped? Too much stuff? Not enough room for it all? Go ahead, add on. I dare you. Build an extra bedroom or two. Or maybe a barn. Whatever. I can guarantee, within a year, it will be just as full as before. It’s almost magical.

Time. Money. Space. You’re just not going to get ahead with these. And honestly, we’d probably all be better off if we didn’t even try.

What Day is Your Birthday?

Is it on a Tuesday this year? Maybe Thursday. Admit it: you don’t know (and probably don't care either.) But the point is that it’s always different. And of course the same goes for Christmas, the 4th of July and every other day as well. 


Is that a bad thing? Well, yes and no. True, it adds diversity to our calendar. Every year, school starts on a different date, the Super Bowl is a different date, Presidents’ Day is a different date. You get the idea.


But to me, that’s also a bad thing. Think how much time and energy is spent each year, in every organization, setting up, revising, and tweaking a calendar. And think how many times there are unexpected conflicts. The county fair conflicts with the state fair this year, or Halloween is on the same day as the football game, or any of a million different scenarios.


The trouble is that the sun takes 365 days to orbit the sun. That time period is a year. That’s 52 weeks plus one day. That one day extra is what really messes up our calendar. There’s not much we can do about the sun. But we can still fix the calendar. It’s simple. We just make December 31 a “No-Day.” Really. It’s not a Monday, or a Tuesday, or any day of the week. It’s Noday.


How does that fix it? This year, January 1 was a Saturday. December 31 is also going to be a Saturday, which makes January 1 of next year a Sunday, and everything is already screwed up. In my calendar, December 30 of this year will be Friday as it’s supposed to be, but December 31 is Noday. Which makes January 1 a Saturday, just like this year. And our calendar will be the same every year! Magic.


Lest you scoff, think how nice it will be when you know exactly what day and date every day of the year will be. And once you get your organization’s calendar to work, you never have to change it. For instance, school can always start on August 24, the NFL will always have its first game on September 12, and your birthday will always be the same day. And you will never wonder if something you’re planning conflicts with something else. You’ll just know.


Of course, on leap year, will have to drop February 29 and add a December 32, and have two Nodays in a row. But we can deal with that. It’s only once every four years.


Sure the calendar can change. In 1582, the Gregorian Calendar replaced the Julian Calendar. The world went to bed on October 4, and woke up the next morning and it was magically October 15! They skipped 10 days. We’re asking for something a whole lot less disruptive than that. 


I say go for it. We can call it the Morganian Calendar. Sounds good to me.

Calyx and Beau

About a week ago, a woman was driving her 13-year old son Beau to soccer practice, when for reasons nobody can quite figure out, she pulled out a handgun and shot him. Dead. Right there. Then, she went home, found her 16-year old daughter Calyx at the computer, and shot her as well. In the face. Dead. Right there. Apparently the kids were "mouthy." Then she went and sat on the back porch, which is where the police found her.


You know, this is one I have trouble with. I mean, the second amendment states it very clearly: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” And I hate it when people pick and choose with the constitution. Yet…


What I find so compelling about this story are the words I heard in the very first report about it: “the gun, which she had bought five days earlier.” This has been a week now, and for some reason I can’t seem to find any story anywhere that deals with where she got that gun. WalMart? Bass Pro? I don’t know. I’m not even sure it matters. Still I find it odd that I haven’t found even one left-wing bleeding heart liberal blog that seems to care. Maybe I just don’t know where all the liberal blogs are.


You know, to a point I agree with the cliché: “If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.” Because the bad guys will figure out where to get them, even if honest people don’t. But this woman was no hardened criminal. She was a 50-year old mother of two with no criminal past of any kind. If she had to sneak around some dark alley to buy a gun, she would have had no idea how to do that. And nobody really believes she would have killed them, say, with a knife. No, that wasn’t going to happen.


Do we regulate guns, more than we do now? There’s that pesky second amendment you know. On the other hand, according to that amendment, firearms are needed for “a well regulated militia.” I don’t think shooting your kids was exactly what the founding fathers had in mind.


I don’t know the answer. Regulate more? Regulate less? Outlaw guns completely? To me, no solution is right. Who knows, maybe I'm "unAmerican" for even thinking about it. But I do know this. If handguns were illegal, those two kids would still be alive. 


And that’s a tough statement to live with.