Good teachers are underpaid and bad teachers are not only overpaid but over employed. So it’s simple right? Fire all the bad teachers! Let’s get our torches and march down to town center and demand all the bad teachers are fired! But what makes a bad teacher? Is it the student’s test scores? Is it their academic credentials? Is it lack of empathy with students?  What if a teacher does not connect with most students but has a profound and lasting impact on a few? Is that enough? Do we evaluate the teacher with 40 students and no resources the same as the calculus AP teacher? The point is who among us can evaluate good/bad teachers? Clearly not superintendents, and certainly not union leadership. But instead of having a discussion and trying to come up with compromise, and practical solutions all we get is political posturing and name calling. I see signs for supporting the school board and supporting the teacher’s union, but have we forgotten why we’re concerned in the first place? Where are the signs and discussion for supporting the children.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away; well only if it’s an organic apple, that was locally grown, and wasn’t GMO or wasn’t near a GMO farm, or you ate the apple with the proper foods, or you ate at the wrong time of day, or you ate too fast or too slow, or the workers who picked the apple weren’t paid enough, or the machine bruised the fruit, or the farm wasn’t certified fair trade or beyond organic, or the grocery clerk didn’t wash their hands enough, or you didn’t wash the apple enough, or you know what;  just go eat something processed. 

I will be happy if I make this green light

I will be happy when it’s Friday

I will be happy after a cup of coffee

I will be happy on our first date

I will be happy in a new car

I will be happy when I get the promotion

I will be happy when I pay off the credit cards

I will be happy when I’m older

I will be happy after the wedding

I will be happy when I’m healthy

I will be happy when I pay off the mortgage

I will be happy when I start a family

I will be happy when I don’t have a loan payment

I will be happy when I’m younger

I will be happy with what I have now

I will be happy with anything

I will be happy with nothing

I will be.

One day I woke up and realized…ok, that’s not how it happened at all. It was like water trickling through a filter. Slowly, drip by drip until you have a full glass. But typically I’ll get impatient and not wait until there is a full glass filtered and pore a partial glass. Well this post, no this website is exactly that, the ideas are only partially through the filter. But instead of remaining thirsty until there is a full glass – let’s jump into this with half a glass and let the ideas continue to filter.