America at its finest

Growing up, having two parents that were educators was never easy. Although it was a major factor that eased the transition from one grade to the next, no child wants to hear "well talk about this when we get home" from their teacher. Fortunately, the lessons i learned were appreciated with age, but it doesnt take away from the stress that i watched both parents go through. They worked long hours and dealt with the ridiculous complaints of parents that were very trivial in the total scheme of what was best for their child's education. Every parent has an idea of what is best for their child, but sometimes there judgement is clouded by emotion and by interfering they make it much more difficult for the teacher to teach and the student to learn. They were never praised for their accomplishments only ridiculed when test scores didn't met Texas standards.

Teacher compensation that is awarded to individuals who go above and beyond, as well as to teachers that work in at risk areas, is one of the best plans that Texas has come to offer. It somewhat mirrors what was offered when the Vietnam war was around and the government offered pardons to the draft if a teacher agreed to teach at an at risk school for a certain amount of time.

The people that teach our children should be valued and appreciated. These are the people that are molding the minds of the future doctors, lawyers, and possibly presidents. With the shortage of educators, there should be even more incentives for new teachers as well as better benefits for ten year and doctorate degrees.

It takes someone very selfless to teach and I'm very proud that the two people that i love more than anything were selfless enough to pass their teachings on to me.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/31/1031meritpay.html

A More Rational Way of Thinking

We started by building a wall, separating ourselves from our neighboring country and affirming our hostility against Mexico and change. Just like the Great Wall of China, which was discontinuous, it allowed places for the Mongol invaders to breach therefore deeming it unsuccessful and eventually abandoned it, America's wall is not unassailable. Rather than dealing with the problem in a humane manner, Americans chose to bottle the American dream. Unfortunately, we vote through fear, but who could honestly blame us for using a cognitive behavior that has been ingrained in our minds, just as language has. Fear of what though? Fear that Anglo Americans would no longer be the major demographic that makes up the United States, or fear that incorporating a large number of the Hispanic population would jeopardize our jobs, housing, political ideology, therefore changing congress and challenging the disproportionally recognized white incumbents. Fortunately for Americans, someone among our congress, was thinking "free of emotion"and thought about a logical way to control the overwhelming number of illegal immigrants. while some people could argue that this would encourage immigrants without naturalization rights to drive without licences, therefor all so driving without insurance, most other states as well as countries, do not offer drivers licences or id cards until they are fully aware of who they are issuing it to. Texas has been very accommodating to immigrants, especially to people that come from our bordering nation, Mexico, so maybe its about time that we take care of ourselves before taking care of everyone else. Honest and morally sound people except that laws are set in place because they protect the liberties of each individual. This being said, then those who chose to violate it should be persecuted accordingly, but hopefully it will cut the amount of illegals that jeopardize the liberties of people who rightly deserve them. so instead of biulding a wall, Texas is thinking on a more local level. What good is a wall if it is not solid? No where near as good as the laws which our country is governed on.

www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/09/1009id.html