Comments by BSummerhill - Las Vegas Sun

Comments by user: BSummerhill

Posted on: It pays to work in higher ed

Since I work for lower middle class wages with one of the highest teaching loads in the entire country (called a 5/5, five classes each semester) it's difficult for me to hear about colleagues who are supposedly on easy street. First off, I don't believe it. Second, many of us deserve it.

There are obvious inaccuracies on the list that warrant investigation or at least fact checking. Truckee Meadows Community College, for example, has no "Coll of Ag," but five or six such positions are listed. Well, if those positions do exist I want to know about it.

Politically, the Governor is flailing. I find it interesting that he's supposed to be the "education" governor--didn't he promise me a 6% pay raise in his first state of the state address? These cheap theatrics will backfire on him just as everything else he's done as the most ineffective executive I've seen in office in this state since I moved here in 1976 ... OK, I was a little kid back then but I was a very politically savvy first grader!

On a personal note: I'm sick and tired of the atmosphere in this state when it comes to education. The general attitude seems to be that I ought to be thrilled to have a job of any kind. Yet, typically, in an economy experiencing recession or something close to it, higher education consistently proves to be one of the few "industries" that creates revenue. Is someone implying that I'm leaching off of the state payroll? I thought I was preparing our state's future workforce for something better than minimum wage employment along with making them better, more active citizens. It would be terrible if Nevada's economy ever progressed beyond its reliance on minimum wage labor. Note the bitter sarcasm? Pay me 100K and I'll shut up!

Brad

(Suggest removal) 8/22/08 at 11:22 a.m.