God forbid we have any actual standards for students. Let everybody in! This is America; everybody is equal. How dare anyone suggest that maybe some students are more fit for post-high school education than others.

Sorry, forgot, I only spent thirty hours in my classroom last week - between Monday and Wednesday.

It's Monday morning. I haven't read birdie's response posts. I was too busy grading papers on a Sunday, after spending 55 hours in my classroom last week. I really don't have time to respond, or even read the posts. Maybe next summer I'll search this page out and come back. And I don't suppose many people will come back to read this page after today.

But I can tell birdie and anyone else: I actually do the job that I'm commenting on, so I actually know what I'm talking about. If you're going to say (or did say) that there are poor teachers out there, I'll just quickly say a few things things: 1- most poor teachers are driven out by students, who are like a vicious pack when you don't know what you're doing, and even sometimes when you do; 2 - I don't like them either; 3 - you get what you pay for. DUH!

You want better teachers, you actually have to have decent pay and working conditions, which this district does not. It's amazing teachers here are as good as they are, under the circumstances. But it's getting worse, as teachers are falling under more and more blame, and quitting, and going elsewhere.

Bird, why don't you tell us all what you do for a living? Do you think your occupation makes you better than me? I'll tell you what, I have the utmost respect for teachers now, which I never did before I started teaching. I cannot believe what they do, and what they take. But I think they should be way more angry. (The ones who get really angry mostly quit, which is why teaching is left with mostly passive people.)

By the way, you think long-term subs are better than qualified experienced teachers? 'Cause that's what you get when you can't fill jobs, like this district can't. What does that supply and demand tell you, bird?

Let me reinforce one thought: You want better teachers, you'll have to pay for them.

Sorry, bird, but I have a stressful job, where I work well over 40 hours a week. My little "break" is over. Got to go. Don't expect me back for a while. But I look forward to the day I can come back and read your nonsense. With this too-demanding, low-paying "profession" where teachers are beat on for not being able to accomplish the impossible, laughs are one of the only things that keep me waking up in the morning. So it'll be fun to see what bird the education expert has to say about something I do every day.

By the way, birdie, why is it that you write with no capitals, and only ellipses? Could it be that you don't know how to use punctuation and capitalization correctly? What's the matter, you resent teachers because you were a lazy student?

Like the lady said, I'd like to challenge anyone who feels that way to try to do what I do.

If you think you're sick and tired of hearing teachers complain, birdie, then you ought to live it - being constantly bashed and told you have to work more and more hours for no more money to make the impossible happen, as if the impossible is possible. It's absolutely absurd.

If you lived it, birdie, you'd have something to complain about.

But you don't. You're showing your true colors here. Always for the underdog against the high and mighty with money, but against teachers? Guess you're not what you're trying to present in your posts.

Future, I think you missed the point. But that's not surprising. No, Future, unions are not where the money will be going. You'd like what this initiative is about - it's partially about union busting.

Future, try reading the letter again. Ask for help, if you need to. Maybe you could get a reading teacher to help you. But, as the point is being made in the letter, we can't expect brains to suddenly appear where there were none. Who's going to blame teachers for Future's intellect? The U.S. Department of Education is doing that. So is Nevada's. We're supposed to grow brains for kids, too, apparently.

Future, truly, you are clueless. You have no idea what this is about. Have you no shame whatsoever about your cluelessness?

And, birdie, go back to your anti-Republican rants. At least they make some sense sometimes. This one doesn't make any sense at all.

Better yet, go volunteer in a school and see what it's like. Everybody who ever went to school thinks they're an expert on education. They're not.

Is anybody else sick of birdie?

Scratch that. Forget Green Valley. Time to get out of the classroom altogether, and grab some of the real funds, which will go middle management: bean counters.

TIME FOR THIS TEACHER TO APPLY IN GREEN VALLEY. IF THIS IS WHAT THEY'RE GOING TO DO, THEN LET THE GHETTO TEACH ITSELF.

Time for real change. Put sports into totally separate colleges or programs and stop pretending that players are students. UNLV, a third- or fourth-rate institution that accepts and graduates the lowest students, needs to think about academics, not football. What a lame waste of editorial space.

This is from wikipedia. There's a good graph there, too.

The term prison-industrial complex refers to all of the businesses and organizations involved in the construction, operation, and promotion of correctional facilities and the services they provide. Such groups include private corrections companies, corporations that contract prison labor, construction companies, surveillance technology vendors, and the lobbyists and interest groups that plurally represent them.

The term often implies a network of actors who are motivated by making profit rather than solely by punishing or rehabilitating criminals or reducing crime rates. Proponents of this view believe that the desire for monetary gain has led to the growth of the prison industry and the number of incarcerated individuals. These views are often shared by people who fear or condemn excessive use of power by government, particularly when related to law enforcement and military affairs.

Schlosser, Eric (December 1998). "The Prison-Industrial Complex". The Atlantic Monthly. http:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_incarceration_timeline-clean.svg//www.theatlantic.com/issues/98dec/prisons.htm.

Good luck with your efforts, Ms. van B. Sorry I don't have the time or energy to help.