is the same thing as what's killed U.S. education. It's the union.

Today's teachers, by and large, have never had a job in which they had to do anything that could be monitored in quantity or quality by any reasonable means. They haven't been in the military, they have seldom been outside the U.S. except, perhaps, on a drunken spring-vacation outing to Mexico. They don't know what to teach, and, in reality, I doubt they know how to teach it either, else the standardized test scores that try to prove that our graduating seniors are as well educated as sixth graders were thirty years ago, would be higher. They'd know that the most important thing they can teach the kids is to show up and to do their work when they get there.

They don't know how to get kids to shut up and stay in their seats. They don't know how to get kids to do their homework. They don't know how to get homework graded before the class is in the next chapter. They also don't know how to show up and do the work themselves either.

The reason they're employed is because they have a union. They claim to be professionals, though I know of no group of professionals that protects obviously incompetent fellows the way they do. Other unions have done that, but only to the extent that their members would tolerate. Since one teacher's work effort doesn't impact the others the way a steel worker or carpenter would, they can do as little or as much as they want.

Kids aren't stupid. They see all that, and that's why we have now had two generations of unproductive, parasitic slackers. The country's going to hell in a handbasket, and, if the youth's not willing to do better, that's where it should go.

The reason manufacturing is in the toilet, is because the people doing it haven't cared about quality for decades. They buy at Wal-Mart despite the widely publicized fact that, year after year, their quality is the lowest in the country, even on "brand name" merchandise, and it forces the overall quality of items offered for sale downward.

The reason the economy is in the toilet is because the American consumer prides himself on paying a lot for everything, irrespective of its value. The consumer who doesn't insist on the best value for his money gets what he deserves. Instead, the current 25-45 generation prides themselves on leaving a 30% tip despite the lousy service, and paying $50K for a U.S. made car that couldn't for a moment compete with a Korean-made equivalent costing less than half that much.

They'll get what they deserve. Unfortunately, they'll take all the rest of us with 'em.

RE