Daily Kos: Dear Mrs. Romney, SHUT THE HELL UP

First of all, for some reference, let's have a linky to the stinking pile of crap that you unloaded on Good Housekeeping. As a former local new reporter who suffered through an interview with Bill Frist in his dumbass American flag tie, let me tell you, you should RIGHT NOW thank the journalism gods that I didn't do this interview because I'm so fed up with lying pols, I would have ripped into you like Hurricane Sandy, but that's for another day.

Let's talk about THIS comment:

I've been a First Lady of the State. I have seen what happens to people's lives if they don't get a proper education. And we know the answers to that. The charter schools have provided the answers. The teachers' unions are preventing those things from happening, from bringing real change to our educational system. We need to throw out the system.

Where to begin, where to begin...I'll start with the first line

As a First Lady of the State, please tell me how that had to do with actually setting foot in a classroom? Have you taught a non-nanny-cared-for kid how to read? Have you taught an ELL kid how to structure a sentence in English? How many kids have you tutored to take the ACT? Then SHUT THE HELL UP.

Too academic? Well, how many kids have you had walk in with bleeding wrists from a cutting episode or with a black eye from a punch by Daddy? Have you had any interaction with a kid arrested for murder? Or who spends her weekends going to see her daddy in prison (that was a kindergartner in my experience, fyi.). Have you dealt with a kid who wears hand-me-down-cleats to school because he had no other shoes? No? Then SHUT THE HELL UP.

Have you had to teach to at least five different tests in 15 years? (we love us some tests in Tennessee, despite the popular assumption...that said tests SUCKED was irrelevant). Have you had to work with kids in situations where you literally do not have enough textbooks so you hope someone is absent? Have you spent a DIME of your own money on pencils, paper, snacks, folders, classroom library books or ANYTHING that enhances a classroom? No? Then SHUT THE HELL UP.

I get that you like charter schools--since they line the pockets of your social circle, you should-- but please, PLEASE show me the charter school that is going to educate the special needs kids that our public school serve daily. Or the immigrant kids who are here, legally or illegally, to make their lives better. Which one is going to do that? Have you spent even a ten-minute block of time with a kid who is 16 but is functioning on a 4th grade level? Have you changed the diaper of a 12-year-old? No? Then SHUT THE HELL UP.

Yes, there are problems with some unions. Frankly, here in Tennessee we can't even begin to relate with the expenses that are associated with some of the infamous "Yankee teacher unions" as one person actually called them to my face, and some teachers here and there; however, how DARE you suggest that the entire system should be scrapped because of this strawman union boogeyman you and your ilk have conjured up in your demented, overly-indulged brains. I bet you 10,000 bucks your kids and your daughters-in-law did not attend public schools, so please...please SHUT THE HELL UP.

Sincerely,
An English and theatre teacher who is fed up with your bullshit.

PS: Aw, Ann, thank you for bumping me to REC list...I would make a first time comment, but you'd be really offended.

PPS: That Yankee comment was very tongue-in-cheek. There is still a huge distrust of people "up North" because of some whackadoo percieved liberal agenda, even among my union-working blue-collar friends. They just do not get the irony at all. I certainly am not anti-union, nor do I take the benefits that they have provided for granted. I belong to a local association and we have fought for radical stuff like a fair evaluation system, retiree benefits, fair pay, more rigorous standards, etc.

PPS: Hey, Ann, apparently other folks don't like it when you essentially suggest that we'uneducated and incompetent since we went through that awful public school system. I'm at 333 recs, which is probably close to the number of pairs of shoes you own.

Source: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/28/1151438/-Dear-Mrs-Romney

davy jones dead monkees last train to clarksville tim tebow taylor swift post grad arpaio carol burnett