I am in Awe

For those that don't live in Idaho or that I haven't vented to, probably don't know the lovely shambles our state superintendant is leaving public education in with his "plan" which has already been passed through the senate. Here is a quick run down:

-Larger class sizes
-As he's increased class sizes there will be less teachers
-More funding cuts
-School boards are no longer allowed to meet with unions to work on a contract for teachers
-Merit pay for teachers who meet his ridiculous new standards (really you should read them)
-Every high school student is to be given a new laptop (which he plans to buy from his sister's company in Virginia)
-All high school students will be required to take at least 5 credits of online classes (Which funding will be not given to the public schools but if the students fail the online class we have to tutor them through it or offer an alternative without funding)
- There is no tenure for teachers, and the process they used to have to follow to fire a teacher is no longer in place. A school district can fire any teacher from June 1st until October 1st if it feels that they don't need as many teachers as they hired.

The list goes on and on. It is extremely sad. It has been so sad to watch it go through because of the power of special interest groups and big business. (One of the biggest contributors are charter schools to his campaign.) Public school teachers are being left out high and dry. It is happening all over the United States. At this time I am actually considering going back to school and I have no desire to encourage young people to become teachers. It is so sad. Anyways today I watched students find their voice and watch them exercise the right to use it. Across the state of Idaho today students walked out of schools at 8:30 to attend rallies in support of public education. It was completely student initiated and led. Facebook and other social media sites were used to pass the message along. I have watched as high school students have gone to Boise and lobbied their representatives. As teachers we did have to pull them together and let them know that if they walked out it would be a truancy and the response was that if they didn't stand now when would they. A few of the student leaders spoke for the students and told us teachers that they were behind us and what was happening was wrong. I sat in homeroom and listened as 8th graders debated the issues. They were well informed and eloquent. We have an incredible group of young leaders rising. If only the older generation would listen.