The old saying, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." needs to be amended.
Maybe it should say, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, become government bureaucrats." Yes, I think that fits better.
After all, there are literally hundreds of thousands of good teachers who have been called to that profession. These folks teach because they are gifted with the ability to teach. Every day, most of us send our sons and daughters to classrooms around America lead by great teachers.
Unfortunately, there are many teachers, let's call them classroom facilitators instead, who are still in the classroom mainly because they have tenure and can't be let go, fired or retired. They believe they have a "right" to "teach" because of their seniority or time on the job - and nothing else. That's not a right. Having a job is not a "right". You can read my thoughts on "rights" here. Let's blame the teachers' unions (the National Education Association - NEA, and the slightly less liberal American Federation of Teachers - AFT) and not the individual teachers.
What makes it worse is that these people have lost their passion to, not only teach, they have lost their passion to better themselves and by bettering themselves, their pupils. Teaching, like almost anything we do should be approached from the stance of "am I called to do this?" My wife, at the insistence of her dad many years ago, followed his advice and went to college for business. My wife is very talented and an excellent manager and administrator. But she has a teacher's heart. She is great with younger children (elementary school age) especially on a one-on-one literacy and math basis. She makes a great tutor and she loves tutoring special needs kids. She often wishes that she had followed that calling instead of listening to her dad (who by the way was a high school biology teacher and later became a school administrator). That's why I say that teaching is a calling.
But on to the subject at hand. Bureacrats and other government leaders.
Raise your hand if you remember your college professors who were full of ideas but no practical experience. Thought so. They went from the university to ... the next university. Okay, they may have done some research working for some department somewhere, but they didn't have managerial experience. They weren't required to come up with an idea and follow it all the way to its conclusion. And that would include research, finding the right people to assist, secure necessary funding (that they would personally be responsible for), and ultimately, someone who would actually be willing to PAY for the item or service.
They may have written a book (that probably didn't sell), but they're "published". Heck, technically I'm published! They may have tenure. But so what? All that tenure says is that "you've been here awhile" and nothing more. They were paid a relatively exhorbitant amount of money for...I'm not quite sure. And then always bellie-ached about the "wealthy" of the world. You remember those philosophy and poli-sci professors now don't you? Yeah.
I don't know about you but the BEST professors that I had while in college (business), were those that either owned their own business or were currently active in business. They knew HOW to market. They knew HOW to bring a product to market and have it be successful financially as well as for the consumer. The theorists professors were almost a waste of time.
Well now those same "brilliant" theorists are running our federal government.
For the past several months I've been scratching my head trying to figure out why we're in the big mess that we're in. So I went back and looked at the news articles and the video clips from the past 2 years especially and found a common thread. By and large there are life-time college professors (with alphabet soup after their names) or career politicians who graduated college and went immediately into "public service" never having worked in or for the general public arena (Senator Chuck Schumer from New York is a prime example). They have always relied on someone else to pay their way. They never supplied a product or idea to sell to anyone who would be willing to buy it.
One thing that I hated in college were the classes in which you were almost not permitted to "think". Instead, you were "encouraged" to simply follow the professor's lead. There was no questioning. There was no looking at the other side. You couldn't debate. Whether it be in Philosophy or Political Science or Economics or Marketing (rarely happened there). The worst part was that condescending look from the professor; he or she knew better because of their position - not their necessary experience - but their position.
And that's what we have in Washington, DC today. A bunch of condescending, look-down-your-nose-over-the-glasses, Cabinet secretaries, "czars" and even a President. You know, I really don't care about their education. You can list all day long their published articles and university chairs, but what have they DONE. I don't care if Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has several doctorates (including honorary). What has he DONE? I don't care which Ivy league school you graduated from. What can you do? Name me ONE person on the President's Cabinet or teams of advisers who has run a successful business or created a new company? Has he or she directly hired AND fired someone? Has he or she come up with a new solution to a problem and a product to utilize with it and promoted and sold it at a profit?
Some of the "most accomplished" people of our time never graduated or even attended college. You know who they are. How did they get there? They had a grand idea. They had ambition. They were NOT going to rely on anyone or any institution to tell them "no" or how there idea would come to fruition. They worked it out themselves. They had belief in themselves and in the exceptionalism that is the foundation of our country.
An "accomplishment" is something, tangible or intangible, that you have done or created. Once you have completed your education, what do you accomplish next? Being a good husband and father? That's part of our job as a man if we choose to take that road of life; it's not an accomplishment. Being the "winningest" football or sports coach; that's an accomplishment. Orgainizing people to go and vote? No accomplishment. Those folks should know that they have a responsibility to their country to do that - as well as be educated as to who they are voting for. Being a great singer? If you have a terrific voice and you are practicing and practicing and building an audience; that's an accomplishment.
A college "professor" (Harvard no less) becomes a community organizer who becomes a state senator who becomes a United States Senator does not a President make. And if Barak Hussein Obama is so smart, then why doesn't he just release his test scores or his university transcript or college papers? Then, and only then, will we be able to prove what then Senator Joe Biden and many liberal media talking heads have been telling us; "he's the smartest guy for the job." That's funny, I believe he said during the debates that certain ideas were above "his pay grade." When you are the leader of the free world, you had better be prepared to answer great and deep questions. Those decisions require not only knowledge but great wisdom.
No, instead we have college professors and or professional students leading. People who have only collected a paycheck. A paycheck from somebody else. Or from the government - that means you and me.
The one thing that bugs me most of our current elected administration and their teams is they way they look at all of us. I feel as if I am being scolded by my worst elementary school teacher and I am in second grade. They think that I can't think for myself and my family and my business and other people for whom I am responsible. Thankfully I had a great second grade teacher.
So, if you ever wondered what our government would like run by a bunch of steeped in academia college professors, look no further than Washington, DC.
