Election '08

With the elections coming up next year, I have begun thinking about how few people come out to vote. I think that we need to adopt the plan that 'if you don't vote, don't say anything about how the country is run'. I think that too often people refuse to register or go vote and then yell the loudest when things are not going the way that they believe it should. People Wake Up, Go Vote, then and only then can your voice be heard.

Teachers Performance Pay

The current teachers pay is based on years of experience and amount of education. However, Mr. Cargill wants to change the current pay raises to performance pay. What this means is that the teachers will be judged on student's test scores, administrative assessments, and peer reviews. This would mean that the teachers in the higher income level would have a better chance at receiving a higher pay raise than those in lower income schools. Some teachers may be doing a wonderful job at teaching but some of the students may be more interested in where their next meal is coming from rather than their test scores. How is this fair to them? Besides that where are we going to come up with the additional money for these pay raises when we can't even afford to pay them a descent wage. Oklahoma is number 47th in the country in teacher pay. How about we consider paying our teachers more so that we are able to keep them here rather than worring about additional merit pay right now.