It's been two weeks. I'm sorry. I'm also supposed to be following human rights issues, but this particular struggle has left me depressed, upset, feeling lost...I don't know. There's this swirling in my gut that flares up every time I think about it.

You know, in 1980, in a speech against Communism, President Reagan stated "[Our moral values] remind us that where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost."

Reagan said that. Reagan!

And now we have legislation passed that effectively castrates unions and places an even higher burden on our already underpaid, underappreciated civil servants. It was bad enough that Governor Walker threatened to fire 1,500 government workers, exploited a loophole, and had the senate vote without any of the democrats present. What's worse is that across the nation, other Republicans are saying they stand strong beside him. Why? The Unions agreed to lower wages, fewer benefits - all concessions made for Walker's budget crusade - why did Walker insist on debilitating them in a completely different bill?

Fox News may pretend that teachers live in the lap of luxury, but everyone who has ever been to school should know better. Teachers get up early, teach all day, deal with troublesome and misbehaved children, coach sports, oversee clubs, go home, grade papers, formulate lesson plans, and painstakingly go over homework. Anyone who pretends teachers peace out at 2:30 and do nothing at night, on the weekends, or during the summer is simply delusional.

This whole debacle perfectly demonstrates one reason why we can't fix the school system. Teachers have an extremely important job; they educate the next generation of Americans. We need them to be passionate, excited, and good at their jobs. What we should be doing is paying them on a level that approaches doctors and treating their profession as an honorable, desirable career. There's a brain-drain occurring within our own country. Just think about it - the smartest kids don't go into education, that would be a "waste" of their abilities. They become doctors, lawyers, businessmen. The way to fix this certainly isn't reduction of pay, benefits, and collective bargaining rights! We can't continue to devalue one of the most important jobs for the future of America, otherwise we'll all end up like Texas.