#ncpol: Lil’ Tricia and the $750 “tip”

During recent debate on the state budget, state Rep. Tricia Cotham (D-Mecklenburg) got a lot of drive-by media play for this particular gem:

A $750 tip ????   What profession — outside of, oh, hitmen, exotic dancers, prostitutes, or porn stars — gets individual tips that size?   Maybe she’s got those uptown Charlotte hoity-toity hardressers she and mama go to on the brain.  THEY may pull down tips close to that.  (Let’s hope NOT the ones that gave Tricia the ‘do in the photo accompanying this post.) 

But have no fear — Lil’ Tricia has headed up to DC to seek a solution to North Carolina’s “problems” from the gang that has seriously F-ed Up our country for the last seven years:

Boy, January 20, 2017 can’t get here fast enough. 

Instead of complaining that her colleagues didn’t pony up for a tip comparable to what she and mama Pat toss to Maurice the Coiffeur each week, why doesn’t Lil’ Tricia actually get on the soapbox about something that can actually improve the quality of life for teachers in the classroom AND the parents of those kids in the classroom?

For starters, how about this ridiculous Kindergarten Entry Assessment?  Seriously ??????  

I have friends currently teaching who tell me they end up devoting more time during the day to administrative tasks — collecting money and forms, filling out forms, etc. — than they do actually teaching. Why not pawn some of that off to some of those six-figure salaried leeches (a/k/a “assistant superintendents”) in the central offices?  You know, those folks with all of the wonderfully creative, likely made-up job titles (assistant superintendent for “Curriculum Nurture,” “Diversity Nurture,”  “Curriculum Design,” etc. SERIOUSLY.)

Why not work on getting the thugs out of the classroom so teachers can actually spend time on the kids who want to learn and have a chance to become productive citizens?  One friend recalled for me a day when two burly deputies came into her 4th grade classroom with a handcuffed kid.  They uncuffed him, dropped him in the desk chair, and then LEFT.  If the deputies thought the kid was such a danger to them that he needed to be cuffed, why did they have no problem dumping him unrestrained into a room full of non-criminals?    (Government money is predicated on how many butts you have in seats.  So, the focus is on filling the seats.  Not keeping order.  Not on making sure the little darlings are actually being prepped for the future.) 

Why not spend more time on the Three Rs and a lot less time on Kwanzaa, multiculturalism, and other lefty kookery?  Being well-versed in Kwanzaa won’t get you into college or prep you for that job that helps you feed your family.  I teach courses at the community college level, and it pains me to see how many HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES I encounter who have reading and writing skills surpassed by my friend’s three year old.   *Why, just look at how public education has failed Lil’ Tricia herself. *

Pay attention to most of the debate at your local school boards.  Notice how much focus and time and energy is devoted to the racial mix of various schools.  Not on student performance.  Not on student safety.  Not on ensuring community support for neighborhood schools.  It’s all the babbling about diversity to keep other people’s money rolling in you can stomach. 

It appears June Atkinson is leaving the Pink Palace in Raleigh.  Lil’ Tricia and her mama are already measuring for drapes in Ms. June’s office.  Hopefully, there is someone  out there who is serious about fumigating the public school bureaucracy and turning it back into something focused on actual education.