Woofer.I am not aguing with you.But to label us all bad teachers and scum is ridiculous .I can see how you are pissed.I would give my summers off for 2 weeks during the rut.when I started teaching 22 yrs ago for 20 grand I didnt care about pay and I am not teaching for a paycheck now.and neither do most of my colleagues..the american schools system gave us summer off and nys communities taxed people to pay our salaries and retirement...not me ! Vent away if need to but the more pissed and vindictive you get toward 'us" the less you seem to be focusing on the real source of the problem...and as far as the quality of teaching,you would be hard pressed to find teachers who want to teach to standardized tests instead of teaching students life skills and skills to compete on a global scale.that is politicians telling us what to do.raise test scores or no money....its all.f...ed up! Go off on someone who can make changes...instead of making stereotypical comments about people.I don't know what the hell is going on long island.my comments about my wifes job had nothing to do with your response to it.I shared that because I am aware of what's going on in the private sector and its my opi.nion that because of that all of us scummbag teachers will eventually have to take cuts as well.maybe not on long island but its coming..and many of us scummbags will deal with it because there are worse things then losin money,like not being able to teach anymore..