RH Jones: More reason to pass HB 315

From RH Jones, February 19, 2008
Subject: In defense of HB 315, the retired teacher HC bill

To all:

A front-page story today in the Beacon today, 02/29/08, mentions: 1 in 100 adults in U.S. are in jail or prison. Growing prison costs ‘blowing a hole in state budgets’ report says.

And they claim, too, that Ohio’s prison population is up 3.5% this year. My friends, the cause is quite obvious: The disrespect our nation and state has had toward education. If these individuals received a proper education according to their individual abilities, the vast majority would not be incarcerated. They could earn a living not by crime, but by having good jobs according to their learned course of achievement.

Fox TV, yesterday, mentioned on their noon news program that men in the classrooms are at a 40-yr. low. My friends, then is it no wonder men are in the majority in prison? “The number one reason that men are not going into education is economic.” -- I think maybe that the OSBA and the OASBO do not mind spending on prisons but are quick to deny teachers health care (HC) in retirement. Otherwise they would realize the importance of spending on education in their communities, and the consequences if they cheapen a noble profession – by not providing HC in retirement for educators is one way of doing just that: cheapening the profession.

Educated men teachers in particular need to provide health care for their wives. It is my experience, and others, that women evaluate men by their income. Women would rather marry a man that could give them a home in Malibu, rather than marry a teacher who drives a Malibu. When they retire, HC care will not buy teachers a home in Malibu, but it would help in having and keeping a wife. And while there are fewer and fewer men in teaching, there is more and more feminization of the profession. A good mix of men and women is most desirable in public school districts throughout Ohio. The public should honor that. Oftentimes, too, men shy away from the profession because they may think the public has a perception that male teachers are sexual predators. In the very rare case that there is one amongst teachers, all sorts of news media is certainly quick to broadcast it. And this is a time when there is more violence in the classroom. Could violence toward students by quelled better with more men in the school buildings and grounds?

The above are just a few of the host of reasons that all citizens need to give the teaching profession its due honor. Education is critical for the success of our civilization. . Give the teachers HC in their retirement. The HB 315 will do just that. Education is the best investment for a safe and thriving community. I do not think that our public wants a nation of uneducated fools. We have enough of them in Afghanistan and Iraq.

All of the above is reported to you by the wise opinion of a very old but educated man,

RHJones, a retired STRS member