Loyalty is a word with many different dimensions. On Capitol Hill, a former supervisor gave our staff the following poem during an uncertain period.
Pledge of Loyalty
By: Sir Elbert Kim Hubbard
If you work for a man,
in heaven’s name,
work for him,
speak well of him,
and stand by the institution
that he represents.
Remember,
an ounce of loyalty
is worth a pound of cleverness.
If you must grawl,
condemn and eternally find fault,
why?
resign your position!
And when you are in the outside,
damn to your heart’s contents!
But as long as you are a part of the institution,
do not condemn it.
For if you do,
the first high wind that comes along
will blow you away.
And probably,
you’ll never know why.
The essence of the poem hit home with me because I have always believed in being loyal to those who were beneficial to me—that includes staying basically “down with the team” long after working somewhere. But, loyalty is a two-way street that requires commitment from bottom to top and top to bottom. For example, Sarah Palin should remember that Senator John McCain “put her on” and Joe Lieberman should do the way with Al Gore.
From the following list, how would you prioritize your loyalty?
Country
Faith
Race
State
Family
Political Party
College Football Team
While the last one might seem humorous, some folks would have it very high up on their list. I saw Speaker Newt Gingrich, Rev. Al Sharpton and Education Secretary Arne Duncan on the Meet the Press discussing their efforts to reform education in America. While I wasn’t invited, my comments would have centered on loyalty in education. It’s no secret that I feel Black students owe a debt of gratuity to those who broke down barriers and that they debt is paid by working hard, being focus, and capitalizing on educational opportunities.
At the same time, teachers who are loyal to the field should remove themselves if they realize they aren’t reaching the students; getting money for not doing the job could be considered stealing on some level. Of course, weak teachers have bills and other financial obligations that sometimes keep them in the classroom—skating by.
Some teachers will tell you that half-raised kids with poor attention spans burnt them out with a quickness and that parents aren’t doing their parts. The finger of blame can point some of everywhere but we must fix this broken system before we have a generation of Americans ill-prepared to function in the global economy.
If you let me tell it, I think the bells and whistles of video games, computers, and T.V. creates kids who only want to focus when things are flashy and visually stimulating. Loyalty to local school system makes citizens reluctant to admit that “needs improvement” is an understatement. If Secretary Duncan asked me to create a charter school as a model, you can best believe it would be the old school three Rs with a high-tech twist and little Johnny would understand that his loyalties must compelled performance and achievement. Who am I fooling; the young cats in my community are unbelievably selfish. If you asked them what they believe, they would likely say, “I believe you better get out of my face.”
Meet The Press
Project Logic Ga 
My daughter is a school teacher she loves her students and likes to teach them in a interesting fun way. She is very good at what she does when given the time to do so. She works till 5:00PM or later, almost every day. Her quieting time officially is at 3:00PM.
There are many meetings she is required to attend some as well.
There are many interruptions during her school day which take away from her teaching time. And she spends so much required testing time, to see how her children are doing , she hardly has time to teach them.
She finds being a teacher very stressful and would not recommend becoming one. I tell her all jobs are stressful but she says not a stressful as hers.
There is an overwhelming amount of paper work and red tape and more and more new programs to implement without the money from the schools to do them properly.
They are also under pressure because the county keeps threatening to close at least 7 schools and laying off many teachers.
Because of the economy, suppllies are almost non-existent and they have not gotten a pay raise for the last
three years .
Class size limits are a joke.
At times she gets very discouraged.
But loyalty to her students keeps her hanging in there.
She is not writing this and being disloyal to her chosen field….
But as her mother I thought I could shed some light on our educational Dellema.
PS:
My mother-inlaw listens to you and does not have a computer but would like to be a part of the things you are trying to do at this time. She did not catch your Zip Code in Munrow GA Could you e-mail it to me so she can corrispond with you? Thanks
Ms. Du Puis: Clearly, you have raised an outstanding young person who is a credit to the teaching profession and to you. The burn out rate with teachers is unfortunate and I can’t believe Alex Rodriguez gets $26 million for playing baseball while some beginning teacher get $26,000. Our email address is listed on the right of the page and we would enjoy hearing from you. Thanks for taking the time to share your concerns.
Hi webmaster, commenters and everybody else – The blog was absolutely fantastic! Lots of great information and inspiration, both of which we all need – Keep ’em coming… you all do such a great job at such Concepts… can’t tell you how much I, for one appreciate all you do!