Friday's Rant: Pencils, Paper and Rachel Ray

Here's something that's been on my mind and one thing that's wrong with America...It all started the other day when I was watching Rachel Ray. I find her show brings me closer to my inner Martha Stewart. Anyway, she was having this completely predictable, emotional, touch-feely, bit about one of our society's unsung heroes: middle school teachers.

Don't get me wrong, I like school teachers...heck, I'm married to one. But this particular school teacher was so great because, as the story went, she spent over $15,000 per year on supplies for her class. Of course, her students loved her. The interviews of the students went on and on about how great she was...one student talked about how, when she spent all of her money on clothes, she didn't have enough money to buy school supplies. So what happened? This selfless teacher stepped in and bought all her supplies for her. There's a good lesson. The intention was that we were all supposed to be moved to tears by this display of self-sacrifice on the part of the teacher.

All the stories went on like this. The teacher talked about how she spent so much because, well, she had so many students - more than the other teachers. Why did she have so many students? Well, because all the students chose to take her classes. Why? Because she gave away free stuff (of course this was not mentioned).

So after this heart-felt, emotional story - that brought more than one tear to the eyes of the soccer moms in attendance - what did Rachel Ray do? Well, along with Staples, they all chipped in to give this teacher a $40,000 shopping spree at their store. Unbelievable.

Friends and neighbors, this is crap. Here's a teaching moment: tell the rotten crumb-crunchers to get a job. Don't spend all your money on clothes and go buy pencils! I guess I don't really care what a person (or company) does with their money, but it's a perfect example of the welfare mentality that permeates our society. Give a kid a pencil, they'll write for a day. Teach a kid to be responsible and buy their own pencils, they'll write forever.

The problem is this teacher is teaching her students a very BAD lesson. A lesson that will cost all of us money in the future...these are the same rotten little losers that in 15 years are going to be demanding free healthcare, welfare, home loan bailouts and food stamp debit cards. I'm sick of it. I have no problem helping people who have a genuine need...But when we have teachers who are actively encouraging their students to EXPECT literal handouts - while they blow their money on BS - that's where I draw the line.

So parents, teachers and teachers who are parents, raise your kids to be responsible. Don't spend all your money on Hannah Montana t-shirts when you know your going to need pencils. It's that simple. I could say a lot more, but than I would start to swear.

Breathe in, breathe out...this week's rant is over.