I recently stopped in at a local Battle Ground burger joint to have lunch with a buddy. My total came to $8.88 so I gave the 18-year-old behind the cash register a $20 dollar bill and then emptied my pocket of change, which came to another 88 cents. Sum total of $20.88. The computer was down so he had to do the math in his head. He started counting on his fingers, but gave up and then decided to confer with a colleague, the guy making the french fries, what the proper change should be. They compared tattoos for a while and decided the best course of action was to kick the problem upstairs to the manager. She also was stumped as to what the change should be. I had to tell them what the change was, but I could have told them “the change is $97” and they probably would have forked it over. No doubt the owner of this location is going over his adding machine tapes every night trying to figure out why he is losing money.
My friend and I were in total amazement. While we had a good chuckle, it won’t be very funny for the 18-year-old kid behind the cash register as he embarks on his working life. While chaotic home situations are largely responsible for this disaster in learning, another institution that is responsible are the government-run mediocrity mills better known as the public schools. Taxpayers are paying a huge amount in property taxes every year and getting close to nothing in return.
Kids are getting free liberal indoctrination and that’s about it. This all amounts to a very expensive babysitting service. The kids are the ones getting screwed. Checking the Battle Ground Public Schools calendar there are no less than 31 late start Wednesdays, nine early release days, two teacher in service days, and parent teacher conferences that are also early release days and innumerable holidays with no school of course. There should be instead 31 early start and late release days.
When they do have school, apparently they learn all about drag queens and perverted sex, how America is the most evil country in the world and if you are born white, you’re a racist.
It’s as if the three R’s have been changed to racism, revolution and recycling. It’s time to consider paying the families an equivalent amount and let them get their own education and closing down the public schools. At a minimum the people in charge should be terminated. We need a change on the school board pronto. Things couldn’t be much worse. Everyone reading this account has had a similar experience with the younger crowd so you know it’s true. This problem goes beyond whether you are a conservative or liberal. These kids have to graduate knowing the basics in math, English, history, civics and other disciplines or we condemn them to low paying jobs and difficult lives. My apologies in advance to the teaching community, but something has to be done.
P.S.: The correct change is $12
