Baseball analogies

Okay, gentle readers, let’s see who the old weird guy at the newspaper can get mad at him this week. In an effort to spread the wealth, so to speak, we’ll address two areas.
In case you haven’t been following the situation (and with all the hoopla over education reform, it is entirely possible you haven’t), the other big issue in the state legislature at the moment is tort reform. A shorthand explanation goes something like this: The state medical association, backed by the AMA and some segments of the legal fraternity, is pushing to get a law passed that will limit the amount of money that can be awarded in a malpractice suit. Other beneficiaries would be companies that get sued for one thing or another (usually negligence) because something the company made or did harmed someone, physically, financially or otherwise.
The doctors and their allies contend that huge judgements in malpractice suits are endangering the availability of medical care in some areas because the awards are driving up the cost of malpractice insurance. Same goes for liability insurance for the big companies. They say Arkansas is losing employers. If you believe the doctors, people’s lives and health are at risk without tort reform.
If you believe the lawyers on the other side of the debate, this particular effort at tort reform is just a callous crusade by incompetent doctors and greedy lawyers to keep ordinary people from getting justice when they are wronged.
My view? Anything that puts such long term enemies of the common good as the American Medical Association and the Trial Lawyers Association at each other’s throats makes me a happy camper. When you look at their track records, both of these organizations spend the majority of their time and abundant resources protecting their least desirable and most incompetent members, to the detriment of everybody else.
Do we really need to keep bad doctors and lawyers just so we can have a lot of doctors and lawyers? Somehow, I doubt it.
We mentioned education reform in passing a few minutes ago, and that item on the right reverend Gov. Mike’s agenda still has people all over the state seeing red. School board members are up in arms over the potential loss of local control of school districts. School administrators and teachers are fully aware that Governor Huckabee desires to put as many of them as he can out of work in the name of saving money. And the guv claims justification in the recent Arkansas Supreme Court decision giving the state government a limited amount of time to come up with a fair and adequate funding policy for state education aid.
You might want to read that supreme court decision, neighbors. It doesn’t say word one about consolidating schools. What it says, in essence, is that every kid in the Natural State is equally entitled to an opportunity for a good education and it is the state government’s fiscal responsibility to provide that opportunity.
Note that I said “opportunity.” It is still Mommy and Daddy’s responsibility to see to it that their off-spring take advantage of said opportunity. One more time, people. It ain’t the school’s job to raise your kid to do right and behave. That ball is in your court.
Again, my view? While we’re at it, let’s go the whole way. Let’s institute a “three strikes and you’re out” policy for self-centered, poorly raised kids and their block head parents. You get three chances to take advantage of that “opportunity” for a good education. After that, you won’t have to worry about falling through the cracks. We open up a crack and push you in. Mommy and Daddy have to foot the bill for whatever private school or rehab facility is willing to accept their little darling.
The state is going to have the expense of dealing with you and your knothead brat sooner or later anyway, so why should the kids who want to learn have to put up with the distraction?
And how about regularly scheduled competency tests, with accompanying “three strikes and you’re out” policy, for teachers and administrators? Just as with doctors and lawyers, I really don’t think sheer numbers is the answer. Rewarding the dedication and ability of good educators with good salaries and decent treatment sounds to me like an approach we might try for a while.
And I’d like to see administrators handled the same way the Methodist church handles ministers. Move ‘em around. Nobody stays anywhere too long. You might not be able to keep one you liked as long as you’d want, but on the other hand, you don’t get stuck with a loser for too long either. Standardize the pay and benefits. Heck, the guv wants to control all the schools anyway, so let’s at least get some good out of it. I’d suggest the same approach for teachers, but the process would become unwieldy.
Here’s an idea: How about we set up the school districts and their employees the same way major league baseball teams are operated? The school boards could be the owners and the AEA could represent the teachers the same way the Major League Players’ Association represents the players. The tax paying school district patrons could play the role of the fans.
Of course we’d need a Commissioner. It’s a role Huckabee would cherish, but let’s face it. Mike Huckabee is no Bud Selig (and it would take a true baseball fan to comprehend the irony of that statement).
Got a wealth of English teachers but need a band director? Throw in a substitute teacher with good stuff and it’s a trade. The teacher can void the trade if he or she spends 10 years with one school district.
I think it could work.