ROYAL TEACHER

I am writing this in response to your editorial in the Royal Register dated March 10, 2015. I agree with most of your comments in regards to parties on both sides of the issue letting their voices be heard.

But I must vehemently disagree with your comparisons between the teachers and district and CEO's and assembly line workers.

It is offensive to compare the work of education to that of the business sector. We, as teachers, are not in the "business" of putting out products and services that are marketed to society.

We work with children, girls and boys who come from different backgrounds, have different ability levels, and bring different experiences into our classrooms.

If our "products" end up defective, we cannot simply go back to the drawing board and try again. If we fail them, their lives may never be what it could have been.

The bottom line in business is always money. Numbers in a ledger somewhere that equate to someone getting richer or someone getting poorer. Our bottom line...the kids. Their success. Their failure. Their future.

So, by all means, let voices be heard, and allow our democratic society to show its beauty in this debate.

Just please refrain from comparing the children of this community to a product or service whose sole aim is the accumulation of money. It's insulting to those that spend hours educating, and even more insulting to those we educate.

Drew Kostelnik

Royal Middle School Teacher

Ephrata, WA