Fortune magazine notes that teachers quitting their jobs at a record rate.
What kind of an education system will we have without teachers who are devoted to their profession, without teachers who are professionals?
What kind of a nation will we be?
Are the billionaires hoping to fill classrooms with computers that don’t expect pay or healthcare or pensions?
Frustrated by little pay and better opportunities elsewhere, public school teachers and education employees in the United States are quitting their jobs at the fastest rate on record.
During the first 10 months of the year, public educators, including teachers, community college faculty members, and school psychologists, quit their positions at a rate of 83 per 10,000, Labor Department figures obtained by The Wall Street Journal show. That’s the highest rate since the government started collecting the data in 2001. It’s also nearly double the 48 per 10,000 educators who quit their positions in 2009, the year with the lowest number of departures.
According to the report, teachers are leaving for a variety of reasons. Unemployment is low, which means there are other, potentially more lucrative opportunities elsewhere. Better pay, coupled with tight budgets and, in some cases, little support from communities could also push educators to other positions.
In third quarter, public education workers saw their pay rise 2.2% compared to the prior year. However, that was still below the 3.1% pay hike those who work in the private sector earned, according to the Journal report.
But despite the challenges teachers and other education employees face, they’re still more dedicated to their positions and their students than most. So far this year, American workers left their positions at a rate of 231 per 10,000, or nearly four-times the rate at which teachers left their positions.
Oh, well, there is some consolation in knowing that American workers are leaving their jobs too. This is the sound of a very unhappy nation with a depressed and unhappy workforce.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Are the billionaires hoping to fill classrooms with computers that don’t expect pay or healthcare or pensions?
The answer, as you know, is yes…except for billionaires who have children. They are likely to want human teachers.
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I think the main reason so many American workers are leave their jobs is because of toxic management that treats them like a number and works them like a slave.
How many companies in the US treat their employees well and pay them a livable wage?
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Ya think? What is it about managing others that is so hard? Of course, we do follow the stories of poor management. Perhaps it is time to start highlighting actual successful examples of management, and I guess we have to be equally willing to recognize that there are toxic employees. What drove people like Marzano and Danielson to task analyze teaching other than following trends that led to profitable business opportunities? Does anyone know how to give and/or receive constructive criticism anymore? What is the need to assign blame rather than encourage growth? It seems the more stress an industry is under the more likely that improvement efforts seem to focus on punitive measures.
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You wrote, “Perhaps it is time to start highlighting actual successful examples of management ….”
That has already been done. In fact, it’s done every year by more than one source and study.
For instance, Business Insider’s “13 of the happiest companies in America”
I do not know how accurate this one piece is but it shows that someone is paying attention to the companies that pay their employees more and treat them with respect.
https://www.businessinsider.com/payscale-best-companies-with-happiest-employees-in-america-2016-4
As for toxic employees, every company has policies and departments that deal with employees that do not work out. New employees almost always have a period of time to prove they are acceptable workers.
In fact, even teachers have a period of time that varies from state to state where they can be terminated without cause.
“In most states, teachers get tenure based on the number of years they work in a school or in a school district. The requisite number of years varies based on state, but generally consists of a probationary period of 3-5 years, in which a teacher must exhibit satisfactory performance.”
https://certificationmap.com/states/teacher-tenure/
But many companies also abuse employees that are not toxic.
For instance this from ListVerse: 10 Companies That Treat Their Employees Even Worse than Amazon. Walmart is ranked #5 on this list.
https://listverse.com/2015/08/24/10-companies-that-treat-their-employees-even-worse-than-amazon/
Then there is corporate greed based abuse for employees over 50. “Age Discrimination: If You’re Over 50, Chances Are the Decision to Leave a Job Won’t be Yours”
https://www.propublica.org/article/older-workers-united-states-pushed-out-of-work-forced-retirement
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Today’s gig economy encourages workers to move around a lot, never putting down roots because there are no pensions for which to stay put. The rephormers are trying with charters, VAM, and TFA to turn teaching into a temp gig instead of a lifelong profession.
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It is time for teachers to take back their profession and get politicians the hell out of education. This can only be done from the trenches. No longer can we hope that politicians will save education. While they are stumbling and bumbling trying to fit all students into a tiny box full of word games and math riddles, teachers must sabotage the system to save the children.
It’s time for action. Take charge of your classroom and teach children. The testing police can’t be everywhere
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It is time for teachers to take back their profession and get politicians the hell out of education. This can only be done from the trenches. No longer can we hope that politicians will save education. While they are stumbling and bumbling trying to fit all students into a tiny box full of word games and math riddles, teachers must sabotage the system to save the children.
It’s time for action. Take charge of your classroom and teach children. The testing police can’t be everywhere
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Will the teachers unions—including mine—establish a set of policy positions to measure candidates by? Position on privatization (Charter schools), testing, school report cards, support for smaller class sizes, investment in services for students, etc? Many of the prospective Democratic candidates have abysmal records; the union has a duty to systemically investigate their records, and get them on the record on the aforementioned issues.
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Short answer: no. Both unions endorsed Clinton nearly 18 months before the election. Clinton was a better choice than any Republican, I will grant you, but Clinton didn’t have to do one thing to “earn” the endorsement.
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Imagine starting up aggressive sites meant to very publicly discuss every single candidate’s public schools vs. big money charter schools record. In our state, the governorship was handed to a man noisily lauded as being a liberal simply because he is openly gay….but no one took any time to see his truly frightening background in both school/teacher blame and school privatizing.
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Indiana is a red state and this is what it thinks about its teachers. Gary, IN is a low income area and the teachers haven’t had a pay increase for a dozen years. I can see why Indiana has a severe shortage…low salaries, bad working conditions, A-F grades for schools and too much standardized testing. Great state. I wouldn’t live here if I was still teaching.
……………………………..
Northwest Indiana teachers weigh options as state pay hike ‘kicked’ down the road – Post-Tribune
Dec. 14, 2018
Meredith Colias-PeteContact Reporter
Post-Tribune
Since Indiana shifted off a union salary scale for public school teachers about a decade ago, stagnating raises have made it more difficult to attract and keep talented prospects in the classroom, unions say.
News that Gov. Eric Holcomb would push to study a “framework,” rather than state funding for raises, was met with disappointment by union leaders who said Northwest Indiana schools are facing a teacher retention “crisis.”
When it comes to teacher pay, Holcomb said last week he wanted a “methodical” plan that would delay a significant increase until 2021.
Indiana ranked 31st among the 50 states in teacher pay during 2016, with average salaries of $50,715, according to the National Education Association. That’s lower than the five nearby states that the Holcomb administration wants to compare Indiana with — Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin…
With Gary facing its $100 million financial hole, Gary teachers haven’t gotten a pay raise in about a dozen years, she said.
“Most of the younger teachers, they all have second jobs,” Dunham said, who listed examples like bartending, delivering Jimmy Johns and tutoring on the side…
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-education-teachers-holcomb-st-20181214-story.html#share=email~story
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I wish the author had mentioned that a lot of teachers are being paid less than they were 10 years ago. Showing the 2.2% “increase” for last year doesn’t give the context that this is below the cost of inflation, nor that many of us are making far less money, both in real capital and buying power, than we did 10 or 11 years ago.
PLUS, in many places, class sizes have gone up to boot. AND the ornerous requirements for paperwork, useless technology, continuous meetings, etc. have gone up, too.
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The Wall Street Journal version (Weekend,p A3.) says that budgets for education in 12 states are down at least 7% from 2009 and nationwide teacher pay is down 5% from 2009, adjusted for inflation. The WSJ sources for these indicators are the ” left-leaning” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the National Education Association” the nation’s largest teachers union.” A bar chart shows an escalating quit rate since 2009, with no real analysis of reasons other than pay scale.
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Principals are taught a management style borrowed from business that suggests the principal should shift teachers around without their input. State regulations change the target constantly as teachers try to shoot for success. Some suggest that teaching is now one of the most stressful occupations. Of course we know why. Study after study shows stress comes from a feeling of powerlessness and lack of control.
And we are surprised when they quit. Well, some of us are.
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The fact that workers are voluntarily quitting their jobs is a good sign and a benefit to the economy.
Every time that a worker leaves a job for a higher paying job, the person gets a raise. Their economic situation is improved.
Every time that a person leaves a job, their old job becomes vacant. An unemployed person can now move into the vacancy.
More vacancies, means that there are more jobs open. This helps to reduce the unemployment rate. If the employer wants to fill the vacancy, then the salary/benefits must be placed at the market rate, else the job will remain vacant. This has the effect of increasing salaries/benefits, for all workers.
Voluntary resignations benefit the individual who resigned (and gained a higher-paying job). Resignations benefit the unemployed by making for more openings.
No one becomes a school teacher to get rich. But states/municipalities are going to have to pay the market rate, else they will see more resignations and vacancies.
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That’s not how it works in public education. Rather than increasing salaries to be more competitive, legislatures typically lower the standards required for becoming a certified teacher, thus increasing the applicant pool to lesser candidates. After a few years of staffing schools with these newly minted teachers, the public begins crying that teacher standards are too low and the legislators respond by raising standards without increasing compensation and the cycle begins anew.
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What kind of a market operates that way? If the standards are lowered, then candidates with lesser credentials can be hired on as teachers. I get that part.
But if standards are raised, without a concurrent increase in compensation, the number of applicants will be small to non-existent. Try as you might, you cannot get quality applicants, unless you offer quality compensation.
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How can you compare teachers leaving the profession to “American workers”? American workers might be someone who moves from a MacDonald’s cook to a new profession after graduating college, or it could mean switching from being a grocery clerk to a self employed artist. A person who becomes a teacher goes to college, and generally follows a designated career path ending with a teaching certificate. There are other professions like that, too, such as an accountant or an engineer, but when you lump all of the American workers together, it doesn’t make any sense.
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Compare teachers to other public servant professions. Police, social workers, and nurses have the public commitment in common withteachers. Other professions, though honorable and necessary, do not share the long term investment in a craft that is guarenteed to be underfunded. Engineers leave one firm for another that will pay more. Teachers leave schools sometimes, but it is rarely for a significant increase in salary.
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What a surprise. THE ploy IN THE PLOT TO END PUBLIC EDUCATION and create an ignorant citizenry, is to remove all the experienced teacher-practitioners (who know WHAT LEARNING LOOKS LIKE, and how to enable the learning of real skills.
Hooray for Forbes.
Karen Horwitz wrote of this decades ago; in “White Chalk Crime,” http://www.whitechalkcrime.com/wcc/
AND ON HER BLOG http://endteacherabuse.org
LORNA STREMCHA described the outrageous assault on teachers in “Bravery, Bullies, & Blowhards ” https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/background-information-bravery-bullies-blowhards-lorna-stremcha/
Lenny Isenberg created Perdaily to chronicle the war on teachers in LA
http://www.perdaily.com/2014/06/lausds-treacherous-road-from-reed-to-vergara–its-never-been-about-students-just-money.html
They subtly changed the conversation from learning to teaching…. and it worked, because everyone who ha a teacher at some time, knows exactly what TEACHING looks like!
The cabal that runs the show in America, began to bamboozle the people. http://www.opednews.com/articles/BAMBOOZLE-THEM-where-tea-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-110524-511.html
It was 1998 when they came for me, and I was a celebrated teacher. To take me out they went to extraordinary measures, as Randi herself knows, as she in the end rescued me into retirement, after the local union hacks allowed the DOE to accuse me of anything and everything in the book, — even as I was the NY State Educator of Excellence and the NYC cohort for the Pew New Standards research with Harvard.
I wrote this back then.
http://www.perdaily.com/2011/01/lausd-et-al-a-national-scandal-of-enormous-proportions-by-susan-lee-schwartz-part-1.html
Forbes gets it 20 years too late, after hundreds of thousands of teachers have seen their careers demolished, their pensions diminished or stolen and a generation of American children have been derived of authentic professional edcuators a s ‘market’ mentality took over the schools— and the INSTITUTION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION died.
It is 20 years after the Education Industrial Complex https://greatschoolwars.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/eic-oct_11.pdf which owned ALL the media —and which SOLD the FAKE story of those ‘lazy’ tenured’ teachers, so that the cream of the experienced professional practitioners of pedagogy were sent packing.
The disinformation campaign had begun.. http://www.perdaily.com/2014/03/have-reporters-become-poli-ticks–the-media-parasites-of-the-body-politic.html
Imagine if the top doctors were thrown out and the media sold heath care. Oops. Sounds familiar.
So, began their PLOY in the plot to end public education by removing the classroom practitioner! Their PLOT to end an educated citizenry would end democracy because SHARED KNOWLEDGE IS WHAT MAKES DEMOCRACY POSSIBLE.
When the Koch brothers get to decide how history is taught, as in No. Carolina then everything changes. https://dianeravitch.net/2014/12/07/civics-lessons-financed-by-the-koch-brothers/
http://www.uft.org/news-briefs/koch-network-spending-big-erode-public-education#
Thus the demolition of public education is CRUCIAL!
https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/The-Demolition-of-American-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Choice_College_Diane-Ravitch_Education-Curriculum-170606-760.html#comment662166
Ridding the schools of the genuine professional teacher-practitonesr WHO KNOW WHAT LEARNING LOOKS LIKE allows the oligarchs to dumb the people down, . not to mention ending income equality, which depends on our people learning real skills…along with real history! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM
TFA and other novices replace experienced, educated professional and will follow the mandates of these business managers.
Magic elixirs, like ‘online learning’ would be sold along with ‘choice.’
https://www.opednews.com/populum/page.php?f=Magic-Elixir-No-Evidence-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-130312-433.html
Hedge funds celebrate as the legislators turn the schools over to private businesses WHICH MANDATE WHAT HAPPENS IN THE CLASSROOM.
https://dianeravitch.net/?s=Legislatures
REAL Teachers need the freedom to decide what to teach, how to teach it, how to evaluate and assess your students, and how to structure your classroom and curriculum”.
“You’d need the freedom to make individualized plans or separate plans for students who were achieving at different levels. You’d need the resources — financial, time, and support resources — to maximize the return on your efforts. In short, you’d need the same thing that any employee in any role needs: the freedom and flexibility to assess your own situation, and make empowered decisions.”
“Like any job involving an interaction with other people, teaching is as much of an art as it is a science. By taking away the freedom to innovate, we aren’t improving the outcomes of the worst teachers or even average teachers; we’re simply telling the good ones that their skills and talents aren’t needed here. By refusing to treat teachers like professionals — by failing to empower them to teach students in the best way that they see fit — we demonstrate the simple fact that we don’t trust them to do a good job, or even to understand what doing a good job looks like. Until we abandon the failed education model we’ve adopted since the start of the 21st century, public education will continue to be broken. As long as we insist on telling teachers what to teach and how to teach it, we’ll continue to fail our children.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/12/06/how-america-is-breaking-public-education/#6955036a7f18
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Scapegoating teachers for societal shortcomings is the driving force that is destroying our profession. States like NY that scapegoated teachers and that now have a tax cap have severely limited the financial opportunity for those who work hard everyday teaching our nation’s children. The faux need to grade teachers and schools, which drives the agenda of those who seek to destroy public education, and driven teacher morale to new lows. In addition, the movement to destroy teachers’ unions is another method being used to destroy our profession.
Unfortunately, many prefer to move on or accept the current status quo rather than fight back for their livelihoods and profession.
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The dangers of blindly trusting computers to get things right. He mentions a woman in Europe leaving a $5,000 tip on a point-of-sale machine because she thought she was entering her PIN number.
https://seths.blog/2018/12/installing-the-stupid-filter/
Look at what the author says about the value of human input. I like most of what he writes, but he’s definitely in the “learn from a computer” camp when he mentions education.
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We need to take preparation for teaching seriously. Visit http://www.classroomacademy.org to see a teacher residency that honors the complexity of the profession or check out this article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/preparation-matters-colleen-mcdonald-nbct/
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Ultimately, for many teaching is a calling, but in this current hostile environment that calling has become more like a noose. The best action when one finds themselves in an abusive situation is to “get out” ASAP and that is just what they are doing. It’s not necessarily a matter of money (although everybody has got to eat and pay rent) or even job security (another former perk which has been revoked in many states), but the ability to do the assigned task without constant interference from outside sources (who don’t know their butt from a hole in the ground).
Let the teachers teach – problem solved.
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That teachers are leaving the profession in large numbers is not new news. And it isn’t new news that public education is in trouble. I’ve noted on this blog numerous times why this is so, and there’s lots of blame to pass around.
A recap.
Not so long ago, Randi Wiengarten of the AFT said that the Common Core was a “foundation for better schools” that will prepare kids “success in college, life and careers.” Lily Eskelsen, vice-president of the NEA, said “We believe that this initiative is a critical first step in our nation’s effort to provide every student with a comprehensive, content-rich and complete education.” Byron V. Garrett said the “National PTA enthusiastically supports the adoption and implementation by all states of the Common Core State Standards…”
Top education “leaders” sold out their constituencies.
To make matters worse, the National School Boards Association, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the American Association of School Administrators issued a joint statement on the Common Core standards that makes clear that public education in the United States was in deeper trouble than many thought.
These “leadership” groups’ statement said Common Core “tests are necessary” for “use in teacher and principal evaluation,” though they’d prefer some delays and the inclusion of other “timely data.” The ASCD was a Common Core enthusiast too.
The Common Core has been tied tightly to ACT and SAT (and GED) testing, and to Advanced Placement courses and tests, and that’s because both the College Board and ACT, Inc. were key players in its development. Both ACT and the College Board sell products that allegedly assess “college and workforce readiness” and that are to be used in the middle and lower grades.
Too, the Common Core is tied into the emphasis on STEM. One central Virginia school system – which touts itself as one of the best in the state – recently turned all of its high schools into STEM ‘academies.’ As I’ve pointed out on this blog repeatedly, there is no STEM ‘shortage’ or ‘crisis.’ Quite the opposite. There’s a glut.
And yet, the Virginia Association of State Superintendents (VASS) –– another so-called ‘leadership’ organization –– recently named the the ‘leader’ of that school district the “superintendent of the year” for 2016.
The award came from VASS, but a VASS-selected panel –– comprised of the state superintendent of instruction, and the heads of the Virginia Education Association, state PTA and state school boards association, the executive director of the state ASCD, and the directors of the state associations of secondary and elementary school principals –– picked the winner.
In other words, the top education “leaders” in the state –– those who should be familiar with research and evidence –– were responsible for choosing the state’s “best” superintendent. And they picked the ‘winner’ based on phony baloney. That’s more than just sloppy. It’s malpractice.
But wait, there’s more.
At its 2015 Spring conference – where the state’s school ‘leaders’ meet – the Virginia Association of School Superintendents (VASS) released a “New Blueprint” for the future of public education in the Commonwealth.
The “New Blueprint” used words like “demands, world, global, recession, measure, future, prescriptions” to say – essentially – that the role of public education is to prepare students to “compete across the world.” This, by the way, was the core purpose of the Common Core. The Virginia superintendents called it a “shared vision.” And yet, it’s
basically the equivalent of educational garbage because it’s based on a lie.
The “New Blueprint” called for “evidence-based research”to guide reform. Then, obtusely, the report said the purpose of education is “to enhance student performance.” To do that teachers must be expert at obtaining and analyzing “data.” Then, superintendents advocated “differentiated compensation to reward meritorious performance”, i.e., merit pay.
They obviously haven’t read – or don’t believe – what research says about merit pay.
In the “Blueprint,” the superintendents acknowledged that “teacher and staff morale is low” [sic] throughout the state of Virginia. How to fix this problem? Leadership, perhaps? Shared decision-making? Honest communication? Respect? Changing the organizational culture?
Nope. None of those. Not a one.
Instead, the answer was that “professional development needs to address this issue” in order to improve “teacher and staff performance.” What might that look like?
In that Virginia STEM-academy district, according to the VASS “superintendent of the year” award press release, it meant that more students were “enrolled in AP courses” and that the SAT scores of ‘economically disadvantaged” students in the district –– one of the most affluent in the state –– are higher than the state average. Never mind that the best predictor of SAT score is relative wealth, and – as we’ve known for a long time – the SAT test is not aligned closely with the school curriculum.
So, there it is. Our “leaders” have bought the goofiness. They dress it up a bit, put some new words on it, and push it as “reform” or a “New Blueprint.” It’s really just putting lipstick on the pig though, isn’t it? It’s utter stupidity.
More recently, a Republican state delegate in Virginia and a conservative public school superintendent came up with a “new” idea to improve teacher morale and recruit new teacher candidates to the profession. Their idea? The issuance a state license plate with a slogan that says ‘Virginia loves teachers.’
Real “reform” requires a genuine rethinking of public education’s role in a democratic society. It means greater empowerment for staff and students in making decisions about curriculum and instruction. It represents a conceptual shift away from content cramming and rote memorization and to life-long learning principles well established by research. In essence, it reflects the notion that effective schools and active learning “require a considerable reorientation of beliefs concerning education,” and it incorporates the values of equality and justice in its recognition that academic tracking “…has proved to be one of the most divisive and damaging practices in existence.” It leads to small class sizes, and problem-based learning, and heterogeneous grouping (and mixed-aged, non-graded classes in elementary schools), and interdisciplinary studies, and team teaching, and cooperative learning, and meeting the needs of students, and citizenship education, and ensuring that schools incorporate and impart a sense of community.
And it means that “leaders’ in public education actually have to lead.
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If you have any questions about endorsements for the Common Core, check out which groups received millions from the Gates Foundation.
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No questions. Gates gave millions to the AFT and NEA…he gave nearly $30 million to the Council of Chief State School Officers and tens of millions to the National Association of Governors. He gave several million to the National Association of School Boards and the Education Trust. He gave nearly $4 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and $7.5 million to the Consortium for Educational Change, and $5 million to the Khan Academy, and millions more to the Aspen Institute and the Hunt Institute. He covered lots and lots of bases. As The Post noted,
“Liberals at the Center for American Progress and conservatives affiliated with the American Legislative Exchange Council who routinely disagree on nearly every issue accepted Gates money and found common ground on the Common Core.”
My point is that at virtually every level, education “leaders” failed (again) to lead.
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There are record numbers of families where teaching was formerly a well respected profession telling the next generation that going into the profession is now a HUGE mistake, and pushing their kids in another direction. The concept of aggregating student scores and blaming teachers for the results without taking the other powerful factors in the students lives into consideration was flawed from the beginning, and is now seen as a slick way of attacking public schools. The racists and classists have forgotten that the melting pot that sustains America begins in the public schools. Destroying public education will tear this country apart in one generation.
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And Republicans have little interest in public education.
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Looking up at the US from Australia I feel very sorry for teachers in your great nation. Teachers are under a great deal of pressure in Australia as well, don’t get me wrong, but by and large salaries here are much better, comparatively-speaking, than those in the US. Some years ago our state governments and federal territories realised that the old maxim was true…if you pay peanuts you end up with monkeys. Pay rates were improved at all levels and strands were created where quality teachers did not have to become administrators to earn good money but could stay in the classroom or become teaching methodology leaders. Those who aspired to become principals could also do their thing. Nowadays teaching is reasonably well-paid profession here. The private sector pays a little better but those who love teaching stay.
Along with the increased levels of pay came better regulation and oversight of staff quality…peer reviews, etc. It’s not a perfect system but it works quite well. Poorly performing teachers are paired with high-performance teachers in order to improve their game. If they don’t pick up then they terminated but with their entitlements intact. They don’t lose their superannuation (retirement benefits) which can be carried over to a new employer (Australia has a compulsory retirement contribution scheme for all workers).
The problems Aussie teachers now face (and one that means more than one teacher might start thinking about leaving the profession) is the over-crowding of the curriculum, placing the burden of social education (once handled in the home) on their plates (things such as perseverance training, protective behaviours…etc) and the growing emphasis on national testing at two elementary school levels and three high school levels. This testing emphasis was introduced by conservative forces in parliament imported from models they observed in your country. So far statistics have shown that the testing really hasn’t made all that much of an impact on the quality of learning apart from stressing students, parents and teachers!
Anyway…I’m rambling, as usual. I urge your politicians to remember that with poor quality pay you will only attract mediocre staff or those already working who are so dedicated that they would continue to teach even for food and board (and they are a declining resource the world over). It’s scandalous that your teachers are forced to take second jobs which would obviously impinge upon their ability to prepare lessons and plan their courses of study. Teaching is a hard job, made all the harder because of the complicated world we now live in. Please pay heed to an old Aussie saying; “A fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay…”
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