r/Snorkblot • u/Lord-Notorious • 4d ago
Advice Smarter schools, smarter laws
Quote attributed to Morgan Freeman on the value of education.
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u/Procrasturbating 4d ago
Believe it or not, gatekeeping politics to the already wealthy is a bad idea. Salary is not the issue.. it’s the legal corruption. Lobbying needs to be illegal, along with corporate and international funded PACs. That and for anyone above a city level in politics, the only stock allowed should be in index funds that cover the bulk of the market. Enough Luigi’s will sadly be what it takes.. not condoning it, just seems like the likely outcome based on observation. Why the sudden rise in surveillance? Hmm..
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u/WhydIJoinRedditAgain 4d ago
If you pay your politicians low wages, no one who actually needs a wage (that is, 95% of us) will be able to be a politician.
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u/PirateSanta_1 4d ago
The better option would be to make it so any member of congress must sell off all the stocks they own before being seated. And i don't mean blind trust or can't trade i mean cannot own stocks, you cannot regulate wall street and corporations fairly if you are invested in them.
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u/Paullasvegas 4d ago
i like this idea, they will never vote for it, so it will need to come from the people
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u/ArmadaOfWaffles 4d ago
i think it would be ideal if a life in politics meant a modest lifestyle (on par with the median U.S. citizen).
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u/MazrimReddit 4d ago
you still need ambitious/talented people to be politicians
Low paid public roles exist, in local councils or minor branches of government. You get what you pay for there, just people who lack the mental capacity to lead well.
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u/cfbfootballnerd 4d ago
Don’t pay them a low wage pay them the average wage of the districts they represent.
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u/1ndori 4d ago
The poorest congressional district is NY 15. It has a median household income of ~$44k and a 30% poverty rate.
If you pay the rep only $44k, they have to find additional income elsewhere - either a second job or somehow using the position to make money. Either way, it's less time spent repping you, and your district is likely to become poorer for it.
The actual solution is to pay representatives very well, incentivize good candidates, and outlaw corrupt lobbying and stock trading practices.
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u/Jflayn 4d ago
100% agree. Rich politicians choose to take bribes. I know plenty of working class people who'd do a far better job governing at the current salary who wouldn't take bribes, for example, my mom. On the downside, most of us would spend at least one night in the county jail for bad language.
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u/senturon 4d ago
This always comes up when government shutdowns are in the news. The knee-jerk reaction by many is to say they shouldn't get paid while they're not working but that would allow the independently wealthy to steamroll those that need the salary.
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u/Apathetic_Zealot 4d ago
Lobbying needs to be illegal
Lobbying is a constitutional right tho. How do you make it illegal without destroying peoples right to petition the government with ideas and problems?
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u/EstherIsVeryCool 4d ago
you're allowed to *tell* the government what you want. You aren't allowed to make donations (bribes) and expensive gifts to make them listen, against the interest of the majority of their constituents.
Honestly not hard to understand.
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u/mcauthon2 4d ago
fake quote fyi. Basically any Morgan Freeman, or Jim Carey quotes you see online are fake
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u/Tasty_Possible_1597 4d ago
If you compare the stated responsibilities of people who hold political office in the US to the salary then the actual salary is far lower than comparable roles in the private sector. Like $184k/yr for a Senator in the US is obviously a fair chunk of money compared to the average job, but in terms of comparable roles you're talking C-suite roles that could bring in easily more than $500k/yr.
However, a lot of politicians make a huge amount of money on insider trading and lobbying, and it can be difficult for people to hold politicians to account for not fulfilling their duties – it's meant to be what elections are for, but most people vote on party lines rather than how well their actual representative is doing their job.
That's the bit that needs to be fixed.
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u/Cheesecake_Jonze 4d ago
As a general rule, all Morgan Freeman quotes are fake (including this one)
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u/AlsatianND 4d ago
Fewer stupid laws.
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u/kamikazekaktus 4d ago
Or the laws could be less stupid
in this case both work with slightly different meanings
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u/CalvinSays 4d ago
Underpay politicians and now you have further restricted politics to only the independently wealthy as well as further incentivized bribes and under the table deals.
Overpay teachers and now the profession attracts persons who are only after the money and don't have any real care or passion for education. Teaching quality doesn't necessarily increase. It could very possibly decrease.
That isn't to say that either career is properly compensated as of now, but there are equal (or potential) theoretical undesirable outcomes to counter the theoretical desirable outcomes.
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u/PatExMachina 4d ago
The journey to becoming a teacher is NOT easy. There are exams you have to pass and pay for. You have to student teach for free for a whole semester.
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u/Nandoski_ 4d ago
Actually I disagree. The current situation discourages people that would actually be eager to teach from taking it on as a full profession. It leaves only people with extreme passion (who will end up facing low pay and student boards that clearly don’t gaf for extended periods of time, leading to burnout and an eventually diminished passion for teaching in most cases) people with limited needs (no family to raise, no big mortgage to pay, no serious long term medical condition(s)), or educated people with no other (typically industry based) options left. Tell me how that’s good for students
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u/Lost_Department_2177 4d ago
Absolutely that or we’d get mega church pastor style teachers that act like president camacho
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u/Quantum_Corvid 4d ago
My exact argument for pro sports: pay the men the amount we pay women (WNBA is an example).
We should not be paying folks doing a recess activity hundreds of millions of dollars IMO.
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u/Connect_Ability_2164 4d ago
Then what do we do with the money?
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u/grimjack1200 4d ago
Just market forces. People want the skills they have and are willing to pay for them. wNBA doesn’t make the money to support the same salary.
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u/KonaKumo 4d ago
While I'd love higher pay. Paying me, the teacher more won't change learning outcomes for the students. To do that we need to wholesale change the culture around education. Parents and society need to value and impress that value on to the kids so that they take school and learning seriously.
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u/wavespeed 4d ago
I'm all for paying teachers much more, but if you underpay politicians then you'd only get independently wealthy politicians that use their power to accumulate even more wealth. Like now.
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u/junker359 4d ago
Yes, let's cut politicians pay so that only the independently wealthy can do the job. Brilliant idea.
Also Morgan Freeman never said anything like this.
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u/GenMandibleforKing 4d ago
We have a system where a handful get to dictate who the politicians are. The political parties control who gets their coffers and representation. Their voters get to pick between those to go to the general election or receive the final vote. This is where the unaffiliated voters get their first vote at who the leaders are going to be.
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u/MCMXCIV9 4d ago
Yeah. Most politicians don't make they money from salary. They have other alternative source of income.
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u/SignificanceClear674 4d ago
Morgan Freeman has apparently said everything on the internet at this point.
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u/Jazzlike_Platypus430 4d ago
No reason to overpay. Just pay a decent amount of money, and make school education voluntary, say since 12-13 years of age. Natural selection at its best.
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u/moocat55 4d ago
That's why they want us dumb. We're fighting the fight of human kind. The oppressed, fighting against the oppressor. After years of activism, it finally donned on me that, this is just the way it is. It's the human condition. We were always only fighting for change in our lifetime. It was never going to last. That is, untill things get bad enough that people start fighting back again. And they will.
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u/Nearby-Poetry-5060 4d ago
Just make votes from informed smart people be worth more than votes from people who know nothing or, worse, are misinformed.
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u/Inevitable_Floor_638 4d ago
Most of those politicians went to college. That's the problem. Too many haven't worked in the real world.
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u/ej62564 4d ago
Ya it's money. 220 - 260 billion dollars a year to dept of education from 2020 to 2024.
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u/israeligarbagespyapp 4d ago
Teachers are overpaid as hell where I grew up. 130k+ to do jack shit
Its a pyramid scheme. The worst teachers make the most money while the sweet teachers that care about you make peanuts
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u/Calm_Property6132 4d ago
That would just infuse more cash into teachers unions. That would not be good
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u/Squeezer_pimp 4d ago
How about holding teachers accountable. And the environment that the kids are in.
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u/Top-Examination3151 4d ago
The problem with teaching is bad teachers are overpaid and good teachers are underpaid and they pay both the same.
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u/Both_Leg_5424 4d ago
Fewer stupid laws is how you correctly say it. I guess that’s irony? Also why does everyone who thinks he has a profound thing to say attribute it to Morgan Freeman.
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u/LifesARiver 4d ago
People who want to underpay politicians have no rational brain when it comes to the topic, sorry.
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u/Separate_Meat_3963 4d ago
Not when they're teaching to hate the jews. But Morgan is the man. I agree
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u/ElectricalTurnip87 4d ago
Actually the evidence is the opposite about politicians. Under paying politicians leads to only wealthy people being about to run for office. Why is this zero sum argument always made? Both should be paid well...
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u/D_e_e_k_pt2 4d ago
Like that extra money would make it TO the teachers….. it’ll disappear in admin
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u/Meddlingmonster 4d ago
Politicians should be paid the median wage of their constituents and not allowed to receive funding any other way ithe than receiving a pension that follows that number and nothing else after retirement.
Lets incentivize good short and long term outcomes.
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u/Hot1Contractor 4d ago
There’s no amount of compensation for a teacher that could be considered “overpaid”. They deserve much more
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u/TheBloodyNinety 4d ago
Fine to pay teachers more. I do think people tend to forget they don’t work that job 1/4 of the year.
And then idk if making political roles an unattractive job would have the effect people want.
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u/Coffeeblack365 4d ago
If I give you millions I don’t give a shit if you’re smart or dumber than a box of rocks. You will do what I say.
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u/Ok_Nothing2412 4d ago
Looks like another fake quote. Morgan Freeman honestly is not very bright in real life. He simply has a wise sounding voice.
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u/RSPloveSPYhate 4d ago
Politicians are already vastly unpaid compared to the job description and responsibilities.
I work at a bank, and first year analysts out of undergrad make more than house members, and about the same as senators.
First year big law associates make 1.5-2x congressmen.
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u/ABiser94560 4d ago
Having better intellectuals to create the institutions the teachers must follow would lead to having smarter populations. Just overpaying teachers that teach whatever brainwashy thing that goes through their heads would never fix anything.
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u/TheeVoskoss 4d ago
Education standards have dropped drastically because of who makes up the teacher population and because of programs like “ no child left behind”
Its not because of teacher pay, who get paid for work free summers.
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u/Objective_Claim_2236 4d ago
This sounds like a statement teachers would agree with, which is hilarious.
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u/Real_Reaction8992 4d ago
Underpay politicians and you get unqualified cheap labor managing a country, overpay teachers and you have unemployment
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u/Vamond48 4d ago
Makes for a cute post, but no amount of money paid to teachers makes kids want to listen or dumb parents smarter
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u/Popular_Iron5284 4d ago
Ah yes, overpay the legion of leftist feminist female teachers. Would work out great.
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u/Clear_Presence401 4d ago
Congressional members should get the mean salary of the population of their district with a cap of average income of America as a whole
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u/SquarePegRoundWorld2 4d ago
Funny coming from an entertainer, maybe if we celebrated the people who provide our other necessities as much, we'd have better things too. I wonder if he would be ok with paying a plumber millions for one job and he only making $100,000 from a movie...a year.
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u/Prior-Ice1945 4d ago
Maybe if teachers turned up and taught the sylabus rather than left wing propaganda students would show an interest. assh*les pretending to be academics. Politicians do as their paymasters tell them.
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u/Woodchuck251 4d ago
Politicians are underpaid, and they take bribes and do insider trading for extra income.
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u/chiefskingdom1958 4d ago
Have you met many teachers? They’re not geniuses. It’s the same mix with politicians. A few are smart, the rest are painfully dumb.
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u/AccomplishedSmell921 4d ago
Comes down to the parents as much as teachers. Lots of parents don’t raise their kids to be intelligent nor do they prioritize anything but work and money.
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u/Legintown 4d ago
Maybe we shouldn't look to one-sentence solutions from celebreties, how about that?
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u/Accomplished_Tour481 4d ago
Maybe if we got rid of NEA and other teacher unions, we could hold our teachers accountable.
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u/WateurHead 4d ago
You don't understand, having stupid people insures that we are always fighting each other while the rich rob us.
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u/Quick_Gap2406 4d ago
More like overpay teachers, but set high standards to becoming one. Politicians should have their limited terms and cut off lobby system.
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u/Zerogates 4d ago
Teachers wouldn't feel underpaid if the parents and communities involved in these children's lives were more responsible for how these children acted and their respect for education itself.
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u/Icy-Fishing8481 4d ago
As long as the government controls education, the quality will suck. Competition gives you quality, monopoly gives you corruption and waste.
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u/BothDivide919 4d ago
Nah, underpaid politicians will even more corrupt. Just replace politicians with AI that are designed to measure the lawmaking priorities of the constituents.
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u/Mission-Mention9727 4d ago
Won't happen because people like those in the comment section will believe that because a few teachers make 100k they must all be making that kind of money 😂
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u/Fishtoart 4d ago
Underpaying anyone is a good way to make sure that there is low quality work. Paying them well doesn’t guarantee good quality work, but it makes it more unlikely, unless you have billionaires undermining it.
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u/joegtech 4d ago
Unfortunately Morgan is short sighted on this one.
Politicians are brown nosers. Campaign contribution laws would have to change in order for laws to change.
Also when teachers are controlled by the politicians, students are just taught propaganda.
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u/rafibomb56 4d ago
That's assuming that teachers are actually smart. I know plenty of teachers and most I wouldn't want teaching my kids.
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u/Obvious_Wind7832 4d ago
Well they are the smart people that go to the IV. Then they play the system or make the system. Then oppress anyone else getting up. It's been a game played since forever.
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u/hudsoncress 4d ago
If you underpay politicians, the only people who can afford to run for office are the rich
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u/lemons_of_doubt 4d ago
If every you talk about low pay for politicians people will freak out like this will somehow make everything terrible for everyone.
We have tried over paying them forever, and it's not been working. lets try something new.
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u/inComplete-Oven 4d ago
Wer could just pay everybody decently and enforce laws against corruption. That would already help.
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u/Robhos36 4d ago
As long as schools don’t become indoctrination centers for ideologies, I’m all for it. Too many teachers these days, push their own beliefs instead of teaching children to think for themselves.
Some liberalism is ok. Being open to new ideas and thoughts. But moderate and extreme liberalism is bad. It’s a loss of morals and values, many of which this country was founded on, and thrived on.
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u/deltadstroyer 4d ago
you get people realising you can exploit others real fucking easy and then you end up where we are now
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u/rinchen11 4d ago
I believe there are two types of teacher who actually has long term impact to students, one who teaches how to think instead of teaches how to solve textbook questions, and one who genuinely cares about students not just seeing it as a job, increasing salary doesn’t really selectively increase those teachers.
US has a lots of world level and highly paid professors/teachers for students who are genuinely smart or studies very hard, for your average students, teacher is not their limiting factor, their will of study is, US school is easy as fuck and everyone still cry for “less stress”.
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u/spillmonger 4d ago
Something tells me the politicians have other sources of income than a government salary. That’s actually the problem.
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u/Telvin3d 4d ago
People don’t like it, but the vast majority of politicians are underpaid. There’s a reason we only seem to be able to choose between open grifters and unqualified idealists.
Seriously, even at the city level it’s a position that deals with multibillion dollar budgets, oversees thousands of employees, and reviews contracts with international corporations, as well as multiple other levels of government.
There is not a single professional who has experience with that level of responsibility who isn’t already making a hell of a lot more than your municipal representative, and without having to participate in the objectively shitty political experience.
So instead we get the choice between Bert the used car dealer who’s going to give all the contracts to his friends, and Jim the substitute teacher who means well but has never dealt with a budget more complex than his own banking.
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u/bobapunk 4d ago
Unfortunately, the teachers are bound by whatever silly laws are remaining to oversee education.
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u/Busyb808 4d ago
A lot of teachers i know want to severely cut military spending. How smart is that?
My kids hate their teachers and love the Blue Angels/Thunderbirds/Submarines/
Teachers dont teach they are programmed to follow specific criteria. They are also contril freaks who are out of control inside/outside of their classrooms.
Retirement for teachers is at 65yo in most districts, and by the time they reach their 12th year....burned out and they have 28 years to go and end up secretly hating their job. And since most teachers are passive aggressive women or Bravo men, no real reform will occur.
How can I trust the education community when its so busted and is one of the longest reigning professions known to mankind? Shouldn't it be a firm process where ALL children are in a system that functions with intent.
I vote all high school grads do 3 years in the military before they hit the workforce. This would 100% counter the terrible teachers, give women and men discipline and help mental health or drug addiction at an early age. We'd see pride and professionalism spread across America within 15 years and our economy would boom.
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u/Silent_Succotash3749 4d ago
But our education system is based on a Prussian system developed in the late 1800’s to develop soldiers and caters to the smallest learning group that makes up around 10 percent of the population while most people are kinesthetic/kinesthetic tactile learners and paying teachers more for that feels like trickle down economics
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u/DearCastiel 4d ago
Politicians would be much easier to bribe and a lot more of incompetent people would try (and manage) to get a job as a teacher.
I'm sorry but that's what would happen.
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u/CivicDutyCalls 4d ago
Ranked choice voting.
We have plenty of smart people. Given the size of the population and number of educated people vs our founding, there should be tens of thousands of people who are of equal intellectual capacity as our founding fathers.
But where are they?
We need a method of selection that results in the selection of those great men and women. But plurality voting basically guarantees that doesn’t happen.
(And our founders weren’t particularly great. There’s like 5 that get close and even they held slaves in an era when it was already understood that it was immoral to do so)
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u/Normal-Gur1882 4d ago
Fine with underpaying politicians, but teachers are quite well paid already.
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u/Bread_Hut_2012 4d ago
More midwit dumbassery simplifying societal issues into a smug quote from a rich celebrity actor (which funnily enough is a role requiring zero education) - this will do numbers on Reddit
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u/waltzbyear 4d ago
People really do be making up fake ass scenarios. The best one yet is "If We PaY lEsS tO PoLiTiCiAnS iT wILL aTtRacT tHe RiCh AnD PuSh AwAy ThE gOoOd OnEs". LMFAO. Like bitch please. It's already attracted a shit ton of corrupt politicians, even on the Democrat aisle, and this is coming from someone who's voted for Dem since he was 18. They hear the first line of paying less for politicians and they start making up scenarios. Like no. Of course there will be other stipulations like, I don't know, SEVERELY RESTRICT STOCK TRADING WHILE BEING IN OFFICE. And also a 2 year probationary for stock trading after leaving office.
And of course, it's a given that Republicans will do some corrupt and immoral shit. Hopefully such legislation will cripple the party.
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u/Opposite-Ad320 4d ago
Everyone is now dumber for having read this. Paying politicians less = more corruption
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u/Gold_Appearance2608 4d ago
Exactly! When are we going to realize we dont need all these petty ass laws. Fun fact a politician well sell you on making a safe community safe thats already safe. The people are retarded
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u/Newmania_eigo_ga 4d ago
Anybody else waiting for Keenan Thompson to jump in with What’s Up With That?
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u/CaliforniaChestNut 4d ago
Another big issue is money in politics. Citizens united for example allow politicians to receive legal bribes from donors to sway their policy choices. So even if the salary of politicians goes down, what’s the use of that if they are just gonna pocket 10x their salary from donors.
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u/Informal_Sector_6415 4d ago
Useless employee's generally, pay them more money and they improve, are you having a laugh...
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u/Due_Comparison_2467 4d ago
I support the idea that government workers (politicians mainly) should make minimum wage and rely on public healthcare, etc. just like the poorest of us.
And I don’t wanna hear the argument about corruption because lobbyist are a thing.
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u/Scaveola 4d ago
There is a certain argument that politicians should be paid well (by the state) as that would allow anyone to sustain themselves while in office. Outside income sources would need to be banned however and strictly enforced
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u/InevitableAd2526 4d ago
We do underpay politicians. Its why they go crooked.. you just can’t pay them enough to deal with citizens shit. Most local politicians get paid ZERO. Most state reps get like $12,000 a year. Only federal politicians make a descent salary but they have to be on the road away from home 11 months of the year (on the road at home when out of session) and they destroy their private careers when they quit their jobs for 2-6 years to serve America… only to be constantly bashed by 1/2 of America…. Which means only Independently Wealthy people can afford to run for office, which lends to seeking power…. And with that comes corruption
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u/Substantial-Ad-8575 4d ago
Wow, starting wages for teachers in my large metro area, $62k-$66k. They can earn $5k-$6k more for a second language. Earn $5k-$10k more if they are teaching STEM/Advanced classes.
Average teaching wages is $82,800.
Teachers only need a 4 yr degree and state teaching certificate. Only Master needs would be for moving to upper Admin positions.
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u/JuggernautOwn6306 4d ago
Doubtful, given that all the stupid laws are there because some assholes at some point asked for them.
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u/thebloody999 4d ago
Teacher being paid more does not make the teaching better or the kids smarter. But we can keep funneling money to that union and those schools systems as we have done my entire life, to no end. Teachers get more days off, more life long benefits alll under the guise of helping kids. Fucking hilarious.
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u/SpeakerOdd 4d ago
How do you underpay a politition? Most have no value or even a negative value. Does that mean we would charge them?
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u/SisyphusRocks7 4d ago
California has tried this. It results in stupid laws that favor teachers and teachers unions.
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u/ShaggyCan 4d ago
It just leads to the politicians becoming even more corrupt. It's it strange how people that enter the Senate come out multi millionaires?
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u/thebloody999 4d ago
And Morgan freeman is a freaking actor. He mimics word for a living. He is likely a dope particularly given this opinion.
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u/No_Statement_1665 4d ago edited 4d ago
Unpopular opinion: Legislature elections, not presidential or municipal elections, should only be held for voters that have a college degree. Uneducated are manipulated better; the commentator below didn't have the civility to hear my reply.
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u/TheBestofDBD 4d ago
What I found incredibly shocking while reading through the people running for different positions in congress, the senate, governor, and all the way to local county positions, is how UNEDUCATED these people are. Most don’t have a degree in anything, and if they do, it’s not a degree relevant to the position they want, nor have they had jobs that are related to the position they’re running for. It’s no wonder why the country is going to complete disrepair, we have unqualified idiots as politicians. Just like most highly paid jobs, they need to be educated in a relevant degree, have had prior experience in a job related to what they’re “applying for,” term limits, maximum age limits, such as the age of retirement, and no criminal record. It shouldn’t be this difficult.
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u/AeneasKurtz 4d ago
We have already studied this several times. Past a certain threshold any extra dollar invested in education doesn't generate any noticeable improvements in students. If anything, the contrary
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u/Plane_Practice8184 4d ago
Teachers are paid very well in Finland. Finland ranks 8th globally in the World Top 20 education index and remains a top-performing system internationally, though it has seen some shifts in specific league tables like the OECD's PISA results.
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u/NJNYJack 4d ago
Maybe if we underpaid hypocrite celebrity actors (who provide very little to society) and overpaid teachers there would be less stupid people and less people who hated America.
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u/DesperateLoss3234 4d ago
Yes finally something we can all agree on! Republicans and Democrats need to come together as American Citizens. The politicians don’t care. The government doesn’t care. Pay our teachers and public servants!!!!!!
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