Day of Infamy & Teaching Careers

December 7, 1941. FDR described it as a Day of Infamy. Now, here we are, seventy-five years later. I read an article today that reported Churchill’s reaction to this attack by Japan, that he was exhilarated by the news. Why exhilarated? Because up to this day, America was continuing its isolationist stand: "Let Great Britain and the rest of Europe take care of their own business," pretty much the same as in WW I, when we said the same thing. We entered the First World War in 1917, three years after its start in Europe in 1914, when we realized that the next stop for the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey) would be here as well as there. Isolationism in 1914 was as impossible then as it was in 1941 and as it is now. Churchill’s exhilaration in 1941 was his response to our entering the conflict over two years after it had begun in Europe. And the world somehow barely managed to escape domination by Germany and Japan. So, as awful as that sneak attack on Honolulu was, it forced us to join Great Britain and most of Europe in a battle to defeat the Axis Powers, the evil triumvirate of Germany, Japan, and Italy. Without this Day of Infamy, the world might be considerably different than it is now.

A quick comment on teaching as a profession. I saw on the internet (Should or shouldn't “internet” be capitalized? Can we trust all that we read on the Internet?) that New York had the highest average annual teaching salaries (about $78,000) and South Dakota had the lowest (about $42,000). That’s a staggering difference of $36,000. And Arizona was only a little better at a $45,500 average. And we wonder why so many young teachers choose to leave South Dakota and Arizona? I was born and raised in South Dakota and taught there for three years before fleeing for greener pastures, then concluded my career in much greener New York. A career like two bookends, the low on one end and the high on the other. I guess I’m surprised that South Dakota and Arizona have ANYONE teaching in their schools. Or possibly those who choose to stay in either state must either be financially independent or they’re just not very good teachers. That’s a scary thought, and please forgive me, teachers in either state, for what I just said about you. But why are you still there or here?