IM Citizen is right. You won’t see the resutls for years. How long did it take you to notice California K-12 going from number 1 to number 47? We all know the reason: the raw material you have to work with. Your hospitals and ER’s are shutting down. Your friends are building in gated neighborhoods. Your power plants have more blackouts. Americans who want first world service have been leaving for years and years. The ones replacing them have what you might call “lower expectations”.
Look, it’s just like South Africa. Lots of big dreams and big talk, but after 14 years the roads suck, the power grid is shutting down, people have barbed wire around their houses, floodlights and alarm services, and chat about household generators. Clean water is disappearing as wastewater plants crumble, TB is taking hold, and dysentery is right around the corner.
You are doing the third world shuffle. You cannot expect Mexicans, Asians, women and blacks to want the best service if they don’t get the jobs and call the shots.
Your choice is simple. Just ask yourself, “do I want to stick around as California slides into the third world, or do I want to go to a better place where my kids will have a chance?” If you are old, you have to balance that against the chance that you will forfeit your pension and seniority and maybe never get your old job back. Then again, (and I know you are thinking this), does it really look like your pension will be there when you retire?
In South Africa, white folks face the same question every day. Do I want to go down with the country, or do I want to move? It’s really no different for you.
