Why do I get MLK day off, but not Presidents day?

What's with the rewind and use of your surname? I thought you were so famous now that you just went by "Flagpole".

To the OP. I don't get either day off. But you could work for the Government or a bank and get both days off. Better yet, become a teacher and get every conceivable holiday off and the summer.

Abbie Norml wrote:

What's with the rewind and use of your surname? I thought you were so famous now that you just went by "Flagpole".

To the OP. I don't get either day off. But you could work for the Government or a bank and get both days off. Better yet, become a teacher and get every conceivable holiday off and the summer.

Hmm. Guess I accidentally typed that in there. Old habits die hard.

georgelincoln wrote:

I go to a large state-school and have classes tomorrow as the university does not observe Presidents day with a day off... However we did have Martin Luther King day off...Do people really think MLK is more important that George Washington, Lincoln etc..???? this is confusing, please answer..

There is no such thing as Presidents day. That's why.

Maybe you didn't read what the OP wrote:"I go to a large state-school and have classes tomorrow as the university does not observe Presidents day with a day off..."In other words the teachers at the University do not get the day off. What is with the popularity recently with teacher bashing?Read more: http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3926366#ixzz1EbqoRh3sBuy your shoes from LetsRun and save 20% everday http://www.letsrun.com/save

Abbie Norml wrote:

Better yet, become a teacher and get every conceivable holiday off and the summer.

Why is my office closed on President's Day but open on MLK day?

I figure since MLK Day is January and we were just off for X-Mas and New Year's, President's Day is a better day to be off.

The only holidays after New Year's and before Memorial Day are MLK Day and President's Day. If you have to pick one, President's Day spaces the holidays out better.

If you are in college you get a full week off in March for Spring Break.

So a February holiday doesn't fit.

Taking off MLK Day early in the semester is like Labor Day in the fall semester.

So it is all about the timing of the holiday.

Not the reason behind the holiday.

Does the government really close for Jesus' birthday or to have a break near the end of the year?

I suppose I looked more at the title than the content. But I was in no way intending to bash teachers. Teachers at times have a thankless job and many are underpaid for their commitment and passion.

I found it kind of humorous that the OP was wondering about not having a holiday while getting plenty of days off throughout the year.

But I know what the OP was really doing - trolling up a little MLK v. presidents' day pot stirring...

West Lafayette wrote:

Presidents are mere politicians. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. created a new America, 100% different from the cowardly nation it originated from. Those of us who lived in both know that.

He created a new America.

Certainly pales in Comparison to founding and creating this country, defending it, uniting it, and carrying it through time to being the most powerful country on the planet at this time.

Also, all MLK did was make quick work of what was inevitable today. Had MLK not done what he did, civil rights would still be extended to everyone today. There would be no segregation, etc.

That was inevitably gonna happen.

Abbie Norml wrote:

I suppose I looked more at the title than the content. But I was in no way intending to bash teachers. Teachers at times have a thankless job and many are underpaid for their commitment and passion.

Regarding teachers being underpaid, I'll have to disagree. Perhaps if you are talking about teaching in a private school, but public school teachers make very decent money based on their level of education. When you consider the time off they get each year (the average non-teacher works 25% more days than a teacher) and the retirement benefits (many teachers who started out at age 22 just out of college can retire VERY comfortably at age 57), they really do pretty well.

In 2001, the average salary for a teacher in the US was $43,300 while the average full-time worker made $40,100. That has been pretty consistent since then. You can BET too that teachers have a WAY better retirement plan than most Americans (unless of course those non-teacher Americans either work for the government OR they fully fund their own retirement accounts which the teachers can do also).

I know several teachers...many of them are retired now, and not one of them worked until age 60 or are planning to, and MOST consider 60 to be EARLY retirement. There's just no need to. Put 35 years in, and you qualify for full retirement. In many states you have to put your own money in too along with what is contributed for you, but it's typical to get 75% of the average of your final 3 years of working as retirement pay UNTIL YOU DIE, and remember that this starts at age 57. Many Americans need to work until 65 or 67 or later to get that kind of income if they ever do, AND the teachers will get Social Security beginning at as early as age 62 if they want.

A mid-40s caller into the Dave Ramsey show the other day was gleeful that he and his wife were now debt free. Their combined income? $150,000. Their jobs? Teachers. If the NEVER get a raise between now and their retirement date (which could NOT happen due to the union), they would get $112,500 per year, not including any EXTRA they might have invested. Yes good teachers work after hours and on weekends...of course they do...so do many non-teacher workers who don't have summers off and a spring break and a winter break and every holiday under the sun off and a fat retirement waiting for them after only 35 years of working.

Whatcha talkin about? I get President's day and Columbus day off....and other nice ones:

http://www.opm.gov/Operating_Status_Schedules/fedhol/2011.asp

mauahahahahah!

Alan

Just because it is listed doesn't mean that the federal workers aren't working on that day. I know plenty of people who work for the government and not one of them took Columbus Day off.

Steve,

Take your foot off the pontificate accelerator and carefully read what I wrote one more time....

georgelincoln wrote:

I go to a large state-school and have classes tomorrow as the university does not observe Presidents day with a day off... However we did have Martin Luther King day off...Do people really think MLK is more important that George Washington, Lincoln etc..???? this is confusing, please answer..

A serious answer is that in some states, state agencies only can take holidays when the state legislature is not in session. In GA, I think Confederate Memorial Day is a holiday while President's Day may not be. (Yep, state employees get Confederate Memorial Day--as my sister notes, no black employee of hers has ever boycotted taking that day off.)

Binaca Obama wrote:

In case you weren't paying attention in history class, Lincoln was for ending slavery....and.....He was a President. Kinda why he got assassinated - Wilkes Booth supported the slave owners and was pissed off Lincoln wanted to give them voting rights.

Lincoln's position on slavery was a bit more complex than that.

True but he didn't want it to expand into the new territories.

luv2run wrote:

Binaca Obama wrote:

In case you weren't paying attention in history class, Lincoln was for ending slavery....and.....He was a President. Kinda why he got assassinated - Wilkes Booth supported the slave owners and was pissed off Lincoln wanted to give them voting rights.

Lincoln's position on slavery was a bit more complex than that.

Go to school in Georgia. MLK is off but no presidents day.

Flagpole we have went through this before...and you have been proven wrong time and time again.

Stop trying to start up the same old argument you have lost in the past.

We get it teachers make decent money. It is a great job to have with a lot of UNPAID vacation.

But all you every do is talk about the top earners in teaching a lot of the time you only bring out data from one high earning state.

All this hate towards teachers right now is rediculus. A few states have problems with teacher unions. MOST STATES DO NOT HAVE TEACHERS UNION. Or the legislature has made the unions so weak in the states that they can't even organize. Five states have even made it illagal for teachers to collective bargin.

Most teachers in the US have not recieved a raise in three years going by the national average. Private workers recieve double digit increases in pay during the good times the average raise for a teacher even in good times is 3%.

38 out of the 50 states have fired thousands of teachers even though fox tries to say otherwise. The average pension a teacher gets is only about 60% of the highest earning years (unlike what flagpole is trying to say). 41 of the 50 states require teachers to equally fund their retirement. Most of those states require teachers to put in 6% of their salary and the states on average only match 4%. In otherwords most teachers in the US would be better off with a 401k that an employeer matches than their current pension set-up.

There are a few states with strong teachers unions that have crazy salaries and benifits... they are in the minority not the majority.

If you want to attack a group with crazy salaries and benefits how about you attack the federal government employees, or your local firefighters and police who only have to work on average 22 years before they receive 100% of their salary for life. Talk about crazy.

I am in no way complaining about being a teacher..it is a great job...I just can't stand people like flagpole who over inflate everything to attempt to prove a point by only using selective data.

1) I don't hate teachers. I am a former teacher, and I greatly respect them. They simply are NOT underpaid.2) I have not lost this argument before.3) MOST states with lower teacher salaries also have a lower cost of living and so ALL salaries there are lower.4) So a teacher has to put in 6% to get a 4% match, and you think that's BAD? I work for myself now, but I NEVER worked for a company that matched that much. 2% was the most I ever got, and I had to put in 8% in order to get that.5) I don't feel bad that most teachers haven't gotten a raise in 3 years. That's right in line with what most workers have had in the last three years. I once worked for a company where we all got 10% pay CUTS.6) Bottom line is that teachers make decent money, get very good time off (right in line with the time off their children get which is an extra benefit), have VERY good retirement, and often can retire at age 57...WELL before most Americans can retire. No need to hate them or to think they need to make less, but no need to constantly say that teachers are "grossly underpaid", because that's simply not true.

Where I work we get a holiday on Isaac Newton's birthday and the day James Brown died.