Pencils Down

I'm amused by a letter to the editor from a teacher. The second paragraph reads;

"Given that most teachers work at least 55 hours per week, I make $28 an hour; a first-year teacher makes $21 per hour. We spend an average of $1200 annually on classroom and professional supplies. As for health insurance, coverage other than an HMO is not free to teachers and we all pay higher co-pays than we used to."

The letter sounds like a beginning to a math problem. It presents a number of facts that seem to beg an answer. Actually it's a horizonal list. Now I understand why story problems were so difficult for me...Because my teacher drove a car 10 miles to school at 50 miles per hour. Gasoline cost 75¢ a gallon. What time did she arrive at school? (Answer: too late to have a cigarette.)