[odinloki1]

School superintendent to Governor: Please make my school a prison | Dangerously Irrelevant | Big Think

[Dwatted Wabbit]

Oh boy. Superintendent Whiner. Or Superintendent Semi-Literate?
We also spend the most money per prisoner annually than any other state in the union.
This guy is a grammatical disaster. No wonder he's the boss, he can't teach and he can't cook.

[zthatzmanz28]

And we as a society claim to value children and education? It is lunacy that prisoners have any "rights" and students suffer....

[michigan83]

And we as a society claim to value children and education? It is lunacy that prisoners have any "rights" and students suffer....

I'm not sure how reducing funding to schools makes children "suffer." Have you ever seen children TRULY suffer? Like, you know... extreme poverty and starvation? I don't think "suffer" is an appropriate word to use when discussing how budget cuts affect schools. How about we lose the over-dramatic political speak and have real discussions about the budget.

[zthatzmanz28]

Originally Posted by michigan83

I'm not sure how reducing funding to schools makes children "suffer." Have you ever seen children TRULY suffer? Like, you know... extreme poverty and starvation? I don't think "suffer" is an appropriate word to use when discussing how budget cuts affect schools. How about we lose the over-dramatic political speak and have real discussions about the budget.

YES I have...physically and mentally. May not be direct relationship to budget cuts, but when they do not have access to counseling, food and health care like prisoners have, they indeed SUFFER...

Have you seen a child come to school in soiled clothing because they do not have a washer or other clothes? HAve you seen a child come to school so battered you wonder how they even function let alone smile--but school is their ONLY refuge and weekends and summer breaks are nothing short of HELL?? Have you seen a child come into school with the sole intent of harming another person because all they know is violence at home?

I have.
When we can find funding to incarcerate adults to the tune of $30K plus a year with FULL benefits, and we cannot provide students with the BASIC resources they SUFFER...

Come by most any school Mr. Snyder and see for yourself...and not the affluent burbs where they spent twice the state allocation of $7500 per pupil funding.

And it's not just a Michigan thing...

[michigan83]

Have you seen a child come to school in soiled clothing because they do not have a washer or other clothes? HAve you seen a child come to school so battered you wonder how they even function let alone smile--but school is their ONLY refuge and weekends and summer breaks are nothing short of HELL?? Have you seen a child come into school with the sole intent of harming another person because all they know is violence at home?

I'm not sure what a terrible home life has to do with school funding. Do you think more school funding will improve that child's life? Seems pretty naive.

[alleyyooper]

I saw what I felt was suffering children in Veit Nam. No school to go to, runny snotty noses and many open sores because they had no health care at all, so happy to recieve even a opened can of pound cake you made them eat so it didn't get in the wrong hands they smile that big happy one because they didn't get treats and some even had a hard time geting enough to eat.
Funny thing is most were very happy kids because they do what kids for the most part do every where. Make do with what life delt you, smile as things will not normally change and you must be happy with what you are delt.

But this Is America not some third world country. We can make thing better for those abused, malnerished, poor kids. We can educate them, counsel them, feed them and see they are not bullied.
When we take those things away from children for the sake of keeping the rich in high cotton that is wrong.

I posted this else where after doing the research to find it but I'll post it here again.

As of May 2011 the American government has spent 849 billion dollars in the Middle East.

That is $849,000,000,000 of tax-payer money.

This is more money than any society has spent upon any one goal in human history.

The American government is building schools, libraries, hospitals, highway systems, phone and internet services, prisons, military installations, sea ports, banks, residential housing, commercial centers, television studios, waste treatment plants, recycling centers, and much more for those who despize us.

But, for some odd reason there seems to be no money for lower income American citizens.

Al

[zthatzmanz28]

Originally Posted by michigan83

I'm not sure what a terrible home life has to do with school funding. Do you think more school funding will improve that child's life? Seems pretty naive.

I do think having access to resources that prisoners get--HEALTH coverage, COUNSELING, and FOOD (breakfast is in some schools but not all) will GREATLY improve thier lives.

Since it isn't FUNDED, then YES it has much to do with LACK of funding...

Thinking that home life doesn't affect everything else--including school--is is beyond naive...

[michigan83]

I do think having access to resources that prisoners get--HEALTH coverage, COUNSELING, and FOOD (breakfast is in some schools but not all) will GREATLY improve thier lives.

Since it isn't FUNDED, then YES it has much to do with LACK of funding...

Thinking that home life doesn't affect everything else--including school--is is beyond naive...

I'm not sure why you keep bringing up prisoners. Our state government also gave away millions of dollars in film industry subsidies. Are you mad that they didn't just give that money to schools instead? I mean sure, you might feel that way. But there's no point in wasting your energy saying "yeah, but they spend X amount of dollars on this!!" It's futile.

Do you really think that decreasing per pupil funding is going to make or break a kid's life? I think you are living in fantasy land. It's the home life that is most important, and school funding isn't going to change that one way or another.

If you really want to be mad at someone, get mad at the teachers' union. If they have a choice between reducing teachers' pensions or taking money away from the kids, they will screw the kids every single time. No one is forcing the schools to cut programs. If the unions would budge, that money could come out of the teachers' pockets instead. But pension cuts are always "off the table", even if it means Johnny can't afford to play high school basketball anymore, or Julia can't join the choir because the school has to cut the program (but those nice pensions remain intact!).

[AlohaHuey]

Originally Posted by michigan83

I'm not sure why you keep bringing up prisoners. Our state government also gave away millions of dollars in film industry subsidies. Are you mad that they didn't just give that money to schools instead? I mean sure, you might feel that way. But there's no point in wasting your energy saying "yeah, but they spend X amount of dollars on this!!" It's futile.

Do you really think that decreasing per pupil funding is going to make or break a kid's life? I think you are living in fantasy land. It's the home life that is most important, and school funding isn't going to change that one way or another.

If you really want to be mad at someone, get mad at the teachers' union. If they have a choice between reducing teachers' pensions or taking money away from the kids, they will screw the kids every single time. No one is forcing the schools to cut programs. If the unions would budge, that money could come out of the teachers' pockets instead. But pension cuts are always "off the table", even if it means Johnny can't afford to play high school basketball anymore, or Julia can't join the choir because the school has to cut the program (but those nice pensions remain intact!).

You don't realize or acknowledge how many teachers pay out of their own pockets for things like school supplies that the district cannot provide because of budget cuts.

Yeah, those 38K a year teachers are the problem.

How many retired teachers do you see driving expensive cars? Here's a hint: Most drive Fords or Kias.