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You have to love the logic expressed on this board.
Person A: "Our urban public schools really, really suck."
Person B: "Why is that?"
Person A: "Well, some people seem to think that it's because a lot of the teachers are underpaid and have to buy their class materials or use outdated textbooks that don't prepare the children for the 21st century - never mind for the information age since a lot of the schools are using 10 year-old + dinosaur equipment - but you know what I think? If we "cut the bloat" and slice off even more of these people's funding and continue to shut down schools, overcrowd the remaining schools and not give the already stressed teachers any aid or support whatsoever, I think we might be on to something!"
Person B: "But what if the schools get shut down if they're deemed to not be serving the population well enough?"
Person A: "Then we can bus them to other people's schools and do the exact same thing to them. Soon, we'll have recreated 19th century England all over again and the only people who can expect to go to college are the wealthy people who already make up 80% of the college population."
Person B: "If I didn't know any better, I would say that this sounds similar to the approach that some have to social services."
Person A: "Who said that an education was a right in America? The founding fathers? Ha! Screw 'em."
Brilliant! And, right on the money.
I'm glad that they are still teaching children that they too are constituents and have the right and ability to contact their elected officials directly.
After all, who is going to be most directly impacted when the lights go out, so to speak.
As I recall, these students are also his constiuents...Maybe these students can write all politicains with their concerns. How is that a bad thing.
How many of us have changed our political concerns over the years, believing these children are indctrinated to any politcal idea at this age is to believe these children do everything they are taught and retain every lesson given at this age.
Agreed.
It just amazes me how much power people think schools actually have with regard to impressing any thought, formula or anything else on our children. If they were that powerful, every kid would pass every class and, since it is supposed to be some great decades-long liberal attempt at brainwashing, we wouldn't have a single conservative alive today in their 20s or 30s.
Odd to fear and give so much power to something that clearly is not having the perceived desired effect.
Since the teacher bloat has been more than addressed, I've got a somewhat different question.
Why, in four pages of this thread, have we not seen anyone post about the bloat being, in a big way, about athletics? Is it that taboo to admit that the athletic programs in schools these days are a big reason for busted budgets? And before anyone has a chance to shout out "Link please!" how about attending a school board meeting in your own corporation? You'll get PLENTY links there. lol.
And do people realize that, at least in Indiana, when the governor sets the education budget, the individual school corporations decide where the money goes, where cuts will be, and whether or not they want to cut ten teachers in order to fund the brand new ultra-techy football stadium to replace the perfectly good one built in the late '80s?
It's all about politics and money, people. Aside from the teachers, who I agree are being used as pawns in the game of politics and money, most players of this game could care less about your child getting an education. Harsh, I know, but reality is reality. You can either choose (to see it) or lose.
I'm glad that they are still teaching children that they too are constituents and have the right and ability to contact their elected officials directly.
After all, who is going to be most directly impacted when the lights go out, so to speak.
And people deny that the left is in favor of or support using our children (in this case 8 year olds) to further their agenda!
Remember the good old days when teachers had kids write letters (non-politically leaning) to our servicemen and women? That's probably not "progressive" nowadays.
Originally posted by Tigerlily24
Agreed.
It just amazes me how much power people think schools actually have with regard to impressing any thought, formula or anything else on our children. If they were that powerful, every kid would pass every class and, since it is supposed to be some great decades-long liberal attempt at brainwashing, we wouldn't have a single conservative alive today in their 20s or 30s.
Odd to fear and give so much power to something that clearly is not having the perceived desired effect
Thank you! On the one hand public schools are decried as ineffective. Then the next day we're accused of influencing peoples' kids to become communists. Make up your mind, people!
Agreed.
It just amazes me how much power people think schools actually have with regard to impressing any thought, formula or anything else on our children. If they were that powerful, every kid would pass every class and, since it is supposed to be some great decades-long liberal attempt at brainwashing, we wouldn't have a single conservative alive today in their 20s or 30s.
Odd to fear and give so much power to something that clearly is not having the perceived desired effect.
Well if more time were spent on academics and less on social engineering then they just might.
There's lots of social engineering going on in schools and it's not just political. Lots of parents, even the wealthy ones, have "checked out" and the schools are now taking on parental type responsibilities.
There used to be 3 bastions of social learning...the home, the church, the school. The church is gone, the home is deteriorating and the school is the last stand where kids are taught.
More time is spent on classroom management and behavior than should be. Academics is not #1 anymore because if you cannot control the kids then you cannot teach them.
And for some..schools are the molding grounds for future voters.
LOL..those 20-30 year olds are the ones teaching the kids and they themselves can barely do the work.
Remember the good old days when teachers had kids write letters (non-politically leaning) to our servicemen and women? That's probably not "progressive" nowadays.
Oh, the children are sometimes still allowed to do that. They are just forbidden from writing, "MERRY CHRISTMAS" on the 'holiday' letters to servicemen and women.
Thank you! On the one hand public schools are decried as ineffective. Then the next day we're accused of influencing peoples' kids to become communists. Make up your mind, people!
They are ineffective at teaching academics because their main goal and what they spend so much time on is social engineering.
Good post. But you might want to read up on this a bit.
"The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America," by Charlotte Iserbyt "America's Schools: The BattleGround for Freedom," by Allen Quist "Fed Ed: The New Federal Curriculum and How Its Enforced," by Allen Quist
Iserbyt worked in the Reagan Administration and was a WhistleBlower. Her book is filled with documentation; not just opinions.
Quist was a legislator from Minnesota and a University Professor.
I have read a lot about the subject. Anyone can spin anything to make their agenda seem more logical.
I am very involved as well in my child's school. He attends a Charter and I was actually very hesitant in sending my son to this school due to what I considered the extreme liberalism of the founding board members and the principal. I am an independent and have both liberal and conservative views depending upon the subject matter.
I expressed my concerns to them very bluntly. They convinced me to give them a chance and I did and I am grateful I did. They are way more liberal in their ideology than any public school system IMO when it comes to their political ideas, but they are DEDICATED to teaching children and making sure that children exceed expected state standards.
We have had many disagreements. For instance we had an illegal immigration bill passed here recently (Georgia) and they wanted to take the 2nd graders out to the protest. I felt that was unnecessary, plus I don't like illegal immigration for many reasons and felt that they wanted to use this to push their liberal views on illegal immigration. I told them to them in those words. They did not try to sway my view of the issue but told me that they wanted to teach the children about immigration both legal and illegal. I told them they looked like they were trying to use the children as pawns for their political agenda and trying to get themselves on the news. They decide to hold a meeting at the school and invite parents to discuss this. Many ideas were thrown out. In the end the 2nd graders whose parents gave them permission to go did so, some who were also supporters of the legislation let their children go. They went on the field trip with the 2nd graders. Before the event the 2nd and 3rd graders had debates, each group chose to be for or against the bill and gave a presentation and also wrote a short essay about their stance on the issue and why they felt that way. Not all the children were supportive of illegal immigrants after all of this, my son included.
All this to say, I see people as individuals, not as groups of "liberals" or "conservatives" with imagery of opposing sides in red and blue hues duking it out over their agendas to see which one is the right one. They are people, not labels and logical, civil minded people can and should be able to come together civilly in an educational setting especially.
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