[Rhodes22-list] Slim's issues

[brad haslett]

Jim,

Well said!  My Chinese wife has a number of friends
who immigrated with school age children.  The kids
were thrown in school with no English skills and were
expected to "sink or swim".  Almost without exception
they were the "strongest swimmers" after a year or
two. Obviously the socio-economic background of a
student has a lot to do with his/her performance. 
Teachers can't change that but they should at least be
given the freedom to do what they do best, TEACH. If a
few heads need to be cracked to demonstrate how to
behave in school, so be it.

It won't happen in our lifetime.

Brad Haslett
"CoraShen"
--- Jim White <jdwhite at utpa.edu> wrote:

> I just wanted to chime in my two pesos worth. My
> wife taught 5th grade 
> bilingual education here in deep south Texas - of
> course a certain amount 
> of two-language education is a necessity here, being
> so close to the 
> border. In their omniscient wisdom though,the public
> education system here, 
> instead of immersing children from the get-go in
> English, allows Spanish 
> language education through high school. Seems like
> this protocol boosts 
> flagging all-important test scores, giving the
> almighty bureaucracy 
> justification in mandating standardized
> test-oriented education. Heck, if 
> you can pass the test in whatever language, you're
> good to go!
> 
> 
> 
> As undergraduates and graduates, both my wife and
> myself taught college 
> level biology courses, and by far and away the most
> problematic, least 
> capable students that we had to deal with were the
> education majors. At 
> least here in the forgotten third world of the U.S.
> (and we're both 
> University of Texas system grads), it appears that
> the education program is 
> the most watered down of all curriculum.... so it's
> little wonder that 
> mediocrity is breeding mediocrity. Of all endeavors,
> education should be 
> one of the most stringent disciplines. Maybe that's
> different elsewhere, 
> and my viewpoint is a bit myopic.
> 
> 
> It's my personal opinion that the public education
> policy makers are 
> responsible for the vast majority of the malfeasance
> that has become the 
> public education system. No longer are they
> concerned with the "readin', 
> writin' and 'rithmitic, that Brad talks of in the
> parochial schools, but 
> rather whom they must kowtow to in order to keep
> themselves in power. It is 
> no longer an educational issue, but rather a
> political one. The resultant 
> extraction is a watered down education for our kids
> (no real surprise / 
> revelation here)
> 
> My wife no longer teaches, instead opting to help me
> run our consulting 
> business (you didn't think I make any money working
> for a University 
> didja?), and in my opinion the system (read: adults
> of tomorrow) have lost 
> a true gem of a teacher. Instead of going the
> education route, she too is a 
> biologist, and a stickler for teaching....because
> she is a scientist, she 
> understands the fact that competition is not only
> healthy, it is essential 
> to existence. When the school system mandated
> against that, and began to 
> encourage "survival of the mediocre", she knew her
> days were numbered......
> 
> BTW My mother was also a teacher, having a masters
> degree in english, and 
> early childhood development. But the 50's and 60's
> were a different time! 
> Articulate and elegant, I'm sure she helped mold
> many young skulls full of 
> mush in a manner unencumbered by the latest
> buzz-methods and politically 
> correct rhetoric. So where did it go wrong?
> 
> Jim White
> 
> 
> At 10:37 AM 10/05/2004 -0700, you wrote:
> >Bob,
> >
> >My hometown, Brownstown, is about 30 miles
> northeast
> >of your boat.  When I started college at
> >SIU-Carbondale I was worried about competing with
> all
> >the kids from the Chicago area suburbs. It didn't
> take
> >long to figure that the public education recieved
> in
> >most of the little "hick" towns in Southern
> Illinois
> >is pretty good.  They run  much the same way the
> >private schools do.  You co-operate and graduate
> and
> >the last thing you want is for word of anything
> >negative to get back to your parents.
> >
> >The school system here in Memphis is completely
> >dysfunctional.  The county school system is much
> >better, so what do the local political types want
> to
> >do?, merge them and make the whole thing better! 
> Yeah
> >right!  One of the local newspaper columnists
> torqued
> >me off so badly I responded with a letter to the
> >editor a couple of months ago and it got published.
> >Several friends of mine said they wrote too but
> didn't
> >get published.  I explained that my article made it
> to
> >the paper because I didn't start drinking until I
> was
> >finished and kept editing to sneak it under the
> >"racial radar" that is always on high at the
> >Commercial Appeal.  The link to it is dead so here
> it
> >is.
> >
> >Brad
> >
> >___________________________________________________
> >
> >
> >  Once again Wendi Thomas has sought and found
> racism
> >from her well- balanced perspective (she has a chip
> on
> >both shoulders).  Ms. Thomas finds racism in the
> >Germantown decision to leave the county library
> >system.  Opposing a Memphis City payroll tax is
> >racist, as well as moving to a suburb of Shelby
> >County, or, God forbid, a neighboring county,
> >according to Ms. Thomas. (Black folks tiring of
> racist
> >lingo, July 27 2004 Commercial Appeal)
> >
> >She is right about one thing; it is about color.
> >GREEN!  If throwing more money at a broken
> education
> >system fixed the problems, the Washington DC
> district
> >schools would be leading the nation.  If people
> choose
> >to move outside the city of Memphis where taxes are
> >lower and services are better, that makes good
> common
> >sense.  A lot of people who value their hard-earned
> >wages feel that way, and they come in all colors,
> >races, and ethnic backgrounds.
> >
> >Wendi, it's not all black and white.  Sometimes
> it's
> >just GREEN.
> >
> >Brad Haslett, Collierville, TN
> >
> >--- Bob Weber <ruba1811 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Brad, after 16 years of catholic education, 8
> with
> > > the Jesuits, I can
> > > confirm your story and agree whole heartly.  I
> have
> > > already started saving
> > > for little Miss Carolines highschool and
> dropping
> > > money in the basket for
> > > her grade school.  I will still pay my taxes and
> > > send someone elses kid to
> > > public school even if we do have to pay 1/2 of
> the
> > > kids' cab fare to get
> > > from the inner city to the better funded county
> > > schools.  This is a hot
> > > issue this election season in my town.  There is
> so
> > > much waste and
> > > corruption.  The people who can fix it cannot do
> > > anything that is required
> > > because commonsense and fiscal responsibility
> will
> > > never get someone
> > > elected.  That is the extent of my political
> > > diatribe.  If my daughter needs
> > > a soap bar put in her mouth (I will never forget
> my
> > > darn experience of it)
> > > then that is what they should do.  Education is
> the
> > > foundation of my
> > > daughter's experience of her life, there is no
> room
> 
=== message truncated ===



		
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