[Rhodes22-list]Public Schools, was Public Radio and TV

Fri May 27 11:10:01 EDT 2005

In my diatribe I forgot to mention that one "teacher of the year" for 1993
said our son needed ritulin, but couldn't explain why he could sit an build
legos quietly by himself or read a book for hours.  I also have an answering
machine recording where the teacher said she would blame our son for any
incidents regardless of fault and he would not be allowed to go to any class
functions (second grade).  This was a personality issue and she was a prima
donna.  The school administration and the superintendent did nothing.

Our son now flourishes in a small private school.  He is entering high
school in September.  He reads at the college level, is absolutely superb in
math and is very computer literate (what kid isn't?).

Philip

-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org]On Behalf Of Saroj Gilbert
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 8:04 AM
To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list]Public Schools, was Public Radio and TV

Slim,

Its me who started this thing about public schooling.  I have more personal
reasons for being against it than you can imagine, but my primary reason
from an altruistic point of view is that education is a social control
mechanism.  Any education is... whether private or public, but at least with
private parents can choose their poison.  I personally think children get a
MUCH better education that is totally personally suited for their needs when
home schooled by conscientious, focused parents who have the time to do so.
However that rarely occurs.  How come as a society we think it is ok for
just anyone to have kids and be parents, yet believe those same children
have to be carted off to the wild, often cruel, environment of a state-run
institution to gain the life skills they need to be good, productive
citizens?

I was heavily involved with my children's schools and have read extensively
about education.  There are a number of facts you state that certainly were
not true when my kids where in school 4 to 5 years ago.  By the way although
my two youngest children went to a Montessori school until 3rd grade or so
we made a conscious decision to move to a good school district so that we
would not be "married" to the private school thing... I hate elitism and I
didn't want our family to be burdened by the extra cost of private school,
which is substantial. Sending them to the public schools where we lived was
not an option.  We did a school visit before deciding on Montessori... we
watched as the teacher had the children draw a line across the paper...
EVERYONE in the room had to wait until the last line was drawn before they
could go on to the next step... How may

Point 1: the private school teachers and staff did what they did for love,
they were paid FAR less than their public school equivalents.
Point 2: private school parents pay TWICE for their children's education...
we paid school taxes AND had to pay for the private schooling too.

Our attempt at integrating with the public school system was an abysmal
failure... within two years our son was in a gang and had a "territory" for
drug selling, protected with guns from his "seniors" AND was molested by a
high school teacher, who, by the way was acquitted, not once, but TWICE (two
separate incidents, different kids) mostly due to the highly paid defense
attorney shark provided by his union..  The kicker was when all the school
district execs showed up to say what a wonderful person he was.  Finally
after numerous complaints to the state dept of education, his license was
yanked.  We finally had to remove our daughter because she was being given
such negative "information" about her learning disability and provided next
to no help for it that she was in danger of being permanently convinced she
was stupid.  The cost to our family for these occurrances was horrendous
emotionally and financially.  There are more stories, but I'll leave it at
that.

The private schools that we eventually chose for them were absolutely
incredible environments and they both flourished.  But we were paying out
$50,000 a year for the "privilege".

Saroj

----- Original Message -----
From: "Slim" <salm at mn.rr.com>
To: "Rhodes" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 5:40 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list]Public Schools, was Public Radio and TV

> Philip,
>
> Why are you against public schools?  I admit, there are many problems,
> mostly caused by union-bashing, fund-cutting republicans; but the public
> schools are our best resource, period.  Shouldn't we be giving our youth
> the
> best that we can?  Private schools cost money that most do not need to
> pay.
> The public system is as good as the funding.  Offer a decent wage and you
> attract decent teachers.  Where I live, Minnesota, the average life-span
> of
> a new teacher is three years before they find better pay/conditions
> elsewhere.  It's abysmal.  It's a very tough job.  I know - been there,
> done
> that.  Have you?
>
> It's easy to sit back and complain, but consider this:  The law requires
> specifically mandated curriculum but doesn't fund it, and so private
> schools
> have to send students to the public schools for whatever they can't
> provide,
> e.g., special ed, phy ed, science, or whatever.  And then the public
> schools
> have to take these students, for which they are NOT paid, and provide
> service because it's the law.  Private schools want to have their cake and
> eat it too.  It's just not fair because it puts the public schools in a
> deeper hole than they're already in.  If you want to send your kid to
> private school, fine, but don't send him to the public school for gym.
> But
> you'll have to change the law first.
>
> What really bugs me is that everybody thinks they're an expert, e.g.,
> legislators, governors, parents--none of whom have ever set foot in a
> classroom.  They keep coming up with nothing but educational gimmicks that
> do nothing but waste the valuable time and money of teachers.
>
> Philip, teaching a kid to read is not rocket science, but it becomes
> Herculean without the proper resources.  If you want to see our public
> system collapse, we'll be putting our youth and therefore our country at a
> disadvantage.  Privatizing leads to nothing but discrimination and
> elitism.
> Is that what you really want for our country--even more of the "haves" and
> the "have-nots?"  Should we abandon our nation's entire educational
> infrastructure to accommodate you and yours?
>
> Slim
>
> On 5/25/05 10:06 PM, "Philip Esteban" <3drecon at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> I am totally against public education in its current form.  Any parent
>> who
>> wants their child well educated will NOT send them to public school.  As
>> for
>> PBS, if you do not detect the left wing near communist, praise Castro
>> bias,
>> then you might want to examine your own leanings.
>>
>> Philip
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
>> [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org]On Behalf Of Saroj Gilbert
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 8:58 AM
>> To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
>> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Public Radio and TV
>>
>>
>> Heavens, I don't even know how to respond to this.. may have to leave it
>> up
>> to the eloquence of Stan...
>>
>> Are you saying that public radio promotes communism and socialism?
>> Are you saying that public radio and TV promote control of individuals?
>> They are promoting the control of the point of view of the masses?
>> They are somehow disdaining individual freedom?
>>
>> That they are biased in some way I would grant you... it is impossible to
>> be
>> a human being or an organization of any kind and not be biased... you are
>> too... we all are.. it is the nature of being a human being...or group of
>> human beings...  I've been listening to NPR for years, and I never picked
>> up
>> on this... hmmm... just dense maybe.. somehow intellectually defective?
>> I
>> find them innovative, focused on presenting representation of the arts in
>> a
>> way that can't be found anywhere else, whether literature, drama, music.
>>
>> Why don't you suggest they read Natan Saransky's book on Democracy....
>> they
>> no doubt would... maybe I should read it... I haven't...
>>
>> However if you are concerned about control of the individual then you
>> MUST
>> be against public education... that is the biggest and most incidious
>> form
>> of it we have in this country..  I know I am.
>>
>> Saroj
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "ed kroposki" <ekroposki at charter.net>
>> To: "'The Rhodes 22 mail list'" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 8:28 AM
>> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Public Radio and TV
>>
>>
>> Saroj:
>> Unfortunately your public radio and TV often promotes a control the
>> masses point of view.  Communism and socialism are political positions
>> used
>> to control individuals.  Big business is corporate control of the
>> individual.  Public radio promotes the same thesis of controlling the
>> individual.
>> Individual freedom whether political, educational, business is
>> distained by your public media. Public Radio or TV promotes only the view
>> which represent their biased point of view.
>> Has radio reader ever read Natan Saransky's book on Democracy?  Have
>> they promoted writers who espouse individual freedoms?
>> They advocate just another form of bigness...
>>
>> Ed Kroposki
>> Greenville, SC, USA
>> Addendum:  "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.  This
>> expresses my idea of democracy.  Whatever differ from this, to the extent
>> of
>> difference, is no democracy."  A. Lincoln
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
>> [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Saroj Gilbert
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 7:01 AM
>> To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
>> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Re: Commitment to war
>>
>> So we can have a source of news that isn't massaged to meet the demands
>> of
>> the corporate advertisers....
>> So we aren't bombarded by commercials...
>> So we can listen to the BBC...
>> So we can experience innovation that isn't dependent on commercially
>> dictated norms...
>>
>> It is mostly subscriber-supported and grant supported anyhow... but
>> you'll
>> notice more and more that it receives a lot of commercial support too so
>> it
>> may not be able to maintain its independence.
>>
>> Saroj
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Philip Esteban" <3drecon at comcast.net>
>> To: "'stan'" <stan at rhodes22.com>; "'The Rhodes 22 mail list'"
>> <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2005 10:09 PM
>> Subject: RE: [Rhodes22-list] Re: Commitment to war
>>
>>
>>> Why, with hundreds of channels available are we funding public radio and
>>> television, but we are told we need our taxes raised to meet other
>>> requirements?  The government needs to get out of the radio and tv
>>> business.
>>>
>>> Philip
>>
>>
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