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

[felix fig]

can u take me off your e-nail list.
thank you

--- Philip Esteban <3drecon at comcast.net> wrote:

> I am not wealthy by any stretch, but I send my son
> to private school (which
> means I probably have to postpone purchasing a
> boat).  My older boy went
> through the abysmal public school system  and I
> regret the decision to this
> day (and yes, I have taught in the public schools
> system and so has my
> wife).  The public schools have become a politically
> correct liberal forum
> for issuing condoms, undermining parental authority
> and values and have
> drifted away from teaching the fundimentals.  Most
> of this can be laid at
> the feet of the liberals (usually Democrats) who are
> in bed with the
> teacher's unions.  A union's charter is, by its
> nature, to protect the job
> of its members.  The teacher's unions are no
> different and they get a pass
> for illegal political activities as well (by the
> way, I am also a union
> member since 1976, though not the teacher's union).
> 
> More liberal claptrap is the canard that more money
> means better education.
> Washington DC spends in excess of 15k per student
> and has a 50% drop out
> rate.  The public school system is failing.  When I
> went to school in the
> 60s we routinely had 30+ children per class and we
> received a fairly good
> education.  That was before the curriculi
> degenerated.
> 
> Some examples:  Punishing a child for pointing a
> french fry and saying bang;
> allowing a child to be assaulted daily (even though
> he complains to several
> teachers) but kicking the assaulted child out of
> school for writing Kill
> "[Name]" with no sanction to the aggressor; not
> allowing pictures of the
> Minute Men because they carry guns; the recent issue
> of a principal not
> allowing the picture of a recent graduate in the
> school (the assignment was
> to bring a picture of a graduate of the school in
> his job or school) because
> that student is a US Marine in Iraq and was carrying
> a weapon; the schools
> in our area stopped having award ceremonies for kids
> who did extremely well
> because it "isn't fair to those who don't get
> awards" or it "hurts the
> self-esteem". . .
> 
> This doesn't begin to scratch the surface.
> 
> As for fund cutting, that is ridiculous.  Cutting
> the amount of increase is
> not "cutting" funds.  When the federal government
> (under the liberal Clinton
> Administration) can require Medicaid to fund Viagra
> (in general, not just to
> sex offenders as recently covered in the news) then
> they don't need more
> funds for other things.  You can argue life saving
> medications for people
> unable to afford it, but why should we pay for
> someone to have sex?  Then
> they come after us for more taxes for schools and
> the like.  Then the
> schools don't teach the fundimentals.  Once upon a
> time a person leaving
> highschool learned to be a good citizen.  College
> opened their horizons to
> the deeper meanings of our history, liturature, math
> and science, but first
> the basics.  Not anymore.  Now they get condoms;
> Billy has two daddys; they
> learn about the "Nine" amendments to the
> Constitution (leave out the Second
> Amendment); they can have "holiday celebrations" and
> can study every
> religious holiday activity except Christian holidays
> etc.
> 
> There may still be a few good public schools in this
> country, but they are
> far and few between.  An indicator is the teacher's
> unions opposition to
> standards.  They don't want to be held accountable
> and it shows.
> 
> There is more and you are deluding yourself if you
> ignore them.  I know
> teaching is a tough job and unfunded mandates eat
> into budgets, but the
> schools began a downward slide years ago when the
> administators began to
> outnumber the teachers.  Recently in Virginia, the
> legislature succumed to
> pressure from the teacher's unions to leave the
> "guidance counsellors" in
> place in the elementary schools instead of
> converting most of those
> positions to reading teachers (reading scores were
> falling and we are
> producing a generation of illiterate people).  Why
> do we need guidance
> counsellors in elementary school?
> 
> Philip
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
> [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org]On Behalf
> Of Slim
> Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 5:41 AM
> To: Rhodes
> 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
> 
=== message truncated ===


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