[Rhodes22-list] THIS IS A JOKE, RIGHT?

Fri May 27 12:25:29 EDT 2005

You can't be serious!!  

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "felix fig" <felix70037 at yahoo.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Friday, May 27, 2005 11:19 AM
Subject: RE: [Rhodes22-list]Public Schools, was Public Radio and TV

> 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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