RonBL,
Yes, it seems like we do want the same things. I couldn't agree more with many of your sentiments. Happy, secure, well educated children with a bright future IS in all of our best interests. But I do think quality in education, as in everything else, comes at a price.
In my mother's school district, the principles and superintendent are paid only modestly more than the teachers. I'm not sure of the identity of the bureaucrats you're talking about. But I don't doubt that portions of the moneys alotted to schools gets siphoned off long before a local school district gets their budget. It is a vitally important issue, and we need change, we need results. And we're not getting them. Thus my despair over Bush, whose record on public education in Texas is deplorable. I don't think he will even pretend to make education a priority. Not that I believe the situation would be improved dramatically under a Gore administration. But it's terrifying that we are to be led by a man, born of privilige, whose rhetoric and record on public education is so appalling. He just doesn't care. Teachers and children will be the victims of this laissez-faire attitude. So we'll hear more poignant, heartwarming stories about the individual heroism of teachers, doing their work under impossible conditions, making a difference and beating the odds- odds stacked against them by their own government. |
