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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kevin Rose who wrote (133379)	3/25/2001 1:00:41 AM
From: RON BL	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

As an engineer would you like to see some group controlling all thought and invention ? When referring to the removal of those in charge I of course refer to the administrators. How is it that we came from a group that had tests and rigorous standards and ended up highly educated. I always marvel at the elite scholarly attributes of those who received this boring rote filled education system that have turned around and ensured that the children of today are given an inferior education. Of course I am not referring to the Democrats in Washington as they send their children to private schools as do over 50 % of those poorly paid public school teachers. If that doesn't tell you something than I think that you are unable to use your analytical skills that you apply to engineering to the world of common sense.

To: Kevin Rose who wrote (133379)	3/25/2001 1:12:06 AM
From: RON BL	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

Trampling on parents' rights: everyday life in Massachusetts By Brian Camenker President, Parents’ Rights Coalition March 9, 2001 Parents across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are demanding protection. Protection from whom? From their governor, their public schools and the "progressive" agenda of radical political groups! What follows is just the tip of an iceberg: In Brookline, a transsexual adult came into a first-grade class and described to the children how sex changes take place. Parents had not been notified and had to counsel their frightened, confused children. In many high schools across Massachusetts, entire days have been devoted to "Gay/Lesbian and Transgender" programs. Academic classes are cancelled and students are led to the activities, including panels, speakers, etc. In Natick, high school students in the "gay-straight alliance" club were shown an R-rated movie about a graphic "love story" between two boys. In Newton, school officials announced in the local newspapers that masturbation would be covered in the required courses for ninth graders. At a required school assembly in Chelmsford, an instructor used four-letter words to describe the joys of oral and anal sex. Children participated in licking condoms. A 14-year-old girl came home from Beverly High School and told her father that he was a "homophobe". She had just returned from "Homophobia Week" sessions at the school. In schools across the state, students were told to answer surveys on their use of drugs and about personal feelings on suicide, death, homosexual activity and similar subjects. The wording was very intrusive. Parents were outraged when they found out. In several towns, ninth grade girls in the health classes were assigned to go to a drug store, buy condoms, and practice putting them on a banana. At Lexington High School, a parent discovered that her thirteen-year-olds could borrow a book (bought with state health funds) telling how gay men at the opera can socialize with "the backs of their trousers discreetly parted so they could experience a little extra pleasure while viewing the spectacle on stage." In Newton, a high-school principal told a group of parents that they may not remove their children from the condom distribution program because "it is too important." At Silver Lake High School, the ninth-grade health text teaches: "Testing your ability to function sexually and to give pleasure to another person may be less threatening in the early teens with people of your own sex." Also, "You may come to the conclusion that growing-up means rejecting the values of your parents." Students were told to keep the book in their lockers and not take it home. In Ashland, children were assigned to play "gays" in a school skit. One boy's line was, "It's natural to be attracted to the same sex." Two girls were told to hold hands and pretend they were lesbians. Parents were not informed. In Manomet, an eight-grade health class was given material which one boy said was against his parents' beliefs. He was told by the instructor, "If you have any trouble with your parents, tell me and I'll handle them." In Nutting Lake, "counselors" conducted a group session where a girl was asked to share the details about her parents' divorce and her father's affair with the class. The sessions were to be kept confidential from parents. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Parents' Rights Coalition can be reached at www.parentsrightscoalition.org, e-mail: office@parentsrightscoalition.org \| telephone: 781-899-4905. Related:

To: Kevin Rose who wrote (133379)	3/25/2001 2:02:01 PM
From: Gordon A. Langston	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

The problem is that not all are incompetent. Some are very competent. And like Stalin's purges of the 1930s, if you got rid of the good with the bad, you'd be stuck with a huge hole to fill. Granted we have a spectrum of competency. We are asking for parents to have the choice of good or bad. Or is it best to have someone else make this choice for them? The current political thinking seems to follow the mantra of "accountability". There is a push to standardize tests and apply them to all schools, as some great measuring stick of their worth. Those on the bottom will be lobbed off, while those on top will be rewarded. Lawyers take the bar, engineers, CPA's, and any number of others pass licensing exams. What is the alternative? Of course singers, actors, artists and other do not, but they do compete nevertheless. How do you eliminate even the concept that this is not a meritocracy? Problem is, at least in CA, is the incredible pressure that puts on the schools, administration, and teachers. So much so, that the TEST because the end all, and the EDUCATION suffers. At our local elementary school, the teachers are almost TERRIFIED of the STAR test, because they know that their school and their performance will hinge on it. So, they start teaching to the TEST and not the ciriculum. Also, the pass the pressure to the kids; a lot of kids are becoming 'testphobic' because of the pressure. This is the responsibility of the parents to not measure their kid's worth on tests. The phobia comes from false values in society and not anything real. Even if you didn't go to the school of choice, you can likely achieve your goals. If it is only to go to a certain school I would consider that a hollow goal. JMHO I don't know the answer. As an engineer, I see incredible value in getting some hard qualitative numbers, so that we can compare and achieve improvement. But having a single, standardized test seems to be a flawed mechanism. I certainly don't want to see us end up with Japanese style schools. With all their accomplishments, I believe they distort the psyche of the children. The Japanese are a homogeneous society. We don't pound down the nail that stands up. They have a respect for their schools that in clearly lacking here in this country, a physical respect that enables the majority to accomplish at a high level. We need to concentrate on the attributes of the successful students and their families to fix the system. Dwelling on the unsuccessful and "intellectualizing" the possible cures is not a good strategy. I find little evidence of it's past success. Tough problem. By the way, it gets worse with private schools, as there would be different agendas and ciriculums at each school. How could you tell if you child was getting a good education, relative to other schools? Maybe a standardized test across ALL schools. It would be a shame to find out that your childs education was 2nd rate only when they get their SAT scores. There's a charter school in San Francisco that is succeeding in a predominately ESL environment and the district and teacher's union is not looking at it as any thing other than a threat. There were standardized tests in my day like the IOWA tests in elementary schools. They give the SAT 9 every year in CA. Unless the teachers are cheating and falsifying scores (and some have) there is some relative testing. It would seem a simple matter to require SAT 9 testing for voucher schools if this was a flaw in most people's opinion. The opposition to choice in schools is driven by more than some perceived flaw in the voucher system. It is being opposed because institutions are being challenged for their failure to deliver on their promise. Maybe they can't and should admit it rather than spend so much time defending their system. It comes back to that same old definition of insanity, doing the same thing over again and expecting different results. My question is that the system didn't seem to be broken in the early 60's and yet it was changed radically. If it wasn't broken why were we busy fixing it? If it was, prove it. Don't have an answer...other thoughts?