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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (148417)	10/29/2010 7:18:29 PM
From: Little Joe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 543488

I am not supposed to solve the problem our bloated, expensive, overmanned, over payed government is supposed to solve the problem. Instead they extort taxes from us and instead of solving the problem they add to it. Look, we know how to educate children. We did it for years. When I left elementary school I could even as a child see what was happening. There is no reason in the world why a school with a knowledgeable principle and a good staff of teachers can't educate our children well. Just to illustrate a point. I recently read that colleges were developing programs for kids who were what in my youth were referred to as special ed children. Why are they wasting money and effort on such a stupid thing. What looney tune in Washington dreamed that up? Why is it that untrained Moms and Dads can home school their children and give them a better education than they get in schools? At the community college where I used to teach part time, nearly half the kids need remedial courses before they can start regular classes. Yet we spend more per student than any country in the world. And how the liberals tell us is how difficult the problem is and give excuses for why they cant solve it. And of course stand in the way of any solution, such as a voucher system, that might actually improve the situation. John I don't object to paying taxes, I object to the government wasting my tax money. I have reached the point where I have one answer to them, no more. If you can't run the government on the taxes they receive they need to be thrown out of office and I think maybe, just maybe, the people may have finally realized that. And frankly, I don't care if the person representing me believes in the great pumpkin, as long as they can get thejob done. lj

To: JohnM who wrote (148417)	10/29/2010 11:13:37 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 543488

People who scream about the system and overgeneralize have no real desire to do anything meaningful about the educational system. They want to go to movies like Waiting for Superman, and have an easy prepackaged answer handed to them. They want easy answers to be THE answers. It's too bad that doesn't work, but it doesn't. The "Offer Vouchers" crowd have no idea, really, what that would actually do, if it were used widely. They haven't a clue, and yet they'll scream it from the rooftops. What can you do? Vouchers would boost the price of private school and put money in the pockets of private schools. We would have the few parents in rotten areas race to get their kids somewhere else, and we'd doom everyone else to a public system from which we are draining money so we can put that money in private pockets. If we want to eviscerate the middle class and doom the poor completely, there probably is no better way to do that than to attack public education. For all their starry eyed dreams, the folks who support vouchers haven't a clue about what such a wealth transfer would really mean, who the money would go to, and who would be harmed (well, no doubt certain lobbyists have some idea, but the plebes? No way.) The solution to public education problems is not one size fits all, and it needs to be attacked in many ways. I happen to like the idea of innovation in public schools, and I would be very happy to see more bad teachers exited from the system (and bad principals and VP's a well). I'm also tired of seeing the schools as a dumping ground for students who have no hope of being educated. I know it makes the parents of retarded children feel great to send their children off to school, but I'm sorry- that isn't what schools do. We should be about education, not babysitting. For children who really cannot learn in any meaningful way, health plans should be accessed, not public schools. Our school's budget has grown mostly because of special ed- and that's ridiculous. When I was a kid there was zero special education- now many of the kids have their OWN aides, who travel with them, and who even attend special education classes with them. And people wonder why we have budget problems? Let's get rid of those mandates for aides and babysitting. I've no problem with accommodating the mild handicaps of students who have some hope of scoring at least "basic" on our tests, but for the profoundly retarded or handicapped, we need service providers other than schools- or we need to admit schools are really functioning as very expensive teen day care (and adult care- since our retarded students can stay until 21- did you know that? 21.) Dumping this kind of health/babysitting service will free up a ton of money- and space for classrooms, and teachers. It's not the only answer, but it's a gigantic part of our budget dilemma (although you rarely hear anyone speak about it, since taking down these babysitting services and one to one aides seems to be a huge sacred cow). Anyone who doesn't acknowledge the special education budget buster, has zero idea about school budgeting.