[Rhodes22-list] Slim's issues

Tue Oct 5 11:37:46 EDT 2004

Bob,

My hometown, Brownstown, is about 30 miles northeast
of your boat.  When I started college at
SIU-Carbondale I was worried about competing with all
the kids from the Chicago area suburbs. It didn't take
long to figure that the public education recieved in
most of the little "hick" towns in Southern Illinois
is pretty good.  They run  much the same way the
private schools do.  You co-operate and graduate and
the last thing you want is for word of anything
negative to get back to your parents. 

The school system here in Memphis is completely
dysfunctional.  The county school system is much
better, so what do the local political types want to
do?, merge them and make the whole thing better!  Yeah
right!  One of the local newspaper columnists torqued
me off so badly I responded with a letter to the
editor a couple of months ago and it got published. 
Several friends of mine said they wrote too but didn't
get published.  I explained that my article made it to
the paper because I didn't start drinking until I was
finished and kept editing to sneak it under the
"racial radar" that is always on high at the
Commercial Appeal.  The link to it is dead so here it
is.

Brad

___________________________________________________

 Once again Wendi Thomas has sought and found racism
from her well- balanced perspective (she has a chip on
both shoulders).  Ms. Thomas finds racism in the
Germantown decision to leave the county library
system.  Opposing a Memphis City payroll tax is
racist, as well as moving to a suburb of Shelby
County, or, God forbid, a neighboring county,
according to Ms. Thomas. (Black folks tiring of racist
lingo, July 27 2004 Commercial Appeal)

She is right about one thing; it is about color.
GREEN!  If throwing more money at a broken education
system fixed the problems, the Washington DC district
schools would be leading the nation.  If people choose
to move outside the city of Memphis where taxes are
lower and services are better, that makes good common
sense.  A lot of people who value their hard-earned
wages feel that way, and they come in all colors,
races, and ethnic backgrounds.

Wendi, it’s not all black and white.  Sometimes it’s
just GREEN.

Brad Haslett, Collierville, TN

--- Bob Weber <ruba1811 at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Brad, after 16 years of catholic education, 8 with
> the Jesuits, I can 
> confirm your story and agree whole heartly.  I have
> already started saving 
> for little Miss Carolines highschool and dropping
> money in the basket for 
> her grade school.  I will still pay my taxes and
> send someone elses kid to 
> public school even if we do have to pay 1/2 of the
> kids' cab fare to get 
> from the inner city to the better funded county
> schools.  This is a hot 
> issue this election season in my town.  There is so
> much waste and 
> corruption.  The people who can fix it cannot do
> anything that is required 
> because commonsense and fiscal responsibility will
> never get someone 
> elected.  That is the extent of my political
> diatribe.  If my daughter needs 
> a soap bar put in her mouth (I will never forget my
> darn experience of it) 
> then that is what they should do.  Education is the
> foundation of my 
> daughter's experience of her life, there is no room
> for "touchy-feely / 
> please everone" policies while providing the
> information to enter a world 
> which is otherwise.  Enough of that - GO CARDS.  We
> will see the twins in a 
> couple weeks.
> 
> Bob Weber
> 
> >From: brad haslett <flybrad at yahoo.com>
> >Reply-To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
> <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> >To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
> <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> >Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Slim's issues
> >Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2004 09:09:16 -0700 (PDT)
> >
> >To All,
> >
> >This discussion about education reminds me of a
> >lecture I listened to a few years ago.  Both of my
> >boys attended all-boys Catholic high schools.  My
> >oldest, Spencer, attended Little Rock Boys Catholic
> >High which was run by Father Tribou for over forty
> >years.  The non-Catholic parents (his mother and I
> for
> >example) had to attend a special orientation. 
> Father
> >Tribou's lecture to the parents was so memorable I
> can
> >almost quote it verbatum.  It went something like
> >this:
> >
> >"Welcome.  Most of you are familiar with our school
> or
> >you wouldn't be sending your child here but in case
> >you're not, here's how we work.  This is a meat and
> >potatoes school - no spices, no dessert, nothing
> >fancy.  Four years of science, english, and math -
> >meat and potatoes.  Our textbooks are old, when
> they
> >have completely fallen apart we'll change them. 
> It's
> >been our experience that the boys have enough
> trouble
> >learning the basics without worrying about what
> >changed in the last five years.  We don't have
> metal
> >detectors like some of the public schools.  If guns
> >and knives became a problem, metal detectors would
> be
> >of no value anyway because all the lead in your
> boy's
> >ass would constantly set them off anyway.  Now I'm
> >sure some of you have boys with learning
> disabilities.
> >  Frankly we never heard of ADD and some of these
> other
> >"challenges" until recently and haven't done
> anything
> >to address these issues.  If your boy has a
> handicap,
> >chances are he'll have to deal with it for life so
> >he'll just have to learn to overcome it here. 
> Study
> >harder or accept lower grades, we have no intention
> in
> >changing our methods that have worked so well for
> us
> >for over a hundred years.  I'm sure a lot of you
> have
> >kept up with all the new science and theories
> >associated with education, we haven't.  If you
> insist
> >on sharing them with us, Father David will refund
> your
> >money as you leave. ... One last thing, no doubt
> your
> >son will come home and say things about his
> teachers.
> >Ignore them and we'll ignore all the things your
> son
> >tells us about you."
> >
> >Father Tribou had cancer his last several years but
> >wanted to live long enough to see the Class of
> 2000,
> >Spencer's class, graduate.  He died in 2001.  The
> >public school system in most parts of the country
> >could use some of his wisdom.
> >
> >Brad Haslett
> >"CoraShen"
> >
> >
> >--- R22RumRunner at aol.com wrote:
> >
> > > Slim,
> > > You have to understand where Ed is coming from.
> In
> > > SC, the SAT test scores
> > > are the worst in the nation and have been for
> ever.
> > > 1/2 of all 9th grade
> > > students today, will not graduate from high
> school.
> > > Now, the state is throwing
> > > millions of dollars into constructing new
> schools
> > > and getting rid of the
> > > portable classrooms. They are also at the same
> time
> > > making the requirements  tougher
> > > on the teachers. Property taxes have gone up
> some
> > > since I moved here,  but
> > > they are still ridiculously low compared to
> taxes in
> > > Wisconsin. About 1/5th  of
> > > what I would pay in WS for the same house.
> > > Since all this money has been thrown at
> education
> > > (the past four years)
> > > everybody is expecting the test scores to come
> up
> > > proportionally with the  level
> > > of spending. I'm afraid it's going to take a few
> > > generations to do  that.
> > >
> > > Rummy
> > >
> __________________________________________________
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> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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