[Rhodes22-list] Slim's issues

[Steve Alm]

It's pretty hard to comment on the schools in SC, IL or Texas when all my
experience has been in MN, but I'll take a crack at it.  First, Texas.  All
I know about Texas schools is what I read from Texan, Molly Ivins who blames
Gov. GWB for all that mediocrity that Jim refers to.  He dumbed down the
tests in order to raise the percentage of passing scores, making Texas look
better against other states.  He has the same idiotic plan for the rest of
the country.  

As for what Brad calls the "Wisdom" of the Catholic schools, I say give me a
frickin' break!  Private schools are not held to the same standards as
public schools.  Public schools are bombarded with federal mandates that
usually go unfunded.  Private schools can just blow them off but public
schools can't.  Public schools can only hire licensed teachers.  Private
schools can hire anybody off the street and pay them next to nothing.  Or
when all these home schooling parents don't have the facilities to provide
law-required science, for example, guess what they do?  They truck their
kids off to the public school building for science.  And the public school
has to take them and pay for them even though they get no money for that.

Just yesterday I read the results of a five year study in MN on where the
money goes.  Only 47% of the budget goes to "general ed" and the rest goes
to special ed, transportation, administration and technology, being the big
four.  Private schools don't have to spend like that.  Federal mandates
require public schools to provide service for special ed, for example, but
guess where the money has to come from?  General ed.  It's the mainstream
kids that suffer, test scores go down, politicians panic, heads roll.

A public and free education for all is the great equalizer and one of the
things that sets our country apart, but it is fast becoming nothing but a
trash barrel for the underprivileged--even here in MN where test scores are
among the highest in the country.  Union-busting, privatizing Republicans
are making it worse.

Slim

On 10/5/04 6:02 AM, "R22RumRunner at aol.com" <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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