[Rhodes22-list] Herb, what about Robin Hood?

[brad haslett]

Herb & Bill.

After living in "The South" for 27 years I consider
myself more Southern than Yankee for what that's
worth.  My first experience with race and the school
systems was when I lived in Little Rock.  I moved to
Little Rock in 1978 and bought my first house in a
"mixed" neighborhood.  Here that doesn't mean Irish
and Italian, it means black and white.  It wouldn't
have mattered to me if it was mostly Martian, it was a
nice neighborhood and I could afford it.  The
neighborhood kids played together at the pool, played
baseball in the streets, etc.  The parents BBQ'd
together, drank beer, loaned sugar, etc., like
neighbors do.  The school bus, or I should say busses,
picked the kids up right in front of my house. The
white kids got on one bus to go to a school in a run
down part of town.  Another bus picked up the black
kids to take them to a school to a better part of
town.  Another school, a few blocks from the
neighborhood, had kids bussed in from other parts of
town.  Why?  Some federal judge in St. Louis decided
to "balance" the school system.  It was nuts. Who
could blame anyone with the resources to say, "the
hell with it, I'm putting my kids in private school,
let them experiment with someone else's".  That's
exactly what I did.

I don't have a problem giving extra money to problem
schools but at some point, you have to draw a line and
look at other issues than money.  Frankly, I don't
think the federal government has any business in
schools at all, it's a state issue.  The further from
home control and funding of schools get, the less
interest parents and taxpayers have in their schools.

This is no longer 1957 or 1964.  The old stereotypes
die hard though.  The issue has become so confused by
PC that to even discuss it can earn you a label.

Brad Haslett
"CoraShen"


--- Herb Parsons <hparsons at parsonsys.com> wrote:

> The implication that "we" don't provide the same
> resources to "black
> schools" as we do "white schools" in the south was
> the outrageous
> statement I was referring to.
> 
> We don't have white or black schools, most of them
> are brick.
> 
> Yep, that was facetious, I should have followed my
> initial inclination,
> and stayed out of the discussion.
> 
> Herb Parsons
> 
> S/V O'Jure
>   1976 O'Day 25
> 
> S/V Reve de Papa
>   1971 Coronado 35
> 
> 
> >>> bill at effros.com 10/11/2004 12:34:06 AM >>>
> ah, Herb,
> 
> What I said was "We don't provide the same resources
> in black schools
> as we do in white schools.  That is as true here, in
> Greenwich,
> Connecticut as it is in the deep South."  Is this
> the "outrageous claim"
> you are referring to?  Do you think black schools
> get the same funding
> as white schools?
> 
> As I understand the "Robin Hood" initiative, it was
> enacted to level
> the unequal amounts available in different school
> districts so all kids
> in Texas can get an equal education.  Further, it is
> my understanding
> that it is color blind, and that 9 out of 10 school
> districts in Texas
> are net beneficiaries.
> 
> Do I have that wrong?
> 
> The point I was trying to make is that despite the
> fact that Greenwich,
> CT spends twice as much per student as Texas spends
> on each student,
> even here we manage to short change the schools in
> the less prosperous
> parts of town.  (Yes, there are black kids in
> Greenwich--our school
> population closely mirrors national averages.)
> 
> Bill Effros
> 
> 
>                                      
> 
> 
> To download a free copy of the electronic book
> "Quote Without Comment"
> 
> Click on or copy this address and load it into your
> web browser:
>
http://www.quotewithoutcomment.com/qwc.cgim?template=FreeBook
> 
> 
> Want to see more quotes?
> http://www.QuoteWithoutComment.com 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: Herb Parsons 
> To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org 
> Sent: Monday, October 11, 2004 12:42 AM
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Herb, what about Robin
> Hood?
> 
> 
> I started to post a response, and just decided -
> what the heck, it
> won't
> make a difference. They've got their minds made up
> about how things
> work
> "in the south".
> 
> I work for a school district in TX that gives back a
> BIG portion of
> their tax revenues to poorer districts. Personally,
> I don't think
> Robin
> Hood works, but I'll say this about it - it proves
> that the nay-sayers
> like Bill who make outrageous claims about school
> "racism in the
> south"
> don't know what they're talking about. The fact that
> we even HAVE
> Robin
> Hood means that we're trying.
> 
> Herb Parsons
> 
> S/V O'Jure
>   1976 O'Day 25
> 
> S/V Reve de Papa
>   1971 Coronado 35
> 
> 
> >>> jdwhite at utpa.edu 10/8/2004 8:25:31 AM >>>
> 
>    Hey Herb
>    Should we try and explain the Robin Hood school
> initiative to Bill
> and
>    Brad? I assume that you live in the Dallas area,
> and like the rest
> of
>    us on this list probably earn a "comfortable"
> salary....so I'm sure
>    your school district contributes to districts
> like ours. As you
> know,
>    the Rio Grande Valley is by definition one of the
> most impoverished
>    areas in the United States. Heck, at one time I
> think it was
>    considered the most impoverished...
>    Herb, I want you to know that your stolen tax
> dollars are not being
>    wasted. We have more administrators, facilitators
> and coordinators
>    than ever before. We have more schools, we have
> more teachers (the
>    degree mill is putting them out at a record pace.
> Seems like every
>    other adult I encounter lately is a teacher), we
> have more
> equipment
>    than we know what to do with (a laptop computer
> in every pot!). We
>    have programs, programs, and more programs.....
>    And yet we're still behind the state curve. Why
> is that? I guess
>    stealing from the rich to give to the poor might
> not be the
>    answer......
>    Jim White
>    BTW I tried your method of accomplishing all
> three activities the
>    other night (fishing, sailing and surfing). My
> trolling lure hung
> up
>    on a mass of seagrass, the boat jibed hard, and I
> almost got thrown
>    off the foredeck.....(seriously folks, I had a
> great sail, which
> was
>    necessary to keep my own rudder centered....I
> highly recommend
>    it...and if it's too nasty to sail there...come
> on down and sail
> with
>    us!!!!).
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