Homestead mailing list

["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT gmail.com>]

On 11/23/06, Lynda <lurine AT softcom.net> wrote:
> Actually, for the p.s. system, you would be arguing apples and oranges.  The
> type of school you are talking about was a rare beast even back then and now
> is extinct.

Actually it wasn't rare then, but the state at the time was hell-bent
on driving all schools into the community unit straightcoat.

> I've worked for school districts and seen them from the inside
> out.  They have always been bad when they are run as a big factory but they
> have been on a severe downhill slide since the feds got into the education
> business.

The Feds can only get into the education business as far as the money
goes. Your situation could be different, but in Illinois the number of
federal dollars is almost irrelevant compared to local and state
dollars. The federal dollars are directed to specific programs that
are mandated, so school districts feel they can't turn them down. They
could if they had cojones, but we are talking local gladhanders for
the most part.

> It wouldn't do your dad or anyother parent any good to try and fight them
> now.  Oh, maybe with a small one room but not with any "regular" p.s.  ALL
> schools are tied to federal money and without it they cease to exist.  So,
> he who pays the piper calls the tune.

The old man didn't know that so he didn't shut up when Marcia and the
twins went into the local high school. He wasn't on the school board
there, but they knew who he was and they listened to him.

Federal money is truly a small percentage of funding for local school.
A huge percentage is local, maybe 20 percent is state, and the federal
dollars are -- as I said beforer -- for special programs, such as
special education.

> And, no, public schools are crappy because they are designed to be crappy.
> They are designed to advance a few and to keep the rest in the low-income
> brackets, fodder for the factories, Micky Ds, WallyWorld, etc.

This vendetta against public schools is interesting. Most of the
civilized world has schooling, and most of them do it better than we
do, even in places like Nigeria (which I mention because I taught
graduates of the Nigerian system when I was at UIC). The rant against
public schooling is religous. It's used to explain the degeneration of
contempory social life.

Sorry, folks, I want more data.

I'm not a big fan of the public schools. On more than one occasion
I've suggested that closing them down for a few years would be a good
idea. But, OTOH, they aren't driving our foreign and social policy.

> Oh, Marie, please don't lump me in with Denise and James.  I really don't
> want you to be responsible for causing either of them to have a coronary <g>

Hah! I have certain libertarian beliefs. I don't believe that children
should have to go to public school (I just think that what we offer
them ought to be decent). And please, don't even try to pry my guns
away from me.
> Also, it is the norm, not the exception, that school
> administrators and teachers retaliate against any kid whose parents raise a
> fuss!
Not always. You raise a fuss, and then you follow up.

Marie