The Religious Right's Plot To Take Control Of Our Public Schools

leaningright said:
Yep, you certainly have that coach "teaching" History or something similar that comes up from time to time. Fortunately all of my high school teachers were competent except for one Math teacher. That's probably why I work so hard. I vowed when I decided to be a Math teacher that I didn't want to be that guy. As an anomaly, our high school coach taught American History and probably did more to get me ready for college style teaching than anyone.
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Fucking fool you burned yourself! There are plenty of smart coaches
 
Carlos Spicy Weiner said:
Honestly, though, the single worst problems which make our public education systems suck, goes beyond anything the left or the right attempt to do via legislation and policy.

#1) Parenting in this country blows completely. Our schools can't be improved until this problem reduces significantly, and since that isn't going to ever happen...

#2) Inner cities are plagued with violence, disruption, poverty, and drugs, while rural settings suffer from many of these same problems. Both are much worse off than the suburbs, who typically only suffer from #1, and not so much from these #2 problems.

I'm sure everyone here can think of more problems that make our public schools suck, that don't relate to partisan politics.
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I think society at-large can take some of the blame too. Few top nations value intelligence and knowledge less than the US does. Kids are pushed to academic excellence so they can earn more money. Expanding their knowledge is rarely a motivation.

And in some subsets of our society it is even worse. When I was in college I recall reading an article about urban schools having to do Honors Day as an unannounced assembly. If they announced when it would be the higher achievers would be absent to avoid the inevitable harrassment that their peers would heap on them.

Take two high school students, if one is being recruited by the top academic colleges because he had a perfect score on his SATs and a top GPA, and the other is being recruited by the football powerhouse colleges for his ability to play a sport, which do you think will be famous?
 
The Dude said:
That mighty be the dumbest thing you ever said, and your a Jesus freak!
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Yeah, you're going to have to explain this outburst, Top. Afraid I can't just take your word for it, seeing as how it's pretty fucking retarded, and barely coherent to begin with.
 
Carlos Spicy Weiner said:
Getting bused accross town to a shitty school might make a student more worldly, but I can see it as only hurting their academics in the classroom.
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Because that's not how it worked. Kids from the ghettos and poor rural communities, mostly minorities, who had to attend schools that had been systematicly starved of resources to operate affectively, by bigoted white majorities, and which denied those kids access to a quality education, were transported to schools in which those economic resources HAD been invested, mainly white affluent communities. With the end result that these minority populations, thanks to the intervention of the Federal Government, Finally had access to a quality education AND IT HAS MADE AN ASTOUNDING DIFFERENCE FOR THESE PEOPLE.

The fact that you would even make such a comment show an unfathonamable ignorance of the history of racial discrimination in parts of this nation and the profound impact for the good that providing these kids with sound education has had for them and our society. So think about that before you make some asinine comments about bussing hurting academics in the class room cause you simply don't know what the hell you're talking about. For the vast majority of students who were bused in segregated communities the quality of academics in their class room was vastly improved and that's a historical FACT!
 
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Carlos Spicy Weiner said:
Yeah, you're going to have to explain this outburst, Top. Afraid I can't just take your word for it, seeing as how it's pretty fucking retarded, and barely coherent to begin with.
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No, what Topper said was pretty spot on. That had to be one of the dumbest things you've ever posted. You're either to young or to insulated or to niave or just plain ignorant about the impact of racial discrimination in public education prior to forced integration in the early 70's. Topper and I lived through that shit and we saw the difference it made in these peoples lives. Hell son I watched entire fucking States sabotage their own public schools so they could avoid having to educate a class of people they dispised. It was one of the most disgusting, sick and embarrasing episodes in our nations history and busing helped break the backs of those racist son of a bitches and it help advance MILLIONS of minorities into the middle class because for the first time they had access to a quality education.

I'm still shaking my head in disbelief that you could say something that dumb.
 
as long as schools are the center of a left/right fight and they are treated like a ball tossed back and forth, parents are not involved with their child's education, academic achievement is not respected and teaching is considered a career for losers our schools will continue to suck
 
WinterBorn said:
Take two high school students, if one is being recruited by the top academic colleges because he had a perfect score on his SATs and a top GPA, and the other is being recruited by the football powerhouse colleges for his ability to play a sport, which do you think will be famous?
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Honestly? I'll go with the SAT guy. The number of people who can score a perfect on the SAT is minimal and this person will probably go a long way, even if he doesn't become "famous" he will probably be highly sucessful and live a good life. The football guy, if he plays well in college, IF he goes to the pros, IF he does well there, IF he manages to avoid an unjury that takes me out. At this point he's luckier than any man has a right to be. Then he gets a few good years, retires, tries to avoid wasting away all his money and dies forgotten trying to recapture his glory days.

We may exalt athletes in their prime, but once that prime is over, they're gone. You want the absurd stuff, how about the people who make vast amounts of money for being famous and relatively stupid. (not demeaning actors, at least the good ones)
 
If I had been bused, everyday, from North to South Seattle, my quality of education would have been dramatically worse off. Thankfully, I was in Shoreline Schools, just over the city line. There are plenty of reasons why this would have been the case, but one of them is because I am ridiculously absent-minded. As a result, I would routinely forget my books and materials in my wall locker on campus. Had these items been on the other side of the metro area, there is no way I would have gotten them back that evening, in time to get my work done. But, as they were a mere five minutes drive from home, no problemo. And, that's not even taking into account the more obvious facts.
 
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