Yeh, yeh, this is a linkfest, but as usual, it includes some of my ranting, observations and other “just stuff” that THIS time happen to be of more than usual importance, IMO.
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Read the quote in the header of this blog. Now, consider this comment by Jerry Pournelle, one of those (OK, many :-)) guys who’s a lot smarter than I (or you, for that matter) who has also given some thought to what’s happening in education, government and society in general… and who is usually, IMO, pretty much on target.
Do note that under the court imposed “equality” system of school financing, schools are paid by the state for students who attend. Disciplinary action that results in lower attendance cuts the amount of money the school gets. The result is that particularly in the inner city there is often no discipline, thus no one learns; the equality is equality in misery and incompetence. Under the old system in which local school districts set school taxes and controlled the schools there was at least a chance of discipline and learning. The liberals meant well when they forced the changes in financing. They certainly meant well. They could not possible have wanted to destroy public schools so that wealthy people (like lawyers and judges) could give their kids enormous advantages by sending them to private schools while other children get a primary hamper by being sent to public schools where there is no discipline and thus not a lot of learning. They couldn’t possibly have intended that result. But if they had intended it, would there be a better way to accomplish it than what the courts have imposed on the nation?
Lousy schools. Open borders. Structural reasons for not having school discipline. Free Trade. All well intentioned. The results weren’t intended. Were they?
Go ahead and read the rest of Pournelle’s mini-essay (and the email that spurred it). My experience on the inside, my Wonder Woman’s experience and that of many pubschool teachers (and retired pubschool teachers) in my family and extended family results in a strong resonance with Pournelle’s thoughts.
Let me just add a soupçon of my own thought to Dr. Pournelle’s comments.
Consider remote educrats and politicians and their effects upon education (and the resultant harm to the electorate, society at large and the security of these sorta-United States). Take Congress, for example (please!). Congress is constitutionally responsible for administering the District of Columbia. Considering the school system in D.C., easily among the worst if not actually THE worst school district in the U.S., the buck stops at Congress’ feet.
Ever wonder how many congresscritters send THEIR children to D.C. public schools? The Heritage Foundation noted in 2003 that
While only 10 percent of American students attend private schools, 41 percent of Representatives and 46 percent of Senators responded that they had sent children to private school…
Ah, but here’s the thing: I have been unable to discover how many of those congresscritters who do send their children to public schools send them to D.C. public schools… I’m willing to wager the number is almost vanishingly small, eh? After all, who would want to send a child to a school in a system where, “…only sixteen percent of DC school children [are] reading and able to do arithmetic at levels expected for their grade”? Certainly not congresscritters, who can easily afford to live outside the leprous boundaries of the nation’s capitol with its execreble education system… for which congresscritters themselves are responsible.
So, when Pournelle asks, “Lousy schools… Structural reasons for not having school discipline… All well intentioned. The results weren’t intended. Were they?” I do wonder, Were they? Unintended, that is. After all, aren’t the best a brightest calling themselves to serve us as political elite? And aren’t the teachers of education in schools of education intelligent and well able to see the results of their tinkerings?
To listen to these peacocks preen, one would think they are smart enough and wise enough to at least see and recognize the results of their disaterous policies, right?
If these folks are as smart and capable as they want us all to believe, then they are the witting perpetrators of enormous wrong upon society and should all be treated to a party hosted by Dr. Tarr and Mr. Fether.
If they are as stupid as their policies and theories, then they should be removed from their positions of influence and retrained for menial tasks like hand picking undesired weeds from raw sewage treatment ponds and breaking rocks by hand (OK, some tools allowed under close supervision).
Just a thought.
If you bring the tar, I’ll bring the feathers.
Trackposted to Right Pundits, Perri Nelson’s Website, The HILL Chronicles, Dumb Ox Daily News, Conservative Cat, and basil’s blog, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
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