🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Nov10.140607.3557@cc.usu.edu>, erik@acspr1.acs.brockport.edu writes:
|> 
|> either grades, or money).  This last school just warehouses students for money.
|> 

I don't know what the public schools are like where you are, but that's exactly 
what the school district here does to 90% of the students.  We are talking about
a district where the teachers just got a 16% over 4 years pay raise, with 1 year
backdated which gives them and immediate 8% pay increase and a nice Christmas Club
check for 4% of last years salary.  After forcing this contract by threatening yet 
another strike, how did they respond??  They have now said they will not attend
PTA mettings cause they aren't paid to do that.  They are threatening to refuse
to take part in any extra-curricular acctivities, which would of course result in
there being no extra-curricular acctivities because of a lack of sponsers. 
And this is after they WON the contract fight.  Makes you wonder what it would
have been like if they had lost.

Education in this country needs reform a lot more than medicine.  But I fear
the status quo has way too much of a hold for anything to ever be done until
the system colapses under it's own weight.

Until the anti-voucher advocates stop talking about it like subsidies for private
schools and admit that just as much of my money is in the pot as theirs, we will
be forced to live with a system who's sole purpose is to warehouse students for
~6 hours a day while only those who are willing to work extra to pay for two
educations (one for their child and one for someone elses) will be able to do 
better.  And where does that leave the inner-city student, who's parent(s) have 
a hard enough time surviving much less paying extra??  And what of the student
him/herself??  With the kind of start they are getting in the public school, what
are the chances they will be able to get out of that cycle??  What are the chances
they will even want to, based on what they are likely to learn (or not learn) in
school??

The next time you think vouchers are a plot to make the rich richer, remember,
Rockefellers, Kennedys and Clintons don't send their kids to public school now.
Only average citizens (and especially the poor) do now.

bill