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3.06.2003
So, what does America need for defenses and what should it cost? - Congressman Duncan Hunter, California Republican "Unfortunately, the $399 billion proposed in the new defense budget falls short." "This represents $431 billion in total defense spending for 2004. Such increases must be sustained for several more years in order to get all elements of our national security back on an acceptable and sustainable course. "Should the same casual observer visit the flight deck of one of our aircraft carriers, however, he will find a lineup of aging fighter aircraft, few of which will be younger than 15 years old." Maybe if the aircraft makers were not so busy making fighters for THE REST OF THE WORLD, then maybe we could afford a couple. "Lockheed Martin, 939 facilities in 457 cities and 45 states throughout the U.S.; Internationally, business locations in 56 nations and territories, Largest Miltary Contractor." - www.lockheedmartin.com Sounds like we need some accountability, just like the solution to education. Apparently the solution here is "throw more money at it". But the solution to schools that are decades old and falling apart is to blame teachers unions and call for more testing of students. When school children cannot get books with which to study the answer is to siphon money away from the education system to private contractors. I'm sure that Lockheed will be more than happy to run our education system for us as well. So now that we see a shortfall in state budgets we are talking about cutting teacher salaries and even asking for volunteers to teach for free. But for some reason we never ask the executives at these defense contractors to take a pay cut or work for free. That would be a nice show of patriotism, no? That would be government intervention into the workings of business. So maybe we need to make teachers into a corporation ( teachers inc.) so that they can be hallowed by prevailing logic of the Bushites. Or maybe we can try spending a billion dollars a day over the next four years and see if that has any positive effects on education. I think we know the answer. We know the answer because we get the answer from Congressman Hunter, he knows as well as we all know that if something needs done your going to have to spend money to get it done. There are never going to accept the logic of "accountability" to get defense work done. They know its a sham. We live in a capitalistic society, if you want people to work, you pay them, if you want raw materials, then you buy them. However that logic doesnt apply to the school system. There, if you want something done you threaten and manipulate and even divert money away from needed resources. Should we be suprised that after years of underfunding education that we have a system in shambles? I think not. Its a predictable result from a predictable strategy. So now we are offered a new solution when we know how to fix things. Now we are supposed to offer "school choice", which is nothing more than a subsidy for people that wish to put their kids into private schools. So what's wrong with that you may ask? Well, for one, the amount of money will not be enough to cover the full cost of getting your child into a good private school. For lower income people a partial payment of education still means that they will have to pay out of pocket for their childs education. This they cannot afford, as the cost of child care, insurance, health care, transportation and housing have all increased. So they will still find that they have to put their children in public education or even "on the cheap private" education. Maybe 7-11 will start a school program for low income people. Unless of course they are able to dredge up the funds to make up the difference. What this in effect does is give a tax refund to people that are already putting their children in private schools already. Unless you can give the full cost of each child that wishes to go to school then this plan will only benefit people with more money in their incomes than they have in expenses. In these days the middle class has watched a decade or two of watching their incomes stagnate. The cost of goods may have dropped due to exportation of labor, but the cost of real value goods remains and middle class and poor are feeling the pinch. In North Dallas there is a prep school for girls where the yearly tuition is $15,525, A tidy sum, but they get the best in education and the results are predictable.: Hockaday School Quick Facts "100% of graduating seniors attend prestigious colleges and universities. The average SAT scores for our recent graduates were Verbal, 710-590, and Math, 710-600. The average SAT II: Subject Test scores were: Writing, 750-580; Math 1C, 690-590; Math 2C, 700-620: American History, 670-570; Biology, 650-590; Spanish, 660-550; French and Literature scores are not yet available. In the Class of 2003 there are 23 National Merit semi-finalists and 21 National Merit commendees. National Merit finalists for the Class of 2003 will be named in the spring 2003. FACULTY/STUDENT RATIO: 1:10; average class size is 15 students" But for the people that will receive vouchers of two to three thousand dollars for their students this kind of education is still out of reach. But the results are predictable and they are not ashamed to admit that personal attention and good facilities produce well educated children. Thats not say that everyone can benefit from this, or that children cannot learn under other situations. But we know how to put the odds in their favor. WE KNOW how to educate children. We just dont want to pay for it. And I am sick and tired of the blame game that gets played while children gets lost in teh shuffle. Fundamentaly the truth is clear. Class warfare prevades the education system as well. Good pay for service education for the rich, poor state funded education for the poor. The reason is easy to see. A better education and a better pedigree means that you will have better access to the wealth of the country. The rich wish to dominate the market, reduce the competition. Their little darlings will be head and shouldres above the rest with their $50,000 educations while the near illiterate public school children will be forced into the ranks of workers and servants. Vouchers will not solve this problem, but rather give a rebate to those that already pay premiums for their childs education. What will happen is that a few poor kids will get into small religious school with heir vouchers but the money will not be sufficient and the major funding for the institution will either be for the benefit of a political, religious or commercial interest. The American Federation of Teachers, one of the EVIL teacher's unions has a completely unreasonable approach to this issue of school choice. They say: "The AFT supports parents' right to send their children to private or religious schools but opposes the use of public funds to do so. The main reason for this opposition is because public funding of private or religious education transfers precious tax dollars from public schools, which are free and open to all children, accountable to parents and taxpayers alike, and essential to our democracy, to private and religious schools that charge for their services, select their students on the basis of religious or academic or family or personal characteristics, and are accountable only to their boards and clients." How absurd?! (sarcasm) They have the nerve to point out the obvious facts, that under a voucher system the school system will be defunded to provide money to further widen the education gap between the haves and have nots. Which makes perfect sense if you have the money. Besides, if you are rich you dont even want your children to get a "public" education which is heavily indoctrinated to control public opnion and perception about all matters political and economic. You don't want one of your darlings to be subjected to the brainwashing that gets passed for education. Why would you let your kids schoolbooks be written by the corporations that promote consumerism. Why would you want unqualified teachers shaping your child. And even worse than that you don't want your little preciousness getting bullied by the unwashed masses or even experiencing the plight of the underclass. By god, they might have a class consciousness. As a point of further irony. I went to private school. A catholic school no less. It wasnt well funded but the class sizes were small and each student got attention from the teachers. It wasnt a great school, the education that I got was ok. At least at teh middle school level what was more valuable than the actual education was the lack of chaos. There was room to breathe without getting overwhelmed. In high school I did have great teachers. They were not the most well paid but many were catholic brothers and sisters that did the work for little or nothing. My parents paid out of pocket for this education. When I asked my dad if he resented paying for private school and public school he said "no". He thought that he made that choice for me. But he didnt think that justified robbing other kids of money for their education. Very noble. A trait lost on the current crop of so called "adults". It was a religious education but not overly so. But I don't trust the intentions of other religious groups. I was sent to private schools in part because of the education that my siblings received under the public system. They were sent to crowded schools that were not adequetely staffed. The lack of supervision and guidance is a major problem in larger public schools. Children need support and guidance, but we refuse to put forth the money and resources to provide that. So instead they are tossed into environment that cannot always provide the nest for kids. That's a shame in this nation. bruceblog@peoplepc.com | |
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