Originally Posted By skinnerbox ^^ Exactly. This is a tactic right out of the GOP playbook: starve the beast. Don't like the abortion laws not changing? Simple. Make it impossible for women to obtain one, by hamstringing doctors and clinics with senseless regulations and constant harassment and threats of violence, even an occasional murder, to make them leave the profession. Don't like workers forming unions? Simple. Make it impossible for workers to join unions and bargain collectively once they do join. Don't like public education? Simple. Make it impossible for teachers to earn a living wage and be respected by parents and the society at large so that no one will want to be a school teacher.
Originally Posted By hopemax And it's more than just K-12 education. Counties, such as Frederick in Maryland have voted to defund their Head Start programs. And some of the comments from their officials, implied that these type of programs are unnecessary because good parents are married, and Mom can stay home and teach them.
Originally Posted By ADMIN <font color="#FF0000">Message removed by an administrator. <a href="MsgBoard-Rules.asp" target="_blank">Click here</a> for the LaughingPlace.com Community Standards.</font>
Originally Posted By Oldschool Disney I guess should listen to people I've never met on a message board about public schools going the way of the dodo and not actual educators like my father and uncle who stated that A)abolishing public education would never work and B) it would never pass.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I don't think they'll abolish it per se (and I'm not even sure they can - if you have compulsory education, there HAS to be some form of it that's free). However, they absolutely can (and in some places are) making public education increasingly unattractive so that wealthier people pull their kids out, teaching becomes a less attractive profession that attracts less gifted people, and a downward spiral is set into motion. It's killing with malign neglect - the death of a thousand cuts (sometimes literally) rather than a single stab.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox That's true, OD. I could show you my M.A. in Education from San Francisco State University, but you could simply call it a fake and refuse to believe I have any professional knowledge regarding my field. My years of experience in developing learning software and K-12 testing programs for various state departments of education has no relevance at all. Your father and uncle who work as classroom teachers have all the answers. They know more than the professionals who've been monitoring the teaching profession for decades. Absolutely. Make no mistake about these actions, OD. Public education has been in the crosshairs for decades by the conservative rightwing nuts. They've been unable to neuter public schools through voucher programs since most states have been resistant to adopt them without clear guidelines and proof that they're more cost effective and produce better results. So... the conservative right wingnuts found another way to damage public education: starve it of educators. Teachers are retiring at a rate faster than they're being replaced by new teachers. Fact. College students entering the teaching profession has been in a steady decline. Reason? Doesn't pay enough for what the job entails. And lowering teacher compensation will only speed up this decline even more. End result? Not enough new teachers to replace the ones retiring. Which means larger classrooms, so large as to not be more than glorified babysitting. Instead of demanding more pay and better conditions for the teachers, parents will probably become more open to vouchers as an alternative to public education. Problem is, most of those parents won't be able to supplement the vouchers in order to meet the costs of private school tuition. So only the upper middle class kids will get to attend the private schools, while everyone else will be stuck with the remaining public schools, which will continue to decline in quality and quantity for lack of funding. Sure, public education isn't going anywhere, right? Just like abortion. Abortion is still legal, but try getting one for less than $1000 in a red state. Virtually impossible.
Originally Posted By hopemax > I guess should listen to people I've never met on a message board about public schools going the way of the dodo and not actual educators like my father and uncle who stated that A)abolishing public education would never work and B) it would never pass. < Uhh, no one said that schools were going the way of the dodo. Why jump to that conclusion, based on a couple of comments about the quality provided, and the elimination of Head Start programs? Just checking...Is anyone else experiencing an odd sense of deja vu?
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <--- raises hand I can't quite put my finger on it, but the tone is very familiar, along with the lack of focus, anti-union sentiment, and Republican support in Wisconsin. Could this be DAR?
Originally Posted By hopemax Okay, Tell me I'm wrong about Oldschool Disney. He has previously stated that he lives in Wisconsin and has family in education in the topic about the situation in Wisconsin and the good teachers. >I guess should listen to people I've never met on a message board about public schools going the way of the dodo and not actual educators like my father and uncle who stated that A)abolishing public education would never work and B) it would never pass.< Now, he is referencing father and uncle, specifically. <a href="http://mb.laughingplace.com/MsgBoard-T-80046-P-2.asp" target="_blank">http://mb.laughingplace.com/Ms...-P-2.asp</a> Post #14. I want to be wrong, it could be one giant coincidence, because I don't want to be this accusatory. But if not, I don't want to waste my time either. And I'm sure other people don't want to waste their time either.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox I had that particular thread in mind when you mentioned deja vu, hopemax. You're not wrong.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Nope. Not wrong: <a href="http://mb.laughingplace.com/MsgBoard-T-118582-P-1.asp" target="_blank">http://mb.laughingplace.com/Ms...-P-1.asp</a> 3 Oldschool Disney Wed 2/23/2011 2:03p "So pretending to be another person and taping a phonecall is illegal only if it happens to a liberal but if it happens to a conservative it's okay. Just like it's okay if Democrats run out of a state because they don't get their way. And it figures most of you would be okay with. Skinnerbox you've always been a low class individual and you will continue to be because you find that acceptable. Here's the biggest middle finger and you know where you can shove it, but I get the feeling you're into that sort of thing."
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder It's DAR. And the proof is more solid than proving the other one is beau.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***"Mr.X asked ***but I am extremely proud to be a Republican*** Why?" 1. I am for the most part a believer in less government 2. I am proud to see conservatives stand for freedom of choice (now if we could get them on the band wagon on gay marriage and polygamy it would be even better.) 3.I like the conituing stand conservatives are taking to reform education for the better of students and not for the unions. and I could go on on andnand on*** Thanks for answering! Seriously, I do appreciate it. As to the question here, I think you're confusing Libertarian/Extremely Conservative with Republican because I don't see evidence that the Republicans are doing any of the above (arguably the third thing, but certainly *not* for the benefit of the students vs unions as you are assuming). As far as limited government, the Republicans don't believe in that. They grow government same as the Democrats do, they just have different pet projects to nurture. As I always say, at least with the Democrats pet projects we get something for our money (social security, medicare, roads, etc...). And the choice thing is just bizarre? Who's choice? They are by and large anti-choice, and would be even more so about more things except they sometimes bow to public opinion like all politicos do.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***Don't like public education? Simple. Make it impossible for teachers to earn a living wage and be respected by parents and the society at large so that no one will want to be a school teacher*** It works. I have two cousins, both lovely and caring young women, who both majored in education and were very excited to become teachers. Both of them left the profession within a few short years for the above reasons.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<see post # 44>> The people I hate are those who made those asinine comments regarding "good parents" who are married where the Mom stays home. The vast overwhelming majority of people in this country who can actually afford to live that way, are -- surprise surprise -- upper middle class white people! I hate the officials who made this comment because they are racist bigoted bastards. Doesn't matter diddly squat if they also happen to be white (which I'm sure they are).
Originally Posted By Dabob2 "56 NEW! disneydad109 Wed 2/23/2011 5:25p see post # 44" I saw it. He didn't say he hated white people. He said he hated racist bigoted bastards.
