"True, some of them might be RINOs
and a few others are Democrats, but most talk a straight Republican line.
Yet, they want largess from government, state and federal. They’ve grown
so dependent on largesse from the state and the feds that they give up on
their own traditional values."
The Drug of Choice for Public
Schools
by
Richard Schwartzman,
May 24, 2011
Dependency on government is as detrimental to a society as drug addiction
is to an individual. A situation in Pennsylvania -- likely similar to
situations in other states -- reflects a continued unhealthy dependence
on the federal government.
Briefly, Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed 2011–2012 budget had $1.1 billon
less for education. That’s the same amount of money the state didn’t get
from the federal government for education. The Parent Teacher
Organization moms want the governor’s political head.
During a multi-district meeting, the parents from 12 different school
districts gave an earful to legislators from eight different senatorial
and legislative districts in parts of Chester, Delaware, and Lancaster
counties. It’s an area of the state where the elephant rules, and has
ruled for generations. To say the region is predominantly Republican is
an understatement. So naturally, these parents, most of whom are
registered Republicans, want more taxes on Marcellus shale, corporations,
cigarettes, and gasoline, more taxes all around for public education.
True, some of them might be RINOs and a few others are Democrats, but
most talk a straight Republican line. Yet, they want largess from
government, state and federal. They’ve grown so dependent on largesse
from the state and the feds that they give up on their own traditional
values.
Some of the state budget cuts are steep, but steeper on some districts
than others. The Coatesville School District will lose $8.5 million in
one year while the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District -- in a more
affluent area -- loses $1.1 million. All the districts are laying people
off and cutting programs.
PTO moms and dads, and school board members as well, can only see one
thing: Get more money from Harrisburg and Washington so the districts
don’t have to pare back anything and the board members won’t have to make
those types of tough decisions. Indeed, they want more money so they can
build new and larger schools and have sports fields that are as
immaculate as those in the professional ranks.
Few of them think outside the box, of sending their kids to a private or
parochial school or homeschooling or, heaven forbid, even contemplating
the idea of completely ending all government involvement in education and
letting the free market provide educational services. Some do pursue
other alternatives, of course. One artistic 7-year-old home-schooled girl
taught herself Abobe PhotoShop and Illustrator simply by watching videos
on YouTube.
Another family transferred their daughter from the Chadds Ford Elementary
School to a private school in Delaware after comparing a third-grade
English class. The public school kids were writing book reports based on
cereal boxes with the ingredients as characters while the same age
group in the private school was reading Supreme Court decisions. Using
Cap’n Crunch as a school teacher may be a novel way to approach reading
and writing, but which group of kids stand a better chanced of
understanding the world around them, the first group or the second?
What government-hungry folks fail to look at are historical facts. The
United States became the leading industrial nation on the planet and
raised the standard of living for more people than any other country long
before the federal government ever got involved in education. The
Department of Education didn’t come into existence until 1980 under the
Jimmy Carter administration.
And long before that, the United States came into existence because of
such men as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin who were never forced
into a mandatory 13-year, K-12 sentence of government-controlled and
government-programmed education. They had a few years of formal
education, learning to read, write and do math, but beyond that they were
mostly self taught or worked with tutors or family members. They read
history and philosophy, much of that on their own. They weren’t strapped
to a school desk for six hours a day.
A government-provided education is not necessarily an education at all.
It works well for some, but in all too many cases it’s just a way to
socialize kids, teaching little more than obedience to authority or
simply acting as a babysitter who is boring kids half to death.
What has happened during the past decades of government intrusion into
education is that people know more about reality TV shows than they do
about the Constitution. Worse yet, they care more about those TV shows
than they do about the Constitution or their own liberty.
http://www.fff.org/comment/com1105p.asp
--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
