Al,
Would you rather reform the public education system of Philadelphia
and make it respond to the needs of all children and
have accountability standards for both teachers and students or destroy it
with a slow, painful death of a thousand cuts - school by school, district
by district?
The private parochial (religious or non-religious) schools, charter
schools and private in-home or other tutoring systems are not a panacea for
educating all of the children in Philadelphia or the country as a whole.
This is the kind of major initiative and coordination that requires a
government-run educational system. If we follow the trend of school
vouchers and the continued removal of funds from the public education
system and follow it to its logical conclusion, we will have a community of
children who, at some point, will only get a basic education if they can
afford it.
And if parents have to buy a K-12 education for their children
through a retail transaction, who's going to enforce truancy or deal with
children's behavioral problems when they do occur. If schools can just kick
any kid off of the rolls because they misbehave or are disruptive, who in
the end is going to help those kids become more disciplined? In this way it
seems that the private "for-pay" school/school voucher movement doesn't
want to help all kids, only the kids that the "easiest to teach." Private
school companies don't want the hard job of disciplining kids or dealing
with their personal/family life issues which almost always find their way
into the classroom.
Towns and counties in the U.S. are closing several public
schools because of austere budget cuts in order to deal with the deep
recession we've been crawling out of. It seems they're cutting off their
nose to spite their face. Conservative/Republican governors,
state legislatures and municipal governments are trying to choke the public
school system at a time when educating the children of America should be
one of our highest long-term priorities.
Mario
On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 8:54 AM, <krf...@aol.com> wrote:
> **
>
>
> In a message dated 4/24/2012 8:22:50 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> glen...@earthlink.net writes:
>
> I believe the plutocracy will first use the charter movement to destroy
> public education in Philadelphia.
>
> How would you answer the rational segment of the group that believes that
> the system of public education in Philadelphia (and elsewhere) has
> destroyed itself with tools ranging from socio-political correctness in
> their permissive attitudes toward children and parents alike, to excessive
> compensation and benefit packages for teachers who are not held accountable
> for their own performance?
>
> *-------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *
> Alan Krigman
> KRF Management, ICON/Information Concepts Inc
> 211 S 45th St, Philadelphia PA 19104-2918
> 215-349-6500, fax 215-349-6502
> krf...@aol.com or al.krig...@krf.icodat.com
>
--
Mario Giorno
228 S. 45th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
westphi...@gmail.com
