[wintertime]

Maybe there's not enough "good" left in Public Ed to make it worth saving. Maybe the collateral damage incurred by scrapping the system would be less...and I suspect it would be...than the collateral damage we're currently suffering at the hands of the system.

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We have seen so-called "good" teachers accuse the conservative or libertarian of being cruel. Gee! Who would take care of the children while both parents work? ALL government schools would be shuttered tomorrow. The so-called "good" teachers claim that children would be wandering the streets. Their parents would abuse them without government teacher oversight,.,,etc.

But...then then the "good" teachers fight viciously against vouchers, charter schools, or tax credits. We see them here on this very board, every day!!! These are the very means by which universal K-12 schools can be gradually and compassionately privatized and power wrested from the evil people who they claim too be helpless to oppose, or too dangerous to oppose.

Sorry,,,but there is a disconnect here.

The "good" teachers claim to be against the NEA and state that the evil people controlling them have so much power that they are helpless in the face of it.

BUT ...( here's the disconnect),,,,

Then these so-called "good" teachers support and organize themselves perfectly well to march on state capitols to oppose the very vouchers, tax credits, and charter schools that would take power from the evil-doers. They have even been known to cooperate with the herding of children on to buses, so that captive CHILDREN can march on the capitol!

Well,,,,if good TEACHERS are too few, and too scared, to fix the government school, how on earth can a citizen fix their so-called "profession"? This sounds like a hopeless condition, that is utterly unreformable!

It is laughable when teachers suggest to the common citizen that they should attempt to reform the unreformable ( what they cannot, themselves, within their own trade) at a measly little old school board meeting.

[Scotswife]

"We have seen so-called "good" teachers accuse the conservative or libertarian of being cruel."

I've seen teachers on this thread accuse some posters of engaging in personal attacks and exaggeration. I haven't seen teachers accuse "conservatives" of being "cruel"

" Gee! Who would take care of the children while both parents work? "

OK...I'll bite.
Who would take care of the children while both parents work?

"ALL government schools would be shuttered tomorrow."

I'm not sure I understand your point here.

"The so-called "good" teachers claim that children would be wandering the streets"

Well...they already DO wander the streets after school hours. If the school shuts down tomorrow, they'll just wander the streets in the morning as well.

"Their parents would abuse them without government teacher oversight,.,,etc."

Who said this?

"But...then then the "good" teachers fight viciously against vouchers, charter schools, or tax credits."

Who said this?

"We see them here on this very board, every day!!!"

Where?

"The "good" teachers claim to be against the NEA and state that the evil people controlling them have so much power that they are helpless in the face of it."

Not "helpless", but they do face a long, expensive, uphill battle that is not going to be won by this weekend.

"Then these so-called "good" teachers support and organize themselves perfectly well to march on state capitols to oppose the very vouchers, tax credits, and charter schools that would take power from the evil-doers."

Are you still referring to those mysterious "good" teachers you see every day on this board?
Where are they?

"They have even been known to cooperate with the herding of children on to buses, so that captive CHILDREN can march on the capitol!"

Again...which teachers are you referring to?
Are you really claiming that the same teachers that fight the NEA are taking kids to the capitol to march?
Where are you getting this information?

"It is laughable when teachers suggest to the common citizen that they should attempt to reform the unreformable ( what they cannot, themselves, within their own trade) at a measly little old school board meeting."

Some issues can be addressed at the school board meeting.
Local issues - budget issues - curriculum issues - bussing issues...etc.
Some issues are larger and need to be addressed at the state/federal government level, or in the courtroom.