Posted on 01/04/2009 12:27:20 AM PST by rabscuttle385
I have 3 children that attend public school. I have found that our school reflected our community. I would say the vast majority of teachers actually live in our area and send their kids to the same schools. We see the teachers as neighbors, in the grocery store, at church and the ball field.
Up until recently I lived in a very conservative area. Our biggest groups in HS are Younglife and FCA. Flags and the Pledge were always in the schools, even before 9/11, we still pray after football games, posters of the Military, and our Presidents are always present, and yes, all kids are given a pocket version of the Constitution. We also had a graduation rate of over 90% with 80% going to college. Lots of national awards in both academics and athletics. The alumni from the school is quite impressive.
However, the demographics has changed dramatically recently. Even the teachers are disgusted. The attitude of the children and the parents have just gone downhill. In previous years there was a ton of community and parental support, now it is plummeting as is the school. It is really a shame.
The tax deductible tuition would be harder than the other two to pass because it would look like tax cuts for the rich.
40+% of the people pay no taxes, an extra deduction does nothing for them.
Its really because we don't care about politics and journalism - we are too busy living our lives. So we cede the battlefield to the enemy without firing a shot. And the people who do take up politics under the Republican banner tend to be glory-seeking ne'er-do-wells who talk the language of conservatism but are really more interested in remaining in office to enjoy the power and perks.
I can’t blame you at all for doing that.
But the reality of it is, we get left behind and have to fight our battles with liberals alone.
We have a decent public school as far as being conservative, founding fathers, etc.
It’s attacked regularly from the outside though. Our’s is the notorious school board on the O’Reilly factor that the ACLU targeted by removing the terribly offensive word “Christmas” from the school calendar. :(
Predicatably, no parents were notified and the board folded like a tent when threatened with legal action.
support these groups all you can if you can’t for whatever reason home-school or private sachool, or even if you do homeshool or private school:
well said, the NEA is in it for the NEA not the children.
Give up without a fight?
The fight has been going on forever. I have been fighting it since I was 18 (I’m 42).
No, that is NOT my idea.
But I know when I’m beaten.
I won’t give up the fight, but it cannot be won. This country is full of libs and union/public sector employees, and conservatives who jettison principle when it becomes difficult (as in “tuition is a sacrifice! Home schooling is a sacrifice!”).
Tax deduction will be much easier to pass than RTW or vouchers - that is a historical fact. It will leave some people out, but there are other solutions for them which will be easier with more people getting money back - like subsidized tuition (which is what Catholic and some other Christian schools do).
Taking our kids out isn’t the answer because liberals should be confronted everywhere and we still pay for socialized children directly or indirectly or like it is now, both.
We pay for private schooling for our own kids AND taxes for eveyone elses kids and we suffer when kids get out of school be it academic incompetence or communism.
I have no choice but the public school route currently and I’m left to fight our battles and the battles of anyone who abadoned us to the godless NEA liberals also.
“Yes, while conservatives have slept, the local school systems across the country, including ours, have been completely taken over by liberals.”
School Systems? Everything has been taken over by the liberals! And they had plenty of help from the ‘R’s....
The loss of Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House had a cost that would be difficult to calculate, and it's not mentioned very often these years later. But the press went after him like they've gone after few before or since, with the aim of destroying him. And, aided by his personal foibles, they were able to succeed.
Republicans have had no really effective national spokesman since. And Newt has bounced around on some of his ideas recently, but he, as much as anyone, was responsible for the Republican take-over of Congress in 1994, but he wasn't around long enough to follow through. And those who succeeded him...
And while you are convincing yourself you are confronting the libs - even if you are - your children are being inculcated. Immersed in the philosophy of the left while you make, at best, incremental progress which can be undone in a moment with changes in the system or government.
Not only that, but generally the academic results are inferior to private school as well. How do you fight that as well? These are not new problems FRiend. These were insoluble decades ago when my parents pulled me out of public school in NJ (one of the “better” states nationally). Your not going to win - not playing their game with their rule on their turf.
And why do you have no choice? No offense, I am simply curious. How many children do you have? I ask because my father was a blue-collar, non-union type who never made more that $40,000.00 /yr (in the 70’s and 80’s when we were kids) and my parents found a way to send five of us to private school. It can be done.
My HS tuition was $2500/yr when I graduated in 1985. That, plus my brother tuition was a huge burden but my parents found a way. They were NOT going to allow me to receive an inferior, anti-Christian, anti-American education because of money.
I received a superior education. A moral, Christian education. You know what I did not have? All the goodies my PS friends did. A pool. A moped. An ATARI (well...not until long after they were passe). No HBO. No family vacations.
If you’re very poor with five kids, ok. Maybe you have a legitimate financial excuse. Maybe there are other options if that is the case? Many Catholic schools offer sliding tuition rates nowadays. Their are charities which provide elementary school tuition to kids.
In addition, never forget the fact that the amount of scholarship money that comes from most private educations is larger than the PS equivalent and offsets the expenses paid in elementary school and HS.
Lets see if we can find a way for you to find that money - in your budget or elwhere.
What exactly are you doing? Please tell us what battles you are actually fighting, while you "have no choice but the public school."
Good summary.
You forgot 300-pound-flour-sack-thighed-unable-to-see-their-feet-unemployable bitches on welfare.
Ain't that the truth.
I don't recall the details, but some national education standards, and curriculum standards, were adopted nationally during the GHWB administration. GHWB commented at times how he and the Governor from Arkansas worked together on agreeing to the new educational standards.
Reagan's worst mistake.
If this is being reflected in the schools via teachers and kids attitudes; be aware that you'll soon see it in your Churches as well.
There is but one hope for your community, and that is that you resist with all that you have, those forces of liberality. But it will take those within the community, who hold dear those same ideas and values, to be in solidarity as well.
"Just say no" works!
Pingeroonie!
Bookmark for pingout.
Multiple...fighting directly with the ACLU banning Christmas from the school calendar by supporting Thomas More, directly involved with the school curriculum.
Confronting the principal direclty when a bully was picking on my daughter and she suggested SHE be moved out of the class. (The kid was not only moved but removed from school eventually)
Confronting the principal directly for banning a food becuase one child was allergic to the food.
Confronting political correctness each and everytime I see it!
If they did, they'd tell the accreditation agencies to take a flying leap and send their kids only to conservatively approved schools, while not giving a tuppenny darn whether any teacher had a degree in ethnomusicology or any other claptrap.
Ignore their procedures and use your own, and they are powerless. Period. It is all the parents' fault for putting up with this crap.
How many of those battles have you won?
Was “Christmas” added back to the calendar?
Was the food ban lifted (I must confess, this is not just a PS issue)?
What is the percentage of liberal/PC lunatic policies you have you reversed in your war?
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