[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

All, The objective of the EVIL thing known today as education is to "socialize" children. NOT "educate" them. And this DOES flow downhill from "above". Or maybe "pumped" {using CASH as the engine} up from the BOTTOM would fit better. Peace and love, George.

[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

"Schools are not meant to be altruistic institutions; they are meant to be educational establishments."

Guys, No longer in our NWO is this necessity true. Peace and love, George.

[moyden]

Public schools want control over parents.

[templar]

All, The objective of the EVIL thing known today as education is to "socialize" children. NOT "educate" them.

Indoctrination, not education. (Actually, that's something I could immagine a liberal crowd chanting.)

A lot of the blame has to be placed on society and parents in general though. I'm dumfounded by the almost universal acceptance, by parents, of the public schools systems intrusion into the lives of the students and family. A teacher or councillor suggests Ritalin for very normal behavior and it's an instant 'O.K.'. They send out invasive personal questionaires about a students (or families) personal attitudes, and activities and there are few or no protests. Forced gynecological exams of young girls, strip searches, ostricism of Christian beliefs, you name it; it's all O.K. now.

There's no excuse for having your children in public school. If you're Christian, it's a sin to do so.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

The primary purpose is to provide jobs for those who "graduate" with a degree in sociology. Of course the left then gets the side benefit of leftist clap trap being pumped into kids. These people study such important topics as basket weaving in the ghetto.

[LouD]

I've been substitute teaching lately, and have gained some insights into this situation. The district where I've been working is in an urban area, with all the urban pathologies you would expect: violence, child neglect, crack babies coming of age, poverty, etc.

The social workers here (and there is typically one per school) deal with those kinds of problems, that typically get in the way of these kids getting an education. I would agree that it is not a perfect solution. I would further agree that it absorbs resources that would be better spent teaching children. It is at best, a band-aid solution to a complex and pervasive problem. But, absent radical action on the part of society to compel people to be better parents, I don't know what the alternative is.

The problem is exacerbated, in my district anyway, by a system of "school integration" (read forced busing) which exports the urban pathologies of the 'hood to a formerly good school in a middle class neighborhood - Consequently, our neighborhood public school, which I pay for, is not an acceptable option for my own children. The mindset which underlies this integration seems to be a kind of insane egalitarianism: classes are not grouped by ability (with the exception of "learning disabled" kids) but instead all move at the pace of the slowest crack baby in the class, with interruptions by all the discipline problems - These two factors, which govern the speed with which the rest of the children learn, are the direct result of poor parenting.

It used to be that the children of poor parents were, for the most part, similar demographically - They all resided in the poorest neighborhoods, and so were concentrated in those schools. Now, however, we have magically assigned blame for their poor academic performance to the implicit racism of school assignment - Hence they, and the pathologies they bring with them, are now attending a school near you.

Thought you made enough money that you didn't have to deal with the problems of the inner city? Bought a house in a good neighborhood, in the hope of insulating your children from the problems of the ghetto? Guess again - Those problems are sitting at the desk next to your child.

It would be better if children could attend their own neighborhood schools, and we could concentrate and optimize resources, like social workers, on the children that need them. But here, as in many places, that is not politically possible. So children like mine attend private school, or home school, while children of parents who cannot afford private education suffer. As long as we export the problems of society to every school in America, we'll need someone there to deal with them.

[Redleg Duke]

Answer....TOO DAMNED MANY! And we found out that we have a 4th Grade Teacher (Our Son's) who doesn't think it is necessary to insure that all of the students understand what their homework assignment is!

[Redleg Duke]

Oh, this is that libertarian horsepoop specialist, isn't it.

Well, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

bump for reading

[Coleus]

I'd say we have close to 30 Child Study Teams in my district for about 13,000 students; each team costs about 300K including benefits. Each team is made up of a: special ed. teacher, school psychologist and social worker; these positions are required by a federal law passed in 1974 for special ed. programs.

A special-ed. student can only be suspended for 10 days in a year which is usually used up by the first month of school. And, if they are 21 yrs. old when school starts in September, they can stay the rest of the year. Meaning your 13-yr.-old daughter could be sitting next to a 22 yr. old man in the cafeteria or in gym class.