Comments on: Improve Education & Cut Costs-It Can Be Done

By: sara02

sara02 — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:33:51 +0000

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Alena

http://grantfoundation.net

By: sara02

sara02 — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 05:33:51 +0000

By: innercitymom

innercitymom — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:36:22 +0000

I agree with your conclusion about money not being the problem, because that is supported by facts and statistics. I also agree with throwing out the troublemakers (or at the very least sending them to alternative schools.) However, your post about spanking in schools improving education is baffling to me because it's one of those made-up correlations (back in my day, they used to paddle, and in my memory, kids respected education more than kids today, so the difference must be the kids were spanked then did really well and those same kids are doing poorly because they are not spanked.) Not only is that line of reasoning illogical, but it goes against everything we know about the teachers and schools that DO succeed with at-risk populations. These teachers and schools are not MORE hostile, they are less hostile. They are firm but respectful, engaging and relevant with high expectations. Schools run like prisons is a significant source of the problem, not a solution for it.

By: IndyAries

IndyAries — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 16:33:53 +0000

Ditto to Dobie!

Who would've thought that this simple passage would have ballooned into the fiscal monster it has become...

"Knowledge and learning, generally diffused throughout a community, being essential to the preservation of a free government; it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to encourage, by all suitable means, moral, intellectual, scientific, and agricultural improvement; and to provide, by law, for a general and uniform system of Common Schools, wherein tuition shall be without charge, and equally open to all." Article 8 Section 1

Certainly, those who drafted this, and those who ratified it, didn't believe that this would consume most of the public budget.

By: Dobie

Dobie — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:43:12 +0000

I am tired of having my taxes raised higher and higher so that we can throw money at public education when anyone with half a brain can see that money isn't the problem. Why do we keep throwing money at the problem? Because we won't do anything to solve the real issues.

Want better education? Let teachers actually discipline children (yes – I am talking about spanking kids). Throw out trouble-makers instead of letting them disrupt the education of everyone around them. Go after parents that don't make their children attend school and do homework.

By: pascal

pascal — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:03:14 +0000

“Pascal, if only you knew whereof you spoke re: Mrs. Palin. Obviously, you don't.” My feelings are now injured as the subject of Mrs. Palin is the only subject on which I know not whereof I speak. “”She got out because every damned one of those ethical complaints had teeth.” Maybe you don't know what teeth are? Did no one ever instruct you about incorrect generalizations? Are you without the knowledge of “The Chicago Way”? When you step in it it's best to fess up and move on. The Clinton method, “Admit nothing, deny everything, make counter accusations” while typically liberal and good enough for MSM IQ won't cut it on this forum. Squirt all the ink into the water about Senator Kennedy's NCLB (to point out another of your many miscues on matters factual) and squirt some more ink about Palin but inks aren't facts and you keep getting the facts wrong. A purpose for having a comment section is that kicking the can down the road can bring a thread closer to the truth either by adding new facts or discarding facts that weren't. Inky water is a dis service to all.

By: Rico

Rico — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:56:55 +0000

I'm sure you're a responsible parent, mom. And I certainly realize that a a single parent can instill values and principles in his/her children. But a parent's first responsibility to that child is to provide him with food and shelter. Divorce is the number one cause of poverty among American children. When a single parent is forced to spend time away from home, trying to keep that home, she can't spend valuable time teaching that child to be a good person.
Obviously, money isn't the only factor. But, for two parents who want to be actively involved in their children's lives, not being forced to work sure makes it a whole lot easier.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:21:08 +0000

Considering the history, that person would be more observer than cynic.

The old CS location would make a fine site for a private run boarding school for parent-less kids. Joe Gibbs (Redskins coach) operates such a school in VA.

Talk is cheap. Too many adult politicians claim to be doing "for the children" while turning in the failed results of self service.

By: pascal

pascal — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:14:44 +0000

The Mayor has the power and the accountability for those schools, e.g. no one else to blame. Mayor Peterson, to his credit, began a high class operation. Charters get closed and staffs are fired. Major difference from the IPS style government schools.
The 150 member school board of Indiana is large enough to diffuse accountability and responsibility as they squander half the State's budget. If Diogenes were looking for an educated person over there he'd need a whale's worth of oil to find the third one.
“”She got out because every damned one of those ethical complaints had teeth.”-TA declaring a fact that wasn't a fact but a falsehood. I see Palin on Oprah yesterday (a repeat) addressing the question again. Is anyone so stupid as to maintain that X hundred ethical complaints and lawsuits were valid? I can't believe that any rational person could hold such stupidity in mind. Wouldn't it just be easier to retract and move yourself closer to the truth?
Educators have the pretensions of knowledge also but it works to their disadvantage as in their hubris they overpromise what they can produce and as most monopoly enterprises they lie, cheat, steal from their victims. Even their jargon is designed to conceal. I cannot generally stand Oprah but I can recommend her interview.

By: seanshepard

seanshepard — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:48:21 +0000

A cynic might suggest it is similar to why it was so important that Market Square Arena or the old RCA Dome be torn down. To avoid somebody snatching up the facility and providing an alternative venue (for conventions, concerts or various sporting events) at a competitive price. Essentially, to ensure rental price supports for the newer facilities (among other reasons - like space for the expanded convention center).

Perhaps, if vacant school buildings were sold off somebody with some ambition and a desire to provide competing educational options might snatch one of them up, provide some jobs for teachers and actually teach students stuff?

Government bureaucrats hate competition even more than private sector businesses do ... even though it (competition) always produces higher quality products at/and/or lower costs.

Anyway... that was just one potential reason that came to mind.

BTW - I had an opportunity to visit the old abandoned Central State property that currently has a section allocated for housing the downtown mounted patrol. That place would make a great college campus if somebody had the money to take it on and start a new one. It currently just sits and rots.