Corporate KINGS & Welfare QUEENS
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| Fri, 09-19-2008 - 6:13am |
They have a lot more in common than politicians imagine, those corporate kings & welfare queens:
1) They believe they can make foolish decisions, and the government will bail them out;
2) They believe they can focus on short term gratification, and the government will take care of the future;
3) They don't understand that those who consume without adding value will eventually kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
It has been fashionable to make fun of the middle class. . .those amusing "little people" who get up every day and go to work, real work that requires them to be present and productive. . .those quaint "little people" who believe in God and country. . .those old fashioned little people who actually believe in living within one's means and paying as you go and saving for the future.
It has been considered oh-so-clever to look down on the children of the middle class who don't attend an Ivy League school - but who value an education nevertheless: enough to work their way through to a degree even though it may take them more than four years and their classmates may not be trust fund babies.
The intelligentsia has gleefully looked down its nose at people who do an honest day's work (oh, say work in an oil field or on a fishing boat). . .rather than lounge in an ivory tower, engage in white collar fraud, or feed at the public trough.
The media has delighted in making fun of women who don't wear designer clothes or $400 hairstyles. . .after all, how quaint not to be a purveyor of all that Vanity Fair, Vogue, and Town & Country have to offer.
Most of all, the politicians have been disdainful of the everyday people who have asked - who is going to pay for the cradle to grave society and the golden parachutes you have promised to buy the votes that keep you in power???
Of all the candidates, Gov Sarah Palin is the one who understands those old fashioned values that made the US great - the values that will save us now. . .if corrupt politicians will stop pandering to their favorite vote selling constituency and do the right thing!
What is the right thing: revise the tax code to reward productivity; stop penalizing the elderly who work after retirement; drastically revise the education system - demanding accountability from public schools and the teachers who staff them - it is ridiculous that any child can attend school for twelve years and lack basic academic knowledge or a skill that enables them to support themselves/ridiculous that total incompetents have been guaranteed employment; stop the pandering with promises of a free lunch; require those holding mortgages to renegotiate with homeowners in default wherever possible and to eat the losses they fostered if not- people who are struggling to pay for their own homes should not be forced to pay more to bail out the irresponsible; force failing industries to pay a public value price for the low interest loans they desire: elect Boards who engage in REAL oversight, prosecute those corporate kings who have breached their fiduciary duties - seize their ill-gotten gains and send them to jail (the corporate king who defrauded millions from shareholders is as much of a thief as the drug addict who robbed a 7-11); drill here and drill now and do whatever is necessary to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries who hate us.

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It is quite simple, the US ranks below most developed nations academically and school drop-out rates are abysmal.
'Obviously high pay, job security, generous job benefits for teachers have not worked. Smaller class size, tutoring programs, summer school, English as a second language classes, truancy enforcement might work: but these are not the things teachers' unions have used their political clout to secure."
Where in the world are you getting your information from???? Tutoring programs are in place in most if not all schools, ESOL is at work in most if not all school districts as well, truancy enforcement requires a state law to back it up - that is where the disconnect occurs in most places. There is not a big enough consequence for parents in my state - that is not a 'teacher problem' it is a legislative issue. Teachers unions have fought for smaller class size for years. We were making progress on that front but lately things are swinging the opposite way. In some cases there are just not enough rooms - populations of students increase but schools do not. In some cases salary budgets have been cut to pay for rising fuel costs. High pay??? I don't know what you consider high pay but my children still qualify for PELL grants on my 'high' teacher salary even though I have a summer job and tutor part time during the school year so obviously the federal government does not consider my salary to be 'high'.
Many, if not most, schools that are considered to be 'failing' under NCLB are labeled as such due to one su-bpopulation - in some cases comprising of a very small number of students. A school can be considered failing due to attendance - students are scoring high enough but the attendance rate is even 0.01% below the level needed. Whose fault is that??? It may be that special ed students are not progressing at the same speed as regular ed students - which ironically is why they are in special ed. Since they take the same test as the regular ed students that is likely in most cases. You can't just say oh the school is failing - you really have to understand the law and what classified it as failing. In many cases it is due to a very small percentage of the population that is struggling - most students are progressing quite well.
"If you do not, step aside."
Step aside for whom or what?
We pay teachers now such an abysmal wage, especially in comparison to the importance of their jobs, that we should be eternally grateful that they continue to teach.
Here in N.C. the difference in the teacher pay scale between neighboring counties is so great that it's hard for the counties who pay less to keep good teachers.
Step aside and let parents use
Private schools are not tested under NCLB so you don't know if they would pass or not. Private school are filled with students whose parents make education a priority - otherwise they wouldn't be paying private school tuition. You are comparing apples to oranges when you compare private schools to public schools. Private school teachers are not magicians -
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Where are your links to support this information? Educational philosophy? School boards were TOLD by the Bush administration which programs they HAD to use under NCLB and in some cases it was later found to be programs that do not work - but the creators of the programs were Bush cronies. Again WHEN have you been to a school board meeting or stepped into a classroom??? What are you basing you so called 'facts' on????
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