[BartSimpson]

fifeboy fifeboy:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

The answer to the problems with inner city schools has been school vouchers that allow concerned parents to take their kids out of the district to better schools in the suburbs, to charter schools, or to private schools.

Ahh! You mean bussing

I frown on public displays of affection.

[Regina]

Here your little kid gets bused to school if the live more than 500 yards from their school.

[fifeboy]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

The problem here is that the teacher's unions inevitably control the school boards by electing union activists to the school board.

SO, the 309,852 teachers in Canada (old estimate,so there are probably more now) control the election of school boards in a population of 35 million??? And in the U.S. 3.7 (2012) teachers control school boards in a population of what...320 million??? Wow, now that's what I call power voting.

[Freakinoldguy]

I guess nobody read this part of the article:

$1:

They changed wrong answers to demonstrate student progress, and some received performance-related bonuses

So it isn't all about funding, politics or school districts. Alot of it's about personal greed, maybe even more so than any altruistic needs to help students.

For some reason whenever topics like this come up people seem to be base judgements about the school system on movies like "Stand and Deliver" rather than the reality that teachers are people and like alot of other people they're looking out for #1 and fuck the kids they're responsible for.

[BartSimpson]

fifeboy fifeboy:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

The problem here is that the teacher's unions inevitably control the school boards by electing union activists to the school board.

SO, the 309,852 teachers in Canada (old estimate,so there are probably more now) control the election of school boards in a population of 35 million??? And in the U.S. 3.7 (2012) teachers control school boards in a population of what...320 million??? Wow, now that's what I call power voting.

In California in the last election just the NEA spent over $40 million on just one election for State Superintendent of Schools.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/20 ... with-dues/

Common Cause (a liberal political watchdog group) estimated that teacher's unions spent nearly $780 million in California on all local and state races in the 2014 election cycle.

By comparison the 'evil' NRA spent about $4 million on the 2014 elections in California.

[BartSimpson]

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

I guess nobody read this part of the article:

$1:

They changed wrong answers to demonstrate student progress, and some received performance-related bonuses

So it isn't all about funding, politics or school districts. Alot of it's about personal greed, maybe even more so than any altruistic needs to help students.

For some reason whenever topics like this come up people seem to be base judgements about the school system on movies like "Stand and Deliver" rather than the reality that teachers are people and like alot of other people they're looking out for #1 and fuck the kids they're responsible for.

In "Stand and Deliver" it's important to note that Jaime Escalante was opposed by the teachers and their union when he radically proposed that teachers were responsible for teaching their students.

[andyt]

fifeboy fifeboy:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

The problem here is that the teacher's unions inevitably control the school boards by electing union activists to the school board.

SO, the 309,852 teachers in Canada (old estimate,so there are probably more now) control the election of school boards in a population of 35 million??? And in the U.S. 3.7 (2012) teachers control school boards in a population of what...320 million??? Wow, now that's what I call power voting.

Most of the potential voters are too busy foaming at the mouth about the teachers to actually bother getting out and voting for the school board. Either that, or most people support the school boards as they currently are, and only Bart and his fellow nutters are foaming at the mouth.

[Thanos]

Looks to me like Atlanta's got a bad TNB problem.

[ShepherdsDog]

titties n' beer?

[Thanos]

Nope, but almost as funny if you're in the right kind of mood. Let's just say the good ol' boys at Stormfront and Chimpout have some fairly humourous and interesting ways with which they describe things. I'm a bit of a shock-comedy idiot so it kind of appeals to me.

Actually, given the large number of strip clubs in Atlanta that the big-time football and other 'affaleets' usually hang around at, the 'titties n' beer' observation really isn't that far off.

[fifeboy]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

fifeboy fifeboy:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

The problem here is that the teacher's unions inevitably control the school boards by electing union activists to the school board.

SO, the 309,852 teachers in Canada (old estimate,so there are probably more now) control the election of school boards in a population of 35 million??? And in the U.S. 3.7 (2012) teachers control school boards in a population of what...320 million??? Wow, now that's what I call power voting.

In California in the last election just the NEA spent over $40 million on just one election for State Superintendent of Schools.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/20 ... with-dues/

Common Cause (a liberal political watchdog group) estimated that teacher's unions spent nearly $780 million in California on all local and state races in the 2014 election cycle.

By comparison the 'evil' NRA spent about $4 million on the 2014 elections in California.

Two things here:
Political spending is only effective if people are not paying attention during the election. And I suspect it's not illegal, even in California.

and

YOU GUYS ELECT THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS? YOU MAKE THE MOST IMPORTANT POSITION IN EDUCATION FOR YOUR STATE A POPULARITY CONTEST. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING? THIS ISN'T THE BLOODY CHEERLEADING SQUAD FOR A HIGHSCHOOL. BAD DOG, BAD

[BeaverFever]

$1:

YOU GUYS ELECT THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS? YOU MAKE THE MOST IMPORTANT POSITION IN EDUCATION FOR YOUR STATE A POPULARITY CONTEST. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING? THIS ISN'T THE BLOODY CHEERLEADING SQUAD FOR A HIGHSCHOOL. BAD DOG, BAD

They also elect the county comptroller, state insurance commissioner, etc. etc. Part of America's problem is that so many of the decision makers are politicians, not professionals or experts so everything is hyper-politicized and so many people are in hysterics 100% of the time on 100% of the issues.

[BartSimpson]

andyt andyt:

Most of the potential voters are too busy foaming at the mouth about the teachers to actually bother getting out and voting for the school board. Either that, or most people support the school boards as they currently are, and only Bart and his fellow nutters are foaming at the mouth.

Right. I'm a nutter because I'm not in denial about the failures of public schools.

Meanwhile, you think the problem is that private schools are too successful.

[2Cdo]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

andyt andyt:

Most of the potential voters are too busy foaming at the mouth about the teachers to actually bother getting out and voting for the school board. Either that, or most people support the school boards as they currently are, and only Bart and his fellow nutters are foaming at the mouth.

Right. I'm a nutter because I'm not in denial about the failures of public schools.

Meanwhile, you think the problem is that private schools are too successful.

Compared to andy everyone and everything is more successful, and honest, than him.

[rickc]

I am going to come at this story from a different angle. Why did the state use R.I.C.O. statutes (designed to go after mobsters like John Gotti ) to prosecute these teachers? Thats what they were convicted of: racketeering. They are facing up to 20 years in prison. We have murders that don't get 20 years in prison. The guy who stole my dads car did not get any jail time. We were told that the prisons are over crowded, we have no room for non violent offenders. Yet we some how have room for these 11 teachers to do hard time. Is what they did wrong? Yes. Does it deserve 20 years in prison? Hell no! They will never teach again. Their college degrees are worthless. They are sentenced to a lifetime of menial task shit jobs. Do we really need to lock these people up for 20 years? Imagine being locked in a cell with murders, rapists, and the like.....having to explain that you are there because you fudged some test scores. This is a classic case of over zealous prosecution. This DA just wanted to make a name for himself. I am sure he will be running for Governor in the next election now that he has his pound of flesh.

I love how we all point fingers at each other as to who is to blame for the schools failing. The fact is we are all to blame. The schools have been carrying the blacks (especially the athletes) forever. Watch any March madness game going on now. When they interview the players after the game, most speak English at a second grade level, and they are in college! Most foreigners from English speaking countries are shocked at the pathetic English speaking abilities of some of our so called college attendees. They are used to speaking with immigrants from non English speaking countries that speak better English. We just look the other way. We would not want to jeopardize the action on the court, would we? When blacks in majority white neighborhoods are failing in school, their parents cry racism. Jesse Jackson shows up with thousands to protest. We give in and give the kid a free ride to Harvard. We can't have a bunch of negros hanging out in our nice suburbs can we? It would not be good for business.

When blacks in majority black neighborhoods are failing in school, they get pressure from the administration to pass the kids. Which is exactly what happened in Atlanta. If not enough students pass, the school will be shut down. If you are honest you get rewarded by losing your job. How fucked up is that? Your job is on the line if the kids don't pass. Can you count on any help from anyone else? Nope. So the schools just pass the blacks. Do we care? Nope. After all if the school got shut down, the kids would be bussed into our affluent suburbs. We don't want that do we? If the teachers in the inner city get fired because the kids are not passing, than we might get transferred to the inner city to teach. We sure as hell do not want that! So we all look the other way. No one wants to rock the boat. Every one is complicit in it. We all go along to get along. Now eleven teachers in Atlanta are facing 20 years in prison for doing what they were told to do by their higher ups. They did what we as a society are perfectly fine with. Do whatever it takes to keep them in the inner city, and out of our suburbs. Its been going on forever. Now we want to pretend that we care? We want to make eleven people the face of a problem that involves millions. I call bullshit!