I thought it would be an appropriate time post this here, and remind everyone of exactly what our "public" schools are REALLY all about.

It's an old rant by one of my favorite professional ranters, Neal Bootrz.

Obviously, I agree COMPLETELY.

Mike

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Here we go again. Across the country on this day millions of parents who should know better will commit an act of profound child abuse as they take the most precious things in their lives -- their children -- and send them to the government to be educated.

Each and every one of these parents knows that the government does few things well, and most things very poorly. These parents know, or they should know, that education in this country is more expensive, yet produces less results, than in virtually any other government in the Western world.

Remember ... if you listen to Democrats and teacher's unions, there is not one single problem with these hideous government schools that cannot be solved by simply spending more money. Competition won't help. Accountability won't help. Discipline won't help. Only spending more money helps. Every single idea to improve the quality of government education is a non-starter ... except for spending more money.

So .. what is your child's first day of school going to be like? In September of 2002 I wrote a column for Townhall.com covering day one in your local government school. I'm posting it below. Give it a read ... it just may tell the story of what your child is going through today, at the first day of the new school year.





First of all, let's get this out of the way in the first paragraph. They are NOT "public schools." They are government schools. They are owned and operated by government. Every employee, from the Superintendent to the dishwasher in the cafeteria, is a government employee. So, let's call them what they really are: GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS.

Being government employees, you would expect those who work in government schools to have the same behavioral characteristics as other government employees. You would be right. They react to the threat of privatization with the ferocity of a cornered bobcat, and to the threat of accountability with the evasiveness of cockroaches.

The truth, though, is that these are not so much schools as they are indoctrination centers. If your child is attending a Catholic school you should expect that your child would be taught that the Catholics pretty well have this religion thing down cold. Ditto for a Jewish school, or one operated by a Christian fundamentalist church. Question: Will a government school to be any different? Why would you expect a government employee in a government institution to tell your children that government is not necessarily the answer to every problem or critter that goes bump in the night?

DAY ONE --- HAND OVER YOUR STUFF!

Do you remember those weeks before school started for your first grader? There you were, you and your proud new student walking the aisles of the local Costco with your list of school supplies in hand. You check off the pencils, a ruler, a compass, paste, construction paper, a pencil holder, notebooks and erasers. At home your first grader takes the supplies into his room and spreads everything out on the bed. Arrange them this way – then that way. Pencils next to the erasers, glue and construction paper lined up over here, compass and ruler lined up over there. These are his supplies. His! Do you hear? And tomorrow he is going to take them to school. He couldn't be more proud.

Finally, the first day of school arrives. The night before all of the school supplies are packed, repacked, unpacked and repacked again. Then, that morning, just one more unpacking and repacking to make sure everything's still there and undamaged. OK! It's off we go to school! Apprehension mixed with pride. Your young man or woman is taking another grand step toward adulthood! What could go wrong?

Plenty. Remember, it's a government operation.

The students are seated, the bill rings. As fast as you can say the Pledge of Allegiance without the "under God" part, the indoctrination begins. The government teacher steps in front of her virtual hostages and promptly delivers the first raw lesson in the power of government. The students are instructed to bring all of their precious school supplies -- their property -- to the front of the classroom and put them into a huge box. They are told that the supplies belong to all of the class now, and the teacher will assume the responsibility of distributing the supplies as they are needed.

"Whoaa! Hold on a minute here! These are MY supplies. My daddy bought them for me. You can't have them! They're mine!"

Nope. Sorry! They WERE yours. Now all those supplies belong to – guess who? The government!

There's a method to this madness. Your child is being taught that there are some severe limits to the concept of private property. It is perfectly OK, for instance, if the government just steps up and seizes your property if there are other people who might need some of your stuff. After all, it's just not right for you to have something that other people don't have or can't share in, is it?

This whole "dump your supplies into this box" is not an innocent exercise. Your child's teacher might not even be aware of it, but this lesson in government power is a time-honored method of introducing your child to the concept that there is something basically wrong with owning private property, but everything will be OK of you just let your superiors even things out a bit by taking some stuff from you and giving it to someone else.
How did Marx present this concept? I think it was something like "From each according to his ability; to each according to his need."

Day number one -- Lesson number one. Your rights to your property exist only so long as government will allow, and it's just not fair to have more stuff than someone else.

And this is just the first week! More surprises in store! Wait until you get that call from your child's teacher with vague, dark hints of a better world for your child if only he was on Ritalin.......

(c) 2002 Neal Boortz

__________________
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1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
_____
1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
_____
1985 300TD
270,000 miles
_____
1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

www.myspace.com/mikemover
www.myspace.com/openskystudio
www.myspace.com/speedxband
www.myspace.com/openskyseparators
www.myspace.com/doubledrivemusic

i never had to put my stuff in a box.. it was mine and mine only.. so what if i had the best scissors with a titanium blade, or a kick ass pencil box.. i bought them and my parents did ...

Man ain't that the truth.

In this district, the SOB's tried to get a 19% increase this year. I just about fell off my f'ing chair.........

Then, when the budget failed, they trimmed it back to a "bare bones" 14%.........anything less and the busses would be eliminated.

The budget passed......barely........

Naturally, they continue to use the same argument.......if you want good schools.......you have to pay the teachers more money........and the stupid SOB's buy the argument every time.

School was for the most part a boring,ennui-laden experience punctuated by making good friends,getting stoned,getting laid and generally behaving in a thouroughly reprehensible manner toward my elders,couldn't wait to leave,and in the middle of 10th grade I did,and worked in a junkyard for 2 years,THAT taught me more in 6 months than all the vaunted "book learning"ever could.

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Your experience sounds exactly like mine, except for that last part. I attended excellent public shools in Fairfax County, Virginia. I was bored just about every minute, but I also learned reading, writing, math, and science. Then I went to two even better public universities. While at those universities, I found that my public school education had prepared me well for the challenging, and much more interesting, engineering curriculum. Several years later, I went to law school. I was probably not as well prepared for that curriculum, but I did OK.

Maybe you worked in a great junkyard, but I will take the public education system here in Virginia over junkyard education any day of the week.

As to math in school I was dead to it,when I went to Watchmaker's school shortly thereafter it was amazing how quickly I picked up fractions,algebra and geometry for calculating balance spring length,wheel and pinion mensuration and "depthing"a movement for new bushings or jewels.

As for reading I had been doing that since I was 4.

The schools I attended,public and private had no challenge for me,thus I lost interest.

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There are exceptions to every rule...

Some localities do have decent schools, and some even have what would pass for "good" schools... Fairfax County qualifies as one of them...

But overall on a nationwide level, government schools ARE experiencing a steadily declining quality of education, while the costs are steadily INCREASING.

And of course you'll deny it... but many of your comments on this forum in the past are telltale signs of exactly the kind of government indoctrination that I and Mr. Boortz are talking about.

Myself... Probably 75% of the knowledge and skills that I found useful in college and/or later in life, I learned either AWAY from, or AFTER, my 12 years in public school.

And that was quite a few years ago.... Before the dawn of the current era of rampant political correctness, Ritalin, and the "everybody is an honor student" mentality.

The situation is worse now. And STILL declining. And those responsible for it are STILL in denial.

Mike

__________________
_____
1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
_____
1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
_____
1985 300TD
270,000 miles
_____
1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

www.myspace.com/mikemover
www.myspace.com/openskystudio
www.myspace.com/speedxband
www.myspace.com/openskyseparators
www.myspace.com/doubledrivemusic

the teachers want more pay to put up with the unruly pieces of crap they can't smack up side the head.which i don't blame um.i think back at some of the stuff i did 25 years ago and i wouldn't put up with me.

That's one of the problems: They SHOULD be allowed to "smack them up the side of the head" when they need it.

When I was in school, a healthy fear of the paddle kept kids a LOT more well-behaved than what you see in schools nowadays.

Mike

__________________
_____
1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
_____
1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
_____
1985 300TD
270,000 miles
_____
1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

www.myspace.com/mikemover
www.myspace.com/openskystudio
www.myspace.com/speedxband
www.myspace.com/openskyseparators
www.myspace.com/doubledrivemusic

Whenever the public school system asks for more money, I always vote "NO". But I must be the minority, 'cause bonds always pass and I end up paying more for the "government" education.

Only good thing is that Fairfax does have good schools, for the most part. But when I have kids, they'll never see the inside of a public school anyway.

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Current:
2014 VW Tiguan SEL 4Motion 43,000 miles.

2016 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport (wife's).

Past:
2006 Jetta TDI 135,970 miles. Sold Nov. '13.
1995 E-320 Special Edition. 220,200 miles. Sold Sept. '07.
1987 190-E 16 valve. 153,000 miles. Sold Feb. '06.
1980 300-D 225,000 miles. Donated to the National Kidney Foundation.
1980 240-D manual, 297,500 miles. Totaled by inattentive driver.

You are wrong, again. I have not made a study of the issue, but your comment rings true to me.Golly. You must have gone to some kind of extra special school for you to be able to tell that someone has been indoctrinated just by reading posts on a website. In fact, what makes it even more amazing is that most of the time, you barely read what I say, choosing instead to pick out certain themes that fit your own preconceptions about what I think. And yet you are able to diagnose my indoctrination. Impressive indeed.

Yeah, how about you allow physical punishment back into schools...

Many need it, and do things because there they might get the "we'll shake our whole fist at you next time" type deal, or worse yet, the "evil eye"

Such bull****... How about you let teachers decide "ok, thats enough, you're no longer welcome in this classroom" And enforce it



~Nate

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95 Honda Shadow ACE 1100.
1999 Plymouth Neon Expresso. 2.4 swap, 10.5 to 1 comp, big cams. Autocross time attack vehicle!
2012 Escape, 'hunter" (5 sp 4cyl)

Voters like you cancel out voters like me. I almost always vote "Yes" on those bond issues. One of the reasons I vote "Yes" is that I know that plenty of people always vote "No." I prefer to cancel out those knee-jerk "No" votes (no offense intended, BTW) so that the issue can be decided by voters who have given the bond issue fair consideration.

For similar reasons, I generally vote "No" on any proposed amendments to the state Constitutiion.

My "diagnostic skills" are nothing out of the ordinary.

Some things are just that obvious.

Mike

__________________
_____
1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
_____
1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
_____
1985 300TD
270,000 miles
_____
1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

www.myspace.com/mikemover
www.myspace.com/openskystudio
www.myspace.com/speedxband
www.myspace.com/openskyseparators
www.myspace.com/doubledrivemusic

I should have known this thread wouldn't be about where to get good deals on school supplies.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma