The retardation of America: "The imposition of compulsory schooling was a serious turning point in our nation's development. The idea that we should all surrender our children to government schools for training was pushed for reasons that should make today's liberals as angry as it does those of the religious right, who object because those schools are secular. The primary movers behind public education were the industrialists liberals so love to hate. Those industrialists wanted to create a manageable, docile, trained workforce, so they pushed the Prussian model ... efficient, lockstep, and controlled."




Testing the wrong policy on students: "Why are Washington bureaucrats so enamored with random student drug testing? The evidence thus far is clear: drug testing has a poor track record in reducing student drug use, particularly in comparison to other drug prevention and education programs. Its fiscal toll on local school budgets saps money that would be better spent on basic educational needs."




Leftists NEED to dominate education: "Why are so many 'pro-choicers' antichoice on schools? One good reason is that only by taking the education of their children out of the hands of conservative parents and delivering it to liberal, unionized teachers can liberals hope to maintain parity. It is the conversion of these right-leaning children that the nulliparous liberals require for any continuation in power". ["Nulliparous" refers to the fact that a lot of Leftists abort their babies and so have fewer children.]




BIG DEMAND FOR FREE CHILD-MINDING IN NEW YORK CITY

"Overcrowding at some of the city's largest public high schools has gotten worse this year, according to parents, principals and education labor leaders. City education officials had tried to get ahead of the problem by opening 18 regional enrollment centers in mid-August but were quickly overwhelmed by parents dissatisfied with the schools their children were assigned to attend, even after the Bloomberg administration opened up 53 new small schools.

Some of the worst crowding is at large, high-performing schools. At Benjamin N. Cardozo High School in Queens, there are 4,424 students, up from 3,920 last year; at James Madison High School in Brooklyn, there are 4,616 students, up from about 4,100. Cardozo's capacity is about 3,050 and Madison's is about 2,380. But some struggling schools are also suffering. At Sheepshead Bay High School in Brooklyn, designated one of the city's most dangerous schools last year, there are about 3,800 students, up from 3,600. "We're drowning," said Michael Herman, a social studies teacher who is the school union leader. Some classes for non-English-speaking students have up to 65 children, he said. "The problem is this: the Department of Ed. keeps sending kids to the school," he said. "It's creating chaos."

City education officials said they expected enrollment figures to decline by the time registers were audited at the end of next month. In many cases, students who have moved away or dropped out may still be counted on the rolls. But the officials conceded that some schools would have more students than last year. "In most cases, we will have final registers that are lower than today's," said Stephen Morello, a spokesman for the Education Department. "In some of these cases, we expect that they will have more students than they had last year."....

But parents continued to fret. Cindy Adams, whose son, Rob, is a junior at the Academy for American Studies in Queens, said officials had promised an enrollment of no more than 500. But the school now has 593. She said there were 44 children in her son's math class and 37 in his law and government class. "The first day of school my son said at lunch he could not even sit down," she said.

More here.

***************************

For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

Comments? Email me here. For times when blogger.com is playing up, there is a mirror of this site (viewable even in China!) here

***************************