Poverty of Mind and Spirit - The Solution

"In response to Evan Sayet's "Dead Man Walking" piece about the lack of ideas coming from the Democrat Party, Richard Becker writes:

"Does ANYONE know what the Dems plan to do to improve our schools?

I know what the Dems plan to do to improve our schools, and that is spending more on the schooling system that has passed for education in the decades since the infamous "Great Society" social(ist) spending that proclaimed it would improve decaying and crumbling cities, poor housing, POOR QUALITY EDUCATION, etc. Billions of taxpayer dollars spent to create the huge deficit and dependence on government as the alleged solution for everything (even Republicans seem to be afflicted with that), the problems not only remain but have gotten worse!

Spending more on schooling that passes for education is no solution, because education quality was better prior to the mid '60s when spending was only $484 per student K-12 in 1965 (U.S. News & World Report 9-1-'75 p44) and is now approaching $7,000 per student amid a clamor for more spending........to improve education!!!! RHB "

What Evan and Richard are saying is not so much that the Democrat Party has no ideas but that the underlying principles upon which they govern not only haven't worked but continue to debilitate and enslave many Americans. The Democrat Party didn't plan for so many things to go wrong. It just turned out that way. Let's look at those failed principles.

Collectivist Thought. The Great Depression was the culmination of a century of anti-business sentiment stemming from the unregulated freedom business enjoyed. From railroad barons, to oil monopolist to irresponsible stock market speculators there was always plenty of ammunition for Democrats to convince ordinary Americans that they were being oppressed. The crash of 1929 was that Party's "proof" that business was at its core "corrupt". The Party adopted Marx's collectivist thought to solve the problems of the day. They didn't. They resulted in 12 years of anti-business solutions that left 17% of Americans out of work on December 7, 1941 when World War II corrected that. Unfortunately, the United States suffers today from a hangover from that thought. Democrats don't solve problems; they generally just throw money at them. Their answer is never to face the issue of inefficiency but to solve it by redistributing money from the rich to the poor, a now failed policy that is the energizing principle of the "new" and "old" left in America. That idea has failed but the Democrats insist it hasn't.

Self-Esteem. A century of psychology has ushered in a collective guilt the Democrat Party and their elite in academia have used to perpetuate anti-business and anti-authority policies. By supporting the elimination of discipline in schools, 50% of the black population doesn't even get a high school education. Without discipline and structure the schools have decayed and the gap between the haves and have-nots has widened. Unfortunately, throwing money at the problem has only exacerbated it. Having been denied structure and discipline, it isn't a mystery why crime, dependency and misapplied concern have resulted in the poverty of mind and spirit of so many Americans. The failure to support American values and heritage in the name of "multiculturalism" has resulted in such confusion that many Americans are rebelling at the Democrat Party whose intent it appears is to replace secularism and patriotism with evolution and a masochistic psychoanalysis.

Short-term Prognosis. I could go on for pages describing how the Democrat Party's governing principles are unfair and haven't worked. But if you are breathing you already know that. That Party's failure to put forward a cohesive plan, at its core, involves the rejection of collectivism and the adoption of pro-business, privatization concepts as well as re-establishing a positive pro-American initiative involving discipline and structure.

At this juncture Democrats don't buy that. Hillary Clinton is their hope to continue their "hopeless" "village" "group" "collectivist" agenda. John Kerry presidential run was not the defeat they needed to change. They need a real whipping...."

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CALIFORNIA DOUBLESPEAK

Orwell would recognize it

State schools chief Jack O'Connell said Friday he will consider "additional options" that would give the 90,000 seniors who have yet to pass the California High School Exit Exam a shot at graduation in June. O'Connell said his decision does not waver from his long-standing belief that the state should not make special accommodations for students struggling to pass the exam, which is a graduation requirement this year for the first time. But his comments drew sharp criticism from the test's supporters, who said the superintendent was sending a mixed message to students, teachers and parents.

"We're staying the course, but does that mean we should preclude every possible option?" O'Connell said. "We're going to look at (other options) very carefully, but it's not a change of position one iota."

Jim Lanich, president of California Business for Education Excellence, called O'Connell's announcement a retreat that threatened efforts to hold students of all racial and economic backgrounds to the same academic expectations. "It's a sad day when the adults of the state will redraw targets before targeting the problem that kids are not being taught what they need to know," Lanich said.

O'Connell's comments followed the release Friday of a report by an independent consultant that said about 78 percent of the class of 2006 has passed the exam, which tests students on seventh-and eighth-grade math skills and ninth-and 10th-grade English skills. Students must pass both parts.

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Chancellor Klein's Dirty Kiss

More outrage from NYC. Reminder for the poor benighted folk who don't live in NYC: Chancellor Klein is in charge of the New York City public school system. He is the former Clinton-era Justice Department federal prosecutor in the Microsoft case. He is the first chancellor to have absolute and total control of the system through the Mayor, Bloomberg

Every day is a time to celebrate the contributions of teachers, says bleeding hypocrite Joel Klein, Chancellor of the New York City schools. Not long ago,on the pretext of it being National Teacher Day, he codified his venal acclaim in a letter that soiled every teacher's mailbox. It was just another masked insult dished out to teachers forced to endure hisabusive reign. This destroyer of education and morale sent a syrupy letter to teachers praising them for "opening the minds" of students and helping them to "prepare to become our City's next generation of citizens."

It prattles on how "every single teacher plays a critical role in our mission to put children first," and credits teachers who work "every day in our classrooms to inspire."What a guy!This kind of patronizing letter is like the turkey that factory workers used to get on Thanksgiving to distract them from the misery of horrible working conditions. Being told, in effect, to "have a nice day" as the knife is being twisted deep into your back at the most critical vertebrae is not much comfort, although it serves to throw the victim off his guard.

Nobody but nobody among classroom educators in the New York City public school system believes that Chancellor Klein is a man of decency or genuine vision. He has done more to ruin the school system than have all the combined educational leaders who have preceded him in this City since Hiroshima. And whatever good was preserved from the past or new evil avoided is by accident.

Chancellor Klein is at war with the folks to whom he is kissing up in his National Teacher day letter.

Source

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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.

The NEA and similar unions worldwide believe that children should be thoroughly indoctrinated with Green/Left, feminist/homosexual ideology but the "3 R's" are something that kids should just be allowed to "discover"

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