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Old 02-17-2010, 08:08 PM
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ilbegone ilbegone is offline
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Why not do away with school altogether?


Quote:
By Doug McIntyre

02/16/2010

Even the most noodle- armed or klutzy among us have thrown a ball or swung a bat at least once or twice in our lives, so we feel more than qualified to opine on the skills of the Dodgers pitching staff or engage in passionate debates over USC's choice of the ethically- and victory- challenged neophyte Lane Kiffin as the man to restore glory to the Cardinal and Gold.

Similarly, while I'm not a professor emeritus of anything, I did learn my letters even if my lips do move. As a high school graduate I feel qualified to wonder aloud how we've managed to make such a muddled mess of something as basic as readin', writin' n' rithmetic?

Here's a sample of recent LAUSD headlines: "L.A. Supe Has Ties to Publisher with School Contract," "L.A. School Board to weigh $100 Parcel Tax Tuesday," "LAUSD May Cut School Year to Save Cash." The details of each story poke more holes in the hull of the already listing

SS L.A. Unified. It's politicians, teachers and administrators first! There aren't enough lifeboats to save the children.

"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain," said our second president, John Adams.

Adams' vision of an educated people going as far as their talents will take them has largely come true in America. Being born into poverty never meant you had to die in poverty. Education has been the path to both individual success and American achievement.

Tragically, our public schools have degenerated into a patchwork of mediocrity and abject failure. It's not that there aren't good schools and teachers out there; the problem is the wild disparity between neighborhoods that demand accountability and huge swaths of the city that are dependent on a system that only pretends to put children's well being ahead of unions, contractors and politicians.

This week it was reported a Republican state senator in Utah, Chris Buttars, actually proposed eliminating the 12th grade as a cost-cutting measure. Not any 12th grade, the entire 12th grade for the entire state of Utah! His justification? Most 12th graders just screw around in their senior year anyway, so Utah could save $60 million. With that kind of logic, why not close all the schools? Imagine the savings.

So LAUSD is now considering cutting school days to save money rather than cutting salaries, perks and pet projects. The only surprise is nobody at the LAUSD has picked up on Buttars' idea of killing senior year. Hey, the junior prom is fun, too. Right?

That thumping sound is Adams spinning in his grave.
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