-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
On Wednesday 06 March 2002 03:00 pm, Thomas Swift wrote:
> I feel that this attitude directly bears on the tone
> and direction his proposed guidance of MPS would take;
> I think he has made the substance (or lack thereof
> IMO) of his proposed tenure clear.
I don't think Mr. Campos' email to the list contained any statements about
the WTC/Pentagon bombings. Therefore I'm not sure that his views on the
bombings or the US response to same are relevant to a discussion of his
qualifications or goals with respect to the Minneapolis schools. His email
contains sufficient evidence of his "special interests" on its own. So why
don't we stick to that?
> You needn't take my word for this, check the MPLS
> forum archives.
How about some specific links or quotes?
> A check of the groups listed in Brandon's curriculum
> vitea gives one the impression that his overriding
> "educational" concern has been including more special
> interest propaganda into the schools curriculum.
It sounds to me like he's trying to prevent gay kids from being
teased, tortured, depressed, suicidal, misunderstood, abused, cast out,
and excluded from the educational process. It also sounds to me like he
wanted to make sure that classes like history weren't just the study of
rich white guys. A good move, in my opinion. But the problem with our
schools is not the subject matter.
No matter how much we argue about who learns what about whom it won't
ever make a difference when our schools are little better than prisons for
young people, walled off from productive society into age and
class segregated rooms with arbitrary teacher groups who have seemingly
absolute control over their days but are not held accountable in any real
way when the children do not learn.
> Personally, I find the effect that the invasion of
> special interest politics and "progressive" idealogy
> has had on the schools disgusting and academically
> devistating. I believe that these groups only interest
> in kids are as fodder for the advancement of thier
> social agendas; results to the kids be damned. But you
> may disagree.
My experiences riding the 5 through North Minneapolis and listening to
some of our city's children on their way to school convinces me that the
schools have no hope in the face of poverty and racism and the culture of
violence surrounding many of Minneapolis' "at-risk" kids. To push the
blame onto the schools (no matter who is in charge and what their policies
are) seems bizarre to me.
> Finally, you are correct in that I cannot vote for or
> against MPS board members; but the outcome will effect
> my kids, my wife and I in that we will be charged with
> the support, retraining, counseling, rehabilitation
> and in some cases, life time incarceration, of the
> hundreds (thousands?) of kids that MPS fails to
> educate. They will effect society well across city
> boundries I assure you.
I seriously doubt Mr. Campos' minor influence (if
elected) on our schools will have any lasting effects on larger trends
unless he does something truly unexpected and amazing. (No disrespect to
Mr. Campos intended, even Mother Theresa would have had trouble affecting
the larger society from just a seat on the school board).
My biggest problem is that he's DFL. Now if he were Green or Libertarian,
then I might be able to get behind his candidacy.
> As I said, if you like what you see in MPS and want
> more of the same, Brandon is your guy.
How will I
know if I've found a viable alternative? Not that anyone else has
announced their candidacy to this list, but simply not voting for Campos
isn't enough. We must have someone else to vote *for*, got any
suggestions? In the absence of specific candidates, are there some
positions that candidates should hold that in your opinion will make our
society better?
Got any special insights into what surrounding schools are doing
differently that makes them so successful? I went to a small, private high
school in St. Paul rather than attend Southwest in Minneapolis myself.
Seems to me that the school I went to was a lot more "progressive" and
liberal than MPS will ever be, but they had and still have 100% graduation
and usually 100% of the students went on to college-- this in spite of
some obvious pandering to special interests in the curriculum.
- -Michael Libby, Cleveland/North Minneapolis.
______Michael_C_Libby__{_x_(at)_ichimunki_(dot)_com_}______
| "even monkeys fall from trees" : "saru mo ki kara ochiru" |
|____ public key at http://www.ichimunki.com/public.key ____|
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org
iD8DBQE8ht4Q4ClW9KMwqnMRAoZnAJ4hmA+BIgM9Zkp7MVU7zc3FOfSW2gCgm3d5
Wt8cXJjjtI39CBnLWXI6Y2Q=
=g4D9
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
_______________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy
Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more:
http://e-democracy.org/mpls
