Michael Atherton wrote: The school district/state has an obligation to provide my children with an education, if they can't they should provide me with some means to.
[TB] The school district will provide an education for your kid (granted, they will kick the kid out for such things as bringing a gun to school but stay away from the major felonies and the kid will be provided for) we have a number of great charter schools and s/he may be able to enroll in public schools in another district. No shortage of options. If you don't like what is provided, I as a taxpayer don't feel the need to finance something else that meets your super platinum standard. I, however, don't have a park available with a quarter mile track and removable roof that allows me to adequately train year round. It's clear that the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board should pay my membership fee (give me a voucher) to a private club where I can train properly. [Michael Atherton again]: I believe that in specific cases the public schools should be able to select which students are admitted to a given school. That is, students who negative impact the education of other children should be assigned to special schools. [TB] Reminds me of a conversation that I had with a client back in the days I worked for a public accounting firm. The client sent his kids to a private school, he had an issue with the public schools. He told me "its not the integration I object to, its the forced integration" There maybe a politically correct term for his attitude, I just don't know what it is. [Atherton again] Private schools are overwhelming white and middle-to-upper class because poor parents don't have any means to enroll their children. [TB] Okay, I know I'm not real bright but now I'm starting to get it. You want to keep it that way. Or are you proposing that as a condition of accepting vouchers that the school agree to accept the voucher as the full tuition for any student that wants to attend? As a charter school does? [Atherton again] I was supportive of affirmative action in the 60s and 70s and I was willing to let someone else have a job that I wanted to account for previous discrimination, but I am not willing to sacrifice the future of my children to an experiment in social failure. Nor am I willing to stand by while the public schools perpetuate poverty and racism. [TB] I'd like to see an example of what MPS are doing to "perpetuate poverty and racism". I can't find anywhere on their website that is one of the things they do. How do they "experiment in social failure"? I'm not ready to blame MPS for the excessive transfers of some students during the school year or the poor attendance habits of some students. I think MPS under the leadership of Superintendent Johnson has made great steps in addressing the issues that inhibit student performance. [Michael Atherton] The burden of educating children should not be placed on parents, it is a responsibility and function of our government. [TB] Okay, big government to do everything for everyone? They tried that in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe before those governments fell apart. Maybe some big group homes for kids so their education doesn't burden their parents. Students with interest supportive and involved parents do much better in any school than those without. Good parents are supportive of their kids education, great parents are involved in it. Terrell Brown Loring Park terrell at terrellbrown dot org _______________________________________ 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
