Lynnell Mickelson wrote:
<snip>
Now the classic response of Public School Bashers--on the
Right and Left--is to simply shrug and say well, the schools just
have to try harder. The school is still responsible. The school needs
to work better. (And yes, it does remind me of misogyny and
wife-beating because these critics are mostly men and the school
staff is mostly women. So, of course, it's all their fault. They're
responsible for everything--no matter what and no excuses--Whap,
Whap, Whap.)
I thought this was vile the first time I read it and seeing this weak
rejoinder to Mike's calling you on it reinforces my original opinion.
Mike may not have kids in the public schools, but I do. Mine were
never in the schools you name -- they were in Jefferson, Anderson,
Emerson, Anwatin and Roosevelt, and I have to say that in only
two of those schools - Jefferson and Anwatin, which just happen
to be located in majority-white neighborhoods -- did they get the kind
of teachers and educational environment you describe your children
enjoying. The only reason my daughter got gifted and talented classes,
and my son got special education, was because my ex-wife stayed
at home and fought the MPS administration like a wounded lion to get
them what they needed.
They're getting it now in Edina without that kind of knives-out, in-your-face
attitude being necessary. What I and a lot of other parents want to know
is, why does it take this kind of action to get results from people who (at
least in theory) work for us? Yes, there may be parents who don't care
about their kids' education, but those aren't the parents you're hearing
from on this list and that I hear from when I talk to people in Phillips and
Whittier.
The critics of the Minneapolis public schools are not "mostly men."
A lot of them are mothers, grandmothers, aunts and older sisters who
look at the amount of money WASTED by the system and want to
know why...why Anderson and Four Winds don't work as well as the
schools your kids go to. Why our schools get the least experienced
teachers, and yours don't. The bottom line is that your kids are playing
in Yankee Stadium, learning from the Jason Giambis and Derek Jeters
and Roger Clemens of education while ours are playing in the Mistake
By The Lake with the 1991 Cleveland Indians. (For non-baseball fans,
that team lost over 100 games while our Twins went to the World Series.)
The bottom line here is that your limited experiences and your sympathy
for the Powers That Be have blinded you to the fact that MPS is not evenhanded in its staffing and funding, and seems more intent on explaining
why it can't teach our children successfully than in trying to deal with the
problems of a student population that is poorer and more mobile than most.
Instead of trying to see matters from our perspective, you apply a simplistic
feminist analysis. "These candidates are men,and they're bashing the
system. The system is mostly staffed by women. Why, that's just like
wife-beating. Bash, bash, bash." What odious bullcr@p. With public debate
being reduced to such terms, no wonder we have a hard time changing
anything in this city.
Kevin Trainor
Republican Candidate, HD 61A
East Phillips
www.taxpayersfortrainor.org
