James Grathwol wrote: > I think we have a case where reasonable people can have > reasonable disagreements.
The challenge in this thread was to provide an example of deliberate distortion for political purposes by a philosophically liberal organization. I believe that I have provided such an example. The District's webpage on the "benefits" of reduced class size is not part of a rational debate; it is clearly an intentional misrepresentation of research data and statistical analysis to designed to influence public opinion. That is to say, it's propaganda. > MPS district administration, and the voters of Minneapolis, > three times over the course of eleven years, respectfully > disagree. The MPS district administration and voters are not > alone. The federal government, other states, school district > adminstrations and voters have embraced class-size reduction > as a valid reform tool. I am not responsible for the stupidity of the Federal government, the American public, or the MPS administration. One of the major problems with democracy is that majority opinion does not guaranty correctness or intelligent decision making. > In my experience labeling your opponent, and your opponent's > positions does not advance the debate nor bring the issues to > a resolution. And providing misleading data and invalid statistical arguments does advance the debate and bring issues to resolution? This prohibition against calling a spade a spade seems to be common tactic in Minneapolis Politics. I've heard it often at neighborhood group meetings as well. It's used to avoid discussing controversial and embarrassing issues that won't stand the light of intellectual scrutiny. And, the method itself is used to "label" and characterize opponents as unreasonable and disruptive. Thus, anyone of challenges an action, no matter how unethical or incorrect, is marginalized by Minnesota Niceness. Well, I'm mad as hell and I not going to take it any more. I don't see why I could send my children to a public elementary school in Seattle that has national test scores of 84% in Math and 79% in Reading, or for that matter to a "true" gifted program with national rankings of 99% in Math and 97% in reading, and why it is that I can't find such schools in our city. My guess is that it's because the District is run by a DFL dominated school board that is more motivated by dogma and political loyalties than by their interest in rising educational standards. Michael Atherton Prospect Park _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
