Somehow the original question regarding merit scholars has been ignored. I have been informed from many sources that the 71 for Minnesota is a small fraction of the actual number, and that MPS has produced more than shown in the Star Trib. But for those deficient in memory, I did ask if Rogers (Rogers standing for any town containing people who can only criticize inner city schools and may be CLUELESS about their own local schools) had a similar supply of merit scholars to show its superiority? Now, I'm told that merit scholars show nothing about the school district. That is, to say the least, laughable. It clearly shows that kids can learn to a fabulous degree in the curriculum taught, with NO "reforms". Doesnt surprise me. Has always happened. With no breaks, despite massive demographic upheavals. But inconvenient facts like these are swept under the forensic rug by people bent on curing the schools with fatal remedies. Because the most loquacious of them are really HATERS of the public schools. Their reasons are not always the same. Some blame schools for their own failures (inability to take personal responsibility). Others don't like paying taxes to educate other people's kids (unwillingness to realize society in interdependent). Some hate every possible manifestation of government, of which schools are just one more. And, finally, some are motivated by the fact that teachers most reliably support DFL candidates, so they'd like very much to poison any well from which the DFL draws water.
VERY, very few are honest friends of education, who really want to save the schools. From them you can at least get honest argument, but their input gets so mixed with the venom, it gets very hard to participate in a productive group discussion. I'll let each of you identify with your appropriate group. But my agenda is keeping America as a liberal democracy, and that America will not survive the destruction of public education. So, if you favor the present slide towards fascism, have at it with the destruction of the system. Help the TV industry destroy the foundations upon which the freedoms you enjoy are built. The coming generations won't even know you did it because they won't be allowed to go to school and learn the truth. They'll think it was "bad luck" as so many of the oppressed of the earth have believed in the past. ------------------- Jim Mork Cooper-Longfellow-Minneapolis, A Great City (no matter what lies its enemies tell) TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ 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
