In a message dated 5/29/2004 2:07:02 PM Central Daylight Time, Annie Young writes:
<< Regarding my support of DFLers, etc. - Good grief, Doug more DFLers than Greens continue to re-elect me to office - Everyone in this city is my constuient - no matter their party. And the last I looked I thought that one of the ways to develop political acumen and garner votes was and is: Win friends and influence people. When one is elected to office it is wise to build coalitions and garner partnerships... >> I am for building a coalition to make a quality public education accessible to all through changes in school policies and practices. I am not for building a coalition to wield political power on any other basis. And I am not interested in being part of a political network that is more about personal loyalties than advancing the cause of human rights. How can it be that the Minneapolis school district has a bigger racial learning gap than most of the other big city school districts? Just about all of the whites in this town say they are not racist, or that they are racists who are unlearning racism. I suspect that many are lying, if only to themselves. I am also convinced that a large majority of people of all colors would like to see the racial learning gap closed, but don't see how the schools can do much about it, and that many are complacent because their own children of doing OK, and / or the schools their children attend are fairly well run and seem to be doing a pretty good job of educating most students. In my opinion, the biggest obstacle to closing the racial learning gap is a misinformed school community and electorate. For over 20 years we have been bombarded by misinformation about the public schools. Back in April of 1983 we were warned of a rising tide of mediocrity that threatened to destroy the foundations of our public school system. And that message has been endlessly repeated. Class and racial learning gaps were being closed in the 1970s and early 80s, but there was no evidence of a rising tide of mediocrity, i.e., that the gap was being closed at the expense of the high achievers. A major shift in educational policy during the 1980s and 90s was supported by propaganda about a "rising tide of mediocrity" in much the same way that the invasion and occupation of Iraq was initially justified by weapons of mass destruction that no one can find. -Doug Mann, King Field Mann for School Board http://educationright.tripod.com - REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
