I'm sorry, but why do you 'disagree' with parents home schooling their children? I know a dozen local families that home school their children for a variety of reasons, the least common of which is religious, by the way, and I find their children to not only be polite, respectful, intelligent and thoughtful, but to be well-rounded citizens. And yes, they have excellent academic records. They form specialty learning groups, attend physical education classes at a variety of places like the YMCA or YWCA, take swim lessons, volunteer in the community and attend academic competitions. The individualized attention they receive is what everyone wants for a publicly educated child--the struggling child can get the extra help he needs, the gifted student can learn at his own pace and the average student can do just as well at home as in a classroom, if not better. As for socializing, to be honest, there are plenty of kids IN the public schools that could do with some intensive socialization training, as they don't know how to behave with either their peers or their teachers. In addition, there are thousands of people that have gone thru the public school system and still can't carry on an intelligent conversation with another human, let alone act just plain friendly. If a home schooled child feels the need to compete athletically on a team, that is a different issue, and I'm not aware of the possibilities, at least in St. Paul. Perhaps Ms. Carroll can shed some light on the topic. Perhaps it all comes down to the fact that the school district doesn't get that child's money. But then they don't really have to provide a whole lot for the child on a day to day basis. If people agree with a parent's ability (right?) to choose the school that's best for their child, why can't that choice be 'no school' at all, if the education will take place elsewhere? What about the children who attend the Cyber Academy (I think that's the name) , a 'virtual' charter school which the child only physically attends a percentage of the week? If they're learning and advancing, I'm all for it. I feel that school choice means to some people "any choice that agrees with my ideas on what is an acceptable method of teaching", and that scares me. I'm glad you don't propose regulating home-schooling , but I'd like to know your reasons for your comment.
In summary, I have nothing but respect for parents that home school their children. I won't even add the word "appropriately" here, because who am I to say what is appropriate for another family to teach their child? As long as the child can pass the tests given to the rest of the state's / city's children, I think the curriculum should be completely up to the parent. I disagree with the philosophies and political beliefs that some parents feed their children, but I defend their right to do so, as I would expect them to do for me. I don't always agree with the focus of charter schools, and wouldn't send my sons to some of them, but again.....it's their choice, not mine.
As for the other things you disagree with allowing parents to do, I know public school kids who have been thru sex ed and still don't know what goes where and and when and why it should or shouldn't. Parents have the opportunity to opt their children out of some sex ed, I believe, and I applaud them for making that choice if they feel they could do a better job of it. My parents were nervous Norwegians, so it's a good thing I had a sensible Health teacher; but that teacher told us the facts and left the 'editorializing' out of it. Period. So to speak. (Couldn't resist, sorry.) But then, I was also a studious one, and learned a lot from books. (Not Harlequin novels.) Parents who are social drinkers or pot smokers can damage a child; are we to criminalize drinking around our children? Should we support kids narcing on their parents? I agree that criminalizing cigarettes will merely move their sale to 'nefarious no-goodniks' and lose us lots and lots of that yummy revenue.
I spent the first ten years of my life in a smoking house, and my dad died a few years ago of a combination of things at age 83, and I'm sure his smoking, which began in WWII and stopped in 1970's after his first heart attack, contributed to it. But he was a farmer, and I think his lung issues probably resulted more from breathing in grain dust, the chemicals he stored in the barn, equipment shed and used in the fields and mold spores, etc., which are found all over 'the country'. I developed asthma as a young child, am a non-smoker, no one in my home smokes and my work place is smoke-free. I rarely come across cigarette smoke in my life, yet I still have asthma issues and carry my inhaler all the time, just in case. I've had friends and family die from smoking-related issues; as much as I wish they had not smoked, they were grown-ups and it was their choice. They all started too young, and yes, I agree that the tobacco companies have targeted the youth and we should do all we can to help kids avoid starting. I've also had friends and family members that never smoked die too young from a stroke, a car accident and the like. My brother lived thru the Viet Nam war, amateur parachuting and eating too much, and died at age 51 of a stroke. What caused it? Don't know for sure.
Life is dangerous.
Okay, quick introduction. My name is Lori Windels. I am married with two sons and a step daughter, all of whom attend public schools--my sons in a magnet school in St. Paul and my step daughter in a Mpls high school. I have two cats and an aging, nervous hamster. I have worked for the same company for 16 years in downtown St. Paul, and have lived on the West Side for 12 or 13 of the past 16 years, after a brief stint in West St. Paul and Inver Grove Heights. I am a Republican and find it funny that those I've known for a long time are surprised by that. After all, I love kids, volunteer at both the school site and district level, favor clean air and water, feel public education is important, agree that society should help the vulnerable and those who cannot help themselves for a variety of reasons and I support the police and armed services--how could I be conservative? I also think people should take responsibility for their own decisions, that public schools should NOT replace parents and that parents should not allow them to, I support small businesses and big business alike and think those who are able to work should do so. I welcome new immigrants to Minnesota and support increased funding for their education; I also think parents should bear the responsiblity of readying their own American-born children for school. I don't agree with unfunded mandates and feel that too much federal oversight of education is a bad idea. I basically agree with most of the same outcomes that liberals do, just disagree on how to get there, who should pay for it and how much it should cost. I don't always agree with my Republican friends, but every party has room for a range of ideas and I agree with the ones that matter most to me, but as they say on t.v., "That's a completely different show".
Just my two cents. Gosh, does this count as two posts?
Lori Windels The West Side
----- Original Message ----- From: "Dan Dobson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "M Charles Swope" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "John Harris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 12:05 PM
Subject: Re: [StPaul] Banning tobacco won't work
I hope Charlie's tongue is firmly in his cheek when he writes this. Yes, children at home are probably at a higher risk of getting cancer than bartenders and waitresses in bars. I readily concede your point. As I have written here twice before, (and I won't bore the audience again), but I am absolutely convinced that my Uncle killed my aunt with his pipe. She never smoked a day in her life, but she died of throat cancer, after being around him forever with his pipe, while her two sisters, who were smokers contracted breast and colan cancer.
But let's look at the policy implications of banning tobacco. With tobacco sold legally, it can be regulated by the state. We, supposedly, restrict sales to minors and collect taxes off of every sale, raising millions of dollars every year. If we criminalize tobacco, we lose the ability to regulate this drug. First, instead of getting millions of tax dollars each year from the sale of tobacco, we would have to start paying law enforcement officers to try and get tobacco off the streets. What police function, would you want to see cut, to increase a ban on tobacco use? Traffic enforcement, homicide investigations? Our law enforcement officers are streached to the breaking point now, the last thing I would want them to start doing is breaking into people's homes because they want to smoke a pipe or cigarette.
What programs should we cut because of the lost tax dollars from tobacco?
I grew up in a house where my mother smoked until I was about 13. Fortunately, neither I nor my three brothers have come down with cancer or any other lung ailment and we are all now well into our 50's. Do I think parents smoking in their homes with their children is good, definitely not. But I don't want cops busting into people's homes either. We allow parents to do a lot of things with their children I disagree with; speed with their kids in the car, spank them, home school them, let them play violent video games, not tell them about the facts of life or that "sex is evil", but I'm not about to propose that the state regulate those parents either.
Sorry Charlie, but that's the price of living in a free society. At some point we have to draw a line, and while I support a ban on the use of tobacco in public buildings, I think banning tobacco buys us a lot more problems than it will ever solve.
Dann Dobson Saint Paul
M Charles Swope <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
--- Dan Dobson wrote:
"People should still be permitted to kill themselves in their homes..."
Yes, but should they be allowed to kill their children too? A child living with a chain smoker is at much more risk than a patron of a bar filled with cigarette smoke.
Charlie Swope Ward 1
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