Talk about burning the bridges behind him:
And Thomas said, “Simply putting students together under the same roof does not necessarily mean that the students will learn together or even interact. Furthermore, it is unclear whether increased interracial contact improves racial attitudes and relations.”
Welcome back to pre-1950s America ya’ll. I’m guessing those “Quiet Riots” aren’t going to stay quiet for another generation. The “I pay my taxes to send my kids to a good school” folks have won. We’ll have our semi-private schools (barrier of entry - ability to afford a 200k+ house, and not be red-lined by real estate agents), and we’ll have our “public schools”. I can’t even write how angry this makes me. Every kid deserves to go to a “good school”. If the school in your neighborhood is not “good”, then it is your duty as an American to go in, and help improve it, not to transfer your kid to a “good” school. Otherwise, pay for the privilege to be a racist asshole and send your kid to a private school. Public schools are socialism. And part of the deal for your child to get a fantastic education, is that you make sure other kids can get a fantastic education. That’s how socialism works. Everyone has to do their part. If you want to opt out, opt out and send your kid to a private school, but don’t ruin it for the rest of us.
2007-06-28T19:34:07.000Z
I’ll say one thing for this court, they’ve been remarkably consistent with their rulings as of late. If it further screws people that are already being screwed, they seem to be all for it.
Ashley
2007-06-29T17:06:33.000Z
Okay, I almost didn’t comment because your comment that the people who choose to send their kids to private schools are racist assholes pissed me off. My desire to send my child to say, montesorri or a waldorf school, has absolutely positively NOTHING to do with race, you really can’t make that blanket statement. Rather, that decision is based on my personal beef with the very platform upon the American education system is based. That being said, I think that if you live in a neighborhood than your child should attend school in that neighborhood. End pf story. If you are not happy with that school then you need to make it better, I totally agree with you. If we want our schools to represent the racial mix of our communities then we need to diversify the communities themselves. Which, due to real estate costs is happening in Austin, especially east. I can’t see most of what I typed because some music playing thingy is hovering over the comment area…pls pardon all typos. The people we bought our house from on Palacios decided to sell it after living there for 15 years because they wanted their daughter to go to Bowie. Maple Run is a Crockett neighborhood. So to get their daughter into Bowie they had to move to the really highly priced Circle C Ranch. A financial book I read said that families would be a lot better off if they did not choose their housing based on the quality of neighborhood schools. Obviously, houses in hoods with desirable schools fetch a larger price. But if that is what people want then let them move to Westlake. And my final thought on this topic is that a child will excel in school no matter the quality of that school IF education is a value at home.
2007-06-29T17:59:58.000Z
I do happen to believe that the majority of people who send their kids to private schools are either racist, classist, or living in a country that does not teach students in English. I have yet to meet a single person whose child was not handicapped who has lead me to believe otherwise. But, I’m always willing to change my beliefs (even if this irritates my wife since she endured 6 years of anti-Mac rants before I became a fan). Waldorf and Montressori I wouldn’t quantify as private schools, though. I would call those school alternatives, like home schooling. I think of a private school as an analog to public school, just with (even more) poorly paid (and trained) teachers and smarter students. I feel that essentially the purpose of school is to socialize children into society. As part of that process we teach them both factual and cultural knowledge. But most important for the child is the socialization with other children. This is why I’m extremely against homeschooling. You can develop genius children, but they’re rarely as well socialized and often have severe issues adjusting once placed back into society. I feel that Waldorf and Montressori have these problems, but to a lesser extent, and that’s why I personally wouldn’t use them as an alternative to public schools. We as humans are tribal animals. We have shared experiences that define as a culture. When you take children out of the educational part of that (which is one of the biggest parts of childhood), and then try to reintegrate them you generally see problems. Big problems. I’m not just basing this on theories in my head, or something I’ve read. My family was the only family in my church growing up that weren’t home schooled. The majority of my friends at school were missionary kids who had been raised in alternative educational settings, home schooled, or sent to private boarding schools for at least 4 years of their lives. I personally had a year of home schooling and a year of correspondence school, and in high school was part of a group that exists specifically to help kids re-adjust to society and public schools. Most kids just have a lot of trouble making and keeping friends and end up depressed and/or suicidal. I’ve had multiple friends get in trouble with school officials and police for weapon charges. A lot of pregnancies. And an enormous amount of failure to thrive once placed into either the world of public high school or college. So yeah, I guess I have a very strong bias towards public education. Very, very strong. And this is my blog so it’s going to reflect that.
Ashley
2007-06-29T21:09:36.000Z
I am all for freedom of self-expression in blogs and comments on blogs. I just wanted to express freely that I am anti-blanket statements. I find them limiting. And I can wish for Henry to go to waldorf (he wouldnt qualify, we have a tv) or montessori school all day long but in reality he will go to Pillow Elementary and we are very happy with that. There is no way I could ever send Henry to a school that was devoid of minorities. That would be so freaky weird. I have known some normal, well adjusted montessori kids. I happen to be related to 3 of them. One of our student aides at St Eds (when I worked there) was a montessori kid that then went on to private school for high school. His parents might have been racist, could be, I never met them. He wasnt white. But he was the most scattered, disorganized kid I have ever come across and had complete disregard for all rules. He was creative and artistic but no way would he survive in the “professional” world. We could never get him to understand why he couldn’t wear a shirt that said “COCK” on it in the office; he wore repeatedly after we told him not to. He also had a horrible work ethic. I have toddler interuptus issues so I must stop here.
2007-06-29T21:27:49.000Z
I love blanket statements. But I love systems and watching how they interact. There are always going to be exceptions to every system, but the majority are not exceptions. I just read a great quote much on this subject about alternative medecine: …they go with their gut, or the zeitgeist message that it makes more sense to trust the “little guy”—the maverick scientist, the alt-med practitioner—than established medicine and public health. “History tells us that a lot of ground-breaking discoveries are made by mavericks who don’t follow the mainstream,” says Laidler. “What is often left out is that most of the mavericks are just plain wrong. They laughed at Galileo and Edison, but they also laughed at Bozo the Clown and Don Knotts.”
My worldview (and I think I get criticized for this, because people often don’t realize I’m always building this into any statement I make) is that there are always exceptions. Always. We are all exceptions. Pieces of everything about us is an exception, but the majority of what makes us - us is not an exception. We’re broad stereotypes all mashed together. We define our individuality in the few places we defy stereotype. And to say, “I don’t fit that streotype” is great. But that doesn’t mean that there’s not a massive system swirling around that stereotype.
Are you talking about Montessori preschool or regular school when referring to the people who you knew who went there? I know plenty of people who went to every type of preschool under the sun. I really don’t have an opinion on them. The socialization is great for kids. I know going to one greatly helps you later in school. I don’t think the teaching methodology matters that much, except in so far as the kid reacts to it. I think I might have gone bonkers with Montessori’s stocken-blocken attitude. Then again I might have really appreciated the ability to focus. Who knows…
2007-06-29T21:30:58.000Z
Well, you also happen to have comments on, so people who think otherwise are going to express their views as well. Nobody’s telling you what not to express. You’re defining “shared cultural expriences” in an extremely narrow manner. It’s as if the assumption is that all people need to go through X, Y, and Z in order for them to be fulfilled, functional, and happy, a premise that kind of falls flat, at least with the question of going to public school. Even the experience of going to public school differs from town to town, district to district, school to school. In theory, I agree with the sentiment that parents should work to make the public schools better for their kids. But I also know that none of us have actually yet had the experience of having a kid in public school while we’re working, and dealing with the logistics of all that. I just don’t know how much parents can actually do to fix some of the larger issues that loom out there, and I’m not going to pass judgment on people who try to solve the problem by getting their kids into school that will better meet their kid’s needs. When your kid’s in school, there’s only so much waiting you can do. That being said, I agree with Ashley. Education has to be a value at home, no matter where the kid goes to school.
Ashley
2007-06-29T21:31:36.000Z
My nieces and nephew in Arizona attend full-on monetessori, I think it goes to high school. They are who I was referring to…
2007-06-29T21:40:06.000Z
I’m not going to pass judgment on people who try to solve the problem by getting their kids into school that will better meet their kid’s needs.
And we’ll just have to agree to disagree there. Because, I heavily believe that part of being a U.S. Citizen. An essential part of your right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, is your responsibility to make sure that others have exactly the same ability to pursue the same goals. And I am immensely proud, and respectful of our public school system. It is magnificent, and a model for the rest of the world, because it is the only school system I know of that says that every child has the abilities to be whatever they want to be, and we’re going to try to make that happen. We’re not going to send them to a vocational-only program or kick them out of school early because they’re not smart enough. I love that about our school system, and I honestly believe there isn’t anything better.
2007-06-29T21:41:07.000Z
Oh, and that’s awesome about your niece and nephew Ashley. It’s nice to hear of success stories. But I guess that goes back to what I was saying about exceptions. There are always exceptions…
2007-06-29T21:43:31.000Z
I just realized that was an aggressive comment. Let me also say that it also proves my point that perhaps my experience were all exceptions. Your nephew and niece could be the majority.
2007-06-30T03:39:50.000Z
Okay, there were way too many thoughts there to address. I also have issues with educational alternatives/settings because of my experiences. Two years of correspondence while living at home were excellent for me academically, dreadful socially. I also missed out on the intellectual stimulation of bouncing my ideas off of other people. But then, who’s to say I would have done that and not just spent my time in a cloud of aerosol hairspray, chasing after boys. We have discussed future educational possibilities for our (potential future) children. We are both products of (mostly) public education and have a great commitment to being a part of the solution there. Our “solution” if our local school is sub-par is a magnet school, assuming our child will be just as smart as we (think we) are. Of course, this isn’t racism since the magnet schools in our district are very mixed. But it is exclusive and leaves out the kids who are less intelligent and/or don’t have parents who are as involved in their education. I’ve always felt uncomfortable about that. So, what do we do? We’re zoned to the “good” schools because we can afford it. Or, because we can afford a 2-br townhouse in a “good” area. I teach in a very different area. One thing I have found about this school is that there is not just parental involvement, but community involvement. We have retired people helping and parents of young children helping. I agree that once your “baby” is walking in the door, it’s a little late to be hoping that you can fix all the problems, or even have the time to do so. So, you choose (as best you can) the area you want to commit many years of your life to. And no, I’m not currently involved in my neighborhood. Yet. For all of the criticisms of our educational system, I think it still is the most fair. Your future is not necessarily determined when you’re 16 and let me tell you, teenagers should not be making decisions like that about their educational future. I think that we can learn a lot from other countries (more foreign languages, math/science, etc.), but we need to focus on what we have and what we can change without completely throwing the baby out with the bath water. Oh, and this is on my mind because I watched October Sky twice today. We all felt so inferior to the Soviets because of their excellent educational system. Turns out, they had the ultimate system like people are proposing now. Excellent schools for those who can afford it and absolute crap for those who can’t. As long as you’re going to the good school and focusing on those results, it’s a great system. Just hope that you’re not throwing away talent because Johnny’s parents don’t care or aren’t there for whatever reason.
Fly On The Windscreen