MA> Despite using parents as an excuse for the failures of public
 MA> education, I think parents today spend more time with their children
 MA> working on higher volumes of homework than virtually any other
JH> 
JH> Yet with all that homework, test scores continue to plummet. Theory?
JH> Mine is that the vast amount of homework is merely "makework". Teacher
JH> have to spend a large amount of their time dealing with students who
JH> have learned apathy from their parents. 
 
      Have you seen what is being taught in schools today and the way
it is being taught?  Here in Houston we are fortunate if one out of
four techers our children are assigned to are what I would really call
a teacher.  These teachers still do well and stimulate our children
letting them learn.  The remainder are either totally unconcerned about
the children themselves as individuals, or are so involved in other
things they cannot effectively teach.  Then too, there is the political
agenda that takes precedence over everything else.
       My daughter was assigned an essay to write this week. She was
told to select a living Houstonian who had made great contributions to
the community, but, and here's the catch, you couldn't write about
someone's work.  Not being able to to that immediately, in my mind,
removes all the people who are actually contributing to the community!
Who's left?  Those that steal other people's money and then give it
away?  Finally we settled on Barry Klien, a local community activist
who played a major role in defeating a recent attempt to impose zoning
in Houston.  Hos other good work in attempts to defeat a publically
funded downtown stadium and disband the Metropolitian Transit Authority
were also pointed out as efforts to accomplish things that benifited us
all.
        Whoa...can't do one on him.  According to the teacher he's
being selfish and not helping anyone.  You have to use this list of
names approved by the teacher, all of which, BTW, are present or former
government employees.  These are the people that are contributing tot
he community, the social leeches who live off our earnings, not those
fighting them or those working and seriving the community through
commerce.
 
JH> dropped out for a year and carried a dismal GPA not to mention the fac
JH> I do not argue with this at  all. But are you sure that this is not me
JH> "makework" to keep above average students occupied while the teacher h
JH> deal with students whose parents don't care?
 
        No, I think it's makework to give the teacher time to fill out
all the required forms and makework created for them by useless
administrators who themselves have nothing better to do.  
JH> Okay, I'm not saying to shut the doors, I'm saying let's stop _forcing
JH> children  into school. That should be the parent's responsibility.
JH> If the parents don't want to send their kids to school let them find
JH> their own babysitters.
 
      There is an age where this might be a viable option, but in the
pre-teen years I believe it's important that all children receive the
benifit of a foundational education just to be functional memebrs of
society.  What I would like to see is elimination of the government
monolopy on education and a competitive atmosphere created giving
parents, and children, the right to choose between different schools.
That alone would go a long way towards solving the problems created by
a stagnant, centralized, government operated system.
JH> I think our only real area of disagreement is in the idea of "compulso
JH> education. I feel that compulsory education has created nothing more t
JH> a government babysitter. I do feel that the voucher system is complete
JH> viable and should be pursued.
 
      Unless we maintain an ability to give all our children basic,
foundational skills, we are going to have an enormous negative impact
on our society.  An illiterate and uneducated mass of Americans would
become a persistant social problem manifesting itself in higher levels
of crime, large numbers of unemployable individuals, and, possible the
most dangerous of all, a large block of voters far more prone to
casting emotionally based rather than logical votes in elections.
      The consequences of this could threaten both our ecconomic and
social stability over the long term. 
 
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