MM> VH> I gather, though that your students are there voluntarily.  That they
MM> VH> do not have a culture that disdains education, and are not the fourth
MM> VH> generation on welfare.

MM>True enough ... but kow-towing to their ethnicities would be as
MM>wrong as I did so in any other situation - I've taught from year 1
MM>to to postgrad and over to the elderly,  and the best processes
MM>are much the same;  people are people.

The problem we have is that in many cases the teachers come from the
same ethnic background, and lack the skills or desire to actually teach.

MM> VH> That's a good idea -- if implementable.

MM>As I said - involuntarily;  New Zealand has an `Educational
MM>Gazette', the official publication in which all regulation changes
MM>and innovations must be placed.  All vacancies appear in it, and
MM>all teachers get a copy.  The only way promotion can come is by
MM>applying for higher-grade jobs - and that's how we lose our top
MM>teachers...   overall, quite a nice system.

The United States has a 4.7% unemployment rate -- and 5% is considered
full employment.  Try that here and what teachers we have would quit in
droves.

MM> VH> Our problem here is that the
MM> VH> worst schools are in the worst areas.  Well-paid teachers don't want to
MM> VH> live in those areas.

MM>Exactly so here ... but if you really want to be a senior
MM>teacher,  then a few years service in a `worst' area is he way to
MM>secure it.

I wish we could do that.  Unfortunately, we can't keep teachers under
those conditions.

MM> VH> In some areas, such as Chicago, the single profession most likely to
MM> VH> send their children to private schools are public school teachers --
MM> VH> because they know how bad the public schools are.

MM>Mmmm ... our problems here are more likely to over teacher-parents
MM>shepherding their offspring up the system....

MM> VH> You will note that both Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, with great
MM> VH> fanfare put their children in Washington, DC public schools when they
MM> VH> became President -- and quickly withdrew them and sent them to private
MM> VH> schools.

MM>Heh-heh...  `Do as I started off, not as I ended up....'

MM> VH> You assume such people can actually be made to work.  New Zealand ain't
MM> VH> Singapore, you know. :-)

MM>Sigh ... I suppose so  ...  especially as those who believe in
MM>Rational Man are most unlikely to be taught to think...

MM>It'll be the wall and the machineguns in the end, then.

I tend to think it will end with a whimper, not a bang. :-(
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