Wonderful!!!!!!!!!!

[...] It’s filled with [liberal media elite] stories that are so-good-I-wish-they-were-true: Education Department Plans National Tax Base for Schools and Maximum Wage Law Passes [...]

This just isn’t that creative, funny or interesting. What a waste of bandwidth. Check out the Onion some time - it’s actually funny.

Dearest Riblo,

I think this is meant to be inspirational, not humorous. I think this is a fantastic use of bandwidth to publicize the various types of Change the American people are envisioning and hoping will come. The Onion does, however, rock as well.

It is our tendency as a country to see a social problem and accidently categorize it as a need for government intervention. Government intervention sometimes helps social problems (as in the case with Civil Rights), but money is not the solution.

Abraham Lincoln was educated in a one room log cabin in Indiana and became president. Whining about money is a joke. The problem is that no one wants to learn anymore. When our governmnet hands us everything there’s no incentive. People would rather watch football and get drunk. That’s the problem. The government has no way of fixing it and neither do I.

Recent High Schooler: The government handing us everything isn’t the problem. The reason we don’t want to learn is because our education system has confused the joy of gaining knowledge with the drudgery of remembering facts for the next test.

Here’s hoping that the 2010 special edition will contain the repeal of the No Child Left Behind act.

Indeed Funnyguts, Repeal NCLB! Recent High Schooler, this country is not particularly noted for it’s generosity to the public or the public good for that matter.

Perhaps if education were meant to inspire us instead of teach us how to be “good employees” and “follow directions” in order to proceed into our dull rolls as employees in a capitalist economy… This is really what makes folks want to drink beer and watch sports instead of “learning more”

Our education system would be as drastically different in a truly democratic society as our economy would be. The people would be “the state” and hence schools, jobs, etc… would be what we decide they should be.

Check out Parecon.org

My formal education ended with the 8th grade, in a private school where I was at least taught to read, write and do math. This was followed by four years of boredom in two public high schools, purportedly the best in Western Pennsylvania, but from which I emerged as ignorant as I was when I entered them. This was about the time when the NEA and other organizations hostile to inculcating literacy and independent minds were beginning to experiment with grading curves, “rap” sessions posing as “debate,” and other sociological nostrums. Most of the teachers were Class A dullards. Whatever I needed to learn, had to wait until I left school. The program and “national tax base” for public schools described in the article would, in real life, simply increase the number of illiterates from the bottom rung of society to the top. I mean, look at Warrenn Buffett and George Soros — they endorsed and probably helped to fund Obama’s fascist plans to recruit every American to work for that vaguely defined American “dream.”

This would be great in auto city Los Angeles where there are tons of cars on the road spewing toxins and using up natural resources. The exhaust fumes alone plus tire erosion, the unknown killer, could be alleviated and the quality of life improved for both children and parents if kids didn’t have to travel literally an hour and a half or more to and from school. Keep in mind that driving a child to school and picking up the child is actually four trips. Multiply this by the number of students doing this, add parents who make extra trips due to children attending different schools and you have a bio-hazard suitable for a Super Fund site. The difference with this menace is that it is right out in the open, en masse for all to see.

We have a chicken-egg thing going on with education: those that aren’t educated don’t deserve it…?
(Same sort of problem with health care.)
At the very least there needs to be safe, clean, well lit schools, good books.
Someplace else in this issue is something about civics: that is missing. Kids need to have civic responsibilities, and know that the quality of the school is in some measure a reflection of them: being good in school can make the who town better.

This article exemplifies how poorly our three branches of government actually work together here in Ohio. What the article fails to mention about the Ohio Supreme Court decision (DeRolph I, II, III, and IV) is that it happened four times. Gov. Bob Taft did an excellent job of shirking any and all responsibility in the matter. I can only hope Strickland will get things moving.

http://ohiofairschools.org/

[...] the New York Times dated “July 4th, 2009″ and outlining the end of the war in iraq, a national tax base for schools, and free public universities, among other things. In addition to the print paper, an online [...]

It is clear Mr. Cline’s education did indeed stop at the 8th grade. Yep, the NEA is actually against educating people. I bet Mr. Cline hates unions too.

Just remember, there are teachers that are bad and those that are good. Those that sit there and say everyone is horrible, I educated myself are either arrogant geniuses or ignoramuses that want to blame their failures on someone else.

We are getting closer to “free education”, just not yet in Ohio. Utah is starting a high school that will use an “open courseware” concept. Free to attend for any student in Utah.

Once these “self-paced” schools are in place, and start drawing out the self-motivated, high-achieving students, who will proceed at their own pace, what impact will that have on students in traditional public school settings?

Making educational content available doesn’t guarantee it will be utilized. The culture, and expectations of parents and students toward high achievement, needs to change.

If you are wondering why the expectations need to change, check out http://www.2mminutes.com/