6 teachers at my kids school just got pink slips :(

50 pink slips

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123491737158404543.html

"As a Californian for the past 38 years, I have witnessed the state's transformation from a well-managed, pro-business operation to a deficit-ridden, anti-business welfare state. Indicative of the rot, California's primary and secondary schools, once among the best in the country, now rank among the worst. Not surprisingly, the state that launched Ronald Reagan's political career and initiated the Prop 13 tax revolt has veered hard left during this period thanks to an influx of immigrants, many illegal, that doubled the population. Increasingly, I find myself in the grocery checkout line behind pregnant Spanish-speaking women with at least one child in tow paying for groceries with food stamps/WIC and cashing state welfare checks.

However well-meaning, the state's generous welfare benefits, roughly five times those of Texas, has served as nothing more than a magnet for attracting poor, unskilled itinerants. With loose registration, these new voters all but guarantee continued liberal control of the state and its downward economic spiral as businesses and taxpayers flee increasingly oppressive levies. Facing an 8% sales tax on multi-billion dollar semiconductor fabs, the entirety of silicon wafer manufacturing has left Silicon Valley -- with no impact on the tax philosophy of Democrats running the state. Given California's electorate and the mindset of those they put in office, it's not a question of whether the state will go bankrupt but when. And if California sets the trends for the nation, perhaps not even the Fed's printing presses can save the US from this same fate."

it is unfortunately headed in that direction

Very true. And that was the point I was trying to make.


What they spend money on is important and needs addressing.

But think back a few months and consider the posts and political comments that Obama would tax and spend more. To spend more on education you need to collect more money. No one will get elected by promising to spend more. For decades the promise from prospective candidates has been to tax less. Welcome to the results. We get the Governments we vote for.

I might have misunderstood your point.

They will never get it. This comes down to two competing world views... liberalism vs conservatism. excessive compassion vs excessive reason... without an adequate balance of both. I have very Darwinian views about society. Not everyone is meant to be an astronaut. Not everyone is meant to not freeze to death on the streets or die of a heroin overdose. The more we try to ensure "equality of outcome" rather than protect and promote "equality of opportunity"... the more productivity tends to spiral downhill.

I think we should care about our fellow man. I think we should try to help others. But i also think that we can't do that at the cost of those who actually produce.

California is a very liberal State. Their taxes are obscene and ridiculous. Companies and wealthy people have been fleeing that state for decades now and their answer to budget shortfalls is to continue punishing success to reward non producers through more taxes and retarded spending/social programs.

I am from Washington State. Washington and Oregon had massive real estate booms SOLELY from Californians selling their wildly over valued homes and traded their over taxed existence to buy a mansion in Washington and still have 1-2 million in the bank.

California needs to go bankrupt and collapse. It seems that's the only way people can grasp that you can't punish success and reward failure. You have to encourage success, create the conditions for success (reasonable tax rates and reasonable regulations, reasonable labor laws etc) and focus on doing good things with the tax revenue thats generated ... not blowing it like a 1/2 retarded gang banger fixing up a $1500.00 car by buying a $5,000 set of wheels.

There is no good answer. Its the nature of man to be empathetic and react to long term issues with short term thinking. When times are bad... more people "get it" and some waste starts to go away, taxes get rescinded, regulations get loosened up etc... but as the economy starts moving...everything goes backwards, taxes go up, spending goes up, suddenly nothing is fair anymore and they push everything back down to nothing.

I think people are interesting. I think the issues are interesting. The older i get however, the more I begin to realize that people are their own worst enemy, their own greatest barrier to success and that by design as people, we are condemned to these cycles of boom and bust and extremes.

The USA's single largest problem is its lack of identity. its complete and total lack of a sense of what it means to be American. Everyone loves the "Team USA", "worlds greatest democracy", "we love our constitution and rights" type rhetoric because it sounds nice... but no one actually believes it or thinks that way. In fact, millions of people flood across the borders every year here just as with Europe who don't give a fuck about anything other than making a few dollars to send back home. They don't want to speak the language. They don't want to assimilate. They aren't required to assimilate and we don't hold anyone... even ourselves to any sort of standards. We have no collective sense of identity.

I've created a lot of hoax sites to be an ass. One thing that stood out about reactions to them was peoples attitudes... "we have to stop this site at any cost"... "we have to get this site shut down... i know its a joke.. i know its not real... but its offensive" or whatever. All coming from people who will be quick to tell you the love Freedom of Speech and that its something worth fighting for and that they will NEVER allow anyone to tell them what they can and can't say.

Forgetting who we are, what we are and how we got where we are and the sacrifices that were made is a part of what makes us doomed to repeat history until we ultimately destroy ourselves as a species... and its only as i get older do I truly understand what this quote meant:

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Thomas Jefferson

I was wondering where you were ;) It's not a complete thread without your contribution as you always have unique angles on things. I appreciate your posting. And hope all is great with you!

check out 'no child left behind'

ugh don't get me started on that one.

I fought that one too on the front lines.

it's just an oxymoron...

no child left behind is so American kids can get as educated as China and Russian children and compete 'globally'.

US school budgets are getting slashed constantly and look at what California has done.

They better go back to math class:

no teachers=children getting left behind

I personally am all for teachers fired and just about anyone else in the department of ed. I have always been very pro private/charter schools where a set dollar amount will follow the kid to whatever school they attend. This budget issue really hit it home as we have the same shit happening here with a couple exceptions. Two of the charter schools laid no one off at all, one of them all agreed to reduce their wages and hold off on raises to keep 1 teacher on who was facing the chopping block and to keep the art class open. Really helped since they did not have to ask for a unions permission first either.
On a related note I also am pro charter/private school since they could actually become specialized in given topics. Not everyone needs or will excel with a general education when it would be much more productive to teach specialties if desired. Hell I am certain assorted mandatory classes and entire periods of them were on topics and skills that I have not only totally forgot but never had a valid use for them if I did with one exception and of course then it takes only minutes to look up even pre internet.

private school or bust. whole system needs to be privatized. and ya, if the kids won't learn english send them to the strawberry fields. disgusting that we even tolerate this shit. or put them in mandatory 3-6 months of english classes only. if they can't complete that, then send them out. sad part is, back when, not all kids went to school. education is a privilege, if they don't want to get with it, they shouldn't be forced to be there and we shouldn't try to keep them there.

Oxymoron? Really? How so?

I do agree that a kid has to know English if they are going to go to public school. It just isn't fair for everyone in the class to have to slow down or adapt because a few students don't speak English.

I do wonder though, if there was no public school system would private school end up being just like public school is?

Right now private school is a "luxury." Some people pay for it and most don't. If there was no public school and all kids had to go to private school would you then end up with some very shitty private schools that were no better than current public schools (or even worse) but because of economics some families would have no choice but to send them there? Part of what makes Private school work is the small amount of students. If the private school system had to deal with the sheer volume of students that the public schools do it may buckle and break.

I do disagree with just throwing kids out of school. In the modern age a basic education is something everyone needs. The days of dropping out at 15 and getting a job that you can eventually work your way up the ladder at are gone. Those jobs are now being shipped to 3rd world countries. Hell, the military won't even take you with out a diploma or a GED. I understand some kids will drop out and some will fail, but I think every effort should be made to keep kids in school and educate them. When you are 13,14,15 years old you think you know everything and earning $7 an hour seems like all the money in the world. Later in life you will find out that you didn't know shit and you can't live on that wage. If we want to break the cycle of poverty and welfare for a lot of people it starts with education.

Quite an educative thread, might come handy, since I want to have a lot of kids and I also want to live in US once everything works out the way I plan and the way I'll make it happen.

Fuck the birth control, I'm gonna flood the country with little Gauchos.

the problem is that you can't have everything. this is the basic problem of man. life can't be fair and everyone isn't equal. you want to help every single person and make sure puppies never die, butterflies live forever and unicorns live in peace. that's not going to happen no matter how much money you throw at the problem.

perhaps the single greatest irony of the right brained individual is watching empathy over ride logic and creating a world view that "the rich get richer... the poor get poorer and its all because life isn't fair"... yet... somehow... no one in the history of the planet has figured out how to make curb this cycle. its never going to occur to you that it cant be. because its the natural order of things. a smart person invests... a dumb person buys a set of 4000.00 wheels for their honda civic. if you care so much... how about reaching out to stop dumb people from doing dumb things and acting irresponsibly?

the thing the liberal mind can't grasp is that there is a cost to everything. a cost that has to be paid by people who produce. the more you make those people who produce pay... the less they tend to produce... hence the natural, real world limitations on "compassion" and the amount of money that can be spent on compassion.

should people starve? who starves in the USA? drug addicts and homeless alcoholics? maybe some people that starve to death are meant to starve to death just as a two headed sheep doesn't survive in the greater interest of the gene pool.

should illegal immigrants be able to flood across the borders and abuse social programs, public schools and health care? sure... you can pay for that right up to the point you're bankrupt. like right now for instance.

why is Vancouver BC the new Hollywood? Why are film makers finding it cheaper to fly outside the country with entire crews and equipment to make movies? Why are small businesses by the 10's of 1000's incorporating in Nevada each year when they do business in California? Why was there such a massive influx of wealthy people to Oregon and Washington from California over the last 10 years?

do i need to go on?

you can't have it all. at the end of the day, those who produce are being forced to support those who don't in an every increasingly unreasonable manner and that creates the problems California has right now. the only logical next step is a Stalinist approach where people are forced to produce for the benefit of the whole.

i've got very bad news for you... the more entitlements you have, the more people will abuse them.. hence the ever increasing costs and taxing of those programs.

but yeah.. blame Arnold. that makes sense.

how about a world where we say "Look mother fucker... first and foremost... you have a functioning body and a brain... get off your fucking ass and get in the game.. stop pumping out useless kids and flooding the prison system with 1/2 retarded gang bangers and start actually producing? How about you learn the values of hard work and rewards of success and pass that on to your children instead of showing them the example of a single mom with kids she should have never had, living a life of poverty and dependent on government assistance?"

great posts PP, seems California is on a 10 pct. of it's way to the EU model

People, come visit (most of the states in) Europe before you start to complain, I'll give you a very detailed lecture about how things (don't) work here.

Lots of good points here. Very true about we should not over tax and discourage entrepreneurs. On the other hand we have to tax enough, and spend it wisely, to create an environment for those entrepreneurs to create the wealth. Would Silicone Valley of risen in CA today with the schooling system. Would businesses come to a State that is badly policed, has bad roads and poor infrastructure?

And a lot more ifs come to mind. It's a balance and I wonder how many businesses that would never of got started in Washington and Oregon but now moving there.

As you do point out today we do not prize excellence as well as we used to, we do not punish failure as much as we should either.

of course i think there needs to be taxes and taxes need to pay for stuff. we crossed a major threshold in this country... we started loosely tossing around the "T" word. we are no longer questioning the need for a $100,000,000.00 satellite. that's pocket change. Now, for the first time ever... we are talking about government handouts in Trillions. Obama promised to not sign a bill with ear marks and the budget bill had almost 9,000 at a value of over 8 Billion dollars... and people are actually saying "well.. 8 Billion is ONLY X% of the total bill" - astounding.

no one moves to California to do business. they are taxing companies out of the state. its a very serious problem there. and people are doing everything possible to get away from it. for example, you can go to a ballpark and the vendors selling shirts or hot dogs are all incorporated in Nevada. its a very surreal situation.

i really think the world was better off when we could say "retard" or "he's crazy" or "yeah... you lost the game because you are smaller and worse than the other players... either you have to work twice as hard or find something more suited to your abilities"

the strength of this country was always in the independence of its people and the culture of success. with success however, comes the opposite problems. people get fat. they're not hungry anymore and it becomes easier and easier to blame problems of those who aren't successful on those who are.

this country is dying. its dying simply because people have lost their identity, their values and their drive to compete and win.

why try to win when your no longer accountable for losing? when nothing is your fault. when everything is Bernie Madoffs fault or Bushs fault or Obamas fault or Arnold Schwartzenegers fault?

I wake up every day of my life and blame myself. i'm greatful that i have the foresight and maturity to do so.

we are going through a massive recession. all we hear about is a few individuals that "caused it". Everyone blames Bush (Obamas been playing that card since day one).... no one blames outright greed, irresponsibility and a nation of people that are ALL living on credit. a nation of people that buy a fucking pizza by borrowing money from a bank at 12% interest. everyone was happy to see so many people getting into new homes. That was Clintons big thing through HUD and all the legislation that was passed creating things like the community investment act and others similar legislation. Going further, laws were later passed to make filing bankruptcy harder on top of requiring lenders to make more high risk loans. in turn, you have a financial market that adapts quickly and figures out ways to package them up and sell them. and it all implodes... and people blame Bush and move on. Presumably Bush also caused the entire world to melt down and all other economies to go through similar financial hardships.

everyone wants easy answers. and why not? if you have an easy answer... you don't have to intellectualize anything. you don't have to think. you don't have to educate yourself.. you don't have to have an intelligent debate and discussion on the matter. you don't have to get involved. whose got time to think when we still don't know who is going to win American Idol tonight? who has time to think about shit that matters between updating facebook.com, texting friends, blogging about our retarded lives and struggling through a day of work at the office which we increasingly view as something that simply gets in the way of our own self destructive behaviors.

i'm on my way out. i'm done. everyone in this country can have their shitty lives, their hilbilly/cowboy rhetoric, their political correctness, idiotic immigration policies, their social programs, their absurd taxes, their unions, their dysfunctional governments, the non stop threat of lawsuits and the ignorant masses that cherish it. life is too short to actually care about changing any of this and there is no permanence to any changes anyway.

More good points but this one really struck me.

Yes everyone wants easy answers and for a lot longer than Clinton politicians have sold they illusion they have them. They sold the illusion that if we make countries like China favored trading partners they would be happy to make all our T Shirts and kettles in their sweat factories for a fraction of what it cost to make here. While we would soak up the unemployment with Malls and service industries. China is going to be running the Space Shuttle program soon, so everything new put up circling the earth is down to them soon.

The US is so far in debt to the Chinese the mention of slowing down the flood of goods coming in from there is shouted down as protectionism. A balancing of goods in and out is protecting us from losing everything to the Chinese. Who knows it might be too late.

I think it was Reagan who signed the deal and signed away the future. He did it so he could give everyone the easy life. Now we see how well it worked.

Bit off the subject. But look at education spending over the last 30 years and see the trend. When the West needs more qualified people it never invested enough to achieve that goal.

I think his point is that there is a decent chance this woman is an illegal alien and now living off our tax dollars.

I happen to live in an area where there is a decent amount of migrant workers. Most of these workers are illegals. They drive without car insurance (many have no license either) and if you go to an emergency room or an urgent care center most of the people in there are Mexican. I know that they will be treated, but 99% of them will never pay a penny for the treatment. I don't say it to be racist, it is just a fact. A few years ago I hurt my big toe (the most pathetic injury in the world, but it hurt like hell) and I went to an urgent care center. They asked if I would pay a $100 deposit. She literally said, "We ask for a $100 deposit before we see you, if you can't pay it or can only pay a little it isn't a problem." When I paid it she was actually shocked. I asked if many people don't pay and she just said, "most."

My brother's youngest child just started kindergarten this year. The school she is going to has morning and afternoon classes. The afternoon class is taught only in Spanish and he was told that he shouldn't put her in that class unless she could already speak Spanish. Another friend's daughter had classes her 1st and 2nd grade year that were taught half in Spanish and half in English.

So the problem isn't that these people are poor and on food stamps. The problem is that they are not even from this country and they come here illegally then get welfare, cheap housing, food stamps, health care and education yet most of them work for cash under the table so they put very little back into the system.

For me this is a good reason for support of doing away with the income tax and replacing it with a nationwide sales tax. That way anyone who spends money will be paying into the system (including tourist and illegals)

no child left behind
education cutbacks
immigrant issues who don't pay taxes and therefore into educational system but yet get spots in classrooms when other who do pay may not.
more educational cutbacks

I'm sorry- any way you slice it - the bottom line is they are cutting their nose off to spite their face. They need to go back to school and learn something.

oh yea, who will teach them if there aren't any teachers.

parents shouldnt be donating money. the government should be providing tax dollars.

providing them money is like enabling an alcoholic. they will assume that parents will do it and will continue to cut money knowing that people will donate.

its a terrible thing to say, but its true.

how is your computer issues?

This is why we need a voucher system.

I have unique perspective on it - I went through a *lot* of schools when I was younger.

I was homeschooled until the 4th grade.
From 5th to 8th grade I was in a private grade/junior high school
For 9th grade I was in a private high school (catholic, but considered one of the best academic schools in the area)
In 10th grade I was in a suburban high school
From there, I was in inner city high school

I will say.. the difference between "good education" and "bad education" has almost nothing whatsoever to do with how much money is spent per student. The catholic schools had the best education results, but spent the least amount of per student. To be honest, the suburban high school wasn't far behind - but they soaked up *triple* the funds per student to do almost the same job.

The inner city school was a fucking joke. Pathetic all around.

All in all, the lesson learned was the *students going to the school* mattered the most. Period. End of fucking story. Engaged parents who give a shit generally correlates with good student as well.

Private schools have the ability to kick people out of school who cause problems and/or do not apply themselves. This meant teachers could you know - actually teach! The public school in the 'burbs didn't have this luxury, but they were big/rich enough to separate the troublemaking assholes into the "slow" classrooms, where they just hired glorified babysitters to sit in on them. The rest (large majority) of the students were in the normal/advanced classes and did rather well. If a student got into trouble, chances are a call to their parents straightened it out. The rest, well, they were put into the underachiever classes and more or less forgotten about. Sucks for them I guess, but it stopped all the other kids from being bogged down by their bullshit.

The inner city schools were simply a joke. 50%+ of the students were worthless human beings, only there so momma could collect a welfare check. The teachers were completely overwhelmed by disciplinary issues, and had absolutely zero recourse with a student that acted like a prick. This kept the other students who might have actually wanted to learn down, since the teachers couldn't teach. 11th/12 grade classes were like going back to my 5th and 6th grade years in terms of acedemic difficulty. It was pathetic.


So, in my experience.. All the crap the teachers unions say is bullshit. Class sizes? Sure, try to keep them small. But there is less effect here than you think. The catholic high school had some class sizes larger than all the other schools, and had some of the best results in those courses. Money? Bullshit. Sure, absolutely pay to keep the teachers who are engaging and care about their job. But, don't kid yourself that blanket raises for everyone in the union is going to do damned bit of difference. Most teachers in the system, generally have given up. Nothing against them, but they should no longer teach. I honestly can't even blame them - the idiocy of how we deal with the little assholes is beyond my imagination. I know I'd be in prison for murder if I was a high school teacher in some of these school systems, with the complete lack of respects students show others. New facilities? This one makes me laugh. The BEST academic institutions in this state are in hundred year old buildings crumbling around them. Some of the worst are in brand new buildings they re-construct every 20 years because all the future criminals ruin them so quickly.

Basically, start kicking kids out of school that deserve it. Then you will instantly see our education right itself, people become engaged/excited by education again, etc. When you have students in school who *want to learn* (or at least get good grades so they don't get their ass beat by their parents) the results will be absolutely amazing.

For the future criminals.. Setup some form of glorified babysitting schools for them. If they change their ways, there should be a mechanism to get back into the mainstream school system.

Compassionate? No, not at all. Reality? Yes. Sorry, but keeping your future high-achievers pulled down into lowest common denominator simply makes them give up and holds the country back as a whole.

Get rid of the bullshit PCness babysitting service our school systems have become.. Then watch most schools rocket back into actually churning out useful students who give a shit about their future.

A lot of truth

If I'm not mistaken, America spends more on education than any other nation. The problem hasn't been a lack of money for a long time now. America spends more than enough on education and should probably roll back much of what it spends.

Anybody who expects a State to function when it is over-taxing, has endless social programs, has open border immigration and free education and medical care for both citizens and non-citizens, is living in a dream world. No matter how much money is generated, there can never be enough to sustain that setup.

Only some type of magical math can make it work.

bullshit....

Bullshit as in you don't like it or bullshit as in you don't think I am telling you the truth?

Both I guess. I highly doubt the school would change everything because so many kids speak spanish. Seems very stupid. Why not immerse them in english so they at least have a chance of making it. In canada we have programs were kids can take all french classes from kindergarden on but its not because they speak the language but rather so they can learn it because its an asset to have for a lot of jobs up here (especially government).

Personally I think public school is a massive waste of time and money which only serves to indoctrinate children on the latest fashions in political correctness and Orwellian double speak. Most kids would be better served learning how to do something useful (vocational training)..... and the rest likely are headed for the penitentiary anyway...... so why bother?

So, you are calling him a liar based on what you think?

That is basically what they do. The kindergarten class has nothing but Spanish speaking kids in it and they try to teach as much as possible in English so the kids will learn it as fast as possible. In first and second grade they teach part of the class in English and part of the class in Spanish - meaning they might teach half the day in English and half the day in Spanish. A friend of mine's daughter went to first and second grade here and by the end of second grade she actually could speak enough Spanish that she could have a basic conversation with people. Now she is 15 and has forgotten most of it .

If the kids are older than second grade then they are taken into a Spanish to English immersion type of class so they can learn English while learning the regular stuff you learn in that grade and can join the regular classes asap.

It is dumb as hell if you ask me. The town has grown so much they opened up a second primary school and a second middle school and are expanding the high school. The new school doesn't do this, it is all regular English only classes. The old school saw a huge number of their students transfer to the new school to get away from it. So now what we are starting to see is (at least at the primary school level) a school that is made up hugely of non-English speakers learning English and a second school for the kids that are from here and speak English.

Every time the budget comes up it fails and when they hold school board meetings people go there and tell them they hate this program and will never vote to pass a school budget until it is gone, but they refuse to listen and keep it around. People don't like the idea of their tax dollars going to teach illegal immigrant's kids English and many parents think that in the first few years of school their kids develop their study and learning habits and by teaching in two languages they are just confusing them. Then again, with no child left behind it doesn't matter what grades they get they still pass them. My brother's son his 7th and 8th grade years failed all but 2 classes and he still "graduated" although they don't call it that now they call it a "promotion of excellence." They told my brother flat out they will not hold him back unless the parents ask them to and his wife thought holding him back would be bad for his self esteem. The school just wants to move kids along and collect the money for them.

Few things you are overlooking :

Private schools aren't a Gov't Entity. They could make their own decisions, and say make it a requirement for kids to speak english.

Perhaps if that happens, a new set of schools that focus on Spanish first with transition to english as a 2nd focus would popup. Like Language schools that also teach core stuff. And by privatizing, you're not saying all pay, you might have to have the government pay an amount per student. And call it a day. If you want to send them somewhere better, you pay the difference, or they have scholarships for kids that really want to learn.

And here is something people forget, we've made this "Education Requirement" job market, but with the way things are going, perhaps we need to get back into trades and manufacturing more. Have programs where we reward companies that take in say 16 yo drop outs and then give them training opportunities to learn the trade. Lots of ways to educate someone, a crowded trailer school room isn't the only way.

But I will say this, I have 0 problem with the Mexicans coming up across the border, they've done jobs that up until recently our Citizens wouldn't dream of doing. But if their kids are going to attend our schools, they should meet our requirements, or join their families doing their now ancestral work.

You can't coddle the unable, you can't force the unwilling, and you can't punish the others by crippling the system for the inadequate. Life isn't fair, the job market isn't fair, so why do we continuously try to make the formative years seem so easy and then let them out into a world that is harsh and competitive? <-- this is the fundamental flaw in our education system.

I agree strongly with the last thing you said. When I was in grade school and high school (I graduated high school in 1989) we had competitive sports in PE. There were some kids that sucked at all of it and lost in every game they played. Guess what? Nobody cared. We also failed at school and got held back if we didn't get good enough grades. There was a certain number of credits you had to accumulate in 7th and 8th grade to graduate. If you didn't do it, you didn't move on. If you failed too many classes you got held back. That is how it was. I knew a handful of kids that didn't graduate 8th grade and had to do it over and others that were held back a year in earlier grades. That doesn't happen now. I was saying in a different post that in 7th and 8th grade my brother's son failed all but 2 classes. In 2 years of school he took a total of 30 classes (5 per term and three terms per year) and he failed 28 of them. He failed PE for Christ's sake! and they still moved him on to high school.

It seems these days nobody loses. They don't play competitive games in PE because some kids are not good and it will hurt their feelings to lose. You don't get held back if you fail. Hell, the high school now has a program where if you don't have your homework done on the day it is due you can turn it in up to two weeks later and still get 80% credit. We are failing to teach the kids that it is a competitive world out there.

I would love to see this country start manufacturing things again and to some degree we do, but more and more we just can't compete with countries where workers will do the same work for 10% of the pay. I feel it would require much of the country to be willing to buy something at a little higher price in order to support US made items or it would require to government to enact some protectionism stances, but with these same countries we are sending out labor jobs to now owning all of our debt I don't see that happening any time soon and the consumers have clearly spoken that price is what they are concerned with.

I do understand that private schools don't have to follow the same crap as public schools and they don't get bogged down in the red tape. I think part of this is because they deal with so few students and for the most part the students want to be there (or at least have parents that push them to do well in school). If the private school system had to handle the load that the public school system does it might be a different story.

computer issues doing better than the educational system but not by far.

thanks for checking in...slowly getting my head out of the denial and into the surrender that my computer owns me. LOL I have been owned!!! So I still need you!! ;)

Be damned if I will get owned by the government though

Are you serious? per capita / pupil?

What's funny is that it's actually completely different here - private schools are just a garbage depot for retarded lazy kids of those who are rich and don't care, and if you want to get real education, you really need to get into one of the prestigeous government governed schools.

It's a transitional country, so it's absolutely uncomparable with any of the civilized countries out there, where private schools bring the best personal approach, best teachers and toughest requirements (as I would imagine).

Many just started private schools after the break as they knew there will be a lot of rich people without education and culture that will have dumb spoiled kids, and will need to assure they will get some pseudo education for them - it's still a good and profitable usiness.

Speaking about high schools / gymnasiums / universities.

I've absolved an 8 year gymnasium myself (graduated at the age of 20) and then attended 4 different universities over the course of time - I'm almost, almost an expert on this - what's true is that the system sucks because if you want to study something a little bit complicated like cybernetics and biomedical engeneering and also make money on your own - it's not that easy because you have no option to re-schedule exams, consultations etc. and once you fail in something 3 times you're gone.

This means you can absolve 10 semesters as a premiant, then you fail in one single subject (you have three terms within one month of exam time) and 5 years of your life are gone.

Not too funny.

A lot of blame has been laid at the door of the spending and schools system. A lot of it unfair.

The basis of whether a child gets a good education or bad one lays first and maybe last with the parents. It's no surprise that people from better areas do well and people from poor ares do badly. Look at the parents.

From a very early age I could read. I read Robinson Crusoe at the age of 6 or 7. It was my second proper book, the first was a book written for children. This had nothing to do with my school, it was down to my parents sitting down with me and teaching me to read. I was also taught maths, to tell the time and I think my grasp of things comes from them. And was always being asked how I was doing at school.

Both my parents come from a low working class area of London but got out of it and made sure their sons stayed out. I'm the "dumbest" of the 3 brothers.

Eva and I have taught our 7 year old to read and write Czech and English. She hates writing loves to type messages to me on ICQ. She always seems to have her head stuck in a book or comic. In Czech she is a bit behind some of her class. She speaks better English than the teacher. Eva and I spend an hour of an evening with our daughter teaching her.

None of this has anything to do with teachers, schools Government or funding. It's down to us to teach our children, if you think it's not you're letting down your children.

As Project management 101 says - throwing more money at a problem is NEVER a solution, the solution for a systemic problem has to be systemic.

yes but hard to make that happen when the ones in the system are the ones who wad up money and throw it in all the wrong directions.

home school your kids

I just posted this in a new thread - US Sen. Diane Feinstein...well we received an email back, but we shall see. (funny part is that she had a typo and her letter layout is incorrect based on what I 'learned in school'.

If this is not a form letter and if CA really does get the funding help she says, then I know someone, somewhere in government, has learned a lesson.

From: [email protected]
To:
Sent: 3/18/2009 1:12:31 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time
Subj: U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein responding to your message


Thank you for writing to me about education funding in the "American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" (H.R. 1). I appreciate the time you took to
write on this important issue, and welcome the opportunity to respond.
During my time in the Senate, education has been one of my top priorities. A
solid education is the most important asset we can give young people.

Many schools in California and nationwide, however, lack the resources necessary to
give students the educational opportunities that they deserve. Students
cannot properly learn in overcrowded classrooms and run-down facilities. Many
schools do not have funds to update textbooks and to provide students with
learning materials.

Teachers are underpaid for their dedication to a very
demanding profession.

Given the fact that California's budget crisis has placed a great financial
strain on our system of education, I recognize the increased importance of
ensuring that California's schools are receiving adequate Federal funding. On
February 13, 2009, Congress passed the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
of 2009".

This important legislation provides $105 billion for critical
investments in our nation's education system; investments that will help states
avoid significant teacher layoffs and other damaging education cuts, help
provide necessary resources to America's students, and help make college more
affordable.

This legislation includes:
o$13 billion for Title I Education Grants to elementary and secondary
schools.

California is estimated to receive $1.59 billion of this funding;
o$12.2 billion for special education funding through the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). California will receive approximately $1.22
billion to help school districts educate and provide services to special
needs students;

o$53.6 billion for a new State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, including $39.5
billion to local school districts, which can be used for preventing teacher
layoffs and cuts to education programs, school modernization, or for other
educational purposes. Funding can also be used for repairs to school and Higher
Education facilities;

o$2.1 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start. California will receive
approximately $82.7 million to provide comprehensive development services to
low-income infants and preschool children.

o$15.6 billion for Pell Grants to help make college more affordable and
accessible for our nation's students. This funding will increase the maximum Pell
Grant by $500 for a total of $5,350 in 2009 and $5,550 in 2010.
President Barack Obama signed the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act"
into law on February 17, 2009. To view more information about California and
this legislation, please visit my website at http://feinstein.senate.gov, and
view the press release titled "Senator Feinstein Outlines Funding Details for
California Included in Economic Recovery Package Conference Report."

Much work remains to be done to provide every child with an excellent
education in the United States. Please know that I will keep your thoughts in mind
as Congress works with President Obama to improve education. Again, thank you
for writing. If you have any further questions regarding this issue, please
do not hesitate to call my Washington, D.C. office at xxxxx.


Best
regards.
Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

As you may already know, there are proposed California bills that could require the collection of sales tax for online purchases similar to bills proposed in other states and that could resemble the law that recently passed in New York State. At this time, a hearing date for AB 178 has been set for April 13, 2009. As with all laws, if passed, these laws may or may not apply to you and your business.

Commission Junction is headquartered in California and impacted by the current California budget crisis. Nevertheless, we are opposed to the recently proposed legislation and are working with a lobbyist and other groups in hopes that we can influence the rejection of the bills' passage. Rest assured, we recognize that our industry and many of our clients may be impacted by these bills.

The application of the bills is dependent on particular business and factual circumstances, and Commission Junction is not in a position to provide legal and tax advice regarding the bills. However, we encourage you to perform the appropriate due diligence as it relates to your business. You may be contacted by advertisers in the Commission Junction network as they perform their due diligence.

Additionally, following are two sources of information on the proposed California bills that you may find helpful:

http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/mem...ws_Room/Press/
20090202AD14PR01.aspx

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html

If you feel that you need more counsel on the bills, we recommend you seek independent tax and legal advice.


Sincerely,

Commission Junction

I just got the same thing.

yea...

gimme gimme
and
take take
should be the new tag line for our wonderful government