This superintendent is FED UP with bad treatment and decreased funding for public education. He IS, however, content with leaving paddling on the books in his district. You won't see a demonstration against that! I'm sure the teachers realllly care, though. They've lobbied against corporal punishment in the schools soooo consistently. I mean, the NEA website is just riddled with calls to activism against -
What? It isn't? Ohh, my. How surprising. Just look at me jumping out of my seat with amazement. (whoo.) I'm so amazed. Here I thought so many of the teachers were concerned about homeschoolers because they, you know, might be abused at home. Locked in a closet or something. You know... like my son was at school. That's the reason we started homeschooling. Ohh the irony.
Parents like me enjoy wrapping our children in the "snug blanket of homeschooling." Watch the video. He said it. I imagine that he means we overcoddle our children and protect them from the normal, everyday things like the homelessness, poverty and drug addiction that HE is dealing with in the public school. If I've overcoddled my children, I figure the snug blanket will be removed soon enough. The guy's speaking from TEXAS, though. Nobody wants a hot, fluffy blanket in 90-degree weather! What kind of analogy is that?
Not to mention the insults this superintendent throws at his own schoolchildren. He has the gall to get up in front of God and everybody and say right off the bat that public school students are NEVER really going to be as shiny and new or "scrubbed clean" like privately-schooled kids or homeschoolers. Yeah. I'd be danged insulted if I had a child in this guy's district. My kids are clean enough and I resent the implication that just because I'm lower class, that I need to learn what this "soap" thing is. Hey. My kids' clothes are stained and threadbare because they are old and we can't afford new ones every week. But they are *clean.* Maybe I spent my money BUYING BOOKS for my kids like the private school kids he's busy deriding.
But... you have to admit, it IS nice of him to be a fighter and march into that school building every day, all bleeding and bruised (did you hear that insane talk?? He really said that!) **sniff** but those valiant teachers... they're not gonna give up on the kids. You can cut this fella's pay back to minimum wage and he'd still be there fighting. Oh, yeahhh. Know why? Either the benefits are dang good, or he's lying as some sort of stage gimmick for emotional effect during his speech. I'm thinking lying, but his benefits are still probably better than mine. See, but I don't feel his money needs to be redistributed to my pocket "for the kids," though. That's the difference between us.
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ReplyDeleteYes, she's back! Whoot! :D You are awesome, Mrs. C. I was feeling withdrawls.
ReplyDelete"I imagine that he means we overcoddle our children and protect them from the normal, everyday things like the homelessness, poverty and drug addiction that HE is dealing with in the public school."
Yep. Some day I will share my story on my blog what the public school put me through for many years. It's a long story but lets just say I was pulled out of class over and over to be told I was an abused child. I was? Wow, news to me. Over time I was brainwashed. My parent's biggest sin? We didn't have a TV. My mom just felt like too much time was spent on it so she chucked it. So we had more fun playing and doing other things. Mostly delving into music and sports.
Virginia, you did share a little about the bullying you faced for being different and it is one of my fave posts of all time. I think it proves that even the pretty people can face some very nasty stuff in school.
ReplyDeleteI think that even though you and I have some children who are in an "ok" place in school this year, that we're a bit wary of the system and have no love for it. I think having homeschooled, we are changed. We may understand what it is to want, but not NEED, the schools in the same way ever again.
I didn't want to publish this in my post directly, but this district is a teeny little town population-wise. And yet all this is going on in their little burg? What is worse is that the super knows doggone well the kids are statistically likely far safer at home:
http://mineralwellsindex.com/homepage/x117337090/Perrin-Whitt-teacher-allegedly-had-sexual-relationships-with-students
I mean, look. If all of Perrin, Texas, has 300 people total and Whitt's population doesn't even bear mentioning on the wiki, what do stories like this tell you statistically?? I could make all kinds of snarky comments, but I won't. The reality these kids are facing with educators like this is just too disgusting and frightening.
I watched the video, and what bothers me about this guy is the level of constant hostility.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing I notice is that he doesn't really defend the public schools. He doesn't claim they do anything particularly well. He just makes the usual excuses (of course we're not as good as the private schools that get to pick their students; of course we can't get the same results as those snug-blanket homeschoolers.)
Why would any parent who had any other option send their kid to the public school he describes?
I have to wonder if we aren't at the point where it is a GIVEN that people want their children in private school, if they can possibly afford it and if their kids can hack it. The rest of us need to move to the district with the "best demographics" we can afford and hope for the best.
ReplyDeleteThat's another post entirely, but really? That's what everyone does. No one wants to be anywhere close to the wrong sort of neighbourhood when it comes to educating their children. Part of the housing crisis (IMO) is this idea that people can buy their kids a good education by moving to the 'burbs on money they don't have.
PS A blog friend who prefers to comment by email has informed me that I seem a bit disrespectful toward teachers in this post.
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to be. I think some of the pro- and anti-union stuff is just political posturing and HAS NOTHING TO DO with good education or children. And that's really what these demonstrations about.
I'm trying to highlight that by pointing out the obvious: if it were really JUST about the kids, they'd be lobbying against paddling in Texas and in many other states, they'd be lobbying against seclusion rooms as well.
Just saying!
And if you're a teacher? I have to say that a lot of this union-busting stuff is politics. I know times are hard and we all have to share in that. But I'm genuinely sorry about the disrespect that is going on politically against a perfectly good and respectable profession.
I really am.
But there's a lot of crazy rhetoric on both sides. And by the by, an "attack" on public schools is not a personal attack on teachers.
Even defunding public schools entirely would not be an "attack" on teachers. It would be called "rightsizing" in the corporate world. Not pretty. Not nice when you go through it. I think there may need to be adjustments but I also think if politicians want to play that game, they need to seriously consider what that will mean in terms of getting the best sorts of folks WANTING TO TEACH. The long-term consequences of short-term savings.
And (also in response to email friend) if I sound wishy-washy to you, or that I sound as though I am "flipping" on issues, perhaps that's because I'm genuinely moderate on this. Here it is: the public seems to want "public education." The public decides how to fund it. The public votes. For better or worse, that means that education is quite political.
I don't like it, but there it is.
Wow. I couldn't watch very much of that tirade. Public school parents don't buy their kids books? What an obnoxious thing to say.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about the snug blanket of homeschooling, but I am a SMUG homeschooler.
Neener-Neener, Superintendant.
I know! I know! He really is a self-righteous fella, hanging out with the dull, dirty, illeducated masses every day... to hear him tell it, anyway. You'd think he'd have a better attitude toward the people he is supposed to be serving. It's just sad.
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ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm a smug homeschooler too. The bottom line is, if they'd done what they were LEGALLY BOUND to do, I wouldn't have felt the need to homeschool in the first place.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm glad they didn't, because this is the best gift my family could ever have gotten. :-)