Comments on: Public Schools Face a New Nemesis in Parent Trigger Laws

By: robyn ryan

robyn ryan — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:32:46 +0000

‘Parent trigger’ is the 3-card Monty system for extracting public education monies from taxpayers, without giving anything on return.

Here in Louisiana, Gov. Bobby “The Exorcist” Jindal has leveraged decades of legislative neglect of education to bring the poor back into indentured servitude.

If we spent one-tenth of the money on education that we spend on ‘tax credits’ Louisiana could give Japan a run for its academic record.

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By: Deborah Foster

Deborah Foster — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:40:26 +0000

I have to humbly apologize for a glaring error in the second sentence. I copied the name of ALEC from another website, and didn’t carefully double-check what I was copying. Therefore, I wrote, “American Legislative Executive Committee,” when in fact, it is supposed to be American Legislative Exchange Council. Again, I am sorry for this error.

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By: Deborah Foster

Deborah Foster — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:37:57 +0000

Thank you for your insights! I will definitely heed your advice and steer away from referring to them as failing schools. It has always been done with hesitancy on my part anyway.

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By: A Walkaway

A Walkaway — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:09:57 +0000

I should expand… I studied adequately, and even tried different study techniques. I couldn’t tell the teachers (or my folks) why I failed on some tests, did mediocre on others, and aced some – and nobody caught on that the failed tests were all fill in the blank, the ones where I did mediocre were a mixture, and the aced ones were multiple choice or True/False. I also was regularly punished for being lazy about my handwriting (which was unreadable), and it was only a few years ago that we learned that my bad handwriting was medical… I now take medicine that has strongly improved it – to the point of being readable. I wonder how many kids have to deal with these sorts of issues today, on top of all the politics and theocratic pressure.

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By: A Walkaway

A Walkaway — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:01:33 +0000

That sounds like Florida. They’re pushing so hard for privatizing and the virtual schools it’s not funny (and they also expect the teachers – if it’s not all prerecorded – of the virtual schools to carry huge numbers of students… at the university level the virtual classes I’ve helped teach had between 150 and 500 students, every time).

One thing that they also don’t take into consideration is that all students don’t learn at the same pace, and some students may be so stressed (as from bullying) that they cannot study appropriately. Also students don’t all respond to testing styles the same. In this last, I’m a perfect example. My memory is very strongly associative, but I cannot “puke information” on command. When I was a kid, if you gave me a fill-in-the-blank test, I would fail it EVERY time. EVERY TIME. If you gave me a multiple choice test, I’d ace it EVERY time. I got punished and punished and punished for not studying enough, and combined with bullying, it was a miracle I graduated from High school… much less with a C average. The only hint that I was not “average” material was my SAT scores… I took the SATs during a period of reduced stress (bullies were rather quiet for one thing), it was multiple-choice or True/False, and I ended up with the highest score in the school. Far higher than most of my college-prep classmates.

The expectations that I hear… that students progress at the same speed, respond the same to tests, etc. sound very much like rants I got subjected to when I belonged to the Assemblies of God cult. The usual rant was how it was a major sin that people didn’t progress “spiritually” at the same pace, and the hint was that anyone who didn’t was sinning against God. I just wonder how much of the things being demanded today are an extension of that attitude.

I consider what is happening to the schools to be a part of the attempt to force theocracy on this country. It’s all about control and limiting what people can learn.

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