M2RB: Alice Cooper, live at Montreux
Well, we got no class
And, we got no principals
And, we got no innocence
We can't even think of a word that rhymes
We can't even think of a word that rhymes
What's wrong with American public schools? Take your pick.
By Walter Russell Mead
Something very strange is happening around the country: students are disappearing from America’s public schools.
Because school financing is often allocated on a per-pupil
basis, plummeting enrollment can mean fewer teachers will be needed. But it can
also affect the depth of a district’s curriculum, jeopardizing programs in
foreign languages, music or art. [...]
Before the Mesa district closed Brimhall Junior High School
this year, the school lost teachers in art, music and technology in part
because of a declining student head count. That made it harder for the school,
which faces competition from many charter schools, to attract students.
“Education has gotten to be almost a sales job,” said Susan
Chard, who taught seventh grade math at Brimhall for 18 years. “You want to
provide reasons for parents to bring their children to your school.”
Although the Times laments the fact that an increasingly competitive education environment is hurting traditional public schools, Via Meadia is
more inclined to see this as a positive development. Competition is
good. The pressure to compete for students (and their parents) by
providing a higher quality education at a lower price is how you light a
fire under people to improve the schools.
Of course, the bureaucracies want to respond by cutting services rather than administrative bloat and high overhead. Via Meadia suggestion: Try
reinventing management as a way of saving money before cutting
services. Don’t cut foreign language teachers and art class; cut
cumbersome work rules, sweetheart purchase agreements, and thin out the
layers of patronage appointees who divert resources away from teaching
into paper pushing.
"When schoolchildren start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of schoolchildren."
- The late Albert Shanker, President of the American Federation of Teachers and the President of the United Federation of Teachers
"Despite
what some among us would like to believe it is not because of our creative
ideas. It is not because of the merit of our positions. It is not because we
care about children and it is not because we have a vision of a great public
school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because
we have power.”
“And we have
power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us
hundreds of millions of dollars in dues each year, because they believe that we
are the unions that can most effectively represent them, the unions that can
protect their rights and advance their interests as education employees.”
“This is not
to say that the concern of NEA and its affiliates with closing achievement
gaps, reducing dropout rates, improving teacher quality and the like are
unimportant or inappropriate. To the contrary. These are the goals that guide
the work we do. But they need not and must not be achieved at the expense of
due process, employee rights and collective bargaining. That simply is too high
a price to pay.”
- National
Education Association General Counsel, Bob Chanin, in his farewell address
School's Out"
Well, we got no choice
All the girls and boys
Makin' all that noise
Makin' all that noise
'Cause they found new toys
Well, we can't salute ya
Can't find a flag
If that don't suit ya, that's a drag
School's out for summer school's out forever
School's been blown to pieces
No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's dirty looks, yeah
Well, we got no class
And, we got no principals
And, we got no innocence
We can't even think of a word that rhymes
We can't even think of a word that rhymes
School's out for summer school's out forever
School's been blown to pieces
No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's dirty looks, yeah
Out for summer
Out 'til fall
We might not come back at all
School's out forever
School's out for summer
School's out with fever
School's out with fever
School's out completely
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