The Stakes of the Elections

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

At 12:12 PM 11/8/00 -0500, you wrote:
>Leo, I think that the crisis in education is just so much
>deception - a vehicle for conservatives to attack social 
>welfare programs generally and an attack on universality
>nature of public education, while advancing a repressive cultural
>agenda.  Its not so much that education isn't important, 
>but how the issue is framed.

Absolutely true.  A team of JHU researchers was able to separate the effect
of education from the effects of family and environment.  They found that
while all socio-economic groups progressed more or less evenly on academic
performance measures throughout the academic years - the low socio-economic
status students stayed the same or slightly regressed during summer
vacations, whereas the scores of higher socio economic status kids improved
during the vacation period.  Thus, they were able to attribute the
disparity in academic performance at the end of schooling to the influence
of family and environment, ratheer than schools.  To my knowledge, their
results were even quoted in WSJ.

That, however, goes against the conservative mantra and teacher bashing,
not to mention organized religion's lust to get their bloody hands to
public education coffers.

wojtek