[lbo-talk] More 'school reform' nonsense

[Alan Rudy]

Though, of course, I can't speak to the situation in NYC, my first sense is
that it may not be a particularly representative locale... not if the fiscal
crises and legislative responses in MI, NJ, and CA are any indication.
There are still good schools (measured by how well students perform on
standardized tests?) in all those places, yet as they get more and more cash
strapped more and more of the elements universally assumed to be part of
public education in the 1970s (at least in MI, NJ and CA) are lost - music
programs, school libraries, art classes, field trips, and
free-to-participate extracurriculars (much less all sorts of facilities and
grounds maintenance), among many others.

On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 3:14 PM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:


>
> On May 26, 2010, at 3:05 PM, Dennis Claxton wrote:
>
>  At 11:47 AM 5/26/2010, dredmond at efn.org wrote:
>>
>>  For US residents on this list who don't have kids in school, or
>>> haven't interacted with the public schools lately -- visit one in your
>>> neighborhood. You will be shocked and appalled at how a society which
>>> pisses away trillions on failed colonial wars and failed bankster
>>> swindlers can be so unbelievably mean-spirited to its children.
>>>
>>
>> It's not *all* bad.
>>
>
> No it's not. We've been pleasantly surprised, in searching for schools for
> Ivan, that the NYC system contains some real gems. Some of the schools suck,
> but some do anything but suck, and there are lots of really dedicated
> teachers even at the mediocre ones.
>
> Doug
>
> ___________________________________
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>

-- 
*********************************************************
Alan P. Rudy
Dept. Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work
Central Michigan University
124 Anspach Hall
Mt Pleasant, MI 48858
517-881-6319