Libertarians . . . .. . . siiiiiggggghhhh . . . . .

[SheilaT]

13. Every time someone talks about how wonderful the schools used to be,

especially back when prayer was allowed, I recommend they read the first two chapters of "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

The relevant passage (and alas, I don't currently have a copy of the book in my possession) comes at the end of the first or second chapter. Almanzo Wilder (later Laura's husband. This book is about his childhood in northern New York State)'s family has just taken in the new schoolmaster to live with them while he teaches a term at the local school. The big boys of the town have bragged for years that no teacher has ever been able to finish out a term because they terrorize the teachers so. The new schoolmaster notes that a recent teacher was so badly beaten by those boys that he died.

There has NEVER been an era when everyone has been well-behaved, when schools have been wonderful havens of learning and excellent behavior, when those in power (of some kind or another) haven't done everything in their power to exploit those weaker.

We NEED government regulation and control.