The Republican's devious plan for public schools

[The Backlash Cometh]

It is getting increasingly apparent that the Republicans want public schools to fail. I've noted these three policies which are having a devastating effect, as I'm sure they hoped it would:

(1) They're filtering public money to private school cronies through vouchers.

(2) They're finding ways to play with public school scores so that even schools with "A" ratings don't get money, because they don't show improvement from the year before. (How do you improve on an "A" rating?)

(3) They're intentionally overcrowding "A" schools by allowing children from failing grade schools to go to the better rated schools. We all know that one of the factors for failure is overcrowding, so overcrowd a good school and it will eventually fail. (See article below.)

In a few years, the Republicans will get their soundbite claiming that public schools don't work. And then they'll push for a private school system which has never been put to the test.

- - - - - - -
Orange's top schools brace for transfers

More than 6,000 county students can leave failing high schools for already-crowded campuses

"The parents of more than 6,000 Orange County students will get letters this week telling them where they can send their children if they want to abandon failing high schools for higher-rated campuses.

"Students from F-rated Jones, Oak Ridge and Evans will have until July 9 to decide where they will go to school next year.

"An exodus from bottom-ranked high schools means that five of the area's best schools, most of which are already over capacity, will have to make room for more students."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-asectransfers22062204jun22,1,4426715.story?coll=orl-home-headlines

[tom_paine]

1. Not so devious. Right out in the open. Ruthless and cruel, yes.

Can this even be repaired EVEN if John Kerry is allowed to assume the Imperial Throne?

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. Are you kidding?

I think it should be a campaign issue.

Can you imagine the fear in the private school sector if they're told that private schools need to be subjected to the same testing in order to earn the voucher money?

Private schools aren't all what they're cut out to be. Years ago I had one woman complain that her 5 year old was sexually abused by another 5 year old and the private school wouldn't kick out the abuser. She determined it was because the child's father was well-connected.

And I have an in-law nephew and in-law niece who both went through the private school system and the two kids only stand out because they perceive themselves to be better than public school kids; but if I had to be objective, I'd say they're mediocre. One presents to be a dilemma for her right-wing parents because the girl had a child out of wedlock and her female live-in appears to be more than just a roommate.

I have to laugh because they hardly ever bring up gay topics any more and they appear to try to be in a quandry over how to determine how I feel about the issue. They really don't know how I feel about it because I don't bring up liberal issues any more. I just answer questions when I'm around them. I think they're afraid to out her because it would be something I could turn against them in an argument regarding private schools vs. public school; and they're still not over the pedophile priest scandals.

Family get-togethers, which are becoming less frequent, are generally resolved by watching a two hour nationally televised football game, sitting down to eat a well cooked meal for half an hour, and maybe fifteen minutes of conversation before we need to go. If any political conversation does come up during that time, it usually involves bashing minorities.

[sam sarrha]

2. The Rebublicans have the Fecal touch,,, They just F everything up..

If their lips are moving ..grab you ass with both hands and lock up your first born.

[colonel odis]

3. make sure kids get a crappy primary and secondary education,

then you keep them out of college.

keep them out of college and you keep them in low-paying jobs.

keep them in low-paying jobs and you keep them unable to afford good housing.

keep them out of good housing and you keep them out of your neighborhood.

keep them out of your neighborhood and you keep them from thinking crazy, commie things like america is for everyone and not just the privileged few.

"by the way, i think you missed a spot just above the bumper. come back over here, boy, and wipe that again."

their plan is quite simple.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. Well put.

It's particularly interesting what they're doing in Orange County, Florida because the entire Orlando area relies on low-paying service jobs.

[Hubert Flottz]

4. I think the grand plan is for the entire country to fail!

So the "New World Order" can save us!

[Don_G]

5. Just Another Way To Cheat The Government

And divert the public's money into their pockets.

[iconoclastic cat]

6. Everybody needs to be aware of the Walton family influence.

They have contributed 20 BILLION dollars to a nonprofit that will "advocate" for private voucher systems in all 50 states.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. Sounds like this deserves a thread all its own with a link.

I didn't even know about it.

[iconoclastic cat]

10. Here is a good piece in In These Times

There are more articles than this:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/no_choice/

No ‘Choice’
Wal-Mart prepares to bury the left under a mountain of money
By Glen Ford and Peter Gamble March 31, 2004

Jim, John, Alice, Sam and Helen may carry the world’s most dangerous genetic markers. They are the Waltons, heirs to the global destructive force called Wal-Mart.

With more than $100 billion in personal assets among them, the five Waltons occupy positions six through 10 in the Forbes billionaires rankings, twice as rich as Microsoft’s Bill Gates, the guy at the top. Collectively, they are antisocial malevolence with a last name. These spawn of Bentonville, Arkansas harbor an abiding hatred for the public sphere: business regulatory controls, nondiscrimination laws, wage and workplace safety standards, the social safety net—all of it—as expressed through the operations of their retail empire, which is both the largest employer in the United States and biggest importer of goods made in China. As the Democratic Socialists of America put it: “Wal-Mart is more than just a participant in the low-wage economy: It is the most important single beneficiary of that economy. It uses its economic and political power to extend the scope of the low-wage economy and threatens to extend its business model into other sectors of the economy, undermining the wages of still more workers.”

Such a vast project of political economy is far too complex for four middle-aged children of wealth and the 84-year-old matriarch, Helen. The family’s immediate personal ambitions are more modest: to destroy public education in the United States. To that end the Waltons, through their Walton Family Foundation and in close collaboration with Milwaukee’s Bradley Foundation, literally invented the national school “choice” network and its wedge issue-weapon, vouchers.
(more)
****

[2Design]

15. very interesting article....the people WalMart makes money off

of....and employ....in low wage ....are the same people they are trying to do in......they are as bad if not worse than the BFEE.....

[Az]

11. Even more fronts

The recent announcement of the Southern Baptists intention to pull their children out of the public education system.

The religious right has declared all out war on public education. If it cannot control it and force its doctrine on the children it would rather see it burn. This is the second coming of the Fall of Alexandria. If they are succesful they will have initiated the rise of a 2nd dark ages. They are not satisfied with the path science and society are taking so they would rather burn it to the ground rather than risk their beliefs.

Marvin Olasky the author of Compassionate Conservatism and one of Bush's advisors has called for the destruction of the public education system and replacing it with old school classical teaching methods (reading from the bible etc).

[checks-n-balances]

13. Unfortunately, you're right. Educate yourselves further about this:

Undermining the public school structure through "vouchers" is a tactic getting much more press than the thinking of the Christian Hard Right Republicans.

Don't underestimate the influence of CHRISTIAN RECONSTUCTIONISM (a/k/a "Dominionism" a/k/a "Theonomy"), founded mostly by the late R.J. Rushdoony. Attacking, undermining, and abandoning the public schools is only ONE part of their agenda:

Rushdoony founded the rapidly growing Christian Reconstructionist movement that views democracy as heresy and promotes the establishment of a Christian theocracy in America.

Rushdoony and his followers oppose democracy and religious libertybecause, ”In the name of toleration, the believer is asked to associate on a common level of total acceptance with the atheist, the pervert, the criminal, and the adherents of other religions.”

Rushdoony and his followers advocate:

- replacing the Constitution with the Bible

- making the ten commandments the law of the land

- reducing the role of government to the defense of property rights

- requiring “tithes” to ecclesiastical agencies to provide welfare services

- closing prisons – reinstituting slavery as a form of punishment and requiring capital punishment for incorrigibility in children, apostacy, blasphemy, murder, rape, Sabbath breaking, sodomy, and witchcraft,

- closing public schools – making parents totally responsible for the education of their children, and

- creating a society in which women are not equal to men, have no authority over men, and all live in patriarchically ordered families.

http://www.auok.org/paper_eulogizing.htm

All of this may sound alarmist, but to me it's not alarmist enough. It's reason for even moderate Republicans to reconsider the path their party has taken.

BTW, Bush's appointee in charge of the faith-based government programs
is from the Dominionist wing of the Religious Right.

Also, this article is still relevant despite being written 10 years ago -

"Come the Theocracy: Reconstructionism in Cobb County, Georgia" by Frederick Clarkson

Cobb County is home to another prominent Reconstructionist, Rev. Joseph Morecraft of Chalcedon Presbyterian Church. In a speech last year, Morecraft called for the enforcement of Biblical Law to "terrorize evil doers." The purpose of government, he claimed, is "to protect the church of Jesus Christ," and that "nobody has the right to worship on this planet any other God than Jehovah. And therefore the state does not have the responsibility to defend anybody's pseudo-right to worship an idol!" Asked where he saw Biblical Law advancing, Morecraft cited "the county where I live," and described the dramatic actions of the Cobb County Commission.(13) R.J. Rushdoony, in his introduction to Morecraft's ironically titled book, With Liberty and Justice for All, writes, "All are either under Christ or against him," and describes Morecraft as a "warrior for the truth."

Morecraft, Hotze, and DeMar were among the original 45 members of the National Coordinating Council, a project of the California-based Coalition on Revival (COR/NCC), launched in 1990. They proposed to "Christianize America" by taking over the institutions of local government, beginning with county councils and county sheriffs' offices. Once in power, they would establish county "militias." COR/NCC chief Jay Grimstead said that militias are needed to fight off a future "communist Mexico," which will "march across the Rio Grande." The federal government, he said, cannot be trusted to defend the country. The group also seeks, among other things, to abolish the public schools, the Federal Reserve, and the IRS by the year 2000.

School boards and county commissions are the key electoral targets of the Radical Right. Once established, simple three-to-two majorities can wield great power and set the tone, if not the agenda, of political life in a community. In some cases, like Cobb County, the controversy is projected nationally. But sometimes there is more to a controversy than a small set of "moral issues" or "family values."

Reconstructionists are among the key intellectual leaders and political strategists of the Radical Right in the United States. They usually try to stay in the background. But as the Neighbors Network has demonstrated, it is worth bringing their role to light.

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/Library/opposition/vol1num2/art4.htm

[Dees]

12. It hasn't changed.

Repukes have a hit list of public programs to dismantle and the list has not changed since the inception of these "public dole" programs. Highest on their list is Social Security. The grand daddy of all socialistic programs. Public education, Medicare and any program funded and regulated by the federal government is fair game. And, so is the federal government for that matter. It all comes down to maintaining a subservient underclass to insure that an aristocratic country club lifestyle can be enjoyed by the privileged few.

I ain't carrying your clubs or shining your shoes.

[doni_georgia]

14. NPR did a story this morning on NCLB and how the candidates

line up on it. Here's the web page on it http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_1967923.html

Audio links of the story as heard on Morning Addition and links to web sites concerning NCLB. Only caught part of the story on NPR, but the concensus seems to be this IS a real campaign issue especially in swing states. It's not getting much press, but many of the people I know who voted for Bush in 2000 but aren't going to do so this time base this decision on NCLB. I am a public school teacher, and I can tell you that the President's plan is one that sets schools up for failure. Not to mention the funding issues. NCLB is about to bankrupt states. All of the unfunded mandates are horrible.

Also another excellent resource on NCLB is Susan Ohanian's web site:

http://www.susanohanian.org