Answer: when the union leadership thinks it can shame you into taking even more. Washington Times: “Union front group demands federal cash for educational computers”:
Education Week’s latest annual performance ranking gave D.C. public schools a “D+,” but that had nothing to do with a lack of cash. The amount of money the District spends per pupil is at the top of the charts – especially the amount devoted to school administrators. Big Labor sees the school system as a cash cow for its membership. Little wonder that the address for OurDC, 1800 Massachusetts Ave N.W., happens to also be the headquarters of the Service Employees International Union.
These aren’t concerned parents looking to improve their children’s future. Rather, these are highly partisan goons who have gone out of their way to harass Republican members of Congress at their homes and churches, going so far as to show up wearing clown suits at Rep. Frank Wolf’s Herndon office because the Virginia Republican voted against a big-spending project.
Former D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee showed that writing a fat check to the existing bureaucracy isn’t the key to success. She boosted test scores by shoving underperforming teachers and principals out the door. The unions and entrenched bureaucracy didn’t take kindly to her upsetting their cushy system and she was forced to resign after the election of Mayor Vincent C. Gray.
Having accountable teachers devoted to instructing children on the fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic is what matters. The District’s pupils would be better served by unplugging all the gizmos that are little more than a distraction from the real academic subjects.
The left has learned how to pitch a narrative to bilk taxpayers. The right needs to get better faster at countering that narrative, or we’ll have more failures like in Ohio on election night.
That is, assuming that’s what the national GOP wants. Which I’m not convinced is the case, frankly.
The combine runs smoother when both sides agree to let one side drive at a time.
Related: Now you get to buy broadband service for people who can’t afford it. For progress.
Is there any point in having a job anymore?
As if the wasted moneies haven’t been tracked in the past. See: Detroit. They built a large new STATE OF THE ART!! school a few years ago for the chirrun and it was trashed in less than five years. My sons went to a drafty 100 year old parochial school taught by some nuns and some lay teachers and they are on full college scholarships. There were no computers, they wore uniforms, they had to behave, they had an asphalt playground and a basement for art classes. Fancy gear, eg, computers, Smartboards, carpeting and new desks do not learning make.
Computers are the most worthless thing a school can invest in.
Honestly.
Related:
10 out of 10 Leftist Totalitarians Agree – find a gay kid who killed himself and you can suspend the First Amendment:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/waymon-hudson/michigan-bullying-bill_b_1081708.html
http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/republicans_take_a_bold_stance_in_favor_of_bullying
Let’s play a game – review the MSM and Blog posts on this and see if you can locate the actual text of the “green light to bully” exemption.
The nuns could educate 3-4 kids for the price of one public DC pupil. And the kids would actually learn how to read and write and would develop self-esteem from real accomplishments.
School choice. Before America is left with no choices.
Surely, when there are two, three or more useless bureaucracies — unproductive of any learning whatsoever — to float atop the school system, more money’s needful. Needful. In perpetuity! For SCIENCE. Why do you hate lethargists and lethargism? Haters.
Progressivism is a full-on rejection of natural systems, whether physical, mental, spiritual, or psychological. Or rational, logical, intellectual, or defensible.
A weird orientation for the tribe of selfish nihilists who typically worship a narrow version of Darwin along with the twin gods Chaos and Chronos, whose work produced first reality itself and then the pinnacle of enlightenment, these assholes think, that is themselves.
I’ve been trying to ignore that stuff, Alex. The anti-bullying bill (which I didn’t agree with on principal) was worded poorly, and both parties agreed.
The whole thing is stupid, and I wish it would go away.
The strangest thing, though, is that young kids today are really, REALLY, non-plussed by gay folks. Kids come out before they get their drivers license,and while there may be a bit of gossip, no more than any other event in their lives.
I dun’t get it.
I went to public school back in the stone age when California had good schools back in the ’60s. I can remember my teachers keeping order in classes that averaged 30+ kids. I was placed in the advanced learning classes and our teachers taught combined second/third and third/fourth grades in the same classroom. The horror. I don’t understand the push for smaller class size. Can it be that the teachers aren’t competent? Nah.
BECAUSE IT’S A GODDAMNED LUXURY!!!!
If we were going to wipe out bullying, you could pick a worse place to start than Amanda Marcotte.
NO!!! IT’S A CIVIL RIGHT, HITLER!! WHY DO YOU WANT POOR PEOPLE TO DIE?!?!
The funny thing is that I can’t even PAY to get broadband to my place. I mean, I can get satellite, but that’s not even good enough to download a short video (too slow, and your bandwidth is limited.)
I cannot PAY to get DLS or cable. It’s about a mile north and a mile south of me. I live on a MAJOR road, and there are other houses.
but, by all means, let me pay for the losers in society to get it.
Why not?
What percentage of poor people own an Italian sports car?
I bet it’s pretty low. We should all be ashamed of ourselves.
Once again, the foundation of puritanical progressivism is built on little more than the abnegation of the 10th commandment concerning covetousness.
Hope that includes the Italians for not making 120,000 times more sports cars in the absence of demand. Damned if we should have to take all the blame.
Competence is irrelevant. Smaller classes means more teachers. More teachers means more union dues. More union dues means more money kicked back to The Combine.
It’s all about the grease.
Of course, it’s near unthinkable, but smaller classes could also mean fewer students. Put ’em to work in the mines! Pick and shovel work builds strong character. And blowing shit up? Kids love to blow shit up.
The left has learned how to pitch a narrative to bilk taxpayers.
I work with a guy whose primary job is helping school districts get their tax referenda to pass.
I don’t like him.