Our government has trillions of dollars for:

Bridges to NOWHERE,

Pet Projects by Republican Congressmen,

Departments in our GOVERNMENT to spy on mothers like me, _<hope you enjoy my dinner menu>

Media “blitz” brainwashing campaigns by Pentagon & State Dept.,

Lazy “fat cats” sitting, yes just sitting in the pentagon “Doing Nothing”,

Plane loads by the C - 130 ‘s fly to Iraq and Afghanistan with trillions sitting on same, our “return on Investment “ equals more DEAD SOLDIERS, < great accomplishments>

Where or where is the trillions for Education?

Let me guess the generation of today means “NOTHING” to the greed sitting in Washington!! 

This is criminal neglect by are so called “leadership”! 

Your grade is F!

You have Failed todays young. 

Most Sincerely
Conerned Mother

who does NOT appreciate the “rape” of these
greedy, dirty, no-compassion monsters!

Failure at the State level and Failure at the Federal Level!

An excellent article! The problem is that we have had conscious and passionate leaders since BC, or certainly since. Very good ideas and smart people. but what is always missing in these analyses is the collective action plan that would defeat the waste of resources in war and ignorance. There are mobilizations to take power and acheive the education we value in many parts of the world. We need to do that in the US, the most powerful nation dedicated to greed and war. That would remove the yoke of poverty from most of the world’s people.

A New York Times editorial characterized the No Child Left Behind Act as “requires the states to close the achievement gap between rich and poor students in exchange for federal aid.”

Think about that for a second.

If there is an achievement gap between rich and poor students (assuming poorer students get a poorer education) then any condition which lessens the amount of aid—financial or otherwise—can only make matter worse.

Sure, “solutions are within reach and the problems are not unfathomable,” but it takes an educated leadership to solve problems.

There are two bottle-necks to getting better education to those “cheap children”:

1. Many in leadership roles (or who sway leaders) are simply not educated themselves and who see things through ideological lenses. People who simply say to teachers: “All you have to do is to teach children a better, more values-based, Christian curriculum.”

2. Many in leadership roles (or who sway leaders) are simply not interested in helping those “cheap children.”

The latter point above is true as far as I can tell. Whether they believe in the Malthus view that there is not enough resources available for the third-world to be made prosperous, I don’t know. But do not kid yourself. Western leadership has not an altruistic or un-selfish bone in it’s body.

Why would richer schools be better than poorer? Better schools? More books? Smaller classrooms? More teachers? How much does money have to do with this? Certainly, a child’s geographical birthplace does not have a genetic imprint on it. Swap a child in a rich family/country with a child in a poor family/country and what happens? The was poor, now rich child—now the “expensive child”—becomes well educated, and the was rich, now poor child—now the “cheap child”—becomes poorly educated.

And educational system influenced by mandatory tests and aid tied to test scores will continue the process of providing rich schools with more money and depriving poor schools of money. All the while school and administrators turn away under-achievers so as to make their school’s test scores “look better.”

A cynic would think that that is exactly what No Child Left Behind was meant to do; make the well-off more well-off and to prevent the poor from rising up in society.

A self-fulfilling prophecy of abject poverty is realized when you have illiteracy and incessant child birth.  Women would never voluntarily choose an existence without hope—-how interesting that, the Christian Right oppose pro-choice—-they would rather advocate a theology promoting punishment and social control-—a religious ideology that denies hope!

Sarah...Classic Blame-the-victims. We do that very well in this country. Find John Taylor Gatto on the i-net and find out that the educational system of this country is doing extctly what it is designed to do. Then read about Daniel Quinn who was making a vast difference in education in Houston, Texas. WAS, TILL STOPPED, THAT IS.

Mite. I have read some of that information and it scares me that I do not doubt for one minute that the people who control what goes on would do any or all.

Kevin Schmidt, you are correct about the uses of resources in this country and in many of the countries of the world. So ask yourself why these governments encourage a high birth rate, in fact use force, or coercive tactics to keep the birth rate up. Could it be that all their models are based on growth, economic, military, etc?

As for me, I have to ask why, if given a choice, any one would choose a life of privation and hard work because of too many mouths to feed and too many backs to clothe? Most women are not that stupid, when given choices. We are not born masochistic.

And why in Hell would we want to get to the maximum carrying capacity of the Earth? Wouldn’t that mean that we were all on subsistance? Or maybe most of us would be below subsistance so that a few of us could enjoy the good life?

ARE WE REALLY THAT STUPID?????????????

IF SO....THEN STFU AND ENJOY WHATEVER COMES!!

“Earth could probably support condsiderably more people”

To what end? 

These United States are, according to the full earth advocates, underpopulated BUT back in the Seventies when there were fewer than 250 M of us, life was more pleasurable.

BUT even though US citizens made a significant effort to limit the population here, our government coupled with sleazy business interests conspired to get the 3% Walmart sales growth from outside our borders.

Reap what you sow.. Too many people!!!!

I’m finding it harder and harder to avoid sarcasm these days, so here goes.  The overriding rationale for educating the children of the world is so they are smart, rather than stupid, collateral damage in wars grownups wage throughout the world.  What religion’s God would condone this behavior?  What idiots can’t see through this supreme hypocrisy?

AND we can’t save them as long as we’re spending money on weaponry to destroy them with.

I don’t know what the human capacity of this earth really is or if we’re near or at capacity.  It’s quite possible, though, that the obscenely uneven distribution of the world’s wealth gives the illusion that we’re near capacity.  If the wealthiest 1% of the world population took better care of the planet and weren’t so greedy, Earth could probably support condsiderably more people, all of whom could enjoy relative prosperity and full bellies.

Yes Barry, lets stay real. The underlying problem is not that there are ‘“too damned many children”, who grow up to be too damned many people for this planet to handle.’

The real underlying problem is too much damned money being spent on too much damned war machinery, too much damned war mongering and too much damned war profiteering. I wonder how many children could be fed until age 18 just from the cost of one Humvee?

I agree with the article and I think the main problem is that most people are lazy and we really don’t put our children first.  We say we do but our actions speak for themselves. Why do we think one teacher can really teach 25-32 young children in one room the same way. As adults, we recognize the many differences between us all. Why not kids? School are run like factories and kids are expected to conform. If you don’t conform, you fail. There are lots of different ways to learn and many different thing to learn. Our schools offer very few of these alternatives. Teachers are not taught how to teacher, they are taught what to teach. First year teachers don’t have a clue and most systems don’t help them. The new teachers have to just figure it out for themselves. That is why most teachers don’t last more than 6 or 7 years. Teachers are also expected to do too much. Most parents are not involved and they complain if the teacher disciplines their child.  Most educational systems are too big. Young children, especially 9th grade and younger need smaller classrooms and lots of options.
I have taught for 26 years and I am amazed at what I have seen. My boss is an idiot and he doesn’t have a clue as to what I do. He just got the job because of his “Mr.Nice Guy” personality. I have also taught at the college level and quit after being forced to pass students becuase we were funded by a federal grant and failing students would hurt the collge’s changes of getting other grants.
I also have a son special education needs. After the 5th grade, we pulled him out and put him in private school. He is now very successful and proud of himself. He gets all A’s and B’s and is heading for college. If we had kept him in public school, he would have dropped out because of his frustration and lack of guidance.
The problems in our schools are not that complicated. The government continues to try to solve the problems with one solution for everything. More tests! Why? It has been known for years that standardized tests have no relivancy to success as an adult. To much of what if taught in school isn’t really needed for adult life. Its just busy work!

“Yet in spite of all this, I remain hopeful.  Hopeful, because solutions are within reach and the problems are not unfathomable.  Clearly what is needed are consciousness and leadership, and both can be, I believe, the products of a quality education.  Consciousness precedes action for obvious reasons.  You can’t act until you know why you must act and when you know what actions are possible.  And leadership is the product of consciousness married to passion.”

Tell this to the Christian Right; who are more concerned about protecting zygotes than children.

Kill-em-all, let god sort-im out! Guess Who?
“We’re no better than bacteria” University of Texas biologist Eric Pianka recently announced.
The Heartland Institute http://www.heartland.org 08/01/2006 `Eco-Misanthropes Want Better Living Through Mass Death’ by Deroy Murdock

October 21, 2006 http://www.whatdoesitmean.com
US Army Announces Readiness for Total Military Takeover of America by Sorcha Faal reported to her by Western Subscribers

Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars, by Milton William Cooper `Behold A Pale Horse’ http://www.lawfulpath.com

The real truth for truth seekers: Not for Sheep.
http://www.articbeacon.com

It is a Plan to kill 2/3 of the worlds population.

http://www.spp.gov `North American Union’ erase all borders- one world government! http://www.prisonplanet.com

AIDS developed by DOD 1970 H.B. 15090 91st Congress

Do the research people or DIE.

Barry’s comment on Dec. 5th.  You are so right on the mark. 

People should realize that brown and black people came from the warm regions of the earth, you could say if not for Africa where would people be?

Everyone is equal in the sight of The Supreme Being, and this Being does not necesarrily have to be male.

Margaret from Vancouver, Washington

In a country where we, as a population, did not turn a hair when M Albright said that half a million deaths of children was acceptable to further POLITICAL aims......and you want the attitudes toward poor children changed?

DREAM ON.

I loved your article! Special about education…
I always say we must end with the “copy and past” education system we have and have children: questioning all (even the so called “sacred” values – that have nothing os sacred in them!) and try to find new ways out of this mess we are in!

How about teaching birth control… What kind of irresponsible adult would bring a child into that world.

Question:

Do you suppose germs know they are germs?

I have in my posession an article that states
The United States, Mexico, and Portugal lead
the worlds TWENTY-SEVEN (27) RICHEST nations
in deaths stemming from abuse. according to
a report released by the United Nations Child-
ren’s Fund. This report states that Spain,
Greece, Italy,Ireland, and Norway very low
levels of child abuse deaths, while the United
States, Mexico, and Portugal reported incidence
rates TEN to FIFTEEN times HIGHER than the
others. I am speaking with first hand knowledge.
My wife and I have a totally handicapped son
He was abused and endangered by a very mean
CREATURE that was hired to work in the day
care center he and I helped get started. He
was kicked out of the program. Some else go
into many of the public restrooms, And imag-
ine you have a handicapped adult that need
a DIAPER CHANGE. How would you do it. I have
asked many people for help, with absolutely
NO RESULTS. To Name a few people I contacted.
NEVADA Governor’s Office, Nev. Congresswoman
Shelley Berkley Her Office told me My case
was Local and she was federal.,When Saddam
Hussein was captured The RED CROSS DEMANDED
his good treatment. I sent a photograph of
my son and asked if he didn’t rate as much
protection as a MASS MURDERER? Their answer.
GO HIRE A LAWYER!! Jessie Jackson’s Rainbow/
Push. NOTHING They didn’t bother to send back
my material, Maury Povich, NOTHING. Montel
Williams Needed only a few words to say no.,
Oprah Winfrey’s office said NO in four and
a half sentences. There have been many other
no’s. We need to get Permanent residences
for these Child Molesters, and Murderers. I
will do my part. With all the no’s I have not
lost until I refuse to FIGHT. I can use all
the help that I can get. THANKS1

Paul, these all or nothing statements may feel good, but they don’t help. The fact is, the majority of schools in the U.S. promote positive values and social awareness. Teachers lean left mostly, and those sentiments show up all the time. Further, schools have not entirely succumbed to preparing students for sterile tests (it’s interesting that in these discussions, it’s always “those” schools that are the problem, while nearly 80% of people report they are satisfied with their own neighborhood school. The real issue is that the dominant culture does not allow consciousness and leadership to flourish. Kids learn a lot of the right stuff in school but can’t stand up to the culture at large. I’m a critic of schools also, but let’s recognize what they do right.

If U Look At the Support,

.  Earth Balls

In the Storage Area

Of Your… Earth Ball Home

U Will Find A Medical Kit…

This Is Where Miserable, Preventable Deaths

Meds R Kept

Pass It On…

This Can B 4 Real Fast
.

Arrgh!

Very high-minded piece that completely misses the underlying problem.

It’s not “expensive children” or “cheap children”.

It’s “too damned many children”, who grow up to be too damned many people for this planet to handle.

As a species, we’re breeding ourselves into a state where we will have cyclical mass die-offs like lemmings undergo.

Let’s stay real here, shall we?

How is it that there are excellent teaching programs in some parts of the country/world and other areas have deplorable conditions?  If we know what works, why isn’t it implemented worldwide? 

Okay, I know not all communities have the same resource pool, so how do we create/attract/engage/keep “teachers and principals committed to engaging the students and schools in wild debate and discussion on research and action programs dealing with the critical issues of our times”

It all takes money.  What if we took the money away from the military and gave it to the schools?  What a concept!  There is a bumper sticker that reads: Imagine if schools got government assistance and the military had to have a pie sale to buy a bomb?