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Re: San Diego UT on Prop 82
This whole Prop 82 debate encapsulates the state
of public ed policy in the US. The rich don't
want to pay taxes, especially not to fund social
services. This is part of the austerity movement
in world capitalism started under Reagan/Thatcher
(rejection of New Deal, Keynesian economics, and
"welfare" state Social Democracy in W
Europe). They want "leaner, meaner" public
schools to serve their traditional role of
imposing hegemony on the working class,
militarizing classrooms and teaching as described
by Kozol in Shame of the Nation. The
standardistas do the dirty work of implementing
this hegemonic system, currently via NCLB and
state high stakes regimes; but they want more
money (tax revenues) to do it right. Voila Jack
O'Connell in California, and George Miller/Teddy
Kennedy in Congress. Looks to me like naive,
well intentioned Liberals like Rob Reiner get sucked into this shell game.
As for supporting the proposition, I think the
question to ask is what happens to the poor kids
without the new pre-schools? Are their lives
better now than they'll be in these new
schools? I wouldn;'t give in to the assumption
that all of these schools will instantly become
nazi/DIBELS training centers, not if we fight
it. Yes that may be the intention of the
standardistas, but aren't we already fighting
them on this in the K-12 system? Why don't we
give up on the public system entirely because it
is so tainted by the standardistas?
I say, just as in K-12 education, it's time for
some "class warfare" from below (that's
us) Fight for "Tax the Rich!" and for
democratizing public education. I say we should
support Prop 82 and use it as a platform to
campaign for our vision of good education.
Pete Farruggio
At 09:37 PM 6/5/2006, nancy wrote:
College students can use government financial
aid at the school of their choice.
This Proposition 82 will allow pre-school
children to use government financial aid at the
school of their parents? choice.
How, then, could the in-between years argue
against vouchers for K-12 students?
I don?t see how adding another level of
education to an already broken system is a good idea.
Any public school will have its curriculum and
standards and materials dictated by the
state/federal government. Whether that is
benign or evil depends on who is in power and
what your point of view about education is.
I don?t like the idea of making pre-school
teachers have to have credentials. Needing
knowledge about child development is important,
but pre-school shouldn?t be academic.
Places like the National Council on Teacher
Equality are already assaulting colleges of
education about their syllabi for teaching
reading. I don?t want them digging into pre-schools to that extent.
The DIBELS people already have a pre-school
DIBELS testhow many pictures a child can name
in a minute is one of the 3 or 4 tests. Given
the ubiquity of DIBELS in elementary schools, it
WILL happen in pre-schools and kids will be
labeled at risk before anyone even sees what
their interests are, or their aptitudes in other areas.
Just because rotten things are happening in many
public schools, I don?t see adding that problem
to pre-schools as being very helpful.
In addition, I don?t think there is enough money
to fund EVERY pre-schooler in the state, and
many parents who already pay for private school
will suck up some of that money from kids whose
parents haven?t been able to afford pre-school,
and still won?t get it because the money will run out.
Just look at what?s happened with the NCLB tutoring and school choice.
Voting No tomorrow on Proposition 82.
Nancy
~Life may not be the party we hoped for,but
while we are here we might as well dance~
----------
From: ca-resisters-owner@interversity.org
[mailto:ca-resisters-owner@interversity.org] On Behalf Of Rich Gibson
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2006 9:15 PM
To: ca-resisters@interversity.org
Subject: Re: [ca-resisters] San Diego UT on Prop 82
George has it right.
I actually did it today. I voted. Disgusting. I
hope it does not encourage the riff raff.
But I voted yes on prop 82 and tried to explain
why in that second posting that George Sheridan
mentions.. .If anyone wants that, I will send it
again, but I won't clog mailboxes with it by sending it now.
I have to say that I do not understand the
opposition to proposition 82 that comes from
the Whole Language movement (and I may be
misreading the trends there, but such is how it
appears to me---WL is opposed to prop 82).
As far as I can tell , the Whole Language
opposition believes that preschool kids will be
trapped in bad schools and regimented by the
curricula of the Empire and high-stakes testing.
That could, of course, be true.
In addition, some people opposing prop 82 seem
to be saying that it will lead to, or assist in,
the end of public schooling. I do not follow that logic at all.
Bad regimented schooling is already true of the
entire K12 world and it is often the same people
who are saying we must "defend public education"
who say we should defeat prop 82 (there is no
such thing as a single public education system
in the US, but maybe six or seven utterly
segregated and inequitable school
systems---ranging from pre prison to pre law
depending mostly on race and parental income of
the kids in the school--- where teachers for the
most part teach lies--nationalism, etc--- to
kids using methods that are so incoherent that
children not only are unable to unravel the
lies, they learn to not like to learn).
It is commonplace for teachers in the not-public
segregated US school system to pay far more real
attention to test scores and grammar than they
do to the equity clauses that are written all
over US history and its paper constitution.
But I still hear passionate calls to "Defend
Public Schooling," from people who I respect
while at the same time they organize vs prop 82.
I honestly do not understand that.
If it is true that prop 82 might/will lock
preschool kids, the babies, into rotten schools,
then just how is it that this mere logical
extension of rotten schooling into the whole k12
world needs defending? What MIGHT be bad about
the preschools is ALREADY bad about k12.
It seems to me that Defending Public Schools and
Opposing Prop 82 is contradictory. Perhaps someone can explain why it is not.
In any case, I voted yes. And, I tried to make
it clear in my earlier posting that I am
especially aware that I maybe wrong. That
feeling comes from the great respect that I have
for people who I am told are voting NO, but they
can give me no good reason why they are doing
it. I am more than willing, eager to hear the other side of this.
I wrote in Susan Harmon for all the other
existing offices. I especially like Susan for Judge.
Below is a quote about government as a weapon of
the rich. I no longer feel that I need to prove
this approach to be true. To the contrary, with
all the evidence at hand, I think it is up to
those who believe this is not true to prove it.
And, if this broad analysis of capitalist
government is true, then surely it is true of
capital's schools, not OUR schools, but capital's, THEIRS.
The state (government) is nothing but an
instrument of oppression of one class by
another__no less so in a democratic republic than in a monarchy.
Friedrich Engels, preface to Kark Marx, The Civil War in France, 1891
German socialist & economist (1820 _ 1895)
best r
At 04:33 PM 6/5/2006 -0700, you wrote:
Children who attend quality preschool read
earlier, learn faster and succeed at a far
higher rate than those who don't get the
opportunity. Proposition 82 would provide free,
voluntary, quality preschool to all 4-year-olds
in California. (Today, only 20 percent of the
states 4-year-olds have this opportunity.) Those
who oppose this measure for various reasons are
just making excuses because they don't like the
fact that Proposition 82 is written so that the
very wealthy will be made to foot the bill.
The San Diego Union Tribune is even less likely
than the Wall Street Journal to give good advice
on economic or social policy. I'm not sure even
Rich Gibson meant for us to be swayed by the
paper's editorial position. Two minutes after
posting the message to which you replied, he
sent a message saying "I'm going to vote for this thing ...
because I don't think it is useful to take what
is largely a principle (opposition to the
capitalist state and its schools) related to
most of reality, and to force it down onto all
of reality, when things are sometimes more
complex. I am going to vote for this thing
because of some complexities. ... I think if
this thing passes, it creates better terrain for social change."
At 06:38 PM 6/5/2006 -0700, Jo Behm wrote:
Agree Prop 82 should go down.
From: Rich Gibson <rgibson@pipeline.com>
Reply-To: <ca-resisters@interversity.org>
Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2006 15:33:25 -0700
To: <ca-resisters@interversity.org>
Subject: [ca-resisters] San Diego UT on Prop 82
Prop 82: No, no, no
Initiative is badly crafted, deceptively sold
George Sheridan
Northside School
Cool, California 95614
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