Seattle Post-Intelligencer – by Jesse D. Hagopian
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/382408_bailoutschool09.html
——————–
The secret is out.
Like a note confiscated by the teacher and read aloud to the class, there can no longer be any doubt about the message being sent.
With the passage of the bailout bill for Wall Street, everyone now knows that the government can come up with a gazillion dollars (I’m not a math teacher, but I believe that is the approximate sum) to address a national problem if it’s deemed serious enough.
Being a social studies teacher, I’ll give you a simple quiz to assess your comprehension of the Wall Street giveaway. This means either:
- Before this bailout, we haven’t had any serious problems in America that would require a massive spending initiative.
- Government had the capacity all along to address any of the major crises in America with the needed funds, but has refused to do so.
Gottcha! This one’s a trick question — the answer actually depends on who’s taking the test.
If you are taking this test as you travel from the Cayman Islands to Wall Street in a personal Lear jet, one answer is appropriate.
The same answer applies to the politician taking the quiz while being chauffeured between fundraising dinners and appointments with lobbyists.
The answer is very different if the test is taken from the Ninth Ward in New Orleans; on the Interstate 35-W Bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis; from a hospital bed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center; or in a classroom on Main Street.
The reality of the neglect of public schools in the United States is astonishing. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the national school system infrastructure a “D” on its annual report card.
Overcrowded classrooms have cheated students from the individual attention they deserve. Teachers struggle to make ends meet, as the average increase in salaries nationally was 2.1 percent last year, while official inflation increased by more than 3.1 percent.
The solution to the problems in education, we have been told, is the same solution to everything else: “Let the free market rip.” Advocates for public schools have been lectured about improving education
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So there is money that could have helped schools
Seattle Post-Intelligencer – by Jesse D. Hagopian
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/382408_bailoutschool09.html
——————–
The secret is out.
Like a note confiscated by the teacher and read aloud to the class, there can no longer be any doubt about the message being sent.
With the passage of the bailout bill for Wall Street, everyone now knows that the government can come up with a gazillion dollars (I’m not a math teacher, but I believe that is the approximate sum) to address a national problem if it’s deemed serious enough.
Being a social studies teacher, I’ll give you a simple quiz to assess your comprehension of the Wall Street giveaway. This means either:
Gottcha! This one’s a trick question — the answer actually depends on who’s taking the test.
If you are taking this test as you travel from the Cayman Islands to Wall Street in a personal Lear jet, one answer is appropriate.
The same answer applies to the politician taking the quiz while being chauffeured between fundraising dinners and appointments with lobbyists.
The answer is very different if the test is taken from the Ninth Ward in New Orleans; on the Interstate 35-W Bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis; from a hospital bed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center; or in a classroom on Main Street.
The reality of the neglect of public schools in the United States is astonishing. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the national school system infrastructure a “D” on its annual report card.
Overcrowded classrooms have cheated students from the individual attention they deserve. Teachers struggle to make ends meet, as the average increase in salaries nationally was 2.1 percent last year, while official inflation increased by more than 3.1 percent.
The solution to the problems in education, we have been told, is the same solution to everything else: “Let the free market rip.” Advocates for public schools have been lectured about improving education
Bookmark the permalink. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.