Obama?

[DaveS007]

Soxfan; thanks for asing the question; back to the top five. I can only think of one; He's black, er, uh, um, half black. Ok yoru up for the nex fuor....

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[soxfan22]

OMG I got it........Soxfan your a mini McCain aren't you - screw Kenny Chesney we have a real live "mini" on the forum !!!!!!!!

Yeah, Pia...I really enjoy your "on the scene" STJ commentary. Really, I do.

I don't get the mini-me comment though.

So, just about everyone else on this forum is a mini-obama?

I actually don't care much for McCain. My guy was Romney. Talk about a guy who could lead us out of this economic mess (I'll say it again - it was Kennedy who said the only way to increase revenues to the gvt is to LOWER TAXES).

The richest 1% pay 40% of the taxes in this country. How much should they pay?

[promoguy]

I graduate with a MA in International Relations from a major university and it doesn't make me qualified for anything. Most liberal arts degrees don't.

But here's the bottom line on the O man. When he gets around to helping all of those students with those $4000.00 handouts for college/university, what do you think is going to happen to tuition costs at those same universities? Yep, they're all going to be going down..............you thunk.

[Terry]

Allan,
You beat me on education. But I work in education. The Bush NCLB law isn't working, do you agree? How can we better public education? My opinion? Well, stop teachers from being able to leave their classroom to take classes. In their absence, the kids are not learning. Hence a problem.

[soxfan22]

Allan,
You beat me on education. But I work in education. The Bush NCLB law isn't working, do you agree? How can we better public education? My opinion? Well, stop teachers from being able to leave their classroom to take classes. In their absence, the kids are not learning. Hence a problem.

The answer is competition. It is the only segment of our society where there is no competition.

If school x knows it will get 150 new students from feeder schools a year, and school y knows the same is true for them...Where's the incentive?

Vouchers.

[promoguy]

Allan,
You beat me on education. But I work in education. The Bush NCLB law isn't working, do you agree? How can we better public education? My opinion? Well, stop teachers from being able to leave their classroom to take classes. In their absence, the kids are not learning. Hence a problem.

You want to be a hero to where ever you work in education.

1. Suggest vouchers
2. Suggest that teacher unions have less influence, not none, but less.

Then watch yourself be run out of town on the proverbial rail, by the unions.

[Pia]

Here you go

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-Me

[Terry]

Voucher, charters, doesn't matter. If a teacher is out of the classroom for any reason...learning does not take place. Where ever your kid learns, take count of your teacher's absences. You will be amazed. Trust me. One out of seven years of your child's education is taught by a substitute teacher. Pretty remarkable stats. Brought to you by Utah State University Substitute Institute.

[promoguy]

Voucher, charters, doesn't matter. If a teacher is out of the classroom for any reason...learning does not take place. Where ever your kid learns, take count of your teacher's absences. You will be amazed. Trust me. One out of seven years of your child's education is taught by a substitute teacher. Pretty remarkable stats. Brought to you by Utah State University Substitute Institute.

I don't have any idea of how substitute thingies work here in Los Angeles. All I know is that charters seem to be working and since the fact that the teacher's union wants a moratorium on them must mean something good is going on.

I don't have any kid in this battle, but here's one thing I know and that is that African Americans in many communities would vote for a voucher system if they could.

So charters and vouchers do matter.

[Terry]

Being in education for over 25 years, I'd be happy to educate anyone.  Charters in our district use our automated sub calling system and guess what, they are absent more or the same as our regular teachers.  The question to me is why are they needing 77 hours of leave and then being able to get into their accrued leave if needed if it is now for a medical cause. Charters, use the same leave.  They cost us the same amount. It is no cost savings.  In some cases it cost a district more.  People don't generally educate themselves on education. They just assume that anything out of the normal is worse. It is a very complicated process.  Get involved.  That's all I can offer.

[soxfan22]

Here you go

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-Me

Ha! That's great Pia. You know, I think if I were to shave my head, I might actually look a bit like him! Except that, I am 6' 1", not 3' 1".

I love your sense of humor!

[sailorgirl]

Voucher, charters, doesn't matter. If a teacher is out of the classroom for any reason...learning does not take place. Where ever your kid learns, take count of your teacher's absences. You will be amazed. Trust me. One out of seven years of your child's education is taught by a substitute teacher. Pretty remarkable stats. Brought to you by Utah State University Substitute Institute.

So teachers are not allowed to get sick, have a family emergency or maybe just take a mental health day. My husband is a teacher and I have a renewed respect for how demanding the job is. How many of you have teenagers at home. Now multiply that by 100-150 and you have an idea of what his days are like.The din in the school is simply deafining, he spends as much time keeping order as teaching math. He's been threatened and physcially attacked. He and his fellow teachers are at school by 7:30 and finish by 4:00. Then every night there is at least 2-3 additonal hours of work, grading, calls to parents, continuing education requirements, administrative duites, committee meetings... A good part of at least one day on the weekend is also devoted to lesson planning and more grading. He works a minimum of 60 hours a week and is not remunertated nearly enough. We need to lift all schools, not just some of them. Public education is the foundation of this country. Its broken and needs to be fixed. Lets not blame the hard working under paid teachers.

[promoguy]

Voucher, charters, doesn't matter. If a teacher is out of the classroom for any reason...learning does not take place. Where ever your kid learns, take count of your teacher's absences. You will be amazed. Trust me. One out of seven years of your child's education is taught by a substitute teacher. Pretty remarkable stats. Brought to you by Utah State University Substitute Institute.

So teachers are not allowed to get sick, have a family emergency or maybe just take a mental health day. My husband is a teacher and I have a renewed respect for how demanding the job is. How many of you have teenagers at home. Now multiply that by 100-150 and you have an idea of what his days are like.The din in the school is simply deafining, he spends as much time keeping order as teaching math. He's been threatened and physcially attacked. He and his fellow teachers are at school by 7:30 and finish by 4:00. Then every night there is at least 2-3 additonal hours of work, grading, calls to parents, continuing education requirements, administrative duites, committee meetings... A good part of at least one day on the weekend is also devoted to lesson planning and more grading. He works a minimum of 60 hours a week and is not remunertated nearly enough. We need to lift all schools, not just some of them. Public education is the foundation of this country. Its broken and needs to be fixed. Lets not blame the hard working under paid teachers.

Your husband should be commended for the hard work he does. Now let's make his life easier. Get rid of those students, yep get rid of them. And let's get rid of those lousy teachers that make it more difficult for your husband.

Edited to say also get rid of the lousy administrators.

[chicagoans]

I think one of the biggest problems with struggling public schools is due to the parents, not the teachers or the school district. For a child to learn, he/she has to be sent to school well fed, well rested, and ready to listen and show respect to staff and other students. Schools cost alot of tax money. If you don't like the funding for your local school, don't lobby the state to bus your kids somewhere else; lobby for creation of better jobs so that you can better support your local school.

I'm so sick of people blaming the schools for everything, when some of the students have absolutely no guidance at home. No, I'm not in education. I'm actually not a fan of teachers' unions either. It floors me that teachers in our district (the highest paid in the state) complain because their raises aren't big enough. Hello it's a recession and none of us are getting raises! (In fact some of those taxpayers paying for the schools are out of work.)

Anyway, instead of vouchers I'd prefer to see people taking more responsibility for supporting their local school(s) and making sure that their kids are good students.