Things that are seen and not seen-Catholic Schools

In Westchester, some Catholic school teachers are protesting their low wages. No one can argue that they get tend to get paid well, but some do (though it requires a Ph.D.).
I heard that they want an 11% wage increase. They were striking not too long ago, so it's obvious that they're trying to milk the Archdiocese for everything it can give and more.
What is seen are low wages. What is seen would be a revitalized staff. What is unseen are tuition increases (or using less quality material) and theft. Yes, these teachers who complain that they're not paid enough are stealing from every single parent. Subsitutes are brought in, school is closed, etc. They paid for their children's education. Isn't stealing the act of taking something, without permission, and without giving something in return? Parents payed for a full year of school, and they don't get it.
Not only are they stealing from parents, but they're stealing from the Archdiocese and anyone that contributes any money. Ultimately, these ravenous babies are stealing from the Catholic Church. And they say Capitalists worship the dollar? At least we're not stealing from the Church.

Intelligent Design

I'm all for schools teaching Evolution or Creationism, and I'm all for the government getting out of the school business. It's their choice to teach whatever they want. Will there be some poor saps that learn that the Earth is flat and that gravity isn't real? Of course, that's an unfortunate side effect of freedom, but certainly not one to curb those freedoms. I'd bet a good number of these kids were either messed up from the beginning or will eventually come to the truth.
Intelligent design is being touted as the new creationism by secularists. Of course, a school should have the right to decide what to teach, even if I completely disagree with it. I wouldn't send my kids to that school.
What is intelligent design though? It's basically evolution with the mention of God. When I was a freshman in biology (and as a kid watching TV), I always assumed the "intelligent design" line. God created the universe, life, etc. Apparently this isn't enough for Christian Rightists. They're against the state unless its doing something for them (just like liberals). For some reason, God has to be mentioned. can their children assume anything? Can they figure anything out without having it spoon fed to them? Wait, I forgot, they went to state schools.
I have a solution for this problem, though. I know it'll never be considered by anyone important, but here goes: Teach evolution. A student is going to ask how life came into being. Tell them most people believe either X or Y. If no one asks, they're probably not interested.
See how easy it is? We'd have to go on the honor system (there is no honor in the government), but at least they both have grounds to complain.
As for creationists...they'll have to suffer through it. Hey, I had to suffer through the lies in my European History class, so why not just suffer through that? If it's garbage, it won't effect you.
(Don't they claim atheists are stupid for being opposed to something they don't believe in?)





Checkmate?

Continuing the ADD train of thought

I know a few people with legitimate ADD, but even more with "public school ADD" (as I call it).
What better way to get kids to sit down and shut up when they're being bad, but not ADD disruptive, than ritalin? Maybe the disruptive kids are bored? Instead of taking the blame, schools shift it to the kid.
It's pretty normal for a kid to bounce off the walls a bit, right? Well, if the Public Schoolers got their way, kids would be robots.
(then again, if I got my way, kids would be Battlebots!)
Like I said, ADD is real, but schools are way too ritalin happy and give it to kids that act like normal kids.

Why da yoof luv Barack

Free (or cheap) college!
You think "Hellya! Eye Ken lerned reel gud!"
Who's going to pay for it? Taxpayers.
"Dud, jus, like...print money"
Like I said, damn it, taxpayers. Printing money=inflation. Inflation=idirect taxation!
"Hold yer horses, bucko! The government could set prices!"
Yes, we need far more government intervention. They are, truly, looking out for you. So, in conclusion:
1. It'll be paid for via direct taxation
2. It'll be paid for via indirect taxation
3. The college your dumb rear end will just become another community college.
Go Barack, go! Steal money! Counterfeit! Make Americans even dumber! But Everyone will cheer as America burns. Free money for you! Free college! Gotta get that edumacation in a college that I got in because I memorized a bunch of words that I forgot already! GOD BLESS THE SAT!!!!11

Holy cow, I'm still alive/motivation to write

Been way too long. I promise to write regularly.
What brings me back? Well, a friend said her teacher said Republicans start wars. A public school teacher and a Democrat at that. I'm not a fan of either wing of the one party we have, but I am a fan of truth.
The only wars that were started by Republicans was the one in Afghanistan and the second Iraq war. Democrats brought us into World War I, World War II (FDR was calling for war before Pearl Harbor), The Bay of Pigs, Vietnam (do I need to remind you of the anti-Goldwater nuclear ad? How's hat for interventionism?), the bombing of Iraq during the 90's, Kosovo/Bosnia, Somalia, and they're talking about intervention in Darfur. Oh, and Clinton/Obama say that all options are on the table regarding Iran.
Korea was a UN war. The US elected a Republican to get us out of the war. The Gulf War was also a multi-national war.
I'm betting this teacher liked Lincoln's unjust war, though. Leave it to liberals working in a government school to tell lies while supporting the same blood thirsty endeavors neocons do.

Continuing on schools....

...not only are they trying to control our children, but they're also sissying our boys.
Yeah, I believe problems could be solved with talking...at least as a temporary patchup. Not everything is going to need a good fistfight, but I've seen some pretty heated rivalries cool down after a few slaps. Yes...slaps. Sure, they didn't become friends, but they never bugged eachother again.
We need those good ol' fistfights. "You have a good punch" "Gee, you could take one alright!" So there's generally three types of people that could be broken up into political theory.
Liberals-Never use violence, even if a guy is beating up a gal.
Conservatives-Violence is sometimes justified.
Neocons-Violence solves almost everything.
The faculty advocates liberalism while most students who congregate for a fight advocate neoconservatism. Then you have the coservatives who either don't pay attention or watch from where they are...maybe getting a bit closer to see or hear what's happening.
The liberals would jump in before anything could happen. The conservatives would break it up sometime during the fight, right before someone got hurt. The neocons wouldn't be happy until someone died.
Makes sense? I sure hope so.

Burnt out kids

How many kids suffer from burnout at school? Well, I know I was one. And boy oh boy is it a vicious cycle.
It started in 7th grade when I passed History and had to go to summer school anyway. Apparently I didn't pass by enough. Go figure! Well, I failed summer school...not because I failed the tests, but because I had to memorize the preamble to the constitution and some lines from the declaration of independence. I'm a monarchist now...how prophetic, eh?
Well, I had a month of summer instead of two. See, every year I would think "Yep, this is the year where I'm not going to miss homework!". Well, a few months later I was already burnt out from having to go to school from 8:30 until 3 and having only 15 minutes to eat and 15 minutes to play. Oh, and being forced to play basketball twice a week, a game that I absolutely stunk at. Yep, no rest for the weary. So, thanks to all that, I actually failed. Another month gone from my vacation.
"Yay, highschool! Everything is going to be different!" I thought. No...it was worse. We were told to spend at least two hours on homework. Glorious. I did pretty well until I started forgetting books because of all the homework. Then I just sorta gave up. Yep, more summer school. I had summer school for my 4 years in highschool. It was usually from 9-9:50 and 11-11:50 or something like that. It's really not fun having an hour "break". The heat really gets to you...like the time I made over 300 paper airplanes or a skittles mosaic. I'm sure if I had a cup I would have measured how much sweat dripped off of my nose.
Anyway, all this homework really screwed me up. I got bad to mediocre grades because of homework. Sometimes I got good ones. Those classes usually counted homework as 5% of the grade. Some classes actually took a point off of the quarter grade.
So, two or more hours of homework with a 45 minute "break". No wonder I was always so chipper in the morning and didn't get addicted to that drug called coffee.
Yes, it's a vicious cycle for them too. They do all their homework well. They get to bed late because people do have lives (of course, teachers are either suffering from burnout themselves and don't care about other folks or they have no lives and forgot that other people do). They wake up tired and reach for that coffee. Get to school when the coffee is wearing off and are half tired the whole day. They can't pay attention. When they get home they have to review the lesson because they couldn't pay attention. Then they get older, have a massively receding hairline, and choose to have only one kid, if any, because they're too burnt out to deal with any silliness.
So, how do we solve this? Well, let teachers stop teaching while going to school for a master's degree (Catholic High school of course). Or better yet, don't waste any time! I can't count how much time things like classwork takes up. Homework is just basically classwork that they didn't get around to, so there's nothing wrong with classwork, but the time wasted in between waiting for everyone to be finished is laughable at best. So is the time used telling people to shut up, review time, waiting for the stragglers. Time used to make people come up to the board to either show off or embarrass a kid who made a dumb mistake.
Apparently, homework is to help students understand the lesson. Why make it mandatory then? Not everyone is going to understand it, but not everyone doesn't! Of course, they'll argue "If it is optional, then no one will do it!"
Of course, but that's their own problem. Schools are nanny state indoctrination camps. Everyone is equal, everyone has to do the same work, if there's a problem we'll take care of you, and we'll run your life. It even happens at neocon schools.
Us conservatives say that it isn't the school's job to probe into our problems. If we can't take care of something, we ought to ask or parents or someone we actually trust. Yeah, schools give you false trust.
I wouldn't worry too much about what schools teach as much as they teach indirectly. A good parent would raise their child to not totally trust the school. "The schools says contraceptives are cool and I think so too!" says the 11th grader. Who do we blame? The school, and not the parents for properly bringing them up.
The bigger threat is the school replacing the parent and acting like a friend. Schools ought to be viewed as a double edged sword. On one side they're useful, on the other they can wound you.
Schools sure love the cycle of burnt out kids, but they sure love the zombies even more.
Edit-What inspired this rant? http://www.lewrockwell.com/chartier/chartier90.html
It's far better than what I wrote.