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The End of Education: Part 5 -- Ten Things to Know Before You Don't Vote
Sometimes, there is just
too much dirt and fertilizer being shoveled during an election. It’s hard
to know who – and what – to believe. And that’s why some folks
stay home on Election Day – letting somebody else’s leader get elected.
Instead of electing leaders who will serve all of us, folks who stay home elect leaders who serve only the special
interests of those who radically and vehemently go to the polls. So, here is what you need to know if you’re not going to vote – or
if you are going to vote. For your convenience, all in one place, here’s
everything that’s important to know before you don’t vote in Tuesday’s elections. [November 2, 2006]
Blogs for Today
Some blogs gain notoriety
for their content, their sense of humor, their tone, their style – you know, all those things missing in our elected
officials – and especially in those wannabe elected officials – those running for office this year. Sometimes, some folks can say things in ways that can’t be improved upon. [October 25, 2006]
Why We Need a YES Vote on Amendment #3
Charley McDonald, SC Retirement Advisory Board
The SC Retirement System
cannot invest in companies whose headquarters are in other countries -- companies like Michelin, Firestone, Ben and Jerry's.
The State Constitution prohibits such investment. The proposed Amendment #3 would allow investments in these and other
good companies. [October 21, 2006]
Separate-and-Unequal in South Carolina -- Again
Mark Sanford and Karen Floyd have said their elections as Governor
and Superintendent of Education will mean moving tax dollars from public schools to private schools. One picture tells
the whole story -- and you can see that picture here.
[October 17, 2006]
The End of Education: Part 4 -- The Business Case
There is no business case that shows a middle class in South Carolina can contribute to the general well-being of the economic and educational
models envisioned for the state by its current leaders. If there is no business case for keeping a middle class,
there will be no business case for educating a middle class; thus, only private schools are needed for the children of the
well-to-do class and only training schools are needed for the remaining working class. South Carolina has
legislated that its public schools will begin, this year in the ninth grade, to train workers for the tourism and retirement
industries. [October 14, 2006]
Sam
Griswold, Ph. D.
On the State Budget and Control
Board, the Governor (Mark Sanford) and the Comptroller General (Richard Eckstrom) have consistently voted against
cost-of-living increases for retirees. They are planning the end of retirees' health insurance -- which
will greatly increase the cost of health insurance for all retirees. If one more SB&CB member who agrees with
them is elected, retirees will lose retirement and health insurance benefits -- by a 3-to-2 vote. [October 12, 2006]
The End of Education: Part 3
-- Proud to be Professional
Why are educators not taken
seriously by our political leaders? Why are educators treated differently from other professional groups? The
answers to those questions include (1) educators don’t vote, (2) educators don’t have one voice, (3) educators
don’t campaign for their issues, (4) educators don’t participate in government, and (5) educators don’t
believe they can make a difference in the way they are perceived. Now, here's the essay question -- what are you gonna
do about it? [October 5, 2006]
The End of Education: Part 2 -- Getting Ready
to Make a Difference
The Loud Few are always voting. The Loud Few are always lobbying. The
Loud Few are always trying to get everyone else to stay home – so they can have their way. The Loud Few are constantly attacking education and educators while trying to sell their greed for vouchers and
tuition tax credits to our Legislators. The Loud Few have privilege and position to protect – at your expense. [September 30, 2006]
The End of Education: Part 1 -- Register Now
Ladies and gentlemen, we
are beginning an important six-week period in the future history of our State. On
November 7, 2006, we will go to the polls to choose folks we believe can serve us through government. There are some very important things that can happen as a result of this year’s elections. One of those things is – the end of public education. [September 23, 2006]
The Good Ol' Days -- A Follow-Up
The new statewide
charter school bill takes the local district out of the picture -- while taking dollars out of the local district. It'll
be tinkered with over the next couple of years to create the private school system the Governor tried to create with "Put
Parents in Charge." You can look at last year's TERI bill – or the lottery bill or the EIA bill or
any number of other bills – to see how the law can change even when it's already the law -- especially when there is
a change in leadership of the department that is responsible for implementing the law. [February 1, 2006]
Ahh, the Good Ol' Days ... They're Baaaack!
South Carolina will systematically
widen the achievement gap between well-to-do students and poor students – leading directly to widening the gap between
economic and social opportunities after the school years. This model will lead
back to the “separate-and-unequal” system that existed from 1865 until 1975. Here we go again -- back
to the future... [January 29, 2006]
Articles grouped by topic:
The extremists controlling the Republican Party want
you to stay home on June 13 -- so everyone should get out to vote Republican in the primary. We need people in office
who can think outside the party. Our elected officials should be representing people -- and not just some extremists'
ideology. Read more about the grassroots strategy to get EVERYONE to vote in the REPUBLICAN primary on June 13.
It'll be fun -- and you'll find out what the extremists are really made of.
The "Put Parents in Charge Act" is an attempt to use
state tax dollars to pay private-school tuition for children from well-to-do families. Proponents call
it "school choice" -- but it's nothing more than tax credits and vouchers for wealthy families who can get their kids into
private schools anyway. Read more about the "Put Parents in Charge Act" in the articles in this section.
For the last
decade, our political parties -- and, thus, our government -- has been in the hands of political and social extremists.
I define an extremist as anyone who believes his or her way is the right way for everyone else -- and who sets out to impose
his or her way on the rest of us. In a democracy, there is no place in the leadership ranks for such extremists -- because
they have simply forgotten that a democracy guarantees that the rest of us can believe -- and live our lives in that belief
-- that we are also right (whether or not we believe that extremist stuff). This section contains articles about our
democracy -- and the need to help our extremist leaders (on both sides of the aisle) understand that there are a
lot more of "us" than there are of "them."
The South Carolina "Education" Lottery has very little impact
on K-12 education or higher education -- since none of the money actually goes to K-12 programs and tuition increases since
the lottery began are greater than the scholarships are worth. It's a shell game -- with the money being moved from
one pocket to another without improving anything for any one. Read more about the "Education" lottery in this group
of articles.
Politics in South Carolina and across the nation has gone
way off the scale. Common sense and respect for others are no longer part of the process. We ran the Taliban out
of Afghanistan because of their one-party-one-belief-one-way-and-that's-our-way system -- and, now, our political leaders
want us to believe that we (as in "all of us") must do it their way. Whatever happened to the idea that each of us has
a responsibility to -- not for -- the rest of us. Read more about the game of politics in this group of articles.
There was, in 2001 – as there is now – a shortage of educators. TERI was to allow educators who were ready to retire to continue to work – and to accumulate their
retirement benefits up to five years. The emphasis was intended to be on “retention incentive” in specific subject areas and in specific
rural areas. Somewhere in the development and enactment
of TERI, someone forgot to see if it was legal. Oops! (This is where Igor drops the good brain…) Read more about TERI in this group of articles.
In South Carolina, nothing is slower
than change. If somebody tries to sneak a change in, we’ll just grab a
flag, call the change un-Southern, and vote those boys right off our little island. After the recent primary elections in June, it's clear that change is definitely not about
to come to our state as part of the general elections in November 2004. In the
South Carolina House of Representatives, 97 of the 124 seats are uncontested and, in the Senate, 22 of the 46 seats are
uncontested – and most of the contested seats will probably not change. Here's how you can still make it
different -- even in the next general election. Read more in this group of articles.
Additional articles:
“Generic pink propaganda: ‘(Fill in the blank) is a big fat pig'”
By Cindi Ross Scoppe,
Associate Editor, The State
“The cushy pink pigs
were stuffed illegally onto mailboxes, necklaced with flyers crying that ‘State Spending is Out of Control’ …and
asking: “Why is our legislator, Bill Cotty, voting to spend millions of our tax dollars on beach sand, an arts festival and a football
game?” …A better question might be: What is ‘Conservatives in Action,’ and why is it making this stuff
up?... The pigs — and the same cut-and-paste mailings — also showed up in the districts of Lexington Rep. Ken
Clark and Upstate Reps. Becky Martin, Gene Pinson, Adam Taylor and Bill Whitmire… The group’s other target is
education superintendent candidate Bob Staton, and the only issue on which he and
Karen Floyd differ is tax credits for private schools: He’s against them; she’s for them… The six Republicans
on the hit list voted against it [also].” [June 8, 2006]
“It’s clear that ethics reform is needed”
By Bill Cotty, R-SC House
(Kershaw and Richland Counties)
From The State (Columbia,
SC)
“We support an honest
debate of the issues, but not attempts to mislead voters or unethically influence decisions. A half-truth is a whole lie,
and our voters deserve to know the truth.”
The Top Ten Other Traffic Laws to Ignore
There is a lot of serious
business to be handled each year by our Legislature. This year alone there appear
to be no fewer than twenty bills in either the House or the Senate just for the creation and sale of special license
plates. There's also a bill to let motorcycle and moped drivers to run red lights. Now -- who's not
wearing their helmets... [January 21, 2006]
"Minimally Adequate" Ain't Gonna Make the Grade
The judge's decision was that the State of South Carolina is adequately
educating the children in its public schools. That decision was based on the State Constitution and Supreme Court rulings
that define public education in the State. As it turns out, the State doesn't have to educate any of its children
-- as long as those children have the opportunity to learn for themselves. But -- we still believe we're competitive
in the world marketplace. It's embarrassing. [January 14, 2006]
The Three R's Are Not Enough
In the Information Age, it is essential that we are able to communicate effectively.
That means we must learn to use our language effectively. We must understand
the structure as well as the art of the language – and we must use both to make our points while understanding others
as they make theirs. In the Information age, the ability to communicate
information to others – and to understand the information others communicate to us – is essential to employability.
We can prepare for the Information Age (it's already here; so, it’s too late to start
early) by adding the Three A's to the Three R's of education. [July 21, 2005]
Not by Chance
by
Hayes Mizell
The current arguments about education
repeat a pattern all too familiar to South Carolina: avoid the real issues,
elevate a specious ideology to an article of faith, confuse citizens about what is in their best interests, and ignore the
needs of at least a third of the state’s population. Because South
Carolina has experienced all this in the past, it is not hard to imagine the future consequences for
our people and the state’s economy. Whatever the outcome, it will not occur
by chance. [February
17, 2005]
Can You Imagine -- A Governor Supportive of Public Education
by
Paul DeMarco
As a Marion resident for the past eleven years and a school board member for Marion School District
One for the past two years, I can attest to the joy Marion schools bring daily to the students they serve. Our teachers, administrators, and staff work hard to provide the best possible education for the students
in the District. Governor, you’ve visited Milwaukee. How about a trip to Marion? [February 9, 2005]
by Gary L. Burgess, Sr.
The
work of public education is both moral and civic. It is about removing the shackles
from the human mind. It is about freeing the human spirit. It is about providing a vibrant and rich education for the masses -- an education that allows the public
(us) to be involved in the radical activity of thinking, of questioning, of asking why and what if, while understanding the
need for law and order. [January
25, 2005]
by Jim Ray
For years most educators have labored under the belief and expectation that the consummate worth
of public education would always be recognized. This assumption is no longer
true. Worse, public schools are now facing an organized, malevolent
effort to dismantle public education. [January 13, 2005]
March for Education
Equity
On May 15, 2004, several
thousand people from around the state gathered in Columbia (SC) to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education
and to support equitble and adequate funding for South Carolina's public schools. Click the names below to
read the speeches given at the rally:
> Rhett Jackson, Co-Chair of the Coalition for Education
> Richard W. Riley, Former Governor of SC
> Jan McCarthy, South Carolina Education Association
[May 18, 2004]
NCLB Fails Schools -- and Communities
Because of NCLB political
definition of "failing" schools, school districts across the state and the country are in the midst of an unnecessary
upheaval of moving students from school to school. None of us is naive enough to think that the politics of education
is about anything other than vouchers. None of us is naive enough to believe we can afford to pay the costs of
those politics. None of us, of course, except those who continue to believe NCLB is the best way to kill public
education. [May 2, 2004]
An Answer to What It Means to Be "For Public Schools"
By Nina Brook (The
State)
Most elected officials claim to be “for public education.” But what does that mean? The Friends
of Education Coalition is asking lawmakers to sign the “Pledge of Defined Support for PreK-12 Public Education.”
But beware of anyone who tries to portray this pledge as something generated by “the teachers union” or
a special interest. This pledge contains mainstream values that are the bedrock of our society. Any lawmaker who means it
when he or she vows to support public education should have no problem signing it. [April 29, 2004]
What Seatbelts and Helmets Tell Us about the Politics of Education in South Carolina
Public education is more
than ideology. It is more than allowing a few folks to have choices while others
are held back by economic and social realities. It is more than me-and-mine –
now. Public education is about every child.
Educators have a responsibility to teach their elected officials that fact. A
little discipline may be called for. You can’t teach ‘em if you don’t
have their attention. [April 14, 2004]
The No Child Left Behind Act permits parents to move their children whether or not there is classroom space at
the school of the parents’ choice. It’s important to understand –
whether or not there is classroom space. How does that work? Let’s take a look at the impact of that requirement on your schools, your
home’s property values, and your local taxes – whether or not you have
children in school. [February 19, 2004]
In South Carolina,
professional politicians have stated frequently and repeatedly that they are “for” education. To be “for” education should, like all other areas of education, have a set of measurable standards
that show, without a doubt, that one’s actions – not just one’s words – are “for” education.
[January 16, 2004]
Published Articles about Educational Technology
(It's not as bad as it sounds...)
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