View From The Ditch Bank

SO WHAT HAS HAPPENED? We used to be a great nation. Well, we are still a great nation, but something has happened. Have you been keeping up on the Education Nation that is/was going on in Washington. The D.C. one. It is all about education. I am in favor of education. I wasn't a good student when I was in school, but that wasn't the fault of the school. I just wasn't a good student. I would be a MUCH better student now. I guarantee it. When I was in school, teachers had control over the class room. Cafeteria employees had control over the cafeteria and bus drivers had control over the bus. And physical punishment, by the teacher any way, was not only allowed, but expected. Now, I am not, I repeat, I am not, in favor of teachers being allowed to whip, or beat a student. I do favor a teacher being allowed to discipline a student. I my few years, well 12, of schooling, I know of very few times that a teacher resorted to using spanking as a form of punishment. One of those was in high school. Yes, they had high school's even back then. And the student deserved that punishment. But now, that is not allowed. A good thing, perhaps, but some form of discipline needs to be allowed the teacher, without the parents crying fowl, oops, foul. This is a nation that developed nuclear submarines, put a man on the moon, and many other good things. And maybe a few bad ones. We had good schools and good teachers. Mostly. And we scored high against other countries. Now, we score very low against other countries when it comes to education. Why??? I don't know. That's why this blog is the uneducated opinion of me. But I do know this. The last President Bush started a program called No Child Left Behind. A noble idea. I don't know what all was involved in that idea, and have seen and heard many reports that said it didn't work. Or isn't working. Again, Why? The Democratic party is wanting to put money into Charter Schools. This is one of the things I have heard from the Education Nation reports. I find that ironic, somewhat, as the Democrat lady running for Governor in the State of N.M. is against this and accuses her Republican opponent as wanting to do that. Seems like the Repub. is in tune with the national Dems. Did you see the young teacher's comment on the news during an early report on the Education Nation. She wants to teach. She said ( and I will probably not quote exactly ) Some students are slower that others and need extra help. Sometimes she would like to stay a little longer after school and help this student, but she can't. Why, Cause the union won't let her. She would like to work extra with this student, and give him or her the extra help and assistance they need to learn, but she can't, cause the union won't let her. Those few of you that know me well, know my opinion of union's, so I won't comment on that. I do know that something needs to be done. And this State is getting ready to cut millions of dollars, again, from the education budget. Both candidates for Governor say they won't, but they have the LFC and the Legislature to contend with. I think a lot of fat can be cut from the bureaucracy of both federal and state budgets and leave education alone. The inventor of Facebook has committed $100 million to New Jersey schools and Bill and Melinda Gates have committed $60 million to education. That will help, but will it be enough? Not until parents step in and help their children from an early age, instilling a desire to learn, and teaching them readin, writin, and rithmetic long before they start pre pre school. Some parents do. Some don't. Some can't. And, unfortunately, some just don't care. And that's The View From The Ditch bank