The defeat of Proposition S is the beginning for us to take back our schools. We are not alone. The teachers want the same thing. Give them control of their classes and the funds.
“These books are too heavy, too expensive and too confusing … the kids treat them with the disrespect they deserve.” -A Santa Monica teacher.
“The Administration uses ‘complication’ as a way to justify their position on any matter. This is too complicated (for you) to decide now. Complicating a situation is the best way to gain control. The Soviet Constitution was 80 pages long, designed to be confusing. Reduce the administrators by 50 percent at least.” -A West LA teacher.
Go to the California Dept. of Education site and find the Grade Five Math Curricula: http://www.cde.ca.gov/standard/ math/grade5.html. This is the same math we all use to balance our checkbooks and divide a lunch tab. All of us know this stuff. The impossibly ambitious grade-five curriculum is designed by mathe-maticians, not math teachers. I dare you to understand it.
The following is a statement from a veteran fifth-grade math teacher of 40 years after viewing the Web site: “As I looked at the list of skills on the Web site, I thought, ‘who are they trying to kid?’ Sure you can put these items on the list to try to impress people who are not familiar with 10-year-old mental capabilities but my reaction was, ‘not very likely.’ The fact is that most of the time we spend in class is directed to maintain the simple math concepts so they are retained for a lifetime. We need to constantly spend time on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division or else these skills will extinguish. Why move on to the volume of rectangular prisms if we find that the kids have forgotten how to multiply 486 by 93?”
“Children aren’t born stupid, they are trained to be that way.” -My wife.
Listen folks, we have a hole in our school boat and we are sinking. Don’t get mad at the people trying to find a plug.
Proposition S stinks. It is wrong-headed, unfair, doesn’t fix the problem, and worse yet, it does not even ADDRESS the problem. Resist the urge to throw money at problems. They don’t get fixed with more money. We must begin to actually fix the problem. NO on S.
In looking at this situation, I ask just where are the school critics? The teachers complain about the administrators and are cowed by their unions, the administrators complain about the teachers and demand more money. The parents feel guilty and are told to shut up.
In a nation of “Watch Dog Groups,” just where is the group watching our schools?? It looks like it should be us.
James Glennon