[Sosfbay-discuss] Education Not an Issue? -- 'Demopublicans' Won't Talk About It

[alexcathy at aol.com]

Dear Friends, 

Some of you who work in education or have school age children or grandchildren may find this interesting. 

Alex Walker ?





Education Not an Issue? - -
'Demopublicans' Won't Talk About It



Forget ideology. Forget the
personalities of individual politicians. I think I could write a whole book
arguing for the Green Party simply based on all the important issues that get
short shrift simply because the damned Democrats and Republicans don't talk
about them. And according to the two-party totalitarian culture of the United
States, if "liberal" Democrats and "conservative"
Republicans don't talk about a problem, then it's not a problem.



Jeffrey Henig has an interesting op-ed in the Boston Globe on why education is
a missing issue in this year's political campaign. "Liberal"
Democrats are now divided on the question of charter schools and
"Conservative" Republicans are now divided on Bush's No Child Left
Behind Act. And so, the gutless politician's are doing what gutless Demopublicans
always do -- playing it safe.



Published by the Boston Globe, March 1, 2008 

The
Debate on Education

by Jeffrey R. Henig 



. . . Democrats, who used to argue against charter schools
(casting them as vouchers in sheep's clothing), increasingly see charters as a
benign and promising form of public school reform. Republicans, who once could
rally around the get-tough aspects of No Child Left Behind, are growing
irritated about the negative impact of high-stakes testing.



This internal ambivalence is making it risky for the candidates to use the
tried-and-true formulations that have worked in the past. . . 





This is an issue that is close to me. My wife, Cathy Deppe and my daughter have
taught in the public schools in San Jose. Cathy has also taught in Los Angeles
where the Los Angeles Unified School District, presided over by the Los Angeles
Democratic Party Machine is an absolute disgrace. We have grandchildren
attending public schools in California where our sacrosanct racist
2-Party System has all but destroyed what was once one of the finest systems of
public education in the world.






Read More on at Green Commons: http://www.greencommons.org/node/980



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